G.R.E.Y System
Generated Roleplaying Entertainment for You!
If you are looking for a simple and fun way to play solo rpg games with or without AIs, you might want to check out this small rpg system.
It is designed to let you focus on your protagonist and their story, without having to worry about complex rules or calculations. You can adjust the difficulty of the game based on the context of the situation, making it more immersive and cinematic. This is also focused on those who want to just use a simple system to use as a creative tool while they're writing their own stories.
You don’t need to keep track of many details or numbers, so you can stay in the flow of the plot as much as possible. This system is ideal for anyone who wants to enjoy a solo rpg adventure with minimal hassle and maximum creativity.
The Character Sheet
To begin with, your character will be the only one with a character sheet. You can, if you want, create a sheet for really important NPCs or other PJs if you have more than one, however, this would just slow things down. Your sheet consists of a series of stats and some descriptors.
Stats
You have 17 points to distribute among the following attributes, with a maximum of 5 each:
Strength: Used for phyisical fighting, lifting things, breaking things, resisting physical stress, etc
Agility: Used for running, climbing, acrobatics, stealth, etc
Intelligence: Used for solving puzzles, finding clues, noticing things, etc
Influence: Used for talking with people, intimidating, etc
Willpower: Used for mental stress, resisting persuasion, sanity checks, casting magic, etc
Class (your class here): This is a special skill that you will use specifically for things related to your character's job. Is your character a knight? This class is related to riding horses, creating strategies in the battlefield, etc. Is your character a thief? This class is related to stealing, concealing things, etc.
To succeed in a task, you need to roll 1d20+skill (nat 20 doubles your stat). You need to roll equal or higher than the difficulty (DC).
The DC starts at 15, but gets modified by the context and by your descriptors, which adds or subtracts to the DC.
Descriptors
You will also have 3-4 descriptors for important things about your character. Consider each descriptor as a short one-line description about your character. Don't go overboard on this topic, just tell things about your character that may or may not influence their rolls.
Every time you succeed completing a quest, or defeat an enemy, you win 2 Experience. With 10, you are able to "level up" one of your stats, or change one of your descriptors.
The Example
Helm Feringray
Strength: 3
Agility: 4
Intelligence: 2
Influence: 2
Willpower: 2
Assassin: 3Exp: 0
- Natural Talent For Killing
- Needs To Buy Family's Freedom
- Works as Mercenary, Former Adventurer
- Was Betrayed By His Former Companions
The Difficulty Checks
To know the difficulty of your actions, this system uses a table of questions based on the context you are in. The difficulty starts at 15, and based on what you answer in the questions, this number can increase or decrease.
After determining the difficulty of your action, you just need to roll 1d20 and add the skill related to your action.
If you answer YES to any of these questions, add +2 to the CD (starts at 15)
- Is the opposition active?
- Is your character overpowered or outnumbered? (add +2 every 2 opposition npc on scene that outnumbers you and your allies )
- Is the situation you find yourself in frantic or stressful for your character?
- Can any of your character's descriptors hinder the roll? (add +2 every descriptor that applies)
- Does the scene you are in have any elements that could passively hinder your action, such as low visibility, slippery terrain, etc.? (add +2 per element)
- Would doing this action normally require some special tool, weapon or information that you don't have?
- Would doing this action require you to be part of a class that you are not?
- Is the action completely crazy, or unlikely to succeed?
If you answer YES to any of these questions, subtract -2 to the CD (starts at 15)
- Do you have any allies in scene?
- Are you overpowering or outnumbering your enemy? (subtract -2 every 2 allies that outnumbers your opposition)
- Do you find yourself in a calm situation or one over which you have control?
- Can any of your character's descriptors help the roll (subtract -2 every descriptor that applies)
- Does the scene you are in have any elements that could passively help your action? (subtract -2 per element)
- Do you have any tool, object, weapon or information to help you with your roll?
- Are you part of a class that should do this kind of action with ease?
- Is the action stupidly easy to succeed in general?
The Battle System
Since your protagonist is the only character that will have a character sheet, the battles consist of a series of tests.
Before you begin, consider the difficulty for your rolls based on the questionnaire above but adapted for your opponent (or opponents).
Then, decide how many rounds the battle will take. I recommend ranging from 3-5, but you can go higher if you think your opponent should be really powerful. It all depends on what you want for your plot.
Battle Turns
The default battle follows this pattern:
Turn 1: Normal Roll
Turn 2: Normal Roll
Turn 3: Random Event (A Twist!) + Roll (if applicable)
Turn 4: Roll (+2 to the character affected by the random event)
Turn 5: Roll (+4 to the character that has the upper hand)
At the end of the battle, count how many successes you had. If you have at least 3, you win.
This Battle format is based on the Japanese story development structure Kishōtenketsu, based on Introduction, Development, Twist and Conclusion. If you want, you can change the order in which the elements occur by adding modifiers at different parts of the battle.
You can, for example, make the first few turns all have some negative modifier, meaning the introduction part, the characters still testing how much one can overpower the other's abilities, or you can put more than one random event in the battle. This will be necessary eventually if you have battles longer than 5 turns.
The Random Events
With Random Event, here you can use the random event table you see fit. This system was used with the Mythic rpg system in mind, however, you can use any kind of random event table you want, or just think of something yourself if you want. The important thing is to have something that changes the stakes of the battle in order to keep it frenetic and fun.