Re: Ever Play In A Game That Was Intended To Be Solo With Others
I absolutely sympathise with those situations. If youre interested in looking into solo games, they can be really good and really rewarding, but I would give two bits of advice if you want to have a good chance of success:
A) Be picky with your players when it's a solo game.
Solo games aren't for everyone, and you obviously need to have the right match between you and your player for it to work, because if that's off, there's nowhere to hide.
To give yourself the best chance to make them work, you need to be careful about how you pick your player. As a rule, I tend not to advertise a solo game on the Players Wanted thread, and instead either approach players from games where I play and see if they'd be interested in the side project, or answer good quality 'GM Wanted' threads where you like the sound of what's being put forward.
Once youve found someone who is interested, spend some time talking to them about what you both want and how to achieve it. For my recent games, I tend to do at least 15-20 posts of discussion on theme, tone, mood, setting, likes and dislikes, what we wanted from the game, what we didn't want, before I even set up the skeleton for the game. And if it doesn't feel right, don't be afraid to say no and keep looking.
It doesn't guarantee that you won't meet some of the issues you mention, but it does at least mean you can avoid players who might not be truly dedicated to the format, and you build investment with them which means they are probably less likely to leave if they're having a bad time.
B) Really focus on building a rapport with your players.
Once you've got the game, communicate with your player as much OOC and be as accomodating as possible to their real life commitments - try to avoid the mindset of posting rates and just focus on keeping a high quality of post, while expecting the same in response.
Remember that you're not so much the GM as their writing partner - there shouldn't be a need to moderate the OOC or worry about showing favouritism to a single player, so be more willing to discuss how the game is going with them, ask for feedback and take it on board, let them see a bit behind the curtain to what you are planning (without going into too much detail) and ask them if that seems to be interesting.
If you can build that rapport, then you're more likely to remain as one of the core games that they will want to keep even if they have to downsize. In the event they have IRL issues, they're much more likely to let you know and keep you updated (and respect when you have them too), and even if you perhaps have to accept a suspension of play for a month or so and just chatting in the OOC, that patience is more likely to pay off in the long run (at least one of mine lasted more than 8 years!)
In all, solo games arent for everyone, and they suit crunchy games a little bit less than more open ended, character/drama focused ones, but if you can get a good one, its some of the most rewarding play I've had on either RPOL or the tabletop.