Let's Talk About Solo TTRPGs

[Old Fezziwig]

Some would consider that a huge win! See, RPGs can be art.

You're relentlessly positive, dude.

 

[aramis erak]

I found mythic utterly worthless for me.

My preferred mode for solo is numbered paragraph modules, preferably with an rpg ruleset rather than just choices.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I found mythic utterly worthless for me.

My preferred mode for solo is numbered paragraph modules, preferably with an rpg ruleset rather than just choices.

In that case, you may be excited to know that Deathtrap Dungeon is getting another sequel this fall, for its 40th anniversary.

 

[overgeeked]

I've tried both Ironsworn and Thousand Year-Old Vampire, but it just isn't clicking for me so far, despite liking the design of both games. I just haven't quite found a way around the Czege Principle yet.

Random rolls and random tables. That should get you over that particular obstacle.

 

[overgeeked]

There’s also Captain’s Log, the solo Star Trek game. I like some of the rules, but they’re still too crunchy for my tastes and not focused enough on actually producing something like a coherent story.

 

[aramis erak]

In that case, you may be excited to know that Deathtrap Dungeon is getting another sequel this fall, for its 40th anniversary.

Not particularly; I never got into the Fighting Fantasy line... nor Lone Wolf. Just weren't available when I was looking where I was.
And I discovered that PDF is less than optimal for playing them. (I got a bundle of FF titles in PDF, including AFF... which said bundle was cheaper than AFF alone...)

There’s also Captain’s Log, the solo Star Trek game. I like some of the rules, but they’re still too crunchy for my tastes and not focused enough on actually producing something like a coherent story.

Got it, haven't read it deeply yet, but it's mechanically just STA minus the talents on the actions side of things.

Random rolls and random tables. That should get you over that particular obstacle.

Oh, that reminds me... At one point I wound up with a narrative generating dice game about members of the oldest profession with addictions to rock coke. It's got a little bit of choice making, and it's very depressing... as it probably should be. It got about 1/2 an hour of play... and I felt icky playing it...

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Random rolls and random tables. That should get you over that particular obstacle.

Sure, I do see that as one solution, and I'm going to give it a good try. But without getting too far into my own hangups, I do tend to find excessive randomness frustrating in RP, perhaps because of the chance of things like having the game end up being about prostitutes with a need for hard Bolivian marching powder (harder? I suppose regular coke is a pretty hard drug to begin with).

 

[Voadam]

As a kid I did a bunch of Endless Quest books after having got into B/X Basic, maybe a half dozen, a dozen, and enjoyed a bunch of them.

I also had a couple of the Advanced Fighting Fantasy books, Khare city of Traps and the Seven Serpents as well as the Spellbook one and enjoyed the magic system a bunch.

I re-read one of the endless quest books after sharing them with my son when he was young but that was over a decade ago now.

 

[kronovan]

I'm big on solo play for boardgames and own many that are either soley solitaire, have a solo mode via a BOT, or are solo friendly for playing both sides - play 1 a week at a minimum. The biggest barrier for me for solo playing TTRPGs, is that I'm really only interested in soloing those I homebrew with and not those that are specifically wrtitten for solo play. I own solo companions for a number of my homebrewing TTRPGs, but those have been disappointing as they don't really provide the right tools, or enough of the right tools - if that makes sense. That's meant I've soloed few, but did complete the Vampire of Havena solo adventure for The Dark Eye and enjoyed it. For me, using a VTT seems optimal for solo play and I bought the TDE CRB for Foundry mostly for Vampire of Havena, which did play well.

I also bought the Captain's Log solo RPG for STA, as I own the STA DLC for Fantasy Grounds. Many of The Captain's log's tables look to be every bit as useful for a campaign with a party of players, so I plan to slowly import them in to Fantasy Grounds. Once imported, I do plan on attempting a solo play campaign. I havent' bought any of the Mythic PDFs, but it's something I've pondered. The Mythic GM Emulator is available for Fantasy Grounds, but it's a lot pricier than the PDF and I'm just not sure how useful it'll be, so haven't pushed the [buy] button yet.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Not particularly; I never got into the Fighting Fantasy line... nor Lone Wolf. Just weren't available when I was looking where I was.
And I discovered that PDF is less than optimal for playing them. (I got a bundle of FF titles in PDF, including AFF... which said bundle was cheaper than AFF alone...)

The mobile/Steam app is an excellent way to play, although they only have about a dozen titles and you can buy each book a la carte. (I think they give you one for free.)

If you like this genre, it's probably worth playing through Warlock of Firetop Mountain, which is a central RPG text on the far side of the Atlantic. Published in 1982, it predates TSR UK and Games Workshop (founded by the same people who wrote Warlock) and features amazing Russ Nicholson art throughout.