Solo Roleplaying: go play with yourself

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

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Loving this thread, especially the discussion of Ironforged, which somehow I had never heard of before but I'm now itching to start a campaign in. Here some other stuff I've discovered in this sphere:

Seekers Beyond the Shroud: "Seekers Beyond the Shroud is a single-player tabletop RPG immersing the player into a world of occult societies battling for power and magicians performing arcane rituals and sealing pacts with spiritual entities exploring a hidden reality from their underground base in modern day London, UK." Probably the only thing I've come across that has the complexity of something like Ironforged, but this this is...almost too in depth. There's tables in this book for everything. It's got like a central wizards location where you roll for daily events and then tables for places you go and then some kind of astral plane tables, and quest tables and foe tables and some kind of spirits you can summon and...I'm not going to lie, I've never actually played this thing, I just open up the rulebook sometimes, skim through it, get vaguely confused and amazed and go "Maybe someday, weird game, maybe someday."

Delve/Rise/Umbra: Three separate games by the same author, available separately or in a bundle. They use basically the same mechanics, drawing cards from a regular deck of cards and drawing a map on a grid, and are essentially solo RPG Dwarf Fortress (Delve), Dungeon Keeper (Rise), and Rimworld (Umbra). Maybe more mechanics/board gamey than RPG but can tell some interesting stories.

Lost Ship: A Survival Game: "Lost Ship is a tabletop game for one or two players about the sacrifices and compromises made during an interstellar war. Created by the author of Westside, Deadball, and Comrades, it uses simple mechanics to tell the harrowing story of 40,000 lost souls� journey home. In this game, you are the executive officer of a stranded colony ship leaping from star to star in search of a planet to call home. You are responsible for maintaining the ship�s key systems, supervising the pilots who protect it in battle, and doing whatever it takes to safeguard the 40,000 travelers aboard. You will track damage, duty assignments, pilot deaths, and the other ugly details of this odyssey across the stars. Your captain directs each battle; the pilots fight. All you can do is watch, pray, and record the chaos." Deadball, by this same guy, is a pretty good solo baseball sim for those who are into that. Again, this may be more mechanics-heavy than RPG storytelling heavy.

Four Against Darkness: Solo dungeon crawl game when you control four characters. "You choose four character types from the classic classes (warrior, wizard, rogue, halfling, dwarf, barbarian, cleric, elf), equip them, and start adventuring in dungeons created by dice rolls and by your choices. When you enter a room, you generate its content on a series of random tables. You will meet monsters, fight them, hopefully defeat them (or decide that discretion is the better part of valor!), you'll manage your resources (healing, spells, life points, equipment), grab treasure, dodge traps, find clues, and even accept quests from the monsters you meet. Your characters can level up and become better at what they do, but it will not be easy."

Then in the latest Zinequest on Kickstarter I backed a bunch of solo journaling type games. Most of these aren't out yet but are worth keeping your eye on if they sound interesting to you, since I'm sure they will be purchasable in some form after they come out for backers:

Lay On Hands: You wander the post-apocalyptic wasteland as a talented healer. The kicker here is the resolution system -- instead of rolling dice for success, you spin a coin and try to complete sections of a drawing mini-game before it comes to a stop.

Superstition: "You are an oracle, a greenseer and a fraud. You don't believe in rituals, but create them to give your community hope. You know nothing you do will affect whether a season is bountiful or not, whether nature will be kind to your clan or not. But you must convince your chieftain that your rituals are worthy, and offer your community hope. If not, you may be exiled or worse." Played with a normal deck of cards. (This is the only one of these Kickstarters that is out already, and is available for purchase here)

Apothecaria: "Apothecaria is a solo journalling RPG in which you take the role of a village witch creating potions for the unfortunate villagers, adventurers, and monsters that come to you for help." Sounds pretty detailed, says there are nine different locations with random encounters to search for ingredients, seasons affect the ingredients, there is a relationship system with NPCs in the village, etc.

Hibernation Games: A collection of 5 solo zines, including The Thaw (you are the last guardian of a tribe, preparing to fight the ancient enemy that will soon emerge from the ice), Life of a Spell Scroll (exactly as it sounds), I Love You, Alive Girl (trying to communicate with your love in the dystopian future by hiding comments in ad reviews without being caught by the AI algorithm), Drawing Dead (you are the Dealer, dealing hands of pokers to four souls on their way to the afterlife), and maybe my favorite, Gelatinous Cube ("You are an adventurer slowly being harmlessly digested in a gelatinous cube, seeing and interacting with the adventurers coming in and out of this dungeon.")

