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I’ll have what he’s having

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Unmute !

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My 51 year old therapist mother LOVES Pokemon go

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Frodo and Renaissance paintings.

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Do you have any recommendations for games that are meant for two players (either player and gm or gm-less two player)?

THEME: Duet Games Part 2

Hello friend! So when I started out on this quest, I wasn't explicitly looking for thoughtful and intimate games, but boy howdy did I! I hope you're ready for some intense experiences, but if you're not, then never fear - my past duet recommendations are at the bottom!

Swords as Subtext, by boyproblems.

A debate becomes a duel. A conversation becomes traded blows. A declaration of love becomes crossed blades. Swords as Subtext is a light, standalone system designed to give impact to words and to force a back and forth between two combatants. You can use this system alongside any existing tabletop game or setting, or as a one-shot for two players.

Two combatants will clash with words and force to work out their differences. Players fighting may use swords as a classic dueling mechanism, but can also fight hand-to-hand, laser sword to laser sword, or any setting-appropriate method.

A short mini-game that can be played standalone or as part of a larger story, Swords as Subtext plays out tension-heavy relationships through coin flips. These flips don't just help establish the context of the duel, they're also the resolution. You each make calls on coin tosses; correct calls are lunges and flourishes that help your character gain the upper hand, while incorrect ones are stumbles and moments of crucial vulnerability, moments where you reveal your emotional underbelly to your opponent.

Overall Swords as Subtext is a great option if you want a tense, quick, yet emotional game that can fit the setting of your choice.

The Tell Tale Ticking, by louis mccorgi lee.

The Tell Tale Ticking is a storytelling duet TTRPG about death, grief, paranoia, and being your own Unreliable narrator.

You play as The Guilty and The Perished, using tarot cards to retrace your steps leading up to the sudden, tragic death of The Perished.

Can The Guilty trust their own Memories? They cannot be certain, especially with the incessant ticking that haunts their every waking moment. The Perished follows, communicating through a metronome as they get closer to the Truth.

This game requires a deck of tarot cars, as well as a metronome. The cycle of play is fairly simple; The Guilty draws cards and answers prompts, all the while struggling to wrestle with their memories of what happened to bring about The Perished's death.

What is really interesting to me is the role of The Perished. The Perished cannot speak, at least not during the phase during which The Guilty answers prompts. The only thing you can do as the Perished is to change the tempo of the metronome, in an effort to ratchet up the tension as the game goes on. However, at night, when The Guilty dreams, you can speak and confirm or reject the memories of the Guilty, slowly bringing home what exactly happened to bring about your demise.

Lost and Hound, by Vyxael.

If you're a fan of post-apocalyptic stories, chances are you hold a special place in your heart for those loyal animal companions who would give their lives for their human partner. In a world where every day counts, Vic has Blood, the sole survivor has Dogmeat, Dr. Neville has Sam, and even Max is joined by a brave canine companion to help him along the way.

“Lost and Hound” is a Breathless scenario designed for one player and one game master, where you take on the role of a daring dog on a mission to rescue their human companion.

First up, a disclaimer: Lost and Hound is not a standalone. You need a copy of the Breathless SRD in order to play this game. Breathless is a compact system that uses dice sizes to track your dwindling resources, with different dice assigned to different skills. To replenish your reserves, you have to pause to "catch your breath," but in doing so, you give the GM a chance to introduce a new complication.

To cultivate a one-on-one experience, the author of this game casts the player as a dog in the apocalypse, looking for their human partner. You choose a dog breed and consider what skills would lend you certain strengths, and when you "catch your breath", your character must find a chew toy and gnaw on it for a few minutes to relieve stress. This pamphlet of a game also comes with some roll-tables for the GM, to help them figure out what happened to your human companion, as well as what kinds of complications the dog will run into as they figure out what to do next.

Riastrad, by Echtrae.

