Looking for some tabletop games to play one-on-one this Valentine’s Day? Never fear! Here are some great games to play with a partner, friend, or anyone else.
Star Crossed from Bully Pulpit HQ
Alex Roberts’ Star Crossed is a game all about tension, excitement, and, occasionally, heartbreak. This unique RPG uses a tower of blocks to facilitate storytelling between two players. As the romance escalates, players take turns removing blocks from a tower and placing them on top of the structure.
If the tower falls, the heart wins out–your characters act on their feelings for each other. How many bricks you’ve pulled will determine whether or not that act ends in heartbreak.
If you’re able to play Star Crossed in-person, try using the VTT as an interactive mood-board, collecting images and art to use as inspiration for your chosen setting. If you’re looking to play online, consider setting up a rollable table to simulate the tower.
You & I: Roleplaying Games for Two from Ginger Goat
Ginger Goat’s anthology of two-player roleplaying games comes with 15 different games from 17 designers, each one with its own unique setting, theme, genre, and story. There are games about tragedy, intimacy, friendship, and everything in between. While some of these games are built around in-person play, plenty of them work well on a digital-only platform, too.
Disclosure: Roll20’s own Stephanie Bryant contributed to one of the titles featured in this anthology!
Cthulhu Confidential from Pelgrane Press
Based on Robin D. Laws’ GUMSHOE One-2-One system, Cthulhu Confidential (Robin D. Laws, Chris Spivey, Ruth Tillman) is a roleplaying game for one player and one GM, built to support stories of hard-boiled detectives and supernatural, noir-themed mysteries.
With three pre-built characters and a handful of ready-to-play scenarios included, getting an ad-hoc game of Cthulhu Confidential up and running is quick and easy. Plus, it’s perfect for the virtual tabletop. If you’ve got a friend or partner interested in TTRPGs who’s a little nervous about playing with a larger group, Cthulhu Confidential just might be the best introduction to the hobby you can provide.
GM a Solo Adventure
Speaking of “one GM and one player,” don’t write off a solo adventure with a system or game you’re already comfortable with! There are plenty of one-player adventures available for practically any system you can imagine. Sure, a solo dungeon crawl doesn’t sound like the most romantic evening, but collaborating together on a story of heroes, villains, heartbreak, and victory has its charms.
If you need to stay in touch with someone special, a weekly solo game can be a great way to stay connected.
The Quiet Year from Avery Alder
Avery Alder’s The Quiet Year is a collaborative mapmaking game that can easily support only two players. In it, you’ll work together to imagine a society living in the shadow of a recent collapse, and how they work together to rebuild in the year that follows that fall.
The Quiet Year works well on Roll20. Use the VTT as a canvas to imagine and work together with someone and, ultimately, tell a story that wholly belongs to the two of you.
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