Join us to explore the growing world of solo role-playing games, from zines (Thru-Hiker, Hope is Not a Plan) to journaling games (Thousand-Year-Old Vampire, Be Like A Crow) to full-fledged systems like Ironsworn and Star Trek: Captain’s Log.
We discuss the appeal, challenges, and deeply personal nature of solo gaming, emphasizing discovery, immersion, and the freedom to explore without an audience. Along the way, we share favorite titles, philosophical insights, and unexpected parallels to acid trips and corporate burnout.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Solo Role-Playing Games
02:51 Types of Solo RPGs
05:03 Reasons for Playing Solo RPGs
09:06 Exploring Specific Solo RPGs
18:12 Adapting Traditional RPGs for Solo Play
27:22 Solo Mode Board Games
28:17 The Value of Solo Play in RPGs
30:36 Mindset and Preparation for Solo Gaming
34:16 Exploring Narrative Flexibility in Solo RPGs
38:21 Understanding the Complexity of Game Mechanics
44:43 Successes and Challenges in Solo RPG Experiences
49:12 The Importance of Immersion and Aesthetics in Gaming
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Show Notes
What are Solo Role-Playing Games? And why do we play them?
What are they?
- Solo RPGs are games that you plan on your own, without a gaming group.
- Approaches
- Focused zine-style games (Be Like A Crow, Loner)
- Dedicated full Solo RPGs (Ironsworn )
- Adapting traditional RPGs to solo (Dungeons & Dragons, Shadowdark)
- Journaling Games (Thousand-Year-Old Vampire, Secrets of the Vibrant Isle, Journey,)
Tools
- Dice
- Cards
- Block Towers (aka Jenga)
- Oracles
Why?
- Some assume people play solo when they can’t find a group.
- But there are other reasons:
- You’re in a pandemic lockdown
- Taking a break from your regular group
- Playing games your regular group doesn’t want to play
- Telling stories your regular group doesn’t want to tell
- Learning a new system
- Used to augment a current system or setting (Ex Novo, Journey)
- Engaging in something creative
- Quality downtime / Alternative to low quality Youtube. 🙂
Solo Role-Playing Games We’ve Played
Zines
- Hope is Not a Plan (Zine)
- A solo journaling game in which you will document your attempts to deliver a very complicated engineering project on time and under budget. You hope for success, but you will most likely fail, damage your reputation, and lose your job. So it goes.
- THRU-HIKER: A Journaling Game of Long-Distance Hiking
- a journaling game of telling stories of long-distance hiking. Using your writing instrument of choice, a pack of playing cards, and a series of writing prompts, you will create stories of the joys and challenges of being on the trail for days, weeks, or months at a time.
- Mork Borg: Basilisk
- A print and play dungeons scrawler, inspired by Dark Fort and Dungeonquest/Drakborgen.
- See also: Dark Fort Online
- A print and play dungeons scrawler, inspired by Dark Fort and Dungeonquest/Drakborgen.
- Void 1680
- In the queue:
- Clever Girl
- Welcome to Dino Land, a dinosaur theme park ravaged by escaped predators. You don’t know what caused the incident that set the dinosaurs free, but it was catastrophic. A pack of highly intelligent and oddly fixated raptors are hunting the last surviving human in the park. Will these prehistoric predators claim one final victim, or with the cunning human survive long enough to be rescued?
- Clever Girl
Solo RPGs
- Be Like A Crow
- Thousand-Year-Old Vampire
- Journey
- Loner
- Void 1680 AM
- Mythic – Tools for GM-less role-playing
- Gamebooks – Legendary Kingdoms
- Star Trek: Captain’s Log
- Solo rules for Star Trek Adventures
- Ken’s currently play this one. It’s another test run for a possible real-world game, though the rules are much simpler than standard 2d20 games.
Traditional RPGs with Solo Modes
- Ironsworn, Ironsworn: Starforged, The Sundered Isles
In Ironsworn: Starforged, you are a spaceborne hero sworn to undertake perilous quests. You will explore uncharted space, unravel the secrets of a mysterious galaxy, and build bonds with those you meet on your travels. Most importantly, you will swear iron vows and see them fulfilled—no matter the cost.
- Forbidden Lands
- Book of Beasts
- includes solo rules.
- Forbidden Lands – Solo Expansion
- Expanded upon by the author in a PDF supplement.
- Ken played this as a test run for his lunchtime campaign. Thought it was going to be rules light and fast, but funky dice and a fair amount of crunch made him realize it’s not.
- Book of Beasts
- In the queue:
- Cyberpunk RED
- Single Player Mode
- Ken’s considering using this to do a solo-run featuring the Maker Enclave, a faction from our Broken Loop campaign.
- Single Player Mode
- Shadowdark
- Cyberpunk RED
Solo Mode Board Games
- Dark Tower, Arkham Horror (board game and card game – Edge of the Earth), etc
Successes and Challenges with Solo Role-Playing Games
- Ken:
- Challenges:
- Creating your character and universe are more fun than playing the game (Starforged,)
- Realizing the game is going to be more complex than you anticipated (Forbidden Lands)
- Getting stuck in the narrative (Captain’s Log)
- You’re not writing a book (see mindset)
- Can’t stop hacking the rules
- Ken finds he wants faster advancement
- AI?
- Successes:
- Playing dedicated zines with a focused rules framework helps.
- Challenges:
- Chris
- Challenges
- Finding the mindset
- Give yourself permission to have fun without purpose.
- NOT blogging
- Settling in to learn the rules
- Finding the mindset
- Successes
- Real immersion
- Being OK with not writing a novel
- Challenges
Solo Role-Playing Games Tools
- Solo Game Master’s Guide
- All gaming is play.
- Mythic Game Master Emulator Second Edition
- Engine for adapting regular RPGs to solo
- Loner
- A Solo RPG for Emergent Storytelling
- Minimal rules. Maximum story. Play anywhere, anytime.
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Featured Image Meta
Cover art from the Ironsworn RPG.