Last Man on Earth

[limejuicepowder]

A question for DMs mainly, but it would be good to have a player's point of view as well.

How would you go about running a solo campaign where the character is the last person alive? They might be the last survivor of a zombie/wight/vampire/ape apocalypse, or they might be the only one to live through a deadly plague, or some other less cliche idea, but the point is the character is alone. How should this game be run so it doesn't become insanely boring from lack of (traditional) role playing?

[Phelix-Mu]

Have the character start hallucinating/vividly daydreaming/regular dreaming at some point, and have the voices in his head/hallucinations/angel or demon on his shoulder be npcs. They aren't real, but they can reflect splinter personalities or subconscious inclinations that are bubbling to the surface.

Also consider the existence of things like Jedi holocrons/AI computers/permanent intelligent illusions or the like. Or maybe just VHS re-runs of some forgotten show that the character watches. There needs to be some kind of downtime role play, or the game turns into constant life-and-death/survival grind, which can get exhausting for both DM and player (not to mention the effect on the character).

Spoiler for new Dr Who plotline:
Extra credit for sending the pc on an Easter Egg hunt like in the one where the Doctor first encounters the Weeping Angels. If fantasy-based, they could be hidden in wizard spellbooks, on town message boards, or secret page spells in otherwise normal areas.

[ArcturusV]

This is one of those things where you have to put the World up as another character. It's really easy as a DM to gloss over the world. You might be harried, running a random dungeon, or something and basically define spaces as:

"It's a 40 x 50 room with one door on the North wall, one on the East Wall, and you entered from the South".

But with a solo campaign with a theme like that, detail would become king. The world would become another character, with it's own history, persona, and sense of growth and change.

[limejuicepowder]

Have the character start hallucinating/vividly daydreaming/regular dreaming at some point, and have the voices in his head/hallucinations/angel or demon on his shoulder be npcs. They aren't real, but they can reflect splinter personalities or subconscious inclinations that are bubbling to the surface.

Also consider the existence of things like Jedi holocrons/AI computers/permanent intelligent illusions or the like. Or maybe just VHS re-runs of some forgotten show that the character watches. There needs to be some kind of downtime role play, or the game turns into constant life-and-death/survival grind, which can get exhausting for both DM and player (not to mention the effect on the character).

Oh I really like the devil/angel idea. AI is another good one. Actually everything you said was great material. Thanks.

[SimonMoon6]

Something somewhere between Kamandi and Adventure Time?

Or, there's the Red Dwarf option. Lister is the last human alive. And then there's the hologram of another crewmate. Plus the onboard computer. And a lifeform evolved from his cat. And a robot they found somewhere.

[Phelix-Mu]

Oh I really like the devil/angel idea. AI is another good one. Actually everything you said was great material. Thanks.

And I was reverse ninja'd on my edit about the Dr. Who plotline. See the spoiler in my first post. Beware: minor spoiler.

[Saintheart]

A question for DMs mainly, but it would be good to have a player's point of view as well.

How would you go about running a solo campaign where the character is the last person alive? They might be the last survivor of a zombie/wight/vampire/ape apocalypse, or they might be the only one to live through a deadly plague, or some other less cliche idea, but the point is the character is alone. How should this game be run so it doesn't become insanely boring from lack of (traditional) role playing?

We call this Myst. Or Revan. :smallwink: :smallbiggrin:

[CRtwenty]

Give him some sort of non-human companion. A dog, or a friendly mutant, or an AI or something that will be with him constantly and can respond to things the player might not sense. If you do it right he'll see the companion as indispensable and you can get a lot of roleplaying between him and his companion.