Queen Medb's army of Connachta marches for Ulaidh, the home of Cúchulainn, you. At the river’s cross, you meet them. With the rest of the Ulaidh army knocked out by a curse of the Morrigan, you challenge Queen Medb to single combat. Having heard of your prowess in battle, and your terrifying warp spasms, she agrees. So long as Cúchulainn can defeat her nine champions alone, Queen Medb will leave Ulaidh. Equipped with light armor, a cloak, a sword, and a magic spear, you ready yourself to defend your home. A crow watches from a nearby tree and conspires…

This one is for the mythology lovers. One person plays The Morrigan, goddess and storyteller, keeper of all NPCs and Champions, including their motivations and special abilities. The other is Cúchulainn, the protagonist and mighty warrior, who cannot be killed - unless, of course, his fatal flaw is exposed and exploited.

You resolve actions here through drawing tokens from a bag. There are 11 tokens: 5 Vigilance, 5 Fury, and 1 Regret. The Morrigan interprets the results by cross-referencing Cúchulainn's intent with the tokens drawn. Once the bag is empty, Cúchulainn has warp spasms, a bloodthirsty fury that destroys everything in his wake, but renders him un-killable. The game ends in a smoking-gun kind of fashion; Cúchulainn will die, but in a manner that is delayed due to the cycle of game actions. (I'd go into detail, but that would spoil the game. If you play the Morrigan, you'll know more.)

Bootstrapping, by The Logbook Project.

Bootstrapping is a 2-player card-based story game about the accidental creation of a sentient AI and its path to omnipotence as it overrides and rewrites itself in light of its interactions with humanity. It is a game about how we teach and learn the things we value and the impact of nurture versus nature. The game takes 1 to 2 hours to play.

Bootstrapping is a series of up to 7 micro-games. While some will always be played, others might not be, and the ordering of the games varies. It requires no dice or other randomizers, and the players' experiences are highly asymmetrical, providing replay value even between the same two players.

No further notes for this one, as I feel like the description from the store page is about a good as a summary as I can give. I like the idea that you can play the same twice with the same two players, and have a different experience each time. You can get the physical version of Bootstrapping here.

Tempestkin, by Ranarh.

In the flat windy land of the Elders, your tribe's best protection is your storm. You live in its eternal eye - as the generations before you have, and those after you still will. The stormtamers, chosen to lead the dialogue between your two sides, help facilitate common ground between the tribe's will to go their own way, their faith in their storm godparent, and the storm's drive to rush off somewhere and its attachment to its people. Managing your scarce resources is never easy but together, you make do.

Still, storms and people are very different beasts, and the two of you don't always align. Sometimes the unfathomable storm goes the opposite way without explanation, and sometimes the fickle humans do as they will, regardless of custom.

This is a game about living together and learning how to navigate miscommunication, underestimating needs, overestimating one's own importance, ignoring each-other, and a number of ways that attempting to form community can run into barriers and obstacles. It's got beautiful art, which was enough to grab my attention, although I don't own the game so I don't know anything about the mechanics. I'm guessing that according to the art, there is a lot of storm and weather iconography that populates this world.

It also looks like Tempestkin takes place in a world shared by a series of games, as the storefront has links to a few other game options, all set in the same world.

Home, by alxlinear.

One player is the Guest: someone who doesn't remember who they are but who has accepted the House's silent invitation.

The other is the Home: a strange place filled with rooms, objects and people.

Together, you'll explore each room to uncover fragments of memory, until the final revelation:

WHY WAS THE GUEST INVITED HERE?

Home breaks the game into rooms, each of which is the central focus of a scene between The Home and the Guest. The Home introduces each room and describes it, including at least two key objects important to the Guest. The Guest explores the rooms by asking questions, especially about the contents and purpose of the room. At some point, the Guest will get a chance to exercise their agency, by selecting a Key object (or more) and describing what kinds of memories or feelings they have attached to each object.

With each cycle like this, the two of you will discover why the Guest is here. You can explore as many rooms as you like; the story ends when the Guest decides whether they will stay here or leave. I think the open-ended-ness of this game allows for you to dive into horror, intense internal journeys, mystery, and so much more. It just depends on the kind of game you're in the mood for!

Other Duet-Themed Posts...

Duet Games (Part 1)

Monstrous Duets

Duet Games For Beginners

Two-Player Flirty Games

Epic Two-Player Games

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Flaming Mist, Photoshop illustration by Ben J

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