#solo RPGs

[misslazarus]

TANGLED BLESSINGS GAME JAM

Solo TTRPG posting again for my fellow solo game enjoyers/the solo game curious!

I’ve posted before about Tangled Blessings by @cassimothwin , a project I was so thrilled to back and play (and find in the wild a couple of times 👀). It’s a really engaging solo/duet rpg about being a student at a spooky magical school, and facing off against your rival. Also very cool to know, Tangled Blessings is a hack of the iconic game Anamnesis by @goblinmixtape (a game I mean to post about here one day if I feel I actually have anything interesting to add other than “I love it” lol).

In extremely cool news for amateur/fledgling game writers and those who never find time to participate in NaNoWriMo [meeee], Cassi Mothwin opened up a Tangled Blessings game jam on itch.io !! The game jam is for expansions to /projects inspired by Tangled Blessings. The jam is running until February 29th (leap day swag btw). I think this is such a cool idea to explore a really fun game, and I’m planning on submitting something! If you want to participate and don’t already own it, Cassi has a free preview to get you started!

DISCLAIMER: I am not posting this in any capacity other than as a big fan of Cassi’s work— and to alert my buddies on here who are into this kind of thing and to whom I’ve spoken about Tangled Blessings and solo rpgs in general.

I’ve linked the jam below for the rules and info. I also linked Tangled Blessings and Anamnesis itch.io pages so I hope all the links don’t nerf this post in the tags.

Happy writing y’all!

[sprintingowl]

Solo Survival Horror

It has, admittedly, taken me years, but there are now solo rules for playing Cthork Borg.

Cthork Borg is a tabletop roleplaying game about occult horror in the 1920s. I've been releasing rules expansions and scenarios for it for... uh... a while, and it only took me one week and 52 pages to get it geared up for single player.

It's not a conventional journaling game. Even played solo, there's d20 combat, but it's somehow even more laser focused on conserving resources and making sacrifices than the core game, so maybe I did something right.

If you'd like to check it out, there's free community copies for both Dreary And Isolated and the core book on the other side of the link. Also for the seventeen or so other supplements. Basically help yourself if you want 'em.

[cocoaberrycake]

I've always found roleplaying games quite interesting because of their storytelling capabilities but I don't have the social skills or a group of friends to consider giving it a try. So I've always stayed on the sidelines, envying the people who have a lot of friends and aren't as self-conscious as I am.

Enter a random youtube video on the youtube main page, titled along the lines: "Got no friends? Try these solo roleplaying games!"

My eyes went the widest they've ever gone. You mean to tell me there's a whole genre of games that I can try out without having to socialize and constantly scrutinice my every move and choice in front of people?? I can tell the stories on my own??? I need to get into that ASAP.

If you have suggestions on solo RPGs that a total newbie can play, feel free to tell me. I've been doing my own research so far and picked up a copy of Thousand Year Old Vampire, which is a journaling RPG in which you create a vampire character and chronicle their life during a thousand years, creating and discarding memories as time goes on. Seems to be a bit advanced for my absolute nonexistent knowledge of how roleplaying works, but that's fine. I'll do my best.

I'll be creating my character and playing with them as soon as I can. Would anyone be interested in reading a playthrough, if I post it here? Keep in mind it's not going to be a historically accurate campaign or anything, I refuse to get caught up in the tiny details (which I tend to do because of my✨crippling perfectionism✨). I just want to try this out, have as much fun as I can and see where my creativity takes me.

[maxkirin]

ONE PAGE LEFT is now available. This is a role-playing game you can play solo and the rules fit in a single sheet of paper!

Can you survive a slasher movie?

🎲 ROLL A KILLER 🏚 ESCAPE THE MANSION

Did I mention the game is FREE? 😉 👉 mkirin.itch.io/one-page-left

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

OKAY. I finally managed to carve down an actually simplified version of the offline pocket edition I made for the excellent RPGSolo system. I definitely have more things in mind to expand on as options for players who want them, and this draft is Rough and near entirely unedited because I pounded it out in like half an hour during a migraine, oops, BUT! It should be fully functional as it is currently, and I hope people enjoy it as much as I have been.

