I was recently discussing Solo Roleplaying over on Reddit, as someone had asked what tools each of us employ to engage in solo play. I replied “A notebook, dice, whatever deck of “GameMaster’s Apprentice” storyteller cards is relevant to the game genre being played, and Theater of the Mind for the rest.”
Well, this led to further discussion as to how to use these tools, and I ended up being asked to talk a bit about the “GameMaster’s Apprentice”, and how to use it during play. Well, after some thought, I decided this would make an excellent blog post, and so, here we are.
Now then, I won’t be going into the particulars of each and every part of the GMA, because that is covered in depth with that tool itself. Each deck includes a set of cards that cover the universal instructions, which by and large will walk you through how to employ each part of the cards. What I will talk about is how I use these tools, which is in some cases different from how the instructions would suggest.
First of all, let’s talk about the bits I tend to rely upon:
- Likely Odds
- Sensory Snippets
- Names
- Catalyst
- Location
As with most Oracles, a solo game lives and dies by the Yes/No random generator. Why I like GMA so much is first and foremost because you can adapt your answer to these questions based upon whether you feel your odds of success are Good, Bad, or Even. It’s a quick and easy way to handle this, without having to track other modifiers.
“Sensory Snippets” is a Godsend to my style of play. Rather than asking another “Yes/No” question, such as “Is there something dangerous behind this door?”, I can draw a card and get ideas as to what my character might hear, see, feel, or smell. This helps me come up with ideas as to what might happen next, especially when the Catalyst isn’t meshing with my current plot.
Now “Names” goes without saying as to why this might be useful. So many of my NPCs have been named off of the GMA, I can’t remember the last one that wasn’t.
I mentioned “Catalyst” before, and it is one of the major reasons I stick with the GMA for my go-to Oracle. A simple statement, which helps give you a starting point, when first setting off, or when you have come to a brick wall in your game. As I said before, sometimes the Catalyst doesn’t really apply, but often you can tweak the suggestion, and make it work.
Then we come to “Location”, which is simply a staple of my solo games. What is on the other side of that door? Location answers that question for you. It really is just that simple, for the most part. Obviously, it doesn’t always work out that way (drawing a Forest as what you find on the other side of a dungeon’s door), but as with most parts of this tool, you can use this as a suggestion, which helps your imagination do the rest of the work.
Next, what parts do I use as needed:
- Difficulty Generator
- Random Event Generator
- Belongings
- Virtue and Vice
I often use the “Difficulty Generator” as a gauge to determine how difficult an upcoming conflict might be. For example, if I were to run into an ambush with the Cyberpunk deck, it would help me determine how difficult the fight might be, and whether or not I should be looking to flee.
I used to make use of the “Random Event Generator” a lot. Like a LOT, it was often how I moved from scene to scene in a game. This was an old habit from other Oracles I used to use, and not a very good one, since I have better tools such as “Catalyst” to work with using GMA, but when all else seems to be failing, this is a nice fallback option, or a way to flesh out a scene.
“Belongings” and “Virtue and Vice” are both ways to flesh out NPCs. How might I describe the personality of the local Priest, and coincidentally, what does he have in his pockets? Not tools I use all the time, but when you need to know something like these bits, here you go. They just work.
The remainder of the tools on the GMA cards I really don’t have much of a use for, as a general rule. That’s not to say I haven’t used them, only that their utility to me is so rare as to say they are generally ignored in my games.
Anyway, that’s about it. If you have any additional questions regarding how I use the GMA decks, please feel free to post them in the comments, below.
