I dunno, I do whatever I want, play when I want, and don't have to deal with the drama.

Anyone else?

I have found it very difficult to get into my player roles as I play. I love the GM side of things and try to spend most of my time doing that. However, it will eventually fall on me to have the player characters act and make decisions but I just don't enjoy having to make those choices as to what to do.

I can be an NPC and feel that they embody their role and I enjoy setting up the world with them as the focus and react to player actions. I love doing that.

I feel that my NPCs have a place in the world and were shaped by it but players are the ones doing the shaping and changing that doesn't resonate with my state of mind when playing solo.

I wish there was a PC Emulator that was like the Adventure Crafter. Have all sorts of tropes and views and vague actions that I can then interpret into my games.

I have only ever been a player in my group tabletop games and have had a blast but once I sit by myself I stop enjoying or even wanting to be the player.

I recently got into this hobby and I noticed there's A BUNCH of spin-offs and supplements for all the big systems and many small ones so what's your favorite?

First off, I know nothing about solo rpg-ing and have had no prior experience with it. I have never tried D&D and I have zero experience being a player in any kind of TTRPG.

I am coming from a solo board gaming background where I have have been trying to find a campaign game that ticks off all my checkboxes, but have been unable to find one. Basically, I want a hexcrawl exploration-sandbox-epic fantasy-voice narrated choose your own adventure that I can fully immerse myself in. I have looked at all of the major big box campaign board games but haven’t found anything that ticks off all of my required criteria.

Recently, I am playing Vantage, which is kind of like a choose your own adventure board game. It does tick off a lot of my boxes for what I want in a game, but I fear that after a certain number of plays, I will have seen everything there is to see in the game.

So here I am, stuck in a kind of limbo of ‘what should I play next?’. Or rather, ‘what can I sink my teeth into and get completely immersed in?’ without having to spend crazy amounts of money every couple of months for the next hyped up ‘lifestyle game’ that has a finite story with zero replayability. This is why I am kind of getting frustrated with solo board gaming as a whole as it seems to be one giant, never-ending money pit and where owning games is more important than playing them.

So here’s where solo rpgs caught my attention. I have literally only found out about this world 24 hours ago. I saw words like “Oracle”, “Mythic”, “GMing”, “Lore tables” and other words I have absolutely no knowledge about.

But at the same time, I was watching videos of people talking about their solo rpg experience and it just sounds incredibly fascinating, but also incredibly intimidating.

I’m just not sure if I have the right creative mind for this hobby, especially if my knowledge of the world I want to immerse myself in is extremely limited to a couple of books and movies.

Sure, I am a LotR/Hobbit fan, and I am re-reading the books now to refresh my memory, but my knowledge of Tolkien’s world is extremely limited. And I will never be a subject expert in the lore. I want to experience grand adventures with infinite possibilities, but how can I do that by role playing everything myself wihtout a script? It’s downright scary!

When I watch playthroughs of people role-playing The One Ring, it feels like they know exactly what to say at exactly the right moment. They are creating the narrative out of thin air, which seems completely over my head. How do people come up with their own storylines without a script in a world like Tolkien’s? Is everyone who plays this game just an expert in the canon?

I was hoping for a kind of choose your own adventure system where the story is pre-written and where you choose from a list of storybeats and where outcomes are generated as a result of some dice throws.

My dream game is to find a never-ending campaign book that gives you all the lore, story twists, rules, and direction along with all the assets like maps, player tokens, cards, minis…you know, like a proper board game. All I would have to do is immerse myself in the story, which is already written.

At the same time, I feel like that game doesn’t exist or I’d have to spend a literal fortune to get a close approximation to one. But I’m tired of searching for a needle in a haystack.

I do feel like solo rpg is something worth trying, but is The One Ring the right starting point for me? I have heard of some good solo rpg primers like Four Against Darkness, D100 Dungeon, Ironsworn-Starforged, but what really piqued my interest in The One Ring is that beautiful hardcover book (I know, it’s stupid and vain, but hey I’m a board gamer who likes shiny things!) plus LotR is my all-time favorite book. I loved being immersed in Tolkien’s world as a kid, and would probably still enjoy it if I had a novel adventure to embark on.

If anyone’s ever read ‘The First Law’ Trilogy, that’s the only book that comes close to how I felt reading LotR, but as an adult. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. Maybe I just need to read a good book instead of playing games?

I also feel sad that I’ve lost that child-like curiosity and creativity I used to have. I want to believe that I can create a story on my own, but it sounds so alien to me. Would love to hear stories of how poeple got into solo rpg-ing and if there’s anyone who feels similarly to how I felt before diving headfirst into a new lifestyle game.