(Also, if you like it I encourage you to go give the creator of the original site some support! This wouldn't exist without his work, and there's all kinds of neat extra tools and in-depth explanations to be found there and on the forums. Go check it out!)

-----

-

To play, you will need a d100 (percentile dice), a d10, and a Likelihood table. One is provided below, but you may substitute your own percentages if you want to tweak your chances.

• A way to record the events of your game and/or to keep track of bonuses and penalties is recommended, but not required.

RPGSolo runs on the Yes, And/No, But system.

• Yes, and...: Not only is the outcome successful, but it's better than you expected; you are even better off than you would have been from achieving what you meant to do. Situations you are observing turn out to have some extra good news involved, or you gain even more thorough insight than you were looking for at first.

• Yes: You achieve your goal.

• Yes, but...: You achieve your goal, but there's a hitch or it comes at a cost.

• No, but: You fail your goal, but not completely. If you are making an observation, the situation isn't great, but there's a silver lining.

• No: You fail your goal.

• No, and...: Not only is the outcome a failure, but it's even worse than you thought, and/or you're worse off than if you had left it alone.

The Likelihood of a given roll dictates how likely you are to receive one of the above six outcomes. Each Likelihood lists the corresponding results on a scale from 1 to 100.

• No matter the Likelihood you are rolling from, there will always be a chance no matter how small to roll each outcome. Almost Impossible has a tiny chance to roll 'Yes, and...' and Sure Thing has a tiny chance to roll 'No, and...'

Optionally: you may add modifiers to increase or decrease your chances in a given scenario. Your character might be a trained fighter; they might have a sprained ankle; they might have found a flashlight; they may have a bad reputation in town which makes interactions with the townsfolk more hostile.

• Each point on a modifier counts for +1 or -1 Likelihood. A +1 turns a 50/50 into a Somewhat Likely, a -3 turns a Likely into a Somewhat Unlikely, and so on.

• Some modifiers make a bigger difference than others. A friendly demeanor might add a +1 bonus to checks involving interactions with the surly townsfolk, where that sprained ankle might be a -3 penalty to attempts to move quickly.

• Optionally: you may also add modifiers to change the outcome of a roll, not the Likelihood; a 'No, but...' becomes a 'Yes, but...' for example. These have a much stronger influence on your game, and you may want to use them sparingly.

• You may assign modifiers to your player characters--or other characters, or locations, or anything else--ahead of time, or you may add or remove modifiers during play as you feel they are appropriate.

At the beginning of each turn, decide what action you want to take, what observations you want to make, or what happens in the world around you.

Roll 1d10 to determine the difficulty of an action.

• 1: Almost Impossible

• 2: Very Unlikely

• 3: Unlikely

• 4: Somewhat Unlikely

• 5: 50/50

• 6: Somewhat Likely

• 7: Likely

• 8: Very Likely

• 9: Sure Thing

• 10: Reroll with +1 bonus (or just reroll, if you'd rather)

Add any appropriate modifiers to determine the Likelihood of the roll.

If you check the Likelihood of a roll and don't like your chances, you can choose not to pursue it.

• If there are any rolls you might want to come back to and try again later, you may want to make a note of it on the side. You might decide to leave a door with an alarm alone until you can find some tools to disarm it with, for example.

If you decide to proceed, roll 1d100 and consult the appropriate Likelihood table.

Add any appropriate outcome modifiers to determine the result.

Decide how to interpret the result.

• In case of wording you're not sure of ('do the guards notice me?' for example), a lower outcome is generally negative. You may want to write out the translated result next to the 'yes, and/no, but' result, for the sake of clarity.

