Last weekend I mooted two related ideas: a) one-on-one roleplaying melded with b) micro-sessions that I dubbed “Tiny Roleplaying”. Throughout the week, I’ve been negotiating with an interested friend the idea of playing in this style so that we can experiment with deeper Otherworld-immersed play.

One-on-one places the player’s focus on just their own character’s perspective. If we blend this with the desire for Otherworld-immersion, we can marry the character and player perspective in a powerful manner. Rules opacity is also easier for the GM to handle because there is only one PC sheet.

Tiny Roleplay sessions – micro gaming sessions of around 30 minutes – help players get to the table more frequently. The idea, taken from solo play, is to gather more often for shorter periods. In busy lives, dropping online to play for 30 minutes is much easier to schedule. This is viable because RPGs work best on the accumulation of play over many sessions.

And so I’ve been working up an idea powered by an old favourite game system rooted in the award-winning Basic Roleplaying (BRP) Engine. This game will be run as a sandbox environment in which the player can make a wide range of choices. I want all three levels of Player Agency to be open, even if initially I intend to set up some goals to get the ball rolling.

This is my basic pitch in terms of how we’ll play:

• The game will feature a main Player Character who could be accompanied by a friendly GM Character as supporting cast. This will allow for dialogue and opportunities for me to drop in knowledge through the experience of another person.
• The game will present the World through the senses of the Player Character and therefore will be played in first- and second-person dialogue: the player speaking in-character as-character, the GM presenting the world as that character perceives it.
• The player will not be told the statistics behind their character’s abilities, just given descriptive hints. Discovery of one’s limits is part of the game.
• Dice will be behind the GM Screen, as will the numbers and rules of the game.
• The player will be free to focus entirely on their character’s experience and decision-making. The goal is to enjoy exploring the fantasy world and experiencing the character’s perspective.
• The power level of the game will be dialled to normal human expectations.
• Magic certainly exists but it is rare and subtle. Spirits inhabit the world and can provide aid or harm: there are spirits of disease and madness but also spirits of healing and knowledge.

Who knows if it’ll work? The only way to find out will be to hope online and start playing. I’m really hoping my friend will say yes… but even if he doesn’t, the idea stands and I’m sure that sooner or later someone will want to give it a whirl.

Game on!