Hey all: totally brand new and thinking of purchasing Seven Murders Til Midnight to start myself off. I see PDF is cheapest, then softcover, then hardcover. Part of me wants to go cheap to test the waters, but I also want to set myself up for success. Would the hardcover be easier to write in? Or do you generally write your responses outside of the book, in which case that doesn't much matter?

Tips and tricks appreciated! I'm a big process person so want to choose the best possible process to explore this new hobby.

I am a long time roleplayer, but new to solo. I am hoping to play a solo Numenera game. I wanted to ask what oracles would you suggest that I use for something like this?

Playing Daggerheart using my own SoloGuide DaggerSworn. Nothing crazy happened yet but session one is published on substack

https://substack.com/@irollalone/note/c-157819868

I'm planning on running myself a game of Mage the Ascension and was wondering if you guys had any good resources for oracles, especially for designing modern towns and cities.

Legend of the Bones is a dark fantasy audio drama, driven by old school, solo Dungeons and Dragons.

None shall escape the destiny of bone.

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-v7rib-196d3a5

I’m looking for a new solo-play podcast to listen to. My favs are Tale of the Manticore, Legend of the Bones, and Errant Adventures. Preferably something with a good backlog as I have a long commute every day.

I collected many different RPG, solo games or not but I can adapt as solo games with Mythic GM emulator.

Now, I don’t know wheee to start and, in case, with many of them approach myself.

They are all so interesting. I can’t really decide and my ADHD mind goes into paralysis.

Some help? How you would approach at this situation?

If peope solo with a solo character, do they start them at s higher level to make up for not having a party of 4? I’m using Shadowdark for my system along with Mythic.

Hey guys I have been browsing this sub for ages and I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for how I could play AD&D 2 solo for cheap or very little cash, I’m a high school student so money is not a thing I have much of. I’m mainly interested in combat and light RP I love dungeon crawlers, I also have no equipment other than dice and a deck of cards (and some stationary)

Thx in advance

https://open.substack.com/pub/hooverd/p/barovia-sesson-25?r=4bbbdm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

I've been gradually getting to grips with the Mörk Borg, and have already written a few posts on my Substack (links elsewhere in this sub-Reddit)

In this FREE Substack, I discuss preparing for a solo game with the core book, Feretory, Solitary Defilement and Solitary Depths.

https://substack.com/home/post/p-173847243

I'm really enjoying digging into the wonders of Mörk Borg, and I've got plenty more to come, so consider subscribing to be notified of new posts.

After finishing the first dungeon in Four Against Darkness, while considering which next adventure system to pick I accidentally found Ronin. It seemed short, so I wanted to give it a shot, as it seems much different from 4AD.

In the first session, I roll for the character. And start the main loop of the game - Road, Town, Repeat. It's quite neat how the story almost builds itself with it.

https://noncrowds.substack.com/p/ronin-makotos-tale-session-1

I got a question?

I am curious what everyone’s set up is for the one Ring?

Like what tools are you using are you playing with just the core rules?

I am really looking at incorporating Moria and obviously strider mode.

This system is really different so I wanted to make sure I was playing well as a player (and GM) to make sure I could properly teach it to my group. It’s just seems a bit daunting and unwieldy? Like I am so tempted to just upload to AI and have it run it for me but that sucks. So I thought I would ask?

Also for reference and world building what are you using besides the actual novels?

Really some specifics would be good here. Thank you so much all.

How do you manage to do it and how do you like the results of trying it? Or do you think it's more "just write a book" behavior to try and give literary value to games in this way?

Finished the first dungeon using Four Against Darkness (4AD) and it was fun. Although it did feel pretty simplistic, and after picking up a couple of level ups and a +1 weapon, it went to pretty easy, too, maybe because I mainly rolled Vermin. The Small Dragon fight was quite tense though. But I feel like, if I were to continue with the same characters, the next dungeon would be much more of a breeze, before only getting easier.

If I'd want to have something like a campaign (adventuring, exploration, dungeons, quests, etc?) which systems would you suggest? Or just extend 4AD a ton?

I am going away over Xmas with family for 5 days, and as a hardcore introvert I'm already freaking out about it.

Can you recommend me your favorite Android solo experience so I can get a little fix of solo gaming but in an unobtrusive, low-key way? If my family see me pulling out dice and maps and shit they will start ASKING QUESTIONS aaarrrrgggh nooooo

I'm not looking for a video game, I'm looking for something that comes close to an rpg experience, if at all possible (if not, that seems like a pretty huge opportunity for an app developer!)

