Solo Roleplaying: go play with yourself

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Solo Roleplaying: go play with yourself

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Ah, RIP my kickstarter budget, I want it. That looks like it could be amazing for just creative writing prompts in general.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2022 14:42

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 16:45

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Hello! I have a weird question, and I'll warn you in advance that I'm going to be very picky.

I am looking for a light weight freeform combat / adventure solo rpg tool that I can use to write a little journal about an OC going on mage adventures in a bog-standard classic fantasy world. Cast fireball to blow up goblins, look for loot, level up, etc... but balanced for one (or two at max) characters, and not too chart heavy.

Does this exist?

# ¿ Feb 17, 2023 04:49

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Megazver posted:

Scarlet Heroes?

This might fit! Thank you!

# ¿ Feb 17, 2023 17:31

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Someday I'll be in the mood to sit down and actually do a game of Ironsworn or Starforged (I own Delve and Starforged)

But I grabbed Scarlet Heroes instead and here's a quick slapped together character sheet for a test game. I should name her, but we're getting there.

quote:

Tester!

Strength: 15 (+1)
Dexterity: 14 (+1)
Constitution: 14 (+1)
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 14 (+1)
Charisma: 16 (+2)

Class: Thief (+4 attack bonus when ambushing + triple damage) (damage is capped at 1d8)
Level: 1
XP: 0

Max. HP: 4
AC (low is good):
Attack Bonus: +1
Fray Die: 1d6

Weapons:

Dagger 1d4 (can be thrown 30')
Spear 1d6 (can be thrown 60')

Armor:
Leather Armor 7 AC

Gear: 1 x scholar set (magnifying glass, quill, ink, books, waterproof backpack)

6 silver (1 silver = 1 day's wages average)

Trait:

Occult investigator 3
Fast speaker 1
Fast reader 1
Walk quietly 2

Concept: Educated, focused on self defense by way of sneaking, wants to read dangerous books. Is currently unemployed and unattached, on quest to learn how to summon an angel (or demon) (or anything).

A mage might have fit better, but I like the almost World of Darkness-esque concept to explain why Tester is out adventuring, but also why she wouldn't have any spells.

I'm not setting this in the Scarlet Heroes setting as that's too Eastern flavored for what I want, which is a-okay. I don't want to get caught in world building yet, so I'll keep it light. But this should be enough for me to get going: she's on the road, following some local rumor or tip from her previous occupation, and now I go figure out how to proceed.

I really appreciate how I came to this entirely blank - generic dungeon crawl - and now just through character creation I have a fresh character, a goal, and depending on my mood/stamina/adhd I can do a short adventure "finds magic book, summons thing as reward for dungeon crawl" or a longer "finds book fragments, comes back bloodied but richer and with clues" or whatever I want.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2023 19:51

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Also for what it's worth, I feel like Ironsworn bogs me down almost immediately by demanding I give my character a vow, as like, that takes time for me to build up to. It's a central concept that's really demanding for me personally and while I can omit it from play, I don't entirely want to? And I don't want something too generic like "tragedy happened, it's revenge time", as that's not inspiring to me.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2023 19:52

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Okay! I've decided to just jump in. I did some quick googling and found this tool: One Page Dungeon and et voila!

Tester has followed her lead, gone hiking - I'm thinking she lives in a North England-esque area, and is setting out in Fall (winter will be exciting if I take it long-term) so while there's the hint of snow, everything is mostly dying leaves and birds leaving.

And since this is a land of adventure, voila!~ She comes across this crumbling ruin. I'm tweaking what I've been given - this place isn't weeks and weeks from civilization, she didn't have to fight bears to reach it, it's just an abandoned stone settlement. There's likely more buildings that crumbled to dust as they were made of wood. How this works in the world-building is interesting, as it tells me that there's been some kind of big event that prevents humans from just expanding nonstop. (Or is it more like a town I knew while living in New York that effectively crumbled when the big factory in the area shut down, so while it's still settled, there's lots of abandoned buildings that would count as ruins...) (As this is a fantasy setting in the generic sense, we're dealing with feudal monarchies, horses being the primary mode of transport, roads existing between major settlements, and lots of wild places and lost places.)

I'll have to stat up some hobgoblins now, see how the combat system actually works, but there, I have an actual solid start.

... wait! The hobgoblins are great! They explain the rumor! Tester comes from a mid-sized town on the edge of the road networks (moving north in this region is bad thanks to the snow, swamps, and thick forests) and of course there'd be a discussion about what's been eating the local horses, talk about whatever caused the hobgoblins to migrate, and of course the kind of thing that's all "oh the old Ekeverinn ruins! That's a cursed place, rumor has it that the master there dabbled in foul magicks!" etc etc)

# ¿ Feb 17, 2023 21:20

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

SimonChris posted:

The author of Thousand Year Old Vampire has just published A Collection of Improving Exercises, a solo game about a book of perspective drawing exercises, and then there is some kind of game-like experience??? Even after reading the description, I am not sure what you are supposed to do with this, but the author has earned my trust.

