Introduce my partner to self-guiding D&D-esque games
March 14, 2018 9:08 AM Subscribe
My partner is open to Dungeons and Dragons, but we have one main problem. We won't necessarily have anyone to play with. What are D&D-adjacent games that can be played by as few as two people? Gloomhaven seems perfect, and we may spring for it, but there must be more out there.
Fun figurines and maps not required, but are also fun.
Bonus points for non-Tolkein-based-fantasy settings, but Tolkein-based-fantasy is OK too.
Fun figurines and maps not required, but are also fun.
Bonus points for non-Tolkein-based-fantasy settings, but Tolkein-based-fantasy is OK too.
Dungeon Degenerates might be right up your alley if you like dungeon crawlers. I haven't had a chance to play it yet myself, but it looks great and is kind of the dungeon-crawl-in-a-box thing you might be looking for.
Also, it's not quite what you're looking for in terms of self-guided RPG action, but Lords of Waterdeep is SO GOOD. Because it's a D&D property, it has a good look and feel, and it's just a really fun worker placement kind of game.
posted by helloimjennsco at 9:37 AM on March 14, 2018
Also, it's not quite what you're looking for in terms of self-guided RPG action, but Lords of Waterdeep is SO GOOD. Because it's a D&D property, it has a good look and feel, and it's just a really fun worker placement kind of game.
posted by helloimjennsco at 9:37 AM on March 14, 2018
If you like horror and mystery, there's Cthulhu Confidential.
posted by zamboni at 9:40 AM on March 14, 2018
posted by zamboni at 9:40 AM on March 14, 2018
Pelgrane Press has a version of their "Trail of Cthulhu" rpg that's specifically intended for two players: Cthulhu Confidential.
If you're not already familiar with "Trail of Cthulhu", it's D&D adjacent in the sense of being a roleplaying game, not in terms of genre. Rather than swords-n-sorcery, it's Lovecraftian horror. But it's a lot of fun.
posted by Ipsifendus at 9:41 AM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you're not already familiar with "Trail of Cthulhu", it's D&D adjacent in the sense of being a roleplaying game, not in terms of genre. Rather than swords-n-sorcery, it's Lovecraftian horror. But it's a lot of fun.
posted by Ipsifendus at 9:41 AM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
Coming at this from another angle - you could both join an online D&D game where you play on a forum. I play on GamersPlane (with a few other Mefites) which is a forum built specifically for RPGs. This is obviously slower-paced than an in-person game (usually a few posts a week) but is still a lot of fun.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 9:42 AM on March 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by EndsOfInvention at 9:42 AM on March 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
I bought Gloomhaven for similar reasons. I wanted a DM-less version of D&D to play. I'm excited to dive in but haven't played it just yet. Two of the players in my current D&D game are partners and play Gloomhaven like this as well. They enjoy it quite a bit!
If you're open to D&D, it would probably help to narrow down what part of it is appealing to you, to help figure out what sort of D&D adjacent stuff might be fun. Are you into a big overarching plot, dungeon crawls, social intrigue? There's stuff out there for each of those, but something that does one part of it well may not do the other bits well. (On preview, looks like flibbertigibbet nailed this bit.)
That said, here's some stuff that might help scratch some of those itches:
Munchkin - Light hearted madcap dungeon crawl card game with lots of expansions, not super rules heavy and easy to get into.
Warhammer Adventure Card Game - Good card based dungeon crawler, some fun tactics/crunch, decent monster AI and you can string together a loose campaign of sorts. The publisher lost the warhammer license, so don't expect any expansions, but what's there is fun.
Expedition - I haven't played this myself yet but one of my players has and likes it. Neat concept - there's a free companion app that acts a DM, following along some existing story modules, with the option for people to add/create their own, for theoretically unlimited replay value.
Follow - GM less, narrative/improv driven RPG. No dice, no character sheets (not in the traditional sense), it's about telling a shared story. I really like this one, but it might be tricky with just two people.
posted by daisy55 at 9:43 AM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you're open to D&D, it would probably help to narrow down what part of it is appealing to you, to help figure out what sort of D&D adjacent stuff might be fun. Are you into a big overarching plot, dungeon crawls, social intrigue? There's stuff out there for each of those, but something that does one part of it well may not do the other bits well. (On preview, looks like flibbertigibbet nailed this bit.)
That said, here's some stuff that might help scratch some of those itches:
Munchkin - Light hearted madcap dungeon crawl card game with lots of expansions, not super rules heavy and easy to get into.
