The Gaming Den

I've been having difficulty in finding a gaming group to get together with, so my RPG itch has been difficult to scratch. I have one other person who plays, but as a good rule of thumb, D&D wants 2+ players with 1 DM.

Are there are any good two-person RPG systems or solutions to my dilemma?

The easy solution is to have one of you DM and the other run a small party of characters. This solves for balance, but it does lead to having one party leader who does all of the interactions and then a bunch of what are basically hirelings who never do anything.

Alternatively, it probably wouldn't be too hard to make an "is a whole party unto himself" class. Bugger, clerics are practically there already.

Superhero gaming is good for single players, IMO. So Champions/HERO is an option.

Also, I've found Toon is good with one player + GM.

There are many two player games out there.

Mars colony is a good example of this.

You could also go for dice-less systems. Baron Munchausen or Fiasco. I haven't played or read Fiasco but I've heard it works well as a gm-less game.

Universalis is another favorite of mine.

When I was at PAX-east, I was told again and again about a game called "Mridangam." Nobody carried it. But it was supposed to be a decent 2-player game.

There are also several romance rpgs that are perfect for couples. I have one at home. I can't remember the name but I'll know it in a few hours.

Cynic wrote:There are also several romance rpgs that are perfect for couples. I have one at home. I can't remember the name but I'll know it in a few hours.

Advanced Boner Champ? That's my favourite.

hogarth wrote:

Cynic wrote:There are also several romance rpgs that are perfect for couples. I have one at home. I can't remember the name but I'll know it in a few hours.

Advanced Boner Champ? That's my favourite.

I think Advanced Boner Champ is what comes after you play the romance RPG.

Yes, dear, that is a +2 French tickler.

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The game I have is "Breaking the ice." Black and green games makes "Breaking" along with others such as "Sign in Stranger" and "Shooting the moon."

These are all 1-2 session games. It can be a good pastime. These games and others like them are often written by people who were part of the original GNS crowd on the forge. Despite this crutch, the games are all decent and playable.

I've run solo games before for D&D. Give the characters a bit of a boost (really really high starting stats is the main thing) and some means to heal themselves and keep opposition sizes small and...yeah. You're there.

It's a good way to pass the time and let a player try out something he's always wanted a shot at.

Try Descent. Player 1 plays the adventurers, while Player 2 plays the monsters. After completeing the dungeon, you switch. It's basically Cattle Raiding: The RPG

For D&D, a one on one game would be a good chance to use a goetic summoner, since you don't risk over shadowing anyone else's character with your summoned spirits.

I'm having a good time being a player in a one on one email game of Burning Wheel. I wouldn't normally play Burning Wheel face to face because of how many things you have to keep track of but it works well for this since the mechanics are good for really keeping it focused on my single character.

I found that one-on-one games tend to focus on magic tea party or non-combat skills.

I ran a solo, then later two player Shadowrun game where the PC was a musician/simsense club DJ with a good deal of fame. He had almost zero combat skills (hired a bodyguard for that) and we handled combat as a dramatic scene as opposed to dice rolling. He moved through high society, dealt with the underworld, and generally it was a big success until three or four other people begged me to play, then ignored my "this is a zero combat game" and made combat monsters.

Edit: My point of the anecdote is that nearly any system is fine for one-on-one roleplaying. The style of game shifts somewhat. With 100% screen time suddenly the personality of your character becomes very important. Story is going to become more important because you can't do the wandering murdering hobo party thing any more.