The Lighthouse At The End of the Universe: You are the solitary keeper of the Lighthouse at the end of the universe, to keep spaceships from falling off the edge. "The Lighthouse is a solo journalling game best played at nighttime before bed or for when you can't sleep. The Lighthouse is about running a lighthouse in space. It is played with a dice, a coin and pack of cards. Roll the dice and flip a card to get a prompt. Flip a coin to see how you go about the task." "Each logbook entry begins with your observations of the weather. You and the lighthouse are at the mercy of the weather at the edge and so mishaps are very likely to happen. Maybe you'll need to fix something, replace a panel, clean up a breakage, refill the tea in your flask. The oil in the lamp will need refilling through the night and the wick may need to be tended to. Once you've done that, sit down and take some time to Observe those passing by from the lighthouse's balcony." I thought this one sounded really chill.

12 Years: Hexploring and Dungeon Delving, solo or multiplayer. "You have 12 years until the Lich King burns the known world. Can you or anyone you know complete the coronation ritual and appease him? Better yet, destroy him once and for all?" Seems kind of solo Xcom-ish in a way as you can have parties and heroes die off and keep the game going until your 12 years runs out.

Where Mystery Dwells: Solo or two player catacomb crawl "through a candlelit world of stone and bones beneath a fantastical-industrial city." "you play a troupe of apprentices balancing their own survival and sanity against the need to curry favor with their patron. It also has system-agnostic tools for procedurally generating vaguely disturbing catacombs, creating the colorful city, and populating both with a cast of empathetic and engaging characters."

# ¿ Apr 25, 2021 00:08

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 21:47

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Ohthehugemanatee posted:

This format may have hit its peak in Four Against Ragnarok. The setting is Norse mythology and you explore Scandinavia instead of a dungeon. Unlike most 4AD games it also has an end. Your heroes adventure, gain in strength and eventually die and go to Ragnarok. Once you have a team of four dead heroes, you go into an endgame where you track down legendary enemies of the gods.

It's pretty tight. I felt like 4AD was a map generator that basically played itself, but 4AR gives you a lot of ways to mess with dice, and there's a lot more agency in terms of what risks to take. The beginning is brutal but mid and endgame really shine. Nor does it overstay its welcome.

I'm also glad people like Ironsworn. It doesn't really work for me, but it's a loving amazing product that was released for free, and I'm glad that it gave me the chance to try out PbtA mechanics.

I'll have to check that out! I didn't know Four Against Ragnarok existed.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2021 00:58

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Galaga Galaxian posted:

The Ironsworn: Starforged Kickstarter is now live.

I went ahead and backed this after the fun I had with Ironsworn over the weekend. There's also addons for discounted versions of the print Ironsworn materials.

When you back, you get access to the preview version of Starforged already, which as I skim through the materials seems fully playable already. There's some neat changes. One thing that stuck out to me is that you have three "Legacy tracks" now (bonds, quests, discoveries), instead of your epilogue just being limited to bonds. There's also a "Legacy" move instead of epilogue which allows you to generate a new character in the same setting with some carryover. There's also more stuff related to vehicles, particularly when it comes to assets, which makes sense in a game where there will be a lot of spaceship related stuff. And of course a whole boatload of new world generation prompts, oracle tables, etc. Also a lot more on generating an initial map with some known settlements and passages between them, which I might try to adapt for Ironsworn as well, because it seems like a useful centering tool.

It's very much primarily reskinned Ironsworn, but just from the preview edition, I feel like there's enough new meat on the bone here to make it worthwhile if you like the system. Especially for $20 for the PDF edition if that's all you want. There's even a $10 financial hardship tier.

StarkRavingMad fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Apr 27, 2021

# ¿ Apr 27, 2021 18:13

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Galaga Galaxian posted:

Off the top of my head:

* Combat now has its own variants on Secure an Advantage and Face Danger called Gain Ground and React Under Fire. Gain Ground even allows the option of marking progress on combat without (in)directly attacking your foe.
* This is because Combat is now Objective Focused instead of centered on defeating enemies (though defeating enemies can be an objective!) OFC this makes escaping a fight a bit more difficult as Escape should probably itself be considered an objective. You're supposed to set the objective's rank accordingly though. Escaping from a Star Destroyer and its TIES in your YT-1300? Dangerous. Destroying a Star Destroyer in your YT-1300? Epic or Extreme.
* a single move option vs Undertake a Journey (now called "Undertake an Expedition) called "Set a Course" for travelling to places when you have good information on the route to be travelled but the path or the destination still might be dangerous.
* Undertake an Expedition is not only for exploratory journeys, but also used for Starforged's equivalent of Ironsworn's Delve expansion.
* Minor wording changes to things like Initiative (now "In Control" vs "In a Bad Spot") and how momentum burning/reset works that hopefully are less confusing.
* Bonds system changed quite a bit. People now start as Contacts and you make progress towards your relationship before you try to forge a bond. Contacts are about as strong as Ironsworn Bonds while Starforged Bonds have more benefit and let you mark XP on your Bonds Legacy Track.

Reading through the preview materials, these all seem like good changes and I may try to backfill them into Ironsworn.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2021 19:21

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Pinwiz11 posted:

I just did my first session of Starforged and I forgot how much fun and evocative the Ironsworn experience could be. Nothing like trying something colossally stupid and then rolling double-zeroes.

