#solo journaling games

[deadwhaler]

I Made A Solo Journaling RPG!!!

It’s the first finished game i’ve ever made and i think it turned out really well ^^ You can download it for free at itch.io where my account is SteelWhale

Or click the link here to go directly to the game page <33

It’s called “So, You Bought a Tavern” and it’s about your first day as a tavern owner. Gameplay takes around 20-30 minutes depending on how much or little you want to write!!

I’m new to the rpg world, so if you post/reblog this kind of thing, please interact so i can follow !!!

[lavendergraypup]

Hey! So I made my first TTRPG!

It's a solo journaling game about playing as a lying celestial beast to break the oath you never swore. It also uses a Lenormand deck/Lenormand inspired custom deck for prompt generation!

Check it out if at all interested! I really appreciate it.

[cassimothwin]

Carved by Garden cover creation

Carved by the Garden is my single-player tabletop RPG that's live on Kickstarter until August 5!

It's a journaling game that uses a standard deck of playing cards, a tumbling block tower, a six-sided die, and tokens. There is a preview linked on the Kickstarter page.

This is a folk horror game! If you don't know what that means, it's a mix of media inspirations like The Ritual, The Witch, Midsommar and more. There's also a dash of corrupted folklore and of course cryptids. If you love spooky ghost stories set in the woods, please check it out!

[mushroomwitchgames]

COMING NOV 22 - CATS KNOW THINGS

CATS KNOW THINGS is a light-hearted game meant to tell a humorous story of intrigue, all while pretending to be a very nosy cat. 

But you are no ordinary cat.

You are a very special feline who, through some magic you cannot explain, can communicate with your human, an individual who wishes to make their mark in society by any means necessary. The two of you decide to start a society page, (a very fancy type of tabloid newspaper dedicated to a particular location) revealing the glitz, glamour, and inner turmoil of the town’s most notable individuals. 

As the cat you will travel across town, using your stealth and wiles to listen in on the most intimate conversations and encounters. At the end of the day you return to your human to relay to them all the town’s salacious gossip for the society page. The goal is to prepare 6-8 items for the newspaper before your human sends them to the presses for the week.

CATS KNOW THINGS will be available on our Itch.io store at 9am PST on November 22!! Please reblog to get the work out! We're really excited to share this game with you!

[psychhound]

[ID: a banner for a TTRPG. there is a light tan background and large brown text that reads "the narrator paradox". smaller blue text beneath it reads "all you've ever been is a storyteller ... now the story is fighting against you". there are tilted blue and orange boxes behind the word paradox. end ID]

There is a way the story is meant to go. You have seen the future. The past and the present. You know the hero of this tale, and where they end up. You know why they go there and every ally and foe along the way. Every fleck of sand moved beneath their boot has been foretold and defined and the words that tell of it slip from your lips like the oldest of hymns …

So if that little bastard could just STOP going off script that would be really great. What do you MEAN the protagonist isn’t listening to you!? This is a STORY—don’t they know they’re in a STORY? They aren’t meant to have … have … AUTONOMY or whatever other silly thing has gotten in their head.

You need a raise. Not that the human concept of money influences your role as a narrator in any way. But, like … anything would be nice. A raise. A swift kick in the head. Maybe the undefinable concept of storytelling will talk about a union.

Sorry—they’ve done WHAT now? Okay, chat’s over. There’s a protagonist to wrangle. 

[ID: a lineart drawing of one open book and two closed books on a light tan background. end ID]

The Narrator Paradox is a one page solo-narrating game where you try to tell a story ... if your protagonist will let you. In it, you determine the five acts of your story based on an oracle, then make rolls for your plot beats to see if you can wrangle your protagonist into the prescribed narrative. If you can't, they defy you and take the story into their own hands. Wrestle the story into shape against a rebellious hero, or lose them forever and have to finish the story without them in it. 

