Let's Talk About Solo TTRPGs

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

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

If I end up picking up Notorious, I'm going to be supplementing what look like already good random tables with the Roll & Play Sci-Fi Gamemasters Kit, which is nothing but great roll tables.*

DTRPG also has a number of genre-specific PDFs that are nothing but roll tables.

* When I don't just use Star Wars generators, that is. If I'm going to play through a Star Wars pastiche, I might as well have the most ridiculous Star Wars names as possible for the NPCs.

 

[John Dallman]

Published in 1982, it predates TSR UK and Games Workshop (founded by the same people who wrote Warlock) ...

Err, no. Games Workshop was founded in 1975, and TSR UK in 1980. While Warlock of Firetop Mountain certainly brought many people into the hobby, I'd demur from the idea it was "central" for very long.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Err, no. Games Workshop was founded in 1975, and TSR UK in 1980.

You're right. I got Games Workshop the store/distributor conflated with its later identity as the creator and publisher of its own RPGs. Which Fighting Fantasy does predate. Livingstone and Jackson have said that the success of Fighting Fantasy helped them decided to go all-in on making bigger RPGs.

In any case, if one is interested in paragraph/narrative based solo play with a game system attached, Warlock of Firetop Mountain is, as far as I know, the original game of that kind, which led in turn to all of the ones that came after.

 

[Joshua Randall]

One issue here is what one means by 'solo TTRPG'. There are no wrong answers.

• Numbered paragraphs like in Choose Your Own Adventure / Fighting Fantasy / Lone Wolf / etc. Can range from basically no game engine, just pick-a-path (CYOA) to light game engine (FF), medium game engine (LW), and even heavy game engine (Middle-Earth Quest which was a subset of the MERP rules). There is a 'GM', which is the book, so you are not required to nor free to do whatever you want.
• CRPGs like Baldur's Gate 3, etc. etc. etc. Again, heaviness of the game engine can vary, from 'walking simulator' to medium weight to heavy weight. There is a 'GM', the computer, so while you are free to do many things, they have to work within the confines of the program. Still, you are not expected nor required to play both sides of the screen (GM/player).
• Journaling games with zero or ultra-light gameplay, where your end result is a (hopefully satisfying) story. You are called upon to interpret writing prompts. I don't enjoy these and have no experience with them, so can't say much more. Arguably, there is no 'screen' because this is not a player/GM 'game' in the sense we normally mean.
• Bespoke solo games like Ironsworn. You are now firmly playing on both sides of the screen, player and GM. There will be 'oracles' which are random tables of yes/no/etc. answers and evocative prompts but you are still responsible to (A) remember to use them and (B) interpret the results, when in 'GM' mode. Gameplay weight is typically more medium than light.
• Group games adapted to solo play, like various add-ons for Blades in the Dark or D&D or Shadow of the Demon Lord etc. etc. etc. Mythic Game Emulator fits here, too. Again, you are responsible for both sides of the screen. The difference between this and 'bespoke solo games' is that the game was not designed to support solo play, so you must make whatever adaptations are suggested in addition to being the GM and interpreting oracles. You may also face issues of a game that assumes a party or at least assumes incoming damage is spread out across 4-5 characters, not concentrated onto 1. Rules weight is whatever it was in the base game, although I typically see adaptations made to medium- to heavy-weight game engines.