I was just trying to retrieve some medicine from an escape pod for the colony, dice, why do you hate me???

Double zeros on that roll: "Huh, this sure is some weird looking medicine. Almost looks like...eggs? AAAAHHH OH GOD MY FACE"

# ¿ May 1, 2021 07:35

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Doctor Zero posted:

That�s awesome. I guess I�ll pick it up then.

Quick look at post history from the guy who made that thread:

quote:

Rock <me> Hardplace
Job searching
Me -

I've been with the organization (federal contracting nonprofit) for 15+ years;

sometimes considered part of management;

organization has decided to require racial equity training;

I have a moral objection and there is a possible compliance issue;

been looking for another position and striking out;

have a meeting with CEO requesting that the training be voluntary, but doubt it will be approved;

conflict at home as wife doesn't want me to quit without another job lined up;

running out of time before training takes place;

refuse training and get fired or give my notice, either way no unemployment.

Don't see many options. I'd be open to alternatives.

Edit - Yes, I know making a stand against something (an ideology) is a the crux of my dilemma, hence the rock vs hardplace title.

I have issues with someone looking at the color of my skin and assuming I am too white, asking me to confess my white supremacy sins, etc.

imagine my surprise that he would be upset at an author denouncing the far-right

# ¿ May 12, 2021 19:58

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Cocks Cable posted:

Wow. Final stretch goal for Ironsworn: Starforged is the Sundered Isles, a complete stand alone reskin of the Starforged rules for a pirate fantasy setting. Looks pretty extensive, almost a whole new game. I wonder if this can serve as a back port for regular Ironsworn setting into the Starforged rules.

From the update about it: "Plus, for those of you asking about using Starforged mechanics in the legacy setting of the Ironlands or another low-tech setting, Sundered Isles will give you a great starting place!"

# ¿ May 18, 2021 18:00

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Subjunctive posted:

I got my physical Ironsworn but not my cards yet, hmm.

If I remember correctly, the cards and books on DriveThruRPG are technically separate even though they interface -- you can't checkout a cart that has things in it from both at once (or at least you didn't used to be able to) for that reason. I think card printing from there actually routes through DriveThruCards. They use different printers so it's not that unusual that cards and books ordered at the same time would come separately.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2021 23:00

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

potatocubed posted:

If you're getting into solo games and you like creating artefacts of play, Wreck This Deck might be up your street.

Oh that looks cool, thanks for pointing this one out. I've actually been tinkering with creating a solo zine RPG type thing of my own partially around the idea of altering a normal deck of cards, but with very different theme and I presume gameplay to this, so this is really one to check out for me.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2021 18:20

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Kenning posted:

I've been playing a lot of ALONe lately. It's a solo game that is currently in beta by the guy who made the Game Master's Apprentice cards that uses the cards as the engine. He claims to be getting close to being ready to Kickstart it, and I'm super excited for that. If you're unfamiliar with the Game Master's Apprentice, they're cards that contain a few dozen pieces of information that can be used to improvise a scene when running a traditional RPG, or to spur creativity in other contexts. I love them.

The basic mechanic in ALONe involves asking questions with narrative stakes, determining likelihood (i.e. Good odds, Even odds, or Bad odds) and drawing a card to check the odds results for a yes or no answer. Answers can be "qualified", i.e. "Yes, and..." or "No, but..." Characters have Descriptors (similar to Aspects in Fate) that help determine the odds mechanically and can also influence narrative circumstances. Random events will be triggered by comparing the DiffGen number (a 1-10 bell curve) against the current "tension" in a scene. Random events are created by combining a Verb, a Noun, and possibly an Adjective by drawing cards.

For example, a few moments of play may involve your character trying to outrun some cops through a crowded mall. You might decide to drop down from the second story to the first to try to get a lead, and ask the question "Am I able to swing over the safety railing and drop down to the bottom level without hurting myself?" There are a variety of ways to choose the odds, but let's say they're even. You draw, and get "Yes, but..." You can interpret that as "Yes, but I'll have to ditch most of the stuff I stole." Or maybe draw a card to see what the "but" is and you notice the water symbol. "Yes, but I drop into a fountain and am now dripping wet, which will make me easier to follow." The cards offer lots of inspiration for interpreting the results of a given draw.

Later, you might be at home trying to lie to your parents about where you've been and why you're all wet. "I pitch them a story about having stayed late at school studying, and how when I was walking across the quad to head home the sprinklers came on. Do they buy it?" Bad odds, it comes up "No, and..." Looking at the card, the DiffGen result is lower than the "tension" in the scene, which triggers a random event. You draw "LOCATE" and "ICON". The news program in the background starts in on a story about a teen that outran police after stealing from the mall vape shop, and puts up security camera footage that is obviously you. To resolve the "and..." there's a knock at the door, and you see a police car parked in your driveway.