What you'll need:

The Major Arcana from a tarot deck 

Two 6-sided dice

A coin 

The inspirations for the game include The Stanley Parable, The Princess Bride, and Stardust

Get the game now on itch!

[junkfoodgames]

Wither and Grow out now!

You wake. You wonder why you’re here and what the world is like.

You hope for things and think of the future.

You wither and grow.

Wither & Grow is a solo journaling game. You are a plant creature that has just gained sentience for reasons unknown. The game is played over 5 stages of your life. In each of these stages, parts of you will grow and wither. You will document these physical, mental, and emotional changes in your journal. Your story may end early if your growth stagnates or becomes uncontrollable. 

In addition to the game rules, you need 4 six-sided dice, paper, and something to write with. The entire game can take an 1-2 hours, or more, depending on how much you decide to write in your journal entries.

The game is a 32-page pdf with lots of great hand-drawn illustrations.

It is formatted to be printed as a 4.25''x5.5'' booklet. Please share!

[zayphora]

“Above all else, every comet is doomed.”

COMET FACTORY is a free solo journaling TTRPG / character creation tool for making your own “Char clones.” I’m so excited to be sharing it now! It was a lot of fun to make.

You can use this tool as a starting off point for characters for other TTRPGS or settings, or treat the experience of creating your own Comet as a game in and of itself. (Or you can use it to win arguments about such and such existing character counting as a Char clone, lol.)

It doesn’t actually require any knowledge of Gundam to play—though it will probably be more fun if you know a bit about the archetype you’re working with.

I hope people have fun with it! This is what I’ve been posting those collage screencaps about this past week. ☄️

[transmisc2]

OUT NOW! FREE / pay what you want

including illustrated digital booklet AND accessible play-along audio version!

// electric sheep // is a solo tabletop journaling game about dreaming in the digital age. it's experiential, surrealist, and may not be suitable for those with ongoing unreality concerns, but i trust you to know yourself!

if you enjoy, consider tossing a few bucks my way so i can keep making little games. thank you so much! find the game below:

Query: Do you miss dreaming?

[maxkirin]

ONE PAGE LEFT, is now available! 🔪✨

In this solo horror-inspired game you take the role of a survivor fleeing a slasher… but there's a catch: if you run out of space to write, YOU DIE.

Did I mention it's FREE to download?

Go get it! 😈

My shop ☕ https://ko-fi.com/s/1cbe3829fc Itch.io 🎮 https://mkirin.itch.io/one-page-left

[haveyouplayedthisttrpg]

Have you played WAFFLES FOR ESTHER ?

By Andrew Boyd

Waffles for Esther is a solo journaling game using the Hints and Hijinx system. As the waitress of a small town diner, uncover why your favorite regular has missed her everyday breakfast.

[punkbarbarian]

[image id: a dark photograph of a grassy cliff face with dense clouds. a white illustration of a bat with its wings spread sits behind white text. text reads: Vampire Manor / a for truth's sake game by punkbarbarian. /end id]

On a rocky cliffside overlooking rolling moors as far as the eye can see sits a dark, towering manor home made of brick and iron. Tempestuous clouds cast a perpetual drizzle on the countryside and nearby forest, leaving the air damp and cold. Surely the generous owner of the manor the villagers whispered about will let you shelter there.  Maybe you’ll gather some interesting material for your research… Investigate the macabre manor, its eccentric inhabitants, and the nearby village through interviews and observation. What is the relationship between the unliving and villagers? Why do members of the community go missing without a trace? How long has the Vampire actually been alive?

Vampire Manor is a solo-journaling game where you explore a vampire's ancient manor and the surrounding village to learn more about the community and write an ethnography on them. 

Pull cards to ask questions of the residents, roll dice to see how well interactions go, and get to know a number of residents and fellow travelers, from a petty thief, to wandering nomads, a vampire hunter, and the intimidating Vampire. Unlock 12 different locations and gain levels in friendship and familiarity with the community as you document your discoveries in field notes.

