All Things Solo

Environmental storytelling is the art of arranging a careful selection of the objects available in a game world so that they suggest a story to the player who sees them. Think of original Bioshock.

Let's continue on Bioshock (video game). Even if you remove everything but the environment, you can still deduce many things about the underwater city "Rapture" by looking at rooms full of water dripping from broken glasses, flickering neon signs, blast marks on posters on walls ...

For players who want to learn more about the usage of consequences in their Solo Sessions, I made a quick table. You can use it as a cheat sheet to find out about your PC's actions if you're stuck.

# About Choices

"Strategy is making tough choices with incomplete data."

We all make our own choices in life with what we have in our arsenal. Sometimes they are right sometimes they prove to be wrong. Making tough choices require wisdom but the problem is that ...

NOTE that, there is an AD in between 5:00 to 6:37.



I always told you "Keep it short and simple" but never told you how. It's by a cinematography method called "Killing Your Darlings". No, you won't have to remove your NPCs or story plots. You'll just cut the excess out of them, yes, even the things you're attached to.

How Cinema can make us better Game Masters (D&D / TTRPG) -12 min.
by Corkboards & Curiosities ...

I can hear you asking: But this is Solo Mode. How can I surprise myself if I know what plot twists are in the table? It's easy! A tad bit of fundamental thinking and a touch of timing, the rest is RNG's business.

You will and should know these plot twist types but you won't know what they'll MEAN in the current context in a scene. Especially when you combine them with random words or objects that you'll link with FFA. This, my friends, is the secret to plot twists in Solo Mode.
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If you want to pick a thematic word for your story or character and play with it, here's a short list. Start by choosing the one that catches your attention. Or search the one that's in your mind in the web. Or just use Freeform Association as I demonstrated at the bottom. And if you check the links (Passion = 1) in order, they tell a classic story in 5 steps. Connect the dots = FFA.

But if you want to insert the themes YOU want to see in YOUR game, you can conjure some sparks from ...