Has anyone run BitD one-on-one (ie One GM, One player)?
A number of BitD systems are designed with groups in mind. Things like assisting actions, group actions etc. It strikes me that a single player is going to run through stress very fast without companions to assist.
What concessions/changes would you recommend ?
One obvious choice might be to give them a friendly NPC to assist, but assuming they wanted to run a ‘lone rogue’ what other changes might we make to assist this style of play?
I had success with one player running a trio of scoundrels.
Without teamwork actions, the solo PC likely has fewer dice, so you could start them with more action dots, and be lighter on consequences or position so scores don’t end as swiftly. Also you can let rolls cover more ground, and plan shorter/simpler scores, smaller clocks, etc.
Lone Scoundrel conceits:
Scores in Blades are scalable. The PC doesn’t have to take on the same size/scope of score that a full group would. A lone PC might run through 2-3 scores during the same time a full group would run through 1 score. Don’t be afraid to present short setup scores with no coin payoff (or a very small payoff). Not only do short linked scores make bigger obstacles seem more feasible in the fiction but it also gives the PC extra downtimes that they will greatly appreciate. Speaking of downtime…
Make sure the PC has extra coin to spend during downtime for extra actions and to expedite progress. Considering the fact that the PC doesn’t have to split their take with anybody you might not even have to do much adjust. But maybe that Small job turns into a Standard/Big score for the lone PC. Don’t be stingy with coin, it’s a dial you can turn as the GM to make the game run smoother for the player.
And don’t forget that a PC can do a Set Up for their own subsequent actions to improve their position/effect…
More Stress, maybe? In a teamwork situation, you can set up the fiction so stress can be delegated or shared between characters. When you’re solo, you don’t have access to that pool. Dangerous things will start to look a lot more lethal.
(I now note that you had previously stated this, but not actually gone so far as to suggest adding stress boxes.)
You’re also lacking access to a pool of actions (not just action dots). Whilst this can be resolved by adding more stress, I agree with Adam Minnie that you need more action dots. This has the added advantage of potentially giving you higher resistance ratings, so that’s a bonus too.
There are so many points in play where you access pool resources that it’s difficult to make this transition (but not impossible). Like, more players mean a wider network of Friends and Enemies, wider access to Special Abilities, and so forth. You can increase these sorts of things, but it becomes a question of balance.
You also lose some of the benefits of the Crew playbooks.
I’d personally find it really difficult as a single player because of the above. And a GM to a single player, too, because it would be hard to balance an interesting experience against a lethal one. To be frank, I think that a ‘lone wolf’ doesn’t suit the system at all well, because Teamwork (and Cohorts) are so wrapped up in the mechanics.
That’s not to say it’s not possible, but just that balancing it is going to be a challenge. If you come up with something, you should publish it as a hack!
Haha you might be this weekend lol!
Good topic. A lot of play is between my wife and myself – any advice is appreciated!
That some of the touchstones for the base setting include things like Thief and Assassin’s Creed is noteworthy – very much lone wolf (wolves?) kinds of games. I can totally see that being an interesting way of playing (and, for instance, the Hitman series). Assassins, thieves and spies would work pretty well on their lonesome – with their associated crew playbooks.
It’s mostly a question of balance. Balancing coin isn’t really necessary, because the payoff is all going to go to one character.
Actually it sounds like a lot of fun, but I think some of the “dials” need to be notched up slightly to account for having a very narrow pool of resources. Six actions dots to start play; ten stress; an understanding GM.
I wondered if John Harper might have any suggestions about this, actually…
We’ve talked about this several times before. Search the community and you’ll find them.
In short, I recommend playing the game as is before you start adjusting anything. It’ll probably be fine.