Hi,
A post in the Advice section caused me to ponder if there would be a lot of interest in modules that could be played without a GM?
I'm thinking something like short description of purpose of module, victory condition, any rules limitations, etc.
Then various options are presented to the players of the module. Depending on the decisions that the players make, they may face encounters with enemies (with environment layout diagram, monster stat blocks, etc.), traps, puzzles, what have you.
Things would be kept simple so as to keep interpretations down to a minimum.
Think of like a Choose-your-own-adventure book, on steroids, using the Pathfinder rules.
If this is something that you'd be interested in, let me know.
That's a really interesting idea, but I wonder how it will work with enemy tactics and responses. The of the best things about playing tabletop RPGs is being able to go off the rails at times with the game being able to react, as opposed to say playing a video game RPG where you simply cannot progress until you accept the railroad. It seems like you may be have to either come up with some pretty elaborate and clearly defined monster responses, including tactically order of operations, or clearly limit PC choice options (think TALK, FIGHT, SNEAK instead of "So I summon my earth elemental to scout out structural weak points and then we use knowledge engineering to try to collapse the tunnel!").
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It's already been done. Take a look at Kobold Press' Party of One solo adventures modules.
Mythic GM Emulator helps with enemy tactics, or plot points.
I was just wishing for something like this since my group disintegrated. Card game scratched the itch for a while, but these look groovy. Thanks for the link!
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I enjoy the D&D adventure system series of board games; Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon, and Legend of Drizzt. They play like cooperative dungeon runs and can accommodate one to four (or maybe more) players. The monsters are programmed with a set of parameters so you don't need a GM.
Ooh those board games sound like a great option here. Also, Betrayal on House on the Hill is one of my favorite board games published by WotC.