• If you're rolling to decide between multiple options instead of for negative/positive outcomes, you may use your d10 as a yes/no oracle, or use 'yes, and/no, but' to roll for the degree to which the result falls between the presented options.

• Oracle between 2 options:

• 1-5: No/First option

• 6-10: Yes/Second option

• Oracle between 3 options:

• 1-3: No/First Option

• 4-6: Neither/Both/In-Between/Second option

• 7-9: Yes/Third option

• 10: Reroll, or secret fourth option

If you want to make more than one roll to determine what's going on before you continue the narrative, feel free to make as many in a row as you want before you describe what happens.

Optionally: you can use a Do-Over to redo a roll, or directly choose your outcome, if you really don't want to continue with what you got.

• It's recommended that you limit the number of these you have access to, if you want to keep some challenge in your game (5 Do-Overs per scene, for example), but you don't have to. You can do it as many times as you want; it comes down to what's most fun for you.

Write out what happens as a result of the outcome you rolled, until you reach the next point where you want the dice to show you the way.

Happy roleplaying!

-

Likelihood Table

-

Almost Impossible/Sure Thing:

-No, and...: 30% (1-30) [...] 1% (1)

-No: 50% (31-80) [...] 3% (2-4)

-No, but...: 11% (81-91) [...] 5% (5-9)

-Yes, but...: 5% (92-96) [...] 11% (11-19)

-Yes: 3% (97-99) [...] 50% (20-69)

-Yes, and: 1% (100) [...] 30% (70-100)

Very Unlikely/Very Likely:

-No, and...: 20% (1-20) [...] 3% (1-3)

-No: 40% (21-60) [...] 5% (4-8)

-No, but...: 20% (61-80) [...] 12% (9-20)

-Yes, but...: 12% (81-92) [...] 20% (21-40)

-Yes: 5% (93-97) [...] 40% (41-80)

-Yes, and...: 3% (98-100) [...] 20% (81-100)

Unlikely/Likely:

-No, and...: 15% (1-10) [...] 5% (1-5)

-No: 30% (11-50) [...] 10% (6-15)

-No, but...: 20% (51-70) [...] 20% (16-35)

-Yes, but...: 20% (71-85 [...] 20% (36-55)

-Yes: 10% (85-95) [...] 30% (56-85)

-Yes, and...: 5% (96-100) [...] 15% (86-100)

Somewhat Unlikely/Somewhat Likely:

-No, and...: 10% (1-10) [...] 10% (1-10)

-No: 30% (11-40) [...] 20% (11-30)

-No, but...: 20% (41-60) [...] 10% (31-40)

-Yes, but...: 10% (61-70) [...] 20% (41-60)

-Yes: 20% (71-90) [...] 30% (61-90)

-Yes, and...: 10% (91-100) [...] 10% (91-100)

50/50:

No, and...: 10% (1-10)

No: 20% (11-30)

No, but...: 20% (31-50)

Yes, but...: 20% (51-70)

Yes: 20% (71-90)

Yes, and...: 10% (91-100)

[thalassophiliascripte]

what ifs: modular solo systems

As I've gotten further into playing solo rpgs, and further investigated the genre, I've found that my approach has been a lot of - not necessarily hacking the game itself, but often hacking different games together in order to include specific elements that I'm looking for regarding a singular experience. In this vein, I'm wondering if there's not space in the hobby for more modular systems, designed not to give a full solo experience on their own, but designed to hook together and combine in order to let a player decide where they want the core gameloop of their experience to rest.

If I ever design my own engine, I think this is what I'd want to be at the core of the design. I think it'd offer a lot of flexibility while also creating inbuilt compatibility and allowing more streamlined gameplay...though there is a part of me that relishes the active experience of finding new ways to use tools I already have access to as I play.

[muirmarie]

if you all knew how many solo rpgs i've bought, and how many i've actually played, you would have some real questions about why i keep buying them, and why i keep not playing them, and wow i wish i had some answers for you, and also some answers for myself, but alas. alas i do not.

