r/Solo_Roleplaying

When you are playing your Main in your solo RPG, do you view it in the 1st person view or 3rd person (or other?)

I’m new to solo games and trying to figure out the best way to dip my toes in. Part of me thinks starting with something like Lords of Midnight (Morkin’s quest) makes sense; the world is already built, the map is fixed, and it feels more like following a set path. Less pressure to invent everything myself.

But then I see a lot of solo RPGs that use oracles and random prompts to build the story as you go. That looks awesome, but also kind of intimidating since it puts more of the creative work on the player.

So I’m curious: for someone just starting out, is it better to begin with a pre‑written world where the structure does most of the heavy lifting, or jump straight into a full oracle‑driven solo RPG and learn to create as you play?

What I mean procedural, almost boardgame like stuff.

What I know

\- Blackoath stuff

\-4ad

\- 2d6 stuff

\- Courier

\- D100 family

\- Rune and it's hacks

\- Thorpe (amazing)

\- Kuroi

\- Morkin

\- Entity

- Grimscar

- Basilisk/dark fort and it's hacks

I just ran an urban adventure and a dungeon adventure and my characters git killed in both but I love the mechanics of this game. It is very rules-light and leaves a lot of room for creativity. Now off to create my next character.

Hi! I’ve never played a solo TTRPG before, just some D&D, but I’m really curious about trying one.

My biggest concern is getting overwhelmed by rules. I’m looking for something super simple, easy to follow, and preferably designed to guide a beginner through what to actually do. I don’t mind some journaling/improvisation, but I’d prefer not to have to basically invent the entire story from scratch.

Right now I have my eye on Chained Mosaic: Noir, mostly because I’m a sucker for noir stories (detectives, mysteries, shady characters, crime, rainy cities, etc). But I’m not sure if it’s a good choice for someone who has literally never played a solo TTRPG before.

Ideally I’d love something that, works well as a one-shot or short adventure, has very simple rules, gives me enough prompts/structure that I know what to do next, can be played completely solo, is narrative/mystery focused rather than combat heavy.

Noir, detective, supernatural mystery, horror, espionage, or similar themes would be a big plus.

Would Chained Mosaic: Noir be beginner friendly enough, or is there something else you’d recommend playing first?

The question I have is, how much do you wonder/worry about your solo game reflecting a typical session of the given system with live players? In this case, in a system based around exploring a mystery rather than dungeon crawling combat/stealth, how do you square the circle of revealing a mystery you're inventing on the fly and do you worry you're "playing it wrong"?

Further context, I love CoC. I love how the percentile based skill system doesn't make me feel like I'm cheating when I assign a DC#. I love the concept of cosmic horror and horror role-playing as I feel it is very relevant to my own life and experiences (don't get me started, I'll be here all day). When I first picked up the 7e starter set, it came with a choose your own adventure style solo game attached, which I'd never seen before and have now come to believe is standard for Chaosium. It's what got me down the rabbit hole to playing solo in the first place.

However, I am also a forever DM and I like running games for others. My game group doesn't get the concepts of investigation and constantly seems to dungeon crawl into the investigations, usually getting them killed/insane. So the only time I can really find an enthusiastic group is at the cons where I run gaming for others. So I want to make an authentic experience and I want to explore that in my solo games, but I worry I'm getting too "solo" to really grasp the player at table dynamics of the system.

So how about you? How do you like to run investigation based games solo? Do you ever worry that solo play is tampering with your ability to run/play games with others?

When you play a game of a solo game, and let's use ironsworn as an example, how much do you prep for it before hand? Being new to ttrpg and Solo play, I don't really know how to prep for it. It seems to me that every game requires generating characters and NPCs and locations and goals (aka plot). I can see scenarios that could utilize pre used elements or ones that were generated for previous games and just using them over again as needed.

I get it, just because it's a solo game that's greatly managed by an oracle, it doesn't mean that there's no game master. The player also has to be a game master and part of the role of the GM is to build the game.

But what if I have an evening to kill and I wanted to play a quick game and I'm starting from scratch? I foresee spending an hour or more preparing before I can even start playing.

Maybe there are better solo games for quickie simple play sessions? Or maybe I should spend some time spinning some pre made elements that I can draw on for a quick game?

Do you know of any blogs or something of the sort that post journaling playthrough?

A friend of mine showed me the Her Odyssey Solo RPG and I have been starting to use it as side material for a character for a fanfic I am writing. My plan is to type on Google Docs a first person pov detailing everything that happens for each card drawn and then get a real journal to actually summarize everything to make it easier to visualize

Does anyone think that helps? Has anyone tried this before?

For example:

The Revised Big Book of Battle Mats, Table Fables II, The Book of Random Encounters, Dungeon Designer's Deck

Hello I am new and just recently discovered solo journaling RPG.. I was wondering if you could suggest some sites to download free pdf and what are your top picks?
I have kindle basic and would love to use them there.

I would buy online but in my location (I live offshore) it’s very hard and cant find any in our online shops.
Thank you!

Hello!

I have always loved Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age and similar games about roleplaying, so I tried to play a campaign with some friends a while ago and it was fine, it was fun, but we have only played 2 games in 6 months and I am losing interest.

I saw that there are solo roleplaying games that you can play with minimal materials, so I wanted to try those but I don't really know where to look. I also wanted to spend no money first. Any recommendation is appreciated. Take into account that my experience with DnD comes from games rather than campaigns, because I have only ever played those two sessions and most of them were spent explaining things, because none of us had ever played or GMed before.

Thank you!

Hey all, recently discovered Solo Rpg Journaling was a thing and am currently exploring options available. I'd love some suggestions on more spooky vibed ones!

I know Thousand Year Old Vampire is a mainstay, but it is a bit pricey imo. I'll likely get it eventually but also looking for a little more variety. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I love DnD but like some people I run into the problem of finding consistent people to play with. I know how to Dm and be a player so I was looking for a way I can play by myself. I found that solo play is a thing and I found a couple things to teach it. But now I am looking for solo ttrpg like books and resources. I don't know where to start and such? I love everything about dnd, I love the dungeon crawling, roleplaying, intrigue, long adventures, the world. Please help me out! I searched amazon and there is barely anything.

Hi! I’m looking for solo rpgs that use a Tarot deck for resolution/prompts. I’m aware of Anamnesis and it’s many hacks, but I’m interested in which one are your favorites.

I am running a solo ODND campaign right now and I am 4 ingame days into her story. Tonight I just played a pivotal part of the campaign (in the wilderness, ran out of water, stumbled upon a castle and miraculously won a joust rewarding me with loads of rations, a horse named Bride, and entry into the castle!) and I am on page 29 of my notebook! I have always loved writing but the immersion of solo roleplaying has me writing more than I ever gave before! I really do love my main character and I really like a few of the other characters she has run into so far. Once you get into the rhythm of solo roleplaying, the time just flies. I honestly don't know how long I was playing today, I ended my session maybe 15 minutes ago at 11:45pm and I think I started around... 4pm 😅. Getting scene appropriate music, getting into the headspace of my character and imagining very vividly the events of the story has been more entertaining than really any video game has been for me in quite awhile! Loving solo play!

I know that every game that could be meditative experience, but what can help you deepen in yourself?