Warhammer Adventure Card Game - Good card based dungeon crawler, some fun tactics/crunch, decent monster AI and you can string together a loose campaign of sorts. The publisher lost the warhammer license, so don't expect any expansions, but what's there is fun.
Expedition - I haven't played this myself yet but one of my players has and likes it. Neat concept - there's a free companion app that acts a DM, following along some existing story modules, with the option for people to add/create their own, for theoretically unlimited replay value.
Follow - GM less, narrative/improv driven RPG. No dice, no character sheets (not in the traditional sense), it's about telling a shared story. I really like this one, but it might be tricky with just two people.
posted by daisy55 at 9:43 AM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
There is a D&D adventure board game system, we have a couple of them and they are quite fun. We have Tomb of Elemental Evil and the one with Drizzt.
posted by ceithern at 10:41 AM on March 14, 2018
posted by ceithern at 10:41 AM on March 14, 2018
Consider Scarlet Heroes. This is basically a tweaked version of an old edition of D&D, aimed explicitly at one or two players. It's got a nice setting, and the publisher has a ton of other products which are quite compatible.
posted by Alensin at 12:02 PM on March 14, 2018
posted by Alensin at 12:02 PM on March 14, 2018
These blog posts on "duets" are quite well regarded, for thoughts on how to approach 1+1 RPGs.
posted by wilko at 12:36 PM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by wilko at 12:36 PM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don't think I could ever get into D&D - It's too loose and open... but super surprisingly my husband brought home Near & Far and I love it. Note it WILL take a couple of hours to get the game mechanics, but once you do it's easy. (Helpful if you're used to video game mechanics.) Also, get some small containers to hold the tokens/gems/coins. There is an older one called Above & Below that I haven't yet played. We basically played for like a week straight.
posted by Crystalinne at 2:17 PM on March 14, 2018
posted by Crystalinne at 2:17 PM on March 14, 2018
FWIW, since my group got Gloomhaven, we've been playing it twice as often as we ever used to play D&D. We had high expectations, and it has really exceeded our expectations. It isn't perfect, but it's really, really good. It mostly scratches the D&D itch without any one person having to run it, so it's more relaxed. The leveling/unlocking system is especially clever and engaging.
Mage Knight is good too, but man is it a commitment.
posted by heatvision at 2:51 PM on March 14, 2018
Mage Knight is good too, but man is it a commitment.
posted by heatvision at 2:51 PM on March 14, 2018
Gloomhaven is well worth it, imo.
Not mentioned yet: Pandemic: Legacy (not really D&D-like, but there are characters and a story, and it's great).
There's a whole world of cooperative board games that might scratch the itch.
Tales of the Ararbian Nights is a weird little/big storytelling experience. I've heard it described by people who've played both as a more open-ended Near & Far (haven't tried the latter yet, though) (and you are play individually, not as a party, though you take turns having your adventures).
posted by booooooze at 3:04 PM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
Not mentioned yet: Pandemic: Legacy (not really D&D-like, but there are characters and a story, and it's great).
There's a whole world of cooperative board games that might scratch the itch.
Tales of the Ararbian Nights is a weird little/big storytelling experience. I've heard it described by people who've played both as a more open-ended Near & Far (haven't tried the latter yet, though) (and you are play individually, not as a party, though you take turns having your adventures).
posted by booooooze at 3:04 PM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'd vote against munchkin and its ilk: it's all about screwing over other players. 2 is better than 3, because you can't gang up on someone, but still a literally antagonistic game style that ... does not work well for many couples. Lots of games share this mechanic, and I know very very few couples that enjoy them as 2p games.
Out of left field: Roll for the Galaxy: fun SF theme, simultaneous turns prevent boredom, lots of little colored dice, etc. Not explicitly character-driven but has features of building narrative, interacting and emerging mechanics, etc. Also once you get the groove games can end in 40-60 minutes or so, which is a plus in my book.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:56 PM on March 14, 2018
Out of left field: Roll for the Galaxy: fun SF theme, simultaneous turns prevent boredom, lots of little colored dice, etc. Not explicitly character-driven but has features of building narrative, interacting and emerging mechanics, etc. Also once you get the groove games can end in 40-60 minutes or so, which is a plus in my book.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:56 PM on March 14, 2018
I don't have additional suggestions at the moment (brain is half asleep and most of our games are still packed), but wanted to comment on Munchkin. It's a blast as a game, as long as none of the players are "I must win at all odds" jerks who make everyone miserable when the game doesn't go well for them. Problem is, it does NOT play well with just two people. Three works fine, so long as players are out to "get" whoever happens to be convenient at the moment, and not consistently victimizing one person. It takes more players to balance out the affects of someone with a bad attitude.
