 January 5, 2014 - 4:06pm | Anyone ever run a solo campaign? Having only two PCs might be almost as good as a solo campaign. I was writing an article on alternative beginnings to the Volturnus Campaign and one of them involved a Star Law marshal as a solo campaign investigating the selling of ships that have been reported lost and had insurance premiums paid out. It occured to me that since a Star Law characters start fairly advanced (Details in Dragano #91 also see details heres: http://frontierexplorer.org/book/creating-your-character ) that such a character could possibly survive a solo run of the Volturnus campaign. So I suppose that when it comes to the question of a solo campaign its also a question of how advanced a character is. I'm thinking that a solo character would need to be comparable to a Star Law Marshal. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 6, 2014 - 6:30am | If by solo campaign you mean only one PC and one GM then even a regular SF character could try it you would just have to adjust the challenges to fit and maybe include an NPC or three to help out. A robot assistant or two who argue with each other constantly might be helpful. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
January 6, 2014 - 6:46am | Robotic partner like the new Network TV show "Almost Human" would be good as well. Android/AI level of intelligence But even within the rules of SF a combat robot of level 5 or 6 as a partner would work especially for a more technical oriented PC. This gets us in to the realm of D&Ds henchman or adventure companion which certainly would support a solo campaign. RAt T yeah pretty much a solo would be 1 GM and 1 player for it to be an ongoing campaign. I wrote a solo adventure for the FE that was 1 player and no GM but for this sort of campaign you'd have to have a series of solo adventures pre -written as you wont have a GM making stuff up on the fly. You could have tables that generate rooms and occupants and treasure but that works better with a D&D dungeon crawl and having done that sort of thing in the past I know that I lost interest after one or two sessions. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 6, 2014 - 9:05am | I've had times I ran a one on one with my son. It went over well. We did a side series based around being a spy and doing a raid where he led a smnall strike team against an installation. I don't know if I could sustain an ongoing campaign like that, but I would give it a go if I had no choice. Great series of articles on rpg.net on the subject here: http://www.rpg.net/columns/list-column.phtml?colname=duets |
 January 6, 2014 - 1:46pm | I hadn't thought of that. It goes against the grain of Star Frontiers, being a team-oriented rpg, but it would be interesting (as well as very challenging, since your character would have to be a medic, computer specialist, tech, and be able to wield a nasty blaster). |
 January 8, 2014 - 1:29pm | Over the decades I've run lots of games with just one or two players. The trick is to make sure they have an NPC with them (usually a medic), and to keep it fast-paced and entertaining with lots of challenges. It usually works out great, and we have lots of fun. I ran Bugs in the System that way. |
January 8, 2014 - 2:19pm | It just occured to me that the Med-Inject body comp progic could be used to make up for the lack of a medic to a limited degree- a dose of stim dose that gets triggered at the right time could come in handy. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 February 3, 2014 - 2:43am |
I only ever had 1 team to play part of Volturnus with. After that I had picked up KH and had copies of AD rules so I would solo adventure. I would make maps and adventures as a paid by job enforcer or investigator, using NPCs to help me. I had a lonely childhood with SF sadly. I am trying to find a way to ease my son into it now, but he is 5. |
 February 3, 2014 - 12:03pm | There are a ton of lone detective stories that you could riff off from. Fights generally involve fisticuffs although in SF you could expand that to include stun weapons and doze grenades. Guns are generally used to capture, intimidate, or as suppressing fire while making an escape. Everyone wants to avoid enough attention to call the cops in - The bad guys don't want the heat and the good guys don't want to lose the rewards of bringing the bad guys in. Think Phillip Marlowe or for that matter Magnum PI. In the latter, he has a pilot NPC and a social butterfly NPC to help him out on a regular basis. There's at least one example of a lone detective that would be a great model for a Star Frontiers solo campaign - Batman. You don't need to make the character as omnicompetent as Batman but a gadget user who relies on stealth to take on superior numbers while investigating crimes could be pretty cool. |
February 3, 2014 - 12:42pm | There's at least one example of a lone detective that would be a great model for a Star Frontiers solo campaign - Batman. You don't need to make the character as omnicompetent as Batman but a gadget user who relies on stealth to take on superior numbers while investigating crimes could be pretty cool. He does bear the title: "the world's greatest detective" I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 3, 2014 - 2:05pm | http://imgur.com/NVIvszc As awesome as a Vrusk Dark Knight could be, I am really digging the idea of Magnum PI in space. Even the mustache fits Star Frontiers. |
February 3, 2014 - 2:13pm | http://imgur.com/NVIvszc As awesome as a Vrusk Dark Knight could be, I am really digging the idea of Magnum PI in space. Even the mustache fits Star Frontiers. Actually I could see a yazirian as Batman. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 3, 2014 - 3:23pm | That could work. I'd have pegged a yazirian as more towards the Punisher end of the scale. Methodical until the guns come out and then raging overkill. When I was designing Mastercraft style feats for Star Frontiers species, I used the Joker's Killing Joke as the title of one of the Dralasite species feats. What I'm really seeing is a Dralasite as Magnum P.I. complete with Tom Seleck mustache. Just run through the opening credit sequence with that image in your head. Imagine the Dralasite version of the Magnum PI goofy grin as he teaches some bikini clad girl snorkelling. You're welcome. :) |
September 20, 2015 - 2:23pm | Random thought: Solo/pick your path sort of adventure for Star Frontiers: Technician attempting to infiltrate a facility and steall X. must defeat alarms, locks and robotic minions and or hack computer net work. PC has two 1 tech PSA skills and one other. May resort to combat with security robots but this probably will not go well for the PC. Ideal is a stealthy infiltration and exfiltration. Alternately since a solo beginning character can be fragile and not to capable make the PC a star law agent (as per the creation rules from the dragon magazine) Same scenario, he's undercover and attempting to gain X information or Y item I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