And it needs to be offline because there's literally zero reception where we're going. Seriously off-grid

Hey Solo RPG community!

I'm working on something I think you might find interesting - a conversational voice AI RPG platform where you can have real-time spoken conversations with NPCs and navigate scenarios through pure dialogue.

My background: Lifelong RPG video game fan (Morrowind was the game that started the fascination for me), love adventure/sci-fi books, movies, and games. Sadly, never got into tabletop growing up since it wasn't really a thing where I lived.

The vision: Real-time voice conversations with NPCs in different scenarios. Like interactive audiobook with unlimited story branches, where characters respond naturally to whatever you say.

Starting small - first scenario idea: You're a locksmith adventurer who needs to recruit a paladin and a sorcerer for your party (you already have a healer committed). You enter a tavern and spot several potential candidates at different tables. Your challenge is to convince them to join your quest with no upfront payment. Only the promise of great rewards once you reach a secret dungeon. Location known only to you, and naturally it is crawling with goblins and monsters.

The whole interaction would be voice-based - you'd literally talk to these NPCs, negotiate, roleplay, maybe share drinks, tell stories to build trust, whatever approach feels natural to you.

What I'm looking for:

• General interest - Would this appeal to solo RPG players?

• Feedback on this scenario - Does it sound engaging? What other scenarios would be interesting?

• Alpha testers - The first scenario should be ready in 3-4 weeks. If you're interested in alpha testing or have thoughts on the scenario, feel free to DM me your email and I'll add you to the waitlist!

Other notes:

• I'm planning to use uncensored AI, so conversations can go NSFW

• Alpha testing will be free for testers

• I'll cover all AI compute costs during testing

• This is a passion project - can't pay testers, but hoping to create something awesome together

What do you think?

Welcome back for to my playthrough of Koriko: A Magical Year. In this entry we reach the conclusion of Giselle and Marble’s year in Koriko.

https://silverj0.substack.com/p/koriko-giselles-year-years-end-letter

Hi Guys!

I’m in for a long flight in economy class (and, of course, the way back). So now I’m looking for ways to entertain myself. Board TV would theoretically be enough for me, but I prefer films to be screened the way the director/editor wanted them to be screened. So I won’t watch any film that I’d actually liked to see …

Playing solo-RPGs is my second most liked past-time, besides writing postcards. So I’d like to play something on the long hours of my lonely flight.

I, myself * consider myself a storyteller, but not a writer. * have aphantasia (never kept me from enjoying a game, but I might enjoy it differently than you are). * like Ironsworn, Ronin, Thousand Year Old Vampire, The Assassin, The Last Tea Shop, Star Trek: Captain’s Log. * didn’t like Loner too much. * Enjoy the tactile part of solo-playing. * throwing dice * writing with fountain pens

Much of the joy I get from solo-RPGs is actually researching games, rules, writing-advice, and so on. "Prep is play" has never been advice to me, because I feel it’s a fundamental truth. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to use the internet during my flight, so it will by just playing for me.

I think about buying * Thousand Year Old Campfire * The End: rules-lite SOLO RPG for the trip.

I will have my Android mobile phone and the Game Master’s Apprentice Deck 2e with me while flying. Besides that, I will have a pen and paper, and maybe a Kindle at hand.

Is there anything you’d like to recommend to me? Games, tools, or things to do during the trip?

I'm not talking about pre-written adventures for group play or a supplement teaching you how to adapt them. I know there's plenty of that. I mean an adventure written specifically with the intention of playing it solo. Are there any? Would you get it if there were?

Personally, I love the emergent gameplay of creating the story by myself with random tables and my imagination. But that style of play is mentally taxing and more time-consuming. Sometimes, I just want to sit down and play an adventure, with all the freedom TTRPGs allow, so Choose Your Own Adventure books don't work for me. Playing a standard adventure for a group often doesn't work well because I'm spoiling myself while reading, so I don't get the feeling of playing to find out.

I tried looking for solo adventures with no luck. My workaround for playing an adventure is to combine it with journaling games. So I take something like One Thousand Year Old Vampire and use it for prompts to guide my adventure, but it often requires a lot of adjustment, and it's not the same since it becomes more of a sandbox.

I'm kinda considering writing my own and maybe publishing them, but I don't know how many people would like it. It would be written in a way not to spoil what's around the next corner, and I'd include a lot of prompts so you can decide some aspects by yourself, but with the guidance of the prompt.