Oh! Just remembered Gloom. It's a card game with storytelling elements (as least if you want it to be fun). It's playable with two.
And since they're fantastic with just two people, and have tons of replay value, even though they're not rpgs, make sure you given Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert a spin.
posted by stormyteal at 6:20 PM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh! Just remembered Gloom. It's a card game with storytelling elements (as least if you want it to be fun). It's playable with two.
And since they're fantastic with just two people, and have tons of replay value, even though they're not rpgs, make sure you given Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert a spin.
posted by stormyteal at 6:20 PM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you're willing to play online, Roll20 is an RPG gaming site; their features are strongly skewed in favor of D&D and Pathfinder, although they do support other games. Caveat: it's heavy on young guys (16-24), and it's hard to get a feel for the community.
Once you sort out the features you like about D&D, it's easier to look for alternatives - Prokopetz at Tumblr has a short list of one-on-one RPGs and also answers a lot of questions that are some variant of, "I like features X, Y, and Z; what game(s) do you recommend?"
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 12:42 AM on March 15, 2018
Once you sort out the features you like about D&D, it's easier to look for alternatives - Prokopetz at Tumblr has a short list of one-on-one RPGs and also answers a lot of questions that are some variant of, "I like features X, Y, and Z; what game(s) do you recommend?"
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 12:42 AM on March 15, 2018
Good points about Munchkin above. My partner and I play it just fine with the two of us, and the not-always-cooperative nature doesn’t bother us, but it’s worth noting. YMMV.
I have a couple suggestions to deal with the “nobody to play D&D with IRL” problem, if you decide you want to keep looking for a game. It sounds like you might have some D&D experience while your partner is newer, so some of this might be stuff you already know. Loosely organized from most to least structured:
A friendly local game store (FLGS for short) might run D&D Adventurer’s League. AL is basically Wizards of the Coast (D&D publisher) sponsored, organized group play with some rules in place to ensure a relatively consistent baseline for everybody. The idea is that you can create a character that complies with the guidelines (“AL legal”) and take that to a place that is running AL content, and just plop down and play. FLGS near me run AL stuff Wednesdays and Saturdays, and both days are well attended. It’s nice because you don’t really need to commit in advance, you can kind of just show up whenever. On the flip side - you may not have a consistent group, and the quality among the sessions can vary wildly - DMs might be different, the specific module you’re running might not be great, the other players at the table just might not mesh that well. My own personal experiences with AL games have been fine - I’d probably go back if I didn’t have a couple home games of my own already. (Something similar exists for Paizo’s Pathfinder - Pathfinder Society. I believe the concept is more or less the same, but I don’t play Pathfinder so I couldn’t really tell you!)
Your FLGS likely also has a community board where folks can post to advertise games looking for players. Some places might have some level of vetting before people can put stuff up there, other places might not, so it’s a bit of a crapshoot, but it’s not a bad idea to expand your pool of “people I know who play D&D who might know more people who play D&D and maybe we could all play together”.
In addition to stuff like Roll20, plenty of sites exist for the purposes of finding offline games. Reddit’s /r/LFG subreddit has some pretty good reach, but you will need to do all the searching/filtering on your own - I’ve walked away from a few prospective groups that just didn’t check the boxes for me. That all said, one of my current games is made up entirely of people that reached out to me on reddit, and we’ve become good friends and quite enjoy our game. So it isn’t impossible, but in my experience it's way more misses than hits. Again, YMMV.
Lastly…the easiest way to find people to play D&D is to say that you’ll DM and are just looking for players. Everybody wants to play, a much smaller percentage of those people are willing to DM. Your odds of finding people to play with are much, much better if you advertise “DM looking for three more new players” than if you’re just a couple players looking for a game to join. This is how I got started - I wanted to play, my friends wanted to play, nobody wanted to DM. I DMed to start, which helped get me into the hobby, and from there it was easier to find other games/people to play with, and it expanded from there.