It's really fun. There are also super useful charts that let you draw cards to generate backstory and narrative background stuff that is quite productive and interesting (I've made some really compelling characters using the randomized method that are quite different from the sort of stuff I would come up with on my own). I have one game set in a sandalpunk setting of my own devising that I'm pretty invested in, and I've also been doing quick sessions to fill out background activity in a DnD game I'm running (i.e. what is this NPC up to while the players are in the dungeon?). It also totally works as a multiplayer GM-less game as long as everybody is on board with the type of game it is.

I've been wanting to share it with this thread for a while. The GMA cards are on steep discount right now ($6.99 for a printed deck instead of $19.99) due to COVID-19, and the .pdf of ALONe is a pay-what-you-want beta with a recommended $4.99 price. It's absolutely worth checking out.

That sounds very cool. If you remember, please link the Kickstarter here whenever it starts; I'll probably wait until then to see if there is a bundle price on all the various decks (I see that there are some genre specific ones aside from the base deck) and the game.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2021 23:03

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

potatocubed posted:

If you're getting into solo games and you like creating artefacts of play, Wreck This Deck might be up your street.

Hey, wanted to say again thanks for bringing this one up. Really neat mix of a solo RPG and like a guided art project that I had some fun with over the weekend.

Also, I'm sure at some point I'll forget I've done this and some friend will stumble across this deck of cards with "DANGER DO NOT OPEN" scrawled on the outside and all kinds of hosed up cards with sigils and burns and stuff on them and I'll have some explaining to do.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2021 06:45

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

I just ran across this and the concept made me laugh a lot:

You Are Quarantined With Adam Driver And He Is Insisting On Reading You His New Script

quote:

Amid a global crisis, you have been quarantined inside your home with Adam Driver, the actor. The circumstances behind how you were locked in your home with Adam Driver are unimportant for the purposes of this game, but you may want to think about them in your free time.

Adam Driver has not been idle during this time of isolation, and has written several scripts he is insisting you hear. Having nothing better to do, you decide to let him read them to you. Adam Driver has said he is looking forward to hearing your feedback, and you�re excited to discuss heady themes, symbolism, political, and philosophical concepts with the famous actor, Adam Driver.

There is one catch. Adam Driver is very very sensitive to critique, and while you value his work, you are concerned that your attempts to help him find his ideas and voice will be received as attacks, or that Adam Driver will respond with overt defensiveness. This would be bad, as you have to live alongside Adam Driver for the foreseeable future, and you don�t want to deny the world his work.

To play this game, you will need a twenty sided dice, some paper, and a strong mental image of the actor, Adam Driver.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2021 06:46

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

SkyeAuroline posted:

It's a dril joke, if you missed it. It's okay to spend money.

More seriously, it's actually been almost entirely free for me so far, just not successful.
Ironsworn (several failed starts from "just character creation" to "maybe 20 lines of text from starting to losing interest): $0
Starforged (one attempt made it as far as 3 sessions, the rest same as Ironsworn): $20 I think?
TYOV (actually kind of successful, but didn't finish my sole run and didn't have the repeat play value for me): $15
A couple Wretched and Alone hacks, including one that's disappointingly been taken down since: $0
And now I'm eyeing Blades in the Dark for solo troupe play to see if I can work through my RPG burnout, but I already own BitD from playing it with a group (unsuccessfully) so it may as well be a $0.

And all my tools are electronic and free for a mix of reasons, so I'm all of $35 in on solo games and I've gotten at least a few hours of what I'd call successful play out of it. Not the worst return on a hobby I've had, for sure.
Various issues holding me back from getting a lot more in there, but that's a whole other thing.

Yeah, there's a bunch of small solo RPG things that I backed off Kickstarter or bought off DriveThruRPG and some are good and some are "interesting to read the rules but I doubt I'll ever play" and some are so vague and nebulous that they're the equivalent of a high school writing prompt, but since they were all somewhere between $2 - $10 it's hard to be too mad about any of them.

I just use dirt-cheap composition books for everything, they're like two bucks at my local Rite-Aid. The whole solo RPG games thing is pretty inexpensive, aside from Ironsworn and Starforged which I actually ordered all the print materials for. And even that all-in is less than most board games on Kickstarter.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2021 19:07

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Uganda Loves Me posted:

The guide is only 13 pages. It seems less like a set of rules than a system for developing your own set of rules. I haven't read much about Ironsworn yet, but I get the impression this is a much less guided experience. It encourages doing your own research on the various demons and rituals, based on player-created content. This seems very appropriate and thematic to me. My original plan was to mess around with this until I get through the Ironsworn materials. After this writeup, I'm itching to play it right now.

EDIT: For some reason, googling the hashtag didn't come up with anything, but this link works: https://twitter.com/hashtag/WreckThisDeckRPG?src=hashtag_click. Looks like there is a community for this.

