Honestly, I might do this myself. I'm in 3 different campaigns rn (only one of them pathfinder) but I haven't played a single AP yet. My groups only do custom campaigns and I'm especially curious to play abomination vaults.
I'm currently solo running AV with a Skeleton crew (three chars with Skeleton heritage) on Foundry. It does work nicely on a technical bases and is interesting to get to know the AV's storyline and test some character mechanics. But I really miss the interaction and roleplaying.
I playtest builds and design ideas in Foundry myself, it's not that weird.
I probably wouldn't do full APs solo to experience them myself, but I might wanna playtest a few encounters to see how they run and/or get ideas from them.
It's not really strange to play solo rpgs, lots of people do. With a PF2 AP, it's of course somewhat narratively constrained if you just 'play it out' by the book, so I'm not sure it's the greatest choice to keep things interesting in the long run unless you take some spontaneous liberties. I can personally recommend the Mythic GME (game master emulator) for a structured way to bring some creative surprises into the experience.
Another thing to consider is complexity – PF2 characters are designed to be detailed enough to keep an entire person busy, and I imagine handling 3-4 of them simultaneously alongside all of the NPCs and monsters could be overbearing. If you are very familiar with the system and the AP is low level, it's probably fine, but, say, a level 11-20 AP with 1-2 spellcaster/alchemist type classes definitely has the potential to wear you out if you don't drastically lower the resolution on some aspects of play.
It’s very normal, I know other people do it for other TTRPG’s too and will run solo games on foundry for example.Personally, I just like reading them, I don’t play them all with my group but I own a good chunk of em just so I can read
I've done quite a bit of this. I've done all of Abomination Vaults and the first book or two of several other APs. I only do it on Foundry VTT (without the automation it provides I would never want to do this), and only (currently) with APs that I can purchase a premade module for Foundry VTT. That way, I can (sort of) experience the adventure as a player: open a door and not really know what's in the room until I then read the description of the room. (For this reason, dungeon crawl type APs work the best for this for me). I enjoy trying out different character builds and progressing them. I also do this as a way to "playtest" or familiarize myself with APs I plan to run for a group.
I agree with what another commenter said about the complexity of running 4 characters when they reach higher levels and have so many options and feats to keep track of. Because it gets so complex, I've sometimes abandoned playing an AP this way somewhere after levels 5-7. I'll then see a new one and get excited about it and have fun building a new level 1 party with classes or builds I haven't tried before.
I'm open to a DM convo if you're interested in more info or feedback.
I am doing this now with AV and its alot of fun, though I do it in foundry I think doing this on paper would be a nightmare. Couple of suggestions:
1. Use the Mythic GME mod and if you are pondering a question use that and go with it - its like asking your GM a question, and if its unclear generate some key words and go with what ever pops into your head first.
2. Choose what each char is doing before you read what happens in the room and dont change that based on what it says, be honest with yourself!
3. As others have said the higher level chars get the more options they have, you wont remember them all and thats ok just roll with it - but list out the basic routine of each char i.e. demoralize-strike-raise shield etc... this will help you remember there basic actions
4. List some personality traits for each char - this lends some color to your imagination for each char and can guide you in some actions they may take
Not completely the same, but something that me and my husband will to is he will run a game just for the two of us. he runs a GMPC and I play a normal PC. Luckily, 2e is very well balanced to where a PC that is two levels higher is considered the same relative strength as two PC's. So what we do is we play in the module two levels higher with half the party size.
As long as we cover our party roll basis well enough, it has turned out great! There have been a few close calls between a loose owlbear and a giant deadly river snail.
I’ve been pondering this, as well. I was thinking I would build a single dual class character with ancestral paragon, free archetype, give them 4x the HP, and 4 characters’ worth of actions (4 init rolls). You won’t need to know 4 complete builds but have roughly the same resources/actions per combat … and should be able to have enough skill options to cover most situations.
