Anyone else using Roll20 to play single player?

I've been running a D&D 4e campaign on my own, where I control three PCs and the GM. I roleplay each character and the NPCs. In combat I treat it like a game of chess verus myself, with deep tactical play. It's been a ton of fun and has really flexed my imagination. Haven't done this kind of playing since I was a little kid creating epic adventures with action figures in my backyard.

But then there's a certain stigma to playing alone. Reminds me of the Spaceballs scene, where Helmet plays with his dolls...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMxTFqPET5I

I know Roll20 is about building community, but sometimes its fun to build a narrative that's entirely your own. Anyone else try this on Roll20?

That's, actually kind of a neat idea.
Besides the novel entertainment value I suppose it's also useful for testing out combats from the GM's point of view.
I suppose with the deck feature it might even be possible to upload single player variants of various trading card games.
Or even single player board games and puzzles.

Hey Lex, you might want to look into the Mythic GM Emulator - which automates or randomizes some of the GM tasks so that you can get a bit more feel of playing without having to run everything yourself.  I've never used it, but I have read groups using it to do GM-less play as well as giving a more full single player experience.

I've used Mythic's system a bit, and from what I can tell, it really doesn't go a lot further than a probability engine.  Yes/no questions, with modifiers.  You could get about as far rolling dice any time you're not sure how something should go, and setting a 'target number' for a potential success.

I'm not knocking Mythic, per se, but I didn't find it much in the way of a 'GM Emulator', either.

A good GM is trying to make things more fun, and if too many things are left to chance, it wouldn't be as epic. So there's no internal conflict in doing both GM and PCs, because ultimately the goal is tell an epic adventure. But I agree that sometimes you need to make an impartial decision. And nothings easier then /r D20 vs a number in your head. Love it! 

As much fun as I'm having in single player, I'd also love to try being a GM while also controlling a PC in the party with other people. The scenario could be where the heroes fight a boss who upon defeat gives his word to help the party. The players must then take everything that player says with suspicion (both because he's controlled by the GM and because he was an old foe). The best part is that instead of just being an NPC, you actually use a real character sheet, maybe even one of your old characters with a neutral or evil alignment. Then you can level him with the party, and have all the fun and satisfaction of controlling a PC while also directing the adventure as GM.

Not sure if that's often done. But it looks like Roll20 is built to support one person playing both GM and a PC in a live game.

Reading the posts on LFG forums, it sounds like alot of GMs really miss the experience of being a player. I think they long for the tactical depth of combat as a player, which is much much richer than the limited powers of monsters (even solos don't have enough powers to satisfy me), so this could make GM'ing even more fun.

@Bob - Bummer, I was hoping there was more to it than just that.  Thanks for the info, you've saved me some money.

@Lex - I would be really, really careful about having such a character.  While its's not impossible for this to work well for both the players and the GM, it can quickly turn into a frustrating experience for the players.  Here's a link to a relevant TV Tropes page that explains the dangers.

If you want the same tactical experience as the players and the system you're using doesn't currently support it, you might want to use this as an opportunity to branch out and try other systems.

I appreciate the warning Dave. Great post on TV Tropes!

There is a little more to Mythic than just the probability.

You ask a yes or no question.  Decide the probability then roll for the result.  Levels of positive or negative answers.

On certain rolls it calls for an event that changes the flow of the plot.

You can join the yahoo group and download a handy little program that does the rolls, gives the results and logs the session.  You could get the hang of how Mythic works by experimenting with the program without shelling anything out.