Yeah, as I think I said earlier in the thread, it feels like a mix of a really loose RPG and a guided art project. I've enjoyed it. You start by journaling the general community your character exists in and what problem they think they face. The general loop, as I've been playing it, is like 1. "fortunetell" (which is the basic equivalent of using oracle tables in something like Ironsworn) to see what the current situation is or what problem my character might be facing and then either 2. do a ritual using one of the demon cards I already created (journal the ritual methodology) and resolve whether it succeeded or journal the result if I failed (which might involve physically damaging the deck), or 3. If none of my current demons seem to apply, think up a new one and how to trap it in a card (which involves doing something creative to a card).

It's definitely looser than something like Ironsworn, but I find it really compelling in that you end up with this cool homemade physical object in the form of your deck that really embodies your play experience. I could see ending a "campaign" of this when I get sick of my current story, with my character dying as the result of a bad ritual or succeeding in his general goal, and then picking up the game again down the line and starting a new run but build off the same deck, saying someone else found it or whatnot.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2021 22:58

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

HopperUK posted:

You could use the sigil-drawing rules from Sigils in the Dark to combine with Wreck This Deck in a fun way I think.

I've been trying to remember the name of this game for like two weeks because I meant to pick it up awhile back and never did and then couldn't find it again. Thanks!

Uganda Loves Me posted:

I've enjoyed your write-ups of various games. I like the idea of a "lose" condition and passing the deck on. Kind of like a roguelike with meta progression. I want to do something similar with the gaming journal. I think I'll start at the back and work my way forward with wreck this deck, and leave the front of the book free for another game. Doing something backwards seems fitting for a demonologist. I see this as an art project, where I want to end up with something fun to look at. I'm trying to figure out which of my art supplies will actually stick to a card right now. I'm actually thinking ink that smudges might be an interesting mechanic. Protect those sigils, or else.

That's a very cool way to go at it. Interested to hear how that works out for you.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2021 00:19

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

potatocubed posted:

Cross-posting from the Kickstarter thread because it might be of interest to people here:

Also, I've just released another solo game (although this one you can play with others, if you like) called See Issue X. It's about superhero stories and accumulated backstory cruft.

Oh, I really like the concept of your game, and Wreck This Deck has inspired a deep love in me for loving up some playing cards. Gonna pick this one up.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2021 00:22

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

A couple of inexpensive solo (or two player co-op) journaling zine things in Kickstarter right now that I backed which seem interesting:

Lichdom:

quote:

Lichdom is a solo (or two player) journaling roleplaying game about the ambitious journey of a sorcerer towards immortality, about the hazardous research to find lost knowledge in crumbling tombs and half-buried cities, and about overcoming death by finding a way to keep your soul tied to this world before your time among the living runs out.
The goal of the game is to tell a compelling story about the sorcerous pursue of immortality, while developing a living world around your character with the help of two six-sided dice and event prompts provided by cards.

100+ page book, PDF version is only $7. Right now this only has a little over two days left on the campaign.

For Small Creatures Such as We:

quote:

For Small Creatures Such As We is a solo or co-operative journalling game that puts you in the captain's chair of a small spaceship with an alien crew that you create and learn about as you play.

Inspired by Becky Chambers' Wayfarers series, you will learn about the biologies and cultures, behaviours and beliefs of your crew members and of aliens in the wider galaxy around you. You will find ways to adapt your ship to make your new crewmates comfortable and to ensure your mission - whatever that may be - can be carried out successfully.

To play, all you need is a deck of playing cards and something to journal in. And don't worry about all the science talk, like all of my games For Small Creatures Such As We is intended to be as approachable as possible. So even if you don't know fingers from your toes, you'll still be able to create with and enjoy For Small Creatures.

This 60 page zine contains a quickstart with pre-generated crew members but also contains detailed information on how to think about and create your own unique species that feel believable by drawing information from various scientific fields such as zoology, astrobiology, and even botany and mycology. Though always with a touch of pseudoscience to let things flow free and fun of course.

In For Small Creatures Such As We, the main goal is to explore and to learn and to connect with characters that evolve as you play. Discover their backstory, thoughts and opinions through in-game events and enjoy as characters develop in ways you didn't quite expect. Learn quirks about each other's biologies, diets, and cultures.

My design goal with this game is to empower you to create characters that feel as alive and engaging as your favourite tv show characters. It is my goal that when you discover that your amphibious engineer has laid a clutch of eggs in her water filled quarters and has named one of her tadpole-esque children after you, that you feel elation and joy. It is my goal that when you take a shortcut through a dangerous asteroid field and an unfortunate impact causes severe damage to your shipboard A.I and it can't remember who you are, that you cry as much as I would.

From the same person who made Apothecaria. 60+ page book, digital PDF version is only $9.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2022 03:28

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Here's another new inexpensive solo journaling RPG:

Colostle: The Roomlands

quote:

The Colostle, an impossibly massive castle, the interior of which is so large that mountains, valleys, towns, cities and even oceans fill its rooms, with the ceilings and roof so high they are beyond sight, shrouded by the misty expanse of the sky, that sits within it�s vaulted heights.