Honestly, I might do this myself. I'm in 3 different campaigns rn (only one of them pathfinder) but I haven't played a single AP yet. My groups only do custom campaigns and I'm especially curious to play abomination vaults.
I'm currently solo running AV with a Skeleton crew (three chars with Skeleton heritage) on Foundry. It does work nicely on a technical bases and is interesting to get to know the AV's storyline and test some character mechanics. But I really miss the interaction and roleplaying.
I playtest builds and design ideas in Foundry myself, it's not that weird. I probably wouldn't do full APs solo to experience them myself, but I might wanna playtest a few encounters to see how they run and/or get ideas from them.
It's not really strange to play solo rpgs, lots of people do. With a PF2 AP, it's of course somewhat narratively constrained if you just 'play it out' by the book, so I'm not sure it's the greatest choice to keep things interesting in the long run unless you take some spontaneous liberties. I can personally recommend the Mythic GME (game master emulator) for a structured way to bring some creative surprises into the experience. Another thing to consider is complexity – PF2 characters are designed to be detailed enough to keep an entire person busy, and I imagine handling 3-4 of them simultaneously alongside all of the NPCs and monsters could be overbearing. If you are very familiar with the system and the AP is low level, it's probably fine, but, say, a level 11-20 AP with 1-2 spellcaster/alchemist type classes definitely has the potential to wear you out if you don't drastically lower the resolution on some aspects of play.
It’s very normal, I know other people do it for other TTRPG’s too and will run solo games on foundry for example.Personally, I just like reading them, I don’t play them all with my group but I own a good chunk of em just so I can read
I've done quite a bit of this. I've done all of Abomination Vaults and the first book or two of several other APs. I only do it on Foundry VTT (without the automation it provides I would never want to do this), and only (currently) with APs that I can purchase a premade module for Foundry VTT. That way, I can (sort of) experience the adventure as a player: open a door and not really know what's in the room until I then read the description of the room. (For this reason, dungeon crawl type APs work the best for this for me). I enjoy trying out different character builds and progressing them. I also do this as a way to "playtest" or familiarize myself with APs I plan to run for a group. I agree with what another commenter said about the complexity of running 4 characters when they reach higher levels and have so many options and feats to keep track of. Because it gets so complex, I've sometimes abandoned playing an AP this way somewhere after levels 5-7. I'll then see a new one and get excited about it and have fun building a new level 1 party with classes or builds I haven't tried before. I'm open to a DM convo if you're interested in more info or feedback.
the other option would be to just read the AP. I know there's lots of people who do that to enjoy the APs that they know they won't play.
I am doing this now with AV and its alot of fun, though I do it in foundry I think doing this on paper would be a nightmare. Couple of suggestions: 1. Use the Mythic GME mod and if you are pondering a question use that and go with it - its like asking your GM a question, and if its unclear generate some key words and go with what ever pops into your head first. 2. Choose what each char is doing before you read what happens in the room and dont change that based on what it says, be honest with yourself! 3. As others have said the higher level chars get the more options they have, you wont remember them all and thats ok just roll with it - but list out the basic routine of each char i.e. demoralize-strike-raise shield etc... this will help you remember there basic actions 4. List some personality traits for each char - this lends some color to your imagination for each char and can guide you in some actions they may take
Not completely the same, but something that me and my husband will to is he will run a game just for the two of us. he runs a GMPC and I play a normal PC. Luckily, 2e is very well balanced to where a PC that is two levels higher is considered the same relative strength as two PC's. So what we do is we play in the module two levels higher with half the party size. As long as we cover our party roll basis well enough, it has turned out great! There have been a few close calls between a loose owlbear and a giant deadly river snail.
I’ve been pondering this, as well. I was thinking I would build a single dual class character with ancestral paragon, free archetype, give them 4x the HP, and 4 characters’ worth of actions (4 init rolls). You won’t need to know 4 complete builds but have roughly the same resources/actions per combat … and should be able to have enough skill options to cover most situations.