Looking for advice on a great 2-player RPG that my wife and I can play.

[blackyman7]

I've been playing D&D for about 25 years and it's my game of choice when it comes to teaching new players RPGs. Since I don't have experience with other RPGs, when my wife wanted to try out roleplaying during the quarantine, it was the only RPG I had experience with to suggest. However, after a few sessions, it's clear that while she really enjoys the concept of a roleplaying game, the rules of D&D are bogging us down: on my end, needing to run multiple NPCs to shore up the party for encounter balance, and on her end, the strict ridigidy of actions, turns, spellcasting, and so forth.

In a perfect world, we'd have an RPG that can be balanced for just one player and one DM, with just enough crunch to be interesting, but not so much that stifle the creativity of a great story.

I would greatly appreciate recommendations!

[Lorsa]

I think most RPGs can be balanced for just one player. I have played D&D with one (although they did recruit 1 NPC to follow them, so it was a party of two). Another big title that might be better suited for you is World of Darkness (I'd recommend the new version). It should be similar enough in basic mechanics for you to learn it quickly. It works fine with just one player as well.

[Jay R]

I suspect that the problem is just the huge amount of rules that have to be internalized. A new player in a normal game just has to learn how to play one character class, but a new player running a PC with several followers has to learn several.

So my recommendation is to find a rules-light game.

Also, is fantasy her preferred genre? There are games of science fiction, superhero, Cthulhu, cyberpunk, musketeers, etc. Find out what she would like.

My favorite rules-light game is Flashing Blades. I recommend that if, and only if, she's interested in the musketeers.

Finally, you could try designing scenarios designed for a single PC. Have her play a fighter at a medieval tournament. The tourney itself provides exciting one-on-one combat (that won't kill the character), and you can design political intrigue around it.

[Martin Greywolf]

FATE Core, or if you really want to go rules light, FATE Accelerated, though I somewhat dislike the latter for longer campaigns. Not only is it rules light and easily useable for one on one games - as I know from personal experience - it can be easily modified to any possible magic system or ruleset. So far, I did Avatar the Last Airbender, Naruto, Harry Potter and One Piece campaigns in it, as well as several original settings.

Furthemore, it also removes the DnD numbers tax. Thing is, mechanicaly, DnD is a game quite like modern XCOM games, especially at low levels, where you need some rules mastery not to struggle - use cover, trip people, deploy clatrops via familiars and so on. This doesn't sit well with players who are in TTRPG for the character interactions, since combat is such a massively overwhelming part of it. It's also possible to very easily play incredibly suboptimally, which again, some players don't like.

FATE has no such issues, but is light as is on the tactical aspects.

[LibraryOgre]

2nd edition AD&D. Play a thief. Or a dual-class thief.

[Powerdork]

Ironsworn is free and easy to pick up. Dark fantasy, low magic. Can be played with or without one of the players in a GM role, too.

[Psyren]

However, after a few sessions, it's clear that while she really enjoys the concept of a roleplaying game, the rules of D&D are bogging us down: on my end, needing to run multiple NPCs to shore up the party for encounter balance, and on her end, the strict ridigidy of actions, turns, spellcasting, and so forth.

Have you considered gestalt? That should give her the power she needs to play solo without you needing to add NPCs to her team, making things easier for you since you can focus on the monsters/encounters. You can also give her a companion she can control with a simpler set of actions, like an animal companion, familiar, eidolon or phantom - something that can just be an extra body on the field, but whose actions/decisions she doesn't have to spend a lot of time thinking about. Lastly, you could consider awarding her hero points, letting her do things like take bonus actions, get rerolls, obtain hints on how to progress, or even recall a spent spell.

Combining some or all of these should allow you to still play D&D (the system you're most familiar with) and allow her to solo premade modules without a lot of extra tailoring of the encounters on your part, freeing you up to craft a fun story and focus on the villains.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I'll pitch STaRS, my rules-light system. It's designed to be fast, simple for both players and GM, and capable of covering a wide variety of genres and situations. Unlike a lot of lighter systems, I tried to avoid narrative mechanics whenever possible, unlike something like Fate. I also kept the "experienced GM, new player" paradigm in mind, so it's not hard to keep all the complexity on the GM's side of the screen and just tell your player what they need to roll. Finally, it is (in my opinion) one of the only systems that handles environmental combat well-- the conflict rules are structured such that you can use them for any situation involving a back-and-forth kind of exchange, whether that means fighting orcs, defending yourself in court, or escaping a collapsing mine.