Patrolling the Rooms of the Colostle are the Rooks, huge stone automatons that look like castle towers but with arms and legs. They are formidable opponents, and will attack you if they spot you, but if you can take one down, rewards of magic and mechanical parts will be yours.

You are a Roomlander, heading out on a quest into these Roomlands, keeping a journal of your legendary adventures as you go, but the Colostle extends infinitely in every direction, and the more you travel, the more new kinds of Roomlands you will discover.

Played with a deck of playing cards that you cross reference against tables in the book for writing prompts, and also for combat numbers. This is an expansion to the original Colostle, which I never played, but you can get the original core book and this expansion together in PDF for $14.

# ¿ Feb 21, 2022 20:05

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

90s Cringe Rock posted:

I think Rise and Umbra have a rule to basically give you a chance to build up, or maybe it was a tweak in errata or on patreon. It's something they need, unfortunately.

Delve does have that rule:

If you are exploring in depth 1 and draw a ♠, ignore that card and draw again;
this will allow you some time to build up your hold, recruit Units, and prepare
your defences. Otherwise, you will encounter a remnant. Check the table on page
21 to find out what you�ve stumbled upon, and then draw it on your map in the
space you chose to explore.

The problem is that Antifreeze drew a K of Clubs which is one of the very few non-spade enemies. I probably would have just kludged the rule and counted it the same as a spade and re-drawn. But I can understand wanting to follow the rules.

Rutibex posted:

So keep playing your character in hell. Why would dying end the adventure

Delve isn't really that kind of a game, it's not like a single-character narrative where you can just free-form the adventure. It's more of a solo pen and paper Dwarf Fortress.

StarkRavingMad fucked around with this message at 17:06 on Mar 16, 2022

# ¿ Mar 16, 2022 17:03

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Oh that looks pretty cool, for $5 I'll definitely check it out.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2022 21:06

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

SimonChris posted:

There is also this:

https://twitter.com/Sotherans/status/1513210507506954250

Kind of reminds me of You Are Quarantined With Adam Driver And He Is Insisting On Reading You His New Script.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2022 20:30

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

ZombieLenin posted:

I did not read through all 15 pages of this thread, but has anyone mentioned Tunnels & Trolls yet?

My first introduction to pen and paper RPGs was finding my dad�s Tunnels & Trolls modules from the late 70s when I was around 8 years old (way back in 1984).

I have interviewed the guys Flying Buffalo Games before when I used to run a trad games website a couple of times, so every year at GenCon I always stop in to their booth and hang out with them for awhile.

A few years ago they kickstarted a re-publish of a lot of the Tunnels & Trolls back catalog in the form of Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls, and I beta tested a iOS version of DT&T around 2018; however, I have no idea if the app was ever published.

The cool thing about DT&T os that it can be run either as a traditional multiplayer game system, or just used to run the Tunnels & Trolls solo play modules.

The game was super fun for me as a kid; however, it has a real old school (and extremely fatal) feel too it, so it is not my �go to� for running games for people, and I�m not really into solo play anymore.

When I saw this thread though and scrolled through the first 5 pages or so without seeing it mentioned, I thought it might be worth pointing out this game to my fellow goons.

I think I've heard of it before, but never really knew that it had solo play. It's a shame that the bundle that they did last year is expired and they say they don't plan to do another one. But maybe I'll pick up a couple of the solo books and give it a try. Thanks for pointing it out!

# ¿ May 31, 2022 20:00

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

The same person who did Lighthouse at the Edge of the Universe, a solo journalling thing which I thought turned out pretty good, has launched Fox Curio's Floating Bookshop.

quote:

Welcome to Bury River, the home to many animalfolk who trade and live along the riverbank. It is a bustling, lively place, with fish living in the clear waters and trees reaching overhead to the sun. Here, you can feel the tickling breeze through your fur and hear the lapping of the water at your paws.

You travel up and down the River, stopping at riverside towns to sell books. Your bookshop is creaky and sometimes a bit chilly but it is your home upon the River.

During the day, a number of animalfolk - both welcome and disruptive - come through the door. They�ll ask you about your books, tell you stories about themselves (whether you asked them or not) and complain about the weather. As you get to know your customers, you�ll form bonds with returning customers.

The River is changed by the seasons and you and the animalfolk who make it their home must adapt. In Winter, the River slows and freezes solid, stopping all water travel. At the Winter Solstice, the sun doesn�t rise and so you must keep the blinds shut to keep the giant moths away. In Spring, the gum trees on the banks flower and cover the water with their blossoms. In the Flooding season, the rains come from the mountains and flood the River, making upstream travel impossible.

Along the River, are many vibrant and lively towns. Each town offers a place to dock your shop to rest and repair or to open your doors and sell your wares. As you explore each town, you�ll get to know where the best places to get wood planks, sweet buns and warm cider drinks.

This game is inspired by Wanderhome by Jay Dragon, the Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell, the Redwall series, Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Graeme, Robert MacFarlane�s work and Stardew Valley.