You'll need: A d20, d12, and d8, and a deck of playing cards

Vampire Manor is a setting of For Truth's Sake by @hmooncreates. It was inspired by Dracula by Bram Stoker, Castlevania (Netflix), and Curse of Strahd. 

included in download: a plain text pdf and a formated pdf!

check it out on itch!!

[moody-mae]

Just a heads up: Afterlife Archive is available for free download on Itch, and its page just got a bit of a redesign yesterday.

BUT— I implore you, if you're interested in trying this game, to wait just a few more days for the update to release. New features will be included. New aesthetics. New art. New writing. So it will be worth the wait. I promise~

And after that, I'll be launching the Kickstarter campaign for the first official print run of the game zine!

Super stoked to share these new features with you! >u<

Soon, soon, soon~

[cassimothwin]

So you're looking for a system other than D&D...

Have you tried solo RPGs? Because it's not just "how can I play D&D alone" there's a whole world of cool stuff out there….And I want to tell you about it.

(I'm quite sick today so please forgive any incoherence or typos.)

First off, it's totally fine if you're more of a party person over a solo person. I just know a lot of people aren't aware of solo games, how they work, or the breadth of diversity you find among them.

If you ask about solo games, the first one mentioned is almost always Ironsworn. It's freeeee and comes with a lot of resources. The PDF is over 200 pages, so I understand if you don't want to dive in with Ironsworn quite yet.

Ironsworn has a large community, including support for Foundry and Roll20, along with many derivative works. It offers a gritty default fantasy setting, but encourages you to ignore that if you prefer another world… maybe one from another RPG you enjoy the lore from…?

BUT maybe you want something that isn't as much of a commitment (and maybe a little sad)?

Many Wretched and Alone games use a tumbling block tower to simulate a random ticking clock. It might represent your failing mental health, the barricade crumbling, the ship sinking…

One of the creators of the system has a great thread highlighting their favorite games. Just search Wretched an Alone on Itch.io to find even more.

And if you don't want to go buy a Jenga tower, there are some great random simulators out there. I've been able to play W&A games on road trips, using a deck simulator, a dice simulator, and a tumbling tower simulator. Here's tower replacement I like. It replicates the odds of a tumbling tower falling without being too complicated.

Carta is another cool system where you use a standard deck of playing cards to create a map that you explore. As you explore, you usually have to manage resourses to avoid something bad, but not always.

Here's a collection of several games made using Carta.

Dead Belt takes this concept and RUNS with it. You have a few things to track as you explore abandoned randomized ship decks, searching for a good payload. Upgrade your gear and do it again.

Does the thought of managing your character sound exciting? Do you enjoy soulslike games, like Elden Ring and Bloodborne?

Rune is a fresh release with a lot of third-party support already. It's pretty easy to pick up and play too.

Apothecaria and Apawthecaria have you making potions for the local village. Go out exploring, collect ingredients, and see if you can solve the greater mysteries of the land.

Interested in horror, but want a more narrative-driven experience? In Dwelling, you'll spend the night sleepless and alone in a haunted house. This is a very neat game.

Songs of the City is a delightful tarot game that you play once a day for a week. It's another narrative-driven game where you draw cards and cast magic to see small neat changes in the city you reside in.

Anamnesis, Anamnesis, Anamnesis. I talk about this game a lot because it's magical in its simplicity. There's nothing to track and it's an incredible way to generate character ideas or tell a story.

And now there are more Anamnesis games coming out (including mine) You don't need the original games to play any of the games you see here.

There are so many more games I want to talk about, but alas, this cold is making me stop there.

If you've written a solo game, streamed one, reviewed one, or have one you really like, I invite you to share it!

[gigantic-spider]

This is a big day for me! It's my 10 year anniversary on this hellsite (affectionate) and the launch of my first TTRPG crowdfunding campaign.