I think he's hit a point where I'm deeply fascinated by whatever he makes and want to see more, but I'm going to wait until post-reviews to buy anything.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2023 18:50

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

sasha_d3ath posted:

1,000 Year Old Football Gag

# ¿ Mar 23, 2023 20:35

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

wizzardstaff posted:

You're excited to start a new game. Which of your pristinely beautiful empty journals will you despoil? How long will you play the game before you abandon it and render the remaining blank pages utterly unusable?

Do not attack me like this

# ¿ Jun 29, 2023 17:43

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

drunkencarp posted:

I feel like the ending of that episode os really weak, Crusher isn't really responsible for her escape. I dunno what I'd have done differently though. I like the first 90% of the story.

You've just given yourself a solo roleplaying prompt: get some dice and paper and roll for solving the universe

# ¿ Aug 17, 2023 19:05

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

so I backed a kickstarter for a new solo rpg (tabletop/journaling) by the lady who did Apothecaria and... holy poo poo this is way more than I expected omg

"My original vision for this game was to create a 60 page Apothecaria style sci-fi adventure but as I worked on it, I ended up having bigger and better plans for it. I wanted to give you a sandbox that would let you be everything from a Star Trek style Explorer and Diplomat to a Firefly-esque Criminal or Passenger transport. A Smuggler or blue collar Cargo hauler. A Space Pirate, a Researcher, even a Bounty Hunter for the good or the bad (the ugly is optional).

As it sits just now, FSCSAW is 250 pages long but don't worry. The vast majority of the book is given over to reference tables that you only need to interact with when they're relevant. Some parts of the book are still in need of Layout, Art, and the whole book needs play testing which is something I would massively appreciate from you lovely lot. "

the beta is out for backers and I'm so ready

e: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/diamondblood/for-small-creatures-such-as-we/description

StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Dec 20, 2023

# ¿ Dec 20, 2023 23:24

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Captain_Person posted:

Picked this up the other day, it's got a lot I'm excited to check out. Any particular recommendations?

Project Ecco is cool as hell, you should play it!

# ¿ Jan 17, 2024 01:46

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Sharing from discord:

quote:

Shawn Tomkin � Today at 1:44 PM
---
Breaking out the dreaded @everyone to let folks know that the Sundered Isles Kickstarter prelaunch page is now live.

Sundered Isles is an expansion of swashbuckling, spooky, island-hopping adventures for Ironsworn: Starforged. The campaign will fund a 250+ page wirebound book and a deck of new character asset cards. The book is just about done and will be delivered to backers in PDF shortly after the campaign ends. Then, off to print!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shawntomkin/sundered-isles-expansion-for-ironsworn-starforged

-----

Note: I might have 2 or 3 selfish global pings over the next few weeks. If you prefer that Discord keeps these muted, just do the following!

1) Right click on this channel in the sidebar (on mobile, do a long tap on channel name)

2) Select notification settings

3) Select "nothing"

If, on the other hand, you want every announcement sent your way with the urgency they so richly deserve, select "All messages" in the notification settings.

Thanks as always for your support!

# ¿ Feb 28, 2024 19:46

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Double-heads-up:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2117930/Drakkon_World_Builder/

Drakkon is on sale for 2.39 USD and I like what I see. It makes a little world, has built in oracles, dice-rollers, etc - it even has a 3D mode for walking around. Perfect for solo tabletop gaming at the computer.

Is there anything like this out there that's better / different? I'm suddenly hungry for more tools.

# ¿ Feb 29, 2024 22:17

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Sundered Isle kickstarter is up, and already super-triple funded! :toot:

# ¿ Mar 12, 2024 16:17

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Mercury Hat posted:

Cool sounds good, thanks. The deluxe book would be nice to have but I just imagined what the shipping on a 400 page hardcover might be like and decided maybe not, lol.

They have a little chart for how much shipping will be!

I think my big splurge purchase next month is going to be the complete set, as having it in physical will work wonders for hanging out downstairs away from the computer and just playing.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2024 22:01

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

SimonChris posted:

This might be slightly stretching the definition of a solo RPG, but no more than we have done before, so whatever. I just bought Vermis and Vermis II after watching Super Eyepatch Wolf's video about it, and it really is pretty great. It's a strategy guide for a weird fictitious soulslike video game, but the books never describe how the game is played. You just get a bunch of vague illustrations of character classes, monsters, dungeons, and plot events, and your imagination fills in the rest, like playing a video game in your head. One of the most engrossing books I've read in a long time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwS71VxNc7o

oh my god thank you so much!!! The last time I saw this book it was out of stock, and now it's not only back in stock, there's a sequel? I've never checked out so fast!

# ¿ May 6, 2024 21:52

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 16:45

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Southern Heel posted:

I have found it a compelling game and very enjoyable. For a total cost of about �3 including the resin and filament for printing the figures and game board, an absolutely cracking way to spend a couple of hours.

I need to fix my 3D printer - it's filament instead of resin, but should be good enough for those figures!

90s Cringe Rock posted:

neat, it's in the current trans rights bundle

rune was very cool

"what bundle"
https://itch.io/b/2383/ttrpgs-for-trans-rights-west-virginia

well I'm 5$ poorer now, but happy

# ¿ May 9, 2024 17:44

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Solo Roleplaying: go play with yourself