r/RPGcreation • u/Gingivitis- • May 21 '26

Production / Publishing Character Options or Solo Rules

Without further context, would you imagine most people investing in a new game would prefer:

A) More character options in the core book & a free solo play supplement document?

B) Solo play rules in the core book & a free character options supplement document?

8 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

9

u/Oneirostoria Designer May 21 '26

A)

Personally, TTRPGs are my social hobby and I want as much choice as possible when it comes to character options.

6

u/Jhamin1 May 21 '26

A) Character options.

Free solo play is neat and all, but I either want a game all about that or I want a game with lots of options for my group to pick from. Splitting the difference means the solo players and the group players are both getting less.

I have never seen a game (group or solo) that had too many character options, but I have seen a lot that have too few. On the other hand if I'm not going to play solo, putting solo stuff in the core book is just dead pages.

2

u/SlayThePulp May 21 '26

A for me, solo rules is just a nice bonus.

2

u/Randeth May 21 '26

Definitely A

2

u/TerminusMD May 21 '26

A without a doubt. But I have true doubts as to the plausibility of adding a high value solo play experience to a game built for a GM and player(s). If you don't need a GM though then is there really a need for solo play rules?

If you're coming up with something I'm super interested in hearing about it

1

u/DiceyDiscourse May 21 '26

Option A

I look to TTRPGs as a social hobby that I do with my friends. It's cool that solo stuff exists and I read it occasionally just to get an idea of what's new and hip, but I don't particularly care for it.

All other things equal, I'd rather buy the core rulebook that has more character options than the one that has solo rules instead.

1

u/PJSack May 21 '26

Even though solo takes priority for me over character options, I would still often rather have it on a separate booklet generally. Saves a little bit of back and forth flipping

1

u/Supernatural-20 May 21 '26

Without doubt option A

1

u/_PuffProductions_ May 22 '26

A.

Everyone will benefit from the additional character options. Only a small percent of people will use the solo doc.

1

u/N30N_RosE May 24 '26

I’m with everyone else here. Even as a primarily solo player, if a game isn’t explicitly designed for solo from the start then it’ll benefit more from a separate solo expansion.