Solo Session Zero: Safety Tools
A safe solo gaming atmosphere can lead to a deeper and more exciting gaming experience.
This is a continuation of my Session 0 set of articles. If you'd like to read more please check it out here!
Before you get further into your solo campaign you may want to take a second and think about safety tools for your campaign. This may seem odd or useless that you’ll need safety tools for a solo game. It's just yourself, right? You know what you like and what you don’t and you’ll be fine.
And sure, you could be fine, but safety tools are about creating a safe atmosphere that allows for a deeper and more fun game. Knowing where your lines are, your issue areas, and what you don’t want to see allows you to safely take your campaign into areas that you are comfortable with, without worrying about upsetting or disturbing yourself.
A few times, mostly in my ultra-dark, gritty Mork Borg city crawl, I had to stop myself from getting into a super dark area or getting into places that I felt could be disturbing.
On top of that lots of newer Solo RPGs suggest safety tools and that you should look out for yourself.
There are lots of great safety tools out there for traditional RPGs but I think with some work we can adapt them for our solo needs. I’m pulling this list from the excellent blog, Drama Dice, it covers a ton of different safety tools for your traditional group play. It's worth a read. Check it out here.
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| Safety first! Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash |
Lines and Veils
This is one of the most common safety tools used in traditional games. Typically at the start of the session or in session 0, the table decides what their lines and veils are. A line is something a player does not want to see at all, in any way, in their game. Do not bring it up, and don’t allude to it, it doesn’t exist in the game. A veil is something a player is comfortable seeing in a veiled form, maybe talked about but not shown explicitly.
How could I use it for a solo game?
This is generally an easy conversion. When you're setting out your campaign you may get the feeling that violence is going to be common in this setting, that life is cheap. Ok, that’s standard for RPGs, but you can draw a line around graphic violence (like gore, excessive blood) and violence to children (a common one for me), and you could have a veil for violence against civilians (so a messenger tells you a village got razed instead of you going through it in detail).
Content Warning and Tone Conversation
These are basic and easy-to-use tools. Think of Content warnings like a Movie or TV rating system. Like PG-13 with violence and drug usage, as an example. It simply tells players what they can expect in the game, like the level of violence, drug use (if any), sex (if any), and any themes like suicide or depression. Tone conversation is similar to that in it establishes what the tone and feel of the campaign will be LINK.
How could I use it for a solo game?
I use this for every campaign I write, as much for the readers as for myself. I just find it useful to write down what this story will contain, the level of violence, swearing, and the whole tone of the campaign.
X-Card
This is a popular tool used in traditional games. It's a card given to players or put on the table, if a player shows it to the GM or taps it, the GM and other players know to change the subject or end the scene. I’ve used it to make players comfortable playing in a dark setting because they knew they could use the X-card if the scenes got too intense for them.
How could I use it for a solo game?
The X-Card is a distinctly social tool so converting it to my solo games wouldn’t be my first choice. However, I would keep in mind that you can, at any point, stop or fast-forward through a scene in a solo game. You never have to play through a scene if you don’t want, so remember that.
Script Change
This is an interesting tool I haven’t used yet, think of a remote control with rewind, pause, and fast-forward buttons. Players can use cards (similar to the X-Card) to rewind a scene back to change what happened, pause and ask questions, or fast-forward through something they don’t like.
How could I use it for a solo game?
I like this tool for Solo play. I’ve found myself skipping more difficult situations in my solo games, with the Script Change tool you understand you have full control of what you see and what you don’t want to see.
Check-in
A simple but valuable tool to use at any table. If you sense one of your players is uncomfortable, the GM can pause the game and check in on them to see if everything is alright or if a part of the game needs to change.
How could I use it for a solo game?
I recommend this, especially after particularly personal or dark game sessions. A lot of journaling games delve into personal and dark areas, that is their power and what makes them so good. But that might be taxing, especially if you are doing it session after session. Best to check in with yourself after those sessions.
Debrief
If you have a conflict or emotional session, a debrief may allow players to talk about what they and their character felt about the scene and also what they enjoyed about it.
How could I use it for a solo game?
Similar to the Check-in, if something was particularly difficult, talk it out on a discord server, with friends or others in that game’s community. Chances are you aren’t the first person to come across those feelings with the game.
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| This is how I debrief, believe it or not. Photo by Caroline Veronez on Unsplash |
Stars and Wishes
This is a tool I swear by in my traditional GMing. It asks your players to tell you about what they liked (stars) and what they want to see more of (wishes). It lets the GM know what to give their players more of in the next session.
How could I use it for a solo game?
You can certainly use this for solo games, and it's not just a great safety tool but also a great way to understand the type of games you like to play. Did you play a dungeon crawler that was dark and violent, but you really liked the parts where you negotiated pay and the contract? Maybe you should look at intrigue games. You can learn something about yourself using Stars and Wishes.
There you go, seven safety tools and how you can use them for Solo games. There are more tools out there, I recommend you try out things until you find what works best for you. Remember, safety tools can be used to give you the freedom to get into intense roleplaying. Think of them less like a constraint, and more like a seatbelt in a Formula-1 car. With a bit of safety, you can do some exciting things.
Good soloing everyone and thanks for reading!
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- Croaker
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