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Do you remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books? (They still make them.) You had a list of options, and they indicated a page number, then you flipped through to that page number after making a choice. By making choices, you would determine your destiny as a Fantasy Adventurer  who faces enemies and dangers. Your choice would determine the outcome of the story.

If memory serves me well, the Menzter D&D Red Box had a solo adventure that I played a long time ago, and I’ve been thinking about putting together a solo adventure for 5th edition recently. There are a lot of video games out there, but a straight pen and paper game can be a lot of fun to play through. Get a character sheet out, and make decisions that are available. There were also the Tunnels & Trolls Solitaire Adventures by Flying Buffalo that were very popular in the 70’s, and still are today.

The thought about solitaire adventures came when we were talking about the Dungeon Master putting together an adventure, and the players needed to follow what has been setup. I don’t fully agree with that thinking, I believe that the main story arc is the responsibility of the Dungeon Master, and specific success & failure conditions are premeditated, but the players should be able to fumble through the world that they are making choices. And most importantly, the story changes as the players get involved in the world of the adventure. But that type of setup is a good fit for a written solo adventure. Limited choices, and definitive endings. For a solo adventure, I would put together a flow-chart on the available options, and the options aren’t really about infinite choices or the optimal choice. Then assign numbers each box randomly, and then list them in order. That would help with reducing immediate spoilers. This might be a good method for a me to organize, and put something together like the choose your own adventure books.

What do you think?