Ryder? I barely know her!

Me:

Me:

So this isn’t just a contextless grump, have a rec list of a few personal favourite RPGs that are either designed to be played as solo guided writing exercises, or otherwise explicitly support solo play:

9 Questions - A screenwriting exercise adapted as a framework for solo RPG scenarios. This one is more of a meta-game designed to paired with another system, ideally something fairly rules-light.

Abnormal - A body-horror-centric game about a regular human who’s being slowly consumed by an alien parasite. Uses a custom deck of cards; it’s included in the PDF, but you’ll have to print it yourself.

ALONe - A solo RPG engine designed for use with the GameMaster’s Apprentice line of card decks. A fairly pricey buy-in, since you need to buy the deck separately, but it’s discounted at the time of this posting.

Alone on Silver Wings - A solo journaling game driven by a heavily modified Apocalypse Engine variant. Available as part of the Four Ways to Die in the Future anthology, linked.

Hall of the Dwarven King - Arguably more of a solo board game than a solo tabletop RPG, this one is probably best described as tabletop Dwarf Fortress. Remarkably deep for a one-page game.

Ironsworn - A travel-centric RPG inspired by Norse folklore. Supports GMless two player co-op as well as true solo play, so it’s good for basically any scenario where nobody wants to GM.

Oculus (warning: direct PDF link) - Another journaling game, in this one you take on the role of a wizard guiding a fated hero via some sort of magical scrying device.

Of the Woods - An anthology of six short solo games by six different authors. The anthology’s theme is faith, isolation, and the intersection between the two, so not one to play if you need to lift your mood!

Quill - This one’s an oddball: a letter-writing game where dice are used not to determine outcomes, but to decide which words and phrases you need to work into your letters. Several expansions available.

Alone Among the Stars - A cross between a writing prompt game and a journaling game that has you filling out a starship’s exploration log. Also available in Twine format.

Brave Sparrow - A single-player LARP from the same author as Abnormal, above. It’s about a very specific type of lived experience; if you’re the game’s target audience, you’ll know what I mean!

Mythic - Designed as a table-driven “GM emulator” for Dungeons & Dragons, and later spun off into a standalone game. You can get the GM emulator component by itself if you have your own system in mind.

The Plant - A tabletop RPG/choose-your-own-adventure book hybrid, in the style of the old Lone Wolf series. This one’s less combat-centric and more exploratory than most examples of the type.

Traveller - Though the main game is not solitaire-friendly, the character creation system is designed to be played as a semi-standalone solo minigame – example here. You can even die during chargen!

@i-chew-on-pushpins recommends Curio, which apparently came out literally yesterday, so I imagine I’m not alone in being unfamiliar with it! This one seems to be a variant of a journaling game.

@no-road-home, the author of Alone Among the Stars, has offered a curated collection of setting and milieu hacks if space isn’t your bag. The one where you play as a squirrel trafficking prescription medication across the Texas border especially caught my eye!

@oceanics-roar recommends Hollerith Communications Manual and Spindlewheel. I’ve actually played the first one; I did not care for it because the rules make fairly specific assumptions about the player’s handwriting which didn’t hold true for me, but they might for you.

From @tarastevens2

[Video: far off shot of a crane lifting a blue Porta-Potty through the air.

My Brain:… no.

Me: Why not?

My Brain: Can’t do it. Not today.

Me: Whyyyyyyyy?

My Brain: Because we are processing at capacity and one more stream is going to crash the whole system.