[worldanvil]

Solo Journaling RPGs

What are Solo RPGs? Janet sat down with game designer Anna Blackwell to discuss common elements of these fun journaling games, and how they can be a great way to keep playing - even when your gaming group's schedules are a nightmare.

[bonbonbunny]

I started playing Iron Valley today and you would not believe what I rolled as one of my randomized starting items.

[gamesyoushouldbeplaying]

hi! just saw ur journaling ttrpg post and i didn't even now that was a thing! if u don't mind, could u recommend any you've done?

Im going to answer this publicly because Im also pretty new to the genre myself and I wanted to give other people the opportunity to chime in! Ive personally played Thousand Year Old Vampire, which was incredibly good if you like tragedy/horror, and im looking forward to playing Dwelling sometime. The creator of Thousand Year Old Vampire has made several others as well I believe, and Ive seen a lot on itch.io as well. If anyone else can reccomend solo/journaling RPGs please add on!

[companionwolf]

physical copy of lighthouse got here 💙

(there's a mini game on the back of the lighthouse blueprint + it also came with a second mini game on a business card)

[moodymakeshifter]

Changed the font last night~

And I've got some new features cookin':

Introducing Possession; you may have closed the case, but the spirits don't always let go so easily. Roll a d6 to see if you dodge Possession. If not, what would the Entity you crossed do with control of your body?

A new page in the Entity Index with blank sections for players to create their own Entity Types!

An Achievements page where players can track, you know, Achievements (ex: choosing a certain Reaction, passing a challenging Nerve Check, or identifying an Entity that's transitioning to a different Type)

[giorgis9745]

Just joined this community, long time solo rpg player here, and sharing my first actual play report of a solo session zero start of a Warhammer old world campaign using Savage Worlds.

[maxkirin]

Happy #FreeRPGDay!! 🎲💕

Did you know my games are free to download?

IRON VALLEY is a cozy solo ttrpg inspired by Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, and Harvest Moon! (Powered by Ironsworn/Starforged)

ROLL FOR NOVEL is a game about making book ideas!

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

wheezes i made. a game! a functioning playable game that i've had a lot of fun playtesting so far! sat down and made the core rules in one session yesterday, wrote up another few chunks for guiding/prompting the roleplay part this morning. and i have a bunch of variants drafting and those are definitely still in the works lmao, but the rules as they are are 100% playable and i am extremely proud of having gotten them down this fast.

there is definitely going to be further drafting etc, and i'm hoping to be able to format it with an actual graphical layout at some point. and also make like an actual proper intro post for it instead of just dropping it hot on my blog for whoever happens to be following me. in the meantime though here you go, if anyone decides to try it out have fun and i'd love to hear how that goes. enjoy!

[cws: horror, mentions of death, gore, and injury, possible themes of stalking. it's a game where you're being hunted down and have to prepare for what happens when you can't run anymore, so it has the potential to get real dark depending on how you play it lmao]

-

Core Rules

-

-

Guiding the Fiction

-

(this section is probably a lot less coherent and has more repetition going on than i'd like, definitely is going to need a redraft or two, but i think it gets the mechanics across in a usable way as-is. meant to get further into the last set of examples, but i had to catch myself before i got carried away and ended up just filling out a d100 table. that'd be fun to do at some point but not by dropping it in the middle of the rulebook lmao)

-

and that's the game so far! if anyone reads these and finds any specific bits to be confusing, please feel free to ask questions; i want to do my best to make sure my games fit together and are as clear as possible, with or without graphical gamebook format for visual aid, so fresh eyes are always welcome. in the meantime thank you for your time, and should you check it out may you have fun being chased by a Funny Little Guy

[paleode-ology]

lowkey I’m thinking of making a side blog to post about solo RPGs bc I have So Many that I haven’t played and I feel like I would be more motivated if I were actively making reviews and/or posting snippets from games I’ve done