Okay, this comment has gone on long enough. Feel free to MeMail me if you’d like, I’m happy to share more.
posted by daisy55 at 5:44 AM on March 15, 2018
I have a couple suggestions to deal with the “nobody to play D&D with IRL” problem, if you decide you want to keep looking for a game. It sounds like you might have some D&D experience while your partner is newer, so some of this might be stuff you already know. Loosely organized from most to least structured:
A friendly local game store (FLGS for short) might run D&D Adventurer’s League. AL is basically Wizards of the Coast (D&D publisher) sponsored, organized group play with some rules in place to ensure a relatively consistent baseline for everybody. The idea is that you can create a character that complies with the guidelines (“AL legal”) and take that to a place that is running AL content, and just plop down and play. FLGS near me run AL stuff Wednesdays and Saturdays, and both days are well attended. It’s nice because you don’t really need to commit in advance, you can kind of just show up whenever. On the flip side - you may not have a consistent group, and the quality among the sessions can vary wildly - DMs might be different, the specific module you’re running might not be great, the other players at the table just might not mesh that well. My own personal experiences with AL games have been fine - I’d probably go back if I didn’t have a couple home games of my own already. (Something similar exists for Paizo’s Pathfinder - Pathfinder Society. I believe the concept is more or less the same, but I don’t play Pathfinder so I couldn’t really tell you!)
Your FLGS likely also has a community board where folks can post to advertise games looking for players. Some places might have some level of vetting before people can put stuff up there, other places might not, so it’s a bit of a crapshoot, but it’s not a bad idea to expand your pool of “people I know who play D&D who might know more people who play D&D and maybe we could all play together”.
In addition to stuff like Roll20, plenty of sites exist for the purposes of finding offline games. Reddit’s /r/LFG subreddit has some pretty good reach, but you will need to do all the searching/filtering on your own - I’ve walked away from a few prospective groups that just didn’t check the boxes for me. That all said, one of my current games is made up entirely of people that reached out to me on reddit, and we’ve become good friends and quite enjoy our game. So it isn’t impossible, but in my experience it's way more misses than hits. Again, YMMV.
Lastly…the easiest way to find people to play D&D is to say that you’ll DM and are just looking for players. Everybody wants to play, a much smaller percentage of those people are willing to DM. Your odds of finding people to play with are much, much better if you advertise “DM looking for three more new players” than if you’re just a couple players looking for a game to join. This is how I got started - I wanted to play, my friends wanted to play, nobody wanted to DM. I DMed to start, which helped get me into the hobby, and from there it was easier to find other games/people to play with, and it expanded from there.
Okay, this comment has gone on long enough. Feel free to MeMail me if you’d like, I’m happy to share more.
posted by daisy55 at 5:44 AM on March 15, 2018
The D&D tile games like The Legend of Drizzt and Tomb of Annihilation are really good D&D stand ins when you have no DM. Pathfinder Adventure Card Game or Dragonfire may be good, if you don't mind they're mostly cards.
Depending on where you're located, you might have really well organized D&D Adventurers League with open sessions. Try calling a couple of game stores nearby and ask if they have AL and how you can get seats. At our store, they're all done through Meetup but I've seen other regions use Facebook or whatever. AL has to take any player with a legal character that got a seat.
Pathfinder Society might be better organized near you, but learning the rules without a basis in other versions of D&D will require hands-on assistance. Same as for D&D, call around and see who has it and how to get in.
posted by fiercekitten at 7:08 AM on March 15, 2018
Depending on where you're located, you might have really well organized D&D Adventurers League with open sessions. Try calling a couple of game stores nearby and ask if they have AL and how you can get seats. At our store, they're all done through Meetup but I've seen other regions use Facebook or whatever. AL has to take any player with a legal character that got a seat.
Pathfinder Society might be better organized near you, but learning the rules without a basis in other versions of D&D will require hands-on assistance. Same as for D&D, call around and see who has it and how to get in.
posted by fiercekitten at 7:08 AM on March 15, 2018
D&D is perfectly playable with two people. The gamemaster (presumably you) just has to spend a little extra time developing and running NPC party members to accompany the sole PC (your partner). The game is designed for more than one main character, but doesn't strictly require more than one player.
The way I do it is, the NPC party members gain XP just as if they were being run by additional players. Other NPCs basically don't get XP, though if it's some secondary recurring character (like a sagely old advisor type who stays in $CITY all the time), I might just increase them one level after a semi-arbitrary amount of time has passed.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 10:30 AM on March 15, 2018
The way I do it is, the NPC party members gain XP just as if they were being run by additional players. Other NPCs basically don't get XP, though if it's some secondary recurring character (like a sagely old advisor type who stays in $CITY all the time), I might just increase them one level after a semi-arbitrary amount of time has passed.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 10:30 AM on March 15, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
What appeals to you about D&D?
Tactics/combat/min-maxing? Try Gloomhaven.
Acting/meaningful narrative choice?
Inhabiting a cool character? (If so--what do you find 'cool'?)
posted by flibbertigibbet at 9:34 AM on March 14, 2018 [2 favorites]