Playing more than 1 solo...


Rules Questions and Gameplay Discussion


In a video one of the designers mentioned that scenarios do not take much longer with 4 players compared to s solo effort. So has anyone tried running 4 characters as a solo game and how did it work for them? Especially how long did it take? Next friday my base set will be in my hand and a subscription is set up for the expansions to be shipped on release. I will get the player pack for christmas. I haven't felt this much anticipation for anything in a long time


Most of the time I play solo with 3 characters, but I haven't tried with 4. That works great for me, although I do sometimes forget to activate certain character powers.

I wouldn't say it take much more time this way. There's bit of upkeep with setting down and picking up different character hands, but its negligible.

Silver Crusade

I usually play with 2-4 characters, sometimes solo, and sometimes with friends. I recently played with just one character again for the first time since I first got the game a few weeks ago, and I was surprised at how fast it was. I flew through two scenarios in like 40 minutes combined, including setup time. With 4, it's usually about an hour per scenario.

I think when playing solo, time per scenario has more to do with number of locations to search than anything else. When you have more locations, you need to explore more times per turn, which slows things down.


Playing solo last night I felt was slower than with a group of people.

With a group we would declare our turn was done and turn the blessing deck for the next player. Then we would reset out hand. This overlap of events helped a lot. I also found that people were looking to help rather than anyone needing to ask for it - which is something this game really does better than an RPG: everyone was keen to see how the others played out there turn and were looking to help. In a regular RPG game I often find the players mentally drifting off from the game as someone makes their turn.


I often play six-character solitaire. It requires a lot of thinking since time is tight, but I've not failed a scenario yet (despite some VERY close calls).

For me it take 1.5 - 2 hours to play a single scenario, including about 30 mins set up time and probably about 10-15 mins tear down (even if you take 2 mins per character to sort out their deck, that's still 12 mins).

P.S. Solitaire 6-character is utterly awesome.


h4ppy wrote:

I often play six-character solitaire. It requires a lot of thinking since time is tight, but I've not failed a scenario yet (despite some VERY close calls).

For me it take 1.5 - 2 hours to play a single scenario, including about 30 mins set up time and probably about 10-15 mins tear down (even if you take 2 mins per character to sort out their deck, that's still 12 mins).

P.S. Solitaire 6-character is utterly awesome.

Thank you everyone for the replies, they were just what i wanted to hear. Even more stoked for next weekend now. I think it will be a couple of play thru's before i try a 6 character solitaire, but it will happen.


As someone who only solitares, I've run 4-player (should have done the math and done a 5-player so I would have used everyone, sorry Val) all the way through Burnt Offerings, and my 6-player is to the last scenario in B.O. My games tend to take a little longer than h4ppy's with about 3.5-4 hours total, but I love the game. It is so much fun to play with a large party where you have to balance your strategies out amongst the party while not running out of time.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path Subscriber

6 character solitaire is awesome. One of the best ways to play imho.

I would agree with H4ppy though, it is quite a lot slower since you have to maximise the number of explorations that each character takes per turn. Makes for some really interesting strategy though. It's really enjoyable.

Silver Crusade

Finally tried 6, running solo. It's different. There's more pressure to just explore at every opportunity.

So far, I think I enjoy 4 the most. 1 or 2 is too easy, with no pressure to explore extra. 6 is just a bit too much going on to keep track of, not to mention all the space taken up on the table.


I always play 3 characters solo. This for me seems a good balance. Easier remembering what's happening and gives you some tactical options as we'll. I like to take my time I hate it when I forgot some text on a card and then realize a couple turns later. I also have 6 characters at different completion levels that I swap in and out. Not sure how many they recommend you keep but this works for me. I have had two deaths so far. It takes me about an hour and a half for setup and play with three characters.


I don't own the character add on. btw. Is this something that I should look into?

Silver Crusade

raven614 wrote:
I don't own the character add on. btw. Is this something that I should look into?

Definitely. I really like Lini and Sajan, and there are some extra cards that could be useful for the existing characters, too. I might give Amiri and/or Seelah another chance at some point, but they are among my least favorites.


I haven't got the game yet, but I'm planning to solo with parties of three. At the moment, I'm thinking of
Merisiel - Seelah - Sajan,
Ezren - Harsk - Kyra,
Valeros - Lini - Seoni
as three possible trios. I'd appreciate any thoughts on whether these are workable parties, and any suggestions for alternatives. Thanks!


To fully experience all the variety of the game you might want to try playing a 6, a 4 and a 1. The game is VERY different with different party sizes!


Oh, I'm sure I will try other variants out as well - it's just that a trio seems a nice way to quickly learn the ins and outs of character interaction.

Liberty's Edge

Flat the Impaler wrote:

Most of the time I play solo with 3 characters, but I haven't tried with 4. That works great for me, although I do sometimes forget to activate certain character powers.

I wouldn't say it take much more time this way. There's bit of upkeep with setting down and picking up different character hands, but its negligible.

Why do you bother setting down and picking up the different characters hands? Just play with them face-up on the table (Heck, we typically play with our hands face-up even when not playing solo....that way we can guilt people into playing their blessings on us...lol)

Tim


@Tim - Absolutely.

You just need a big enough table to see everything at once :)


Tim Felts wrote:

Why do you bother setting down and picking up the different characters hands? Just play with them face-up on the table (Heck, we typically play with our hands face-up even when not playing solo....that way we can guilt people into playing their blessings on us...lol)

Tim

Space. I play on a coffee table in my basement. It's also why I play with no more than 3 characters.

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