I'm funding a print run of "The River Spirit", a solo journaling TTRPG about saving your hometown from an awful drought by sacrificing your memory to the River Spirit. You use a deck of playing cards to build up your memories of your hometown and community, tell stories about them to a cast of eclectic spirits you meet walking through the forest, and finally cast pieces of your identity off to satiate the enigmatic River Spirit.

I have to thank @crowdfundr for making this such an easy process. It was a daunting proposition to embark upon this journey, but thanks to their help it didn't feel like I was doing it alone.

If you're interested in the game, check out the campaign here: https://crowdfundr.com/River_Spirit

[psychhound]

[ID: a banner for a game. it is light tan with a crumpled paper texture, and reads "with breath & sword" in large blue font, and "a solo-journaling game that helps you fight anxiety as you fight monster" below it in smaller font. there is lineart of gauntlets lying over a sword with some flowers at the bottom. end ID]

You find yourself tied to the monsters. The scratchy feeling in your chest. The way your hands tremble. The sweat that dots your upper lip when your senses are telling you a monster is close, again, now, and it’s your job to fight it. To stand up for your ideals and stand up to the threat. Whether you tame it, or this is truly a monster that needs to be slain, only time will tell.

 You know you will succeed. You always have before. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be a challenge.

 Grab your gear. Put on your boots. You know how to find it. You know what to do.

 First, you just need to steady yourself.

[ID: a page spread from the game. it shows "step four" on one side, which goes over the five aspects of the game's oracle. on the other side it shows the first oracle component, where something you can taste determines what your heroic core is. the page is minimally designed, with a blue border and text on a white background, tan accents, and one image of a dragon. end ID]

With Breath & Sword is a solo-journaling TTRPG to help players combat anxiety. 

In the game, you play as a monster-fighter, who is being summoned once again due to the presence of a new monster. Each time a monster appears, you struggle with the emotional effects of the magic: effects that look a lot like anxiety. You must steady yourself before you go off to fight: in the game and in real life.

Over the course of WB&S, players will participate in grounding methods and breathing techniques to calm themselves from an anxiety attack. These methods also serve as the game's oracle in order to determine how the story goes. 

What You'll Need:

A safe space to play 

A method of writing or recording

[ID: a page spread from the game. it is the section called "the science" and goes over the psychology behind the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique, the 4-7-8 breathing method, and destroying journaling. it has a few lines about narrative and play therapy, and that the creator of the game used these methods in his social work with neurodivergent teens and adults. end ID]

check out the game on itch now!!

[junkfoodgames]

How to play Wither & Grow

Wither & Grow is our new solo journaling game and I wanted to talk a little bit about how it works!

In the game, you play as a sentient plant creature. You have 6 different Ideals that not only affect how you think about the world, but also impact your physical changes.

In each round of play, you'll roll 4 dice and assign them to 4 different dice slots. The four dice slots are:

The Ideal which will grow this round

How much that Ideal grows by

The Ideal which will wither this round

How much that Ideal withers by

You cannot pick the same Ideal to wither and grow in the same round.

At the start of the game, each of your Ideals has a value of 2. If an Ideal goes above 10, your growth becomes uncontrollable and you lose yourself. If you an Ideal goes to 0 or below, it has died and is no longer important to you.

After you resolve the 4 dice slots, you'll select a prompt for the round you're on and write your journal entry. Your journal entry should include answers to the prompt as well as general descriptions on physical and emotional changes you've gone through based on which Ideals have withered and grown.

Here is an example:

Here the Harmony Ideal (which corresponds to the number 2) would increase by 5 and the Horror Ideal (which corresponds to the number 6) would decrease by 3. Since this is the first round and all Ideals start at 2, Harmony would then become 7 and Horror would become -1. Horror would wither and die as it fell below 0. Then, you would write your journal entry based on these changes and pick one of the prompts from this page and write more about your life as a sentient plant.

If you are interested in checking out Wither & Grow, it can be found on itch at the link below. If you decide to play this game, I'd be delighted to hear about it!