Seems promising. $9 digital, $16 printed.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2022 17:27

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Potsticker posted:

Yes!

My apologies for not thinking of doing this initially. So, most of the larger books come with at least the basic rules, so I'd recommend getting one that's more themed to the setting that interests you.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/348646/The-Bone-Lord-Complete-Chronicles-BUNDLE
This is the bundle of adventures that I started with to learn the system initially. It's a bit bare-bones to some of the other zine-format books (as compared to the chapbook-format ones), but it served as a good starter to both the rules and the sort of flow of the game.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/358271/Micro-SciFi-RPG-Basic-Rules
This was one of the first core books that I got. This one had refinements to the rules I thought worked really well and the bestiary had a lot more interest available in terms of mechanical variety. I'd say overall the chapbook-format books have the least amount of this kind of stuff, so having options available from a book like this really helps. This is probably the single best book I'd recommend overall

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/385615/Neon-Road-AN-80s-STYLE-SOLO-GAME
This is a core book with the setting being a sort of Fallout/Mad Max/Cyberpunk mix future. It's unique mechanic is keeping track of Radiation, which also substitutes in for the dangers of getting too cybered up. It feels a bit broken up though as I found both https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/393406/Cars-of-the-Neon-City-Neon-Road-23 necessary for the vehicle rules and https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/396418/Neon-Augments-1 for the Cybernetic rules. They're like a buck each and the main book is too so it wasn't a huge issue other than having to juggle multiple pdfs. If you're the type to print things out and keep them in a binder or whatever it's not really going to be an issue.

These are all more core books:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/313842/Hammer--Cross-Deluxe-Core-Rulebook
Hammer + Cross has a sort of Gothic Horror theme where you're hunting Vampires, who get special rules and you have a unique stat called Faith. The back half of this book is set up to be more of a directed, constructed adventure than the other core books which feel more random.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/394457/Warrior-Queens-A-SOLO-SWORD--SORCERY-RPG
70s Sword and Sorcery/Planets theme. Bloodrage is the unique stat/mechanic which you can draw on for power or use to make potions. The cool bit in this book is the social stratification where you can move up the ranks to control regions.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/320711/Death-in-Dino-Valley-Deluxe-Core-Rulebook
This is a very pulpy Lost World sort of aesthetic and a lot of the art had that sort of bad Poser quality to it which I didn't particularly like. But mechanics wise this book has both a crafting system and dinosaurs to fight and tame and ride.

These look very cool (and are quite affordable). Thanks for the posts about them!

# ¿ Oct 31, 2022 20:09

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

girl dick energy posted:

Are there other good open-world space solo RPGs? Like what X3 or Elite or Star Control feel like but with less real-time waiting around.

Starforged just came out, by the same people that did Ironsworn.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2023 04:50

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Bottom Liner posted:

It's an evolution of Powered by the Apocalypse system that generates a lot of narrative from a variety of Moves. The main "game" part of it is managing a variety of resources and Assets that represent feats, items, and other types of character power you'd see in traditional games. The fantasy version is free to checkout:

https://www.ironswornrpg.com/downloads

Ironsworn is cool because it creates the narratives that story generation games like Thousand Year Old Vampire do, but there's still an actual game to it and it's not just a journaling game.

Yeah, it's generally considered one of the best in the solo RPG field. Recommend you download Ironsworn for free and see if you dig thuse like space ships, robot buddies, space oriented skills, etc). Ironsworn also has an expansion, which isn't free, Ironsworn Delve which adds rules for doing deep dungeon dives, I think that's $12.

If Ironsworn but in space seems like what you are looking for, you can buy Starforged in PDF form for $20: https://getstarforged.com/products/ironsworn-starforged-digital-edition-pdf, it also has the equivalent of Delve in it. You can't get a physical version of Starforged yet unless you backed the Kickstarter, they're expected to be selling those soon, but the PDF should be fine to play with.

StarkRavingMad fucked around with this message at 06:11 on Jan 8, 2023

# ¿ Jan 8, 2023 06:08

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Galaga Galaxian posted:

The background vow doesn�t even have to be something you, the player, expect to achieve, it�s just a character motivator to fall back on when you find yourself lacking purpose.

It�s also fine to NOT have a background vow, IMO. Maybe you�ll think of and reveal one later as a dramatic scene, having been guided to the idea by your game. Maybe there never is one. It�s fine to drop it if it�s getting in the way of playing the here and now.

Yeah the inciting incident vow is more important at the start than the background vow, and you can generate the inciting incident from oracle tables if you don't have a strong idea. I've done a few sessions where I just started from the inciting incident and got the big picture later and it works well.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2023 21:03

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

A couple of neat little solo journaling type games that I backed on Kickstarter, which delivered and are now available on itch.io for purchase:

Dead Air

A game about running a radio station after a nuclear apocalypse. Played with a standard deck of cards.

quote:

At the start of a game you will be issued three remit items. For example, deny the English exist, assure the public that It Can Never Happen Again, and that the government definitely still exists. Halfway through the game a fourth remit item lands on your desk, and it's never good news. Maybe now you'll have to tell your listeners that It Happened Again. Oh dear.