Mechanically, it's a d10-roll-under system, with all modifiers providing a +-2 bonus for simplicity. Players do all the rolling; NPCs are nothing but a health track and one or two modifiers they apply to the player's actions*. Special abilities are really just defined by how broadly applicable they are-- if you have a "fire magic" power, you can make a Will check any time you want to do something with fire, and if you pass, you do the thing.




*An orc might be "Physical health 5, mental health 2, trickery and deception are easier," and that's all.

[Numinous]

Cthulhu Confidential and Night's Black Agents: Solo Ops are both designed for 1 player, 1 GM.
And they're both currently on sale in the current Bundle of Holding: https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Confidential

So if Call of Cthulhu horror or spies vs vampires float your boat, then check them out.

[truemane]

I agree that D&D is ill-suited to solo play. Not irrevocably. But the fighting party mode of play is baked very deeply into the system and the farther you move away from that, the more the cracks show.

If you are both enjoying it, despite the cracks, then a few of the suggestions above for re-balancing it (like using Gestalt) is a good way to go, especially if you don't mind running one DMNPC. Two Gestalt characters isn't much different, balance-wise, than a four-person party. The biggest different is the action economy, so you'd want to lean more toward encounters with fewer more powerful enemies than a ton of mooks.

However, it sounds like the system itself is bogging you down. So, I have a couple of thoughts:

If you want to keep the same genre: I would recommend you choose something rules-like. I highly recommend:

• Risus - I've been using this for years, can be seamlessly adapted to almost anything, the presentation in the rules is humourous, but it doesn't have to be.
• FATE Accelerated - slightly more complex, but not overly so, and has a very large community, and the ability to 'upscale' to more complex versions of FATE if you wish
• Aspect-Only FATE - very simple, very short, but works best with very story-heavy games - even a small amount of tactical combat stretches the edges of it
• Warrior Rogue & Mage - a simple and quick RPG where your character is a combination of those three fantasy archetypes. The magic system is a little finicky considering how fluid the rest of it is, but it works a treat for solo games.

If you're okay with (or even prefer) leaving the Sword & Sorcery genre, but don't mind learning (and/or buying) another system-based game:

• The entire World of Darkness line of books, old and new. Social and moral conflicts are as much a part of the game as physical conflicts, and being able to focus on one complex, well-drawn and detailed character making their way through an equally complex and detailed world is thrilling. The couple of times I've managed to get it working rank as among my favourite role-playing experiences.
• Legend of Five Rings (L5R) - highly romanticized Samurai action. It's not for everyone. The system is detailed and there's a lot of setting material that can't easily be ignored, but this game's whole THING: the lone wandering samurai hacking bandits, dueling old men at crossroads, getting into poetry fights with nobles, constant balance between your own desires and those of your family and Clan and role, works insanely well as solo. Better, even, than party play.
• Also, of course, any of the above rules-lite options work very well in any genre.

[Xuc Xac]

If you want to do D&D with one player and one DM, you have to check out Scarlet Heroes. You can use any D&D adventures with it and use the same stats, but it changes what the numbers mean to alter the scale of the action from "a group of PCs" to "one really skilled action hero".

For example, Scarlet Heroes PCs get a Fray die, which is an extra die they roll in combat that lets them automatically deal damage to weaker foes in addition to their other actions (even if their other actions aren't fighting). Warriors can wade through a horde of mooks to take on their boss. Wizards can cast a big spell like a lightning bolt and also pick off a few other enemies with some off-hand magic missiles. Thieves can sneak up and backstab the big bad and then fling a handful of daggers into the eyes of the big bad's surprised henchmen.

Damage dice are still the same but the results are read differently so instead of doing 1d10 hit points damage to a monster and trying to work through its mountain of HP, you take off 1, 2, or 4 Hit Dice with each blow so you don't have to slog through a long battle of attrition. It works a lot better than just playing a really high level character (or a normal character with a retinue of NPCs) with the regular rules.

[False God]

If it's just the two of you and you're into Star Wars, I'd suggest FFG's Star Wars, it's not exactly rules-light but a lot of it can be handwaived, and with two players you can really set up a Master/Apprentice sort of gameplay.

I'd also second Legend of the 5 Rings for the reason that it can generate some really thematic role-play, but it's not exactly rules-light either.

[Mr.Sandman]

If she is into Superheroes Mutants and Masterminds can work well with 1 player and 1 GM, it and the genre has the added benefit of being very good for other players to drop in and out whenever they can for 1 off teamups.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Risus is fun and incredibly simple and the basic rules are free IIRC. M&M is a bit more complicated but Mr.Sandman is correct in that it is fun and allows for great cameos.