Each turn is broken into three rounds - scavenging, broadcasting and Problems. In the scavenging round, you manage your broadcast equipment and send out runners to scavenge fuel, equipment and valuables (like clean water). In the broadcast round you will be given a variety of prompts to write and produce your broadcast content for that turn. This might be a script, some music, or an interview with a man who lived to the great old age of 32. Finally, Problems will arise which test your ability, mettle and, occasionally, your gas mask.

You'll "win" by fulfilling your remit - but it is important to remember that any outcome in which you survive for a few more weeks counts as a victory in the wasteland. On the other hand, failing to meet your remit is likely to have you reassigned to "rebuilding detail", which has a lower life expectancy than "wolf keeper-away-er", so you might want to try your best.

The visual style of this one is neat, a lot of "found documents" kind of things:

Seems to have some surprisingly crunchy mechanics from my quick read of it:

They also suggest that you could record your own radio broadcasts as part of playing the game, and give some tips on doing so. $9 on itch.io. I really like this one.

Second is Fox Curio's Floating Bookshop, from the same person that wrote The Lighthouse at the Edge of the Universe.

quote:

On this River, you are a bookseller, paddling your floating bookshop up and downstream to various towns along the Riverbank. How did you come across the bookshop? Was it gifted to you or did you happen to chance upon it?

Your days are filled with customers, leaks and the irritating nook beetles that bury into the pages of your books. Make friends with regular customers to the bookshop, experience the River as she moves through the different seasons, visit and explore various towns, go fishing in the River's rich waters. Throughout the year, the seasons change and holidays give the chance for you to join in celebrations and festivities with the animalfolk.

Floating Bookshop is set in a fully formed world with its own unique seasons, holidays and customs.

222 pages featuring illustrations by Linnea Sterte

The game has:

5 seasons to play through
10 towns to visit, each with different shops, characters and seasonal traditions
2-3 holidays per season
Fishing mini-game

I'm a sucker for anything with a fishing mini game. Mechanics are less specific than Dead Air (although it does use both a deck of cards and a d20), and more into journaling and mood:

Has a surprising amount of detail, with a calendar that has holidays and details for the various seasons:

And details for various towns you can float to on the river:

Seems pretty chill and relaxing, kind of a Animal Crossing vibe to it. $16 on itch.io.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2023 20:23

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

feverish and oversexed posted:

Looking for recommendations for a solo roleplaying game or system that was made by a woman/women to take a peek at. Paid or free is fine.

I'm really new to the solo genre and would like to check out some suggestions from others if they know of any! I'm tinkering with ironsworn a lot but wondering what other creations are out there from people I might resonate with more.

Lighthouse at the Edge of the Universe and Fox Curio's Floating Bookshop by Ella Lim

Apothecaria, Umbra, RIse, and Delve by Anna Blackwell (Rise, Delve, and Umbra are very similar games with different settings, Apothecaria is a different kind of thing)

They're smaller more journaling type things than Ironsworn, but they're interesting.

# ¿ Jun 18, 2023 04:13

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Definitely grabbing Iron Valley, what a cool hack for Ironsworn/Starforged (which I already play and like).

# ¿ Jun 19, 2023 05:57

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

feverish and oversexed posted:

haha thank you, I was being tongue in cheek because I hyper focused on the genre so quickly. I'm happy to have found something I find so interesting.

I did manage to get in some gaming today so all is well

I think I'm mostly just amazed I've been adjacent to the genre and never knew how much I would enjoy this. I've considered myself a huge gamer for most of my life and just never really touched the ttrpg genre, crazy.

happy to be here now tho, this is really fun, and the little books are great for when I'm running around doing stuff and still wanna play.

I don't know if anyone has suggested this one yet, but looking at your journaling, I think you might enjoy Wreck this Deck, which both involves solo journaling and also marking up a deck of cards. That link is to a current backerkit campaign for a printed version of the game. There used to be a PDF version on itch.io but I don't see it there now, they may have pulled it down while they have the printed version campaign going.

# ¿ Jun 23, 2023 18:00

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 21:47

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Helical Nightmares posted:

So here is a progress report of sorts on the solo games I am in the process of reading...

Thanks for the write up! I'm definitely going to check out Data Hunter and Six Crowns when it's available. (I already have Broken Cask).

(edit): Ah! Didn't realize it until I downloaded it, but Data Hunter is a variant of Courier, which is something I backed on Kickstarter awhile ago during a zine-fest. Courier normally goes for $10 but the creator has it (and their other games) on sale until the end of September for 50% off as a fundraiser for their terminally ill dog.

StarkRavingMad fucked around with this message at 05:52 on Sep 26, 2023

# ¿ Sep 26, 2023 05:44

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