Best solo RPGs?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I am currently 15 days into my first play-through of Thousand Year Old Vampire, which I'll be posting as an actual play thread once my vampire's existence comes to an end. (My dice rolls are doing a real hokey pokey, so who knows when I'll get to the end of his story.) I am loving it, though, and am already wanting to do this again with other solo RPGs.

So, I'm looking for recommendations: What are your favorite solo RPGs, and why? What is the play experience like?

(And yes, I could just play through Fighting Fantasy books I haven't ever completed before. I have House of Hell, Creature of Havoc, In the Shadow of Giants and Secrets of Salmonis coming from Amazon and Amazon UK, so that's definitely an option, too.)

 

[Aldarc]

Ironsworn and Starforged are practically the industry standards now, with the result of turning Shawn Tomkin into something an industry consultant or writer for solo-RPG play or solo-play conversions.

 

[jdrakeh]

Seekers Beyond the Shroud is very, very, good. It's what I imagine John Constantine would be, were he a solo RPG.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Ironsworn and Starforged are practically the industry standards now, with the result of turning Shawn Tomkin into something an industry consultant or writer for solo-RPG play or solo-play conversions.

I'm looking at Starforged. I am guessing the tone is largely up to the player as they fill in the story, although it's generally meant to not be the height of starfaring civilizations, but some time after that, correct?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Seekers Beyond the Shroud is very, very, good. It's what I imagine John Constantine would be, were he a solo RPG.

The Omphalos also makes me think Rivers of London. Very cool; I hadn't heard of this one!

 

[Aldarc]

I'm looking at Starforged. I am guessing the tone is largely up to the player as they fill in the story, although it's generally meant to not be the height of starfaring civilizations, but some time after that, correct?

I have not looked at Starforged. I mostly know it by proxy to the Ironsworn and following Shawn Tomkin. I'm personally waiting on the seafaring conversion that is in development.

Shawn Tomkin, for the record, was also brought on board for the solo-RPG supplement for The One Ring 2e.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Oh, that's right, the Strider rules. Also a compelling choice, although I think I'd be more likely to want to play a fool of a Took wandering around Middle-Earth than a ranger.

And a seafaring Ironsworn is an interesting thought.

Ideally, I'd like my solo RPG games to all be different genres, as I don't really need 10 different flavors of layer cake, as yummy as layer cake might be.

 

[kronovan]

I enjoyed The Dark Eye adventure Vampire of Havena and like those rules as a platform for solo gameplay. The Vampire of Havena is specifically tailored as a solo adventure and doesn't require knowledge of the TDE Core Rules or the Aventuria Almanac; the latter being an excellent gazeteer detailing the main campaigning continent. In terms of genre, TDE is Epic/Heoic Fantasy with its continent of Aventuria having more of a medieval Euro and Middle East rub on it than your typical D&D settings. No surprise as the system originates from Germany where it's known as Das Schwarz Auge.

I like the rules for solo play because skill rolls are an even-or-under 3d20 roll. Skills are linked to 3 attributes and skill ranks are a sort of meta-currency used to buy down any of the 3 roll results that were higher than their attribute. Combat is simplified though and only involves a single even-or-under d20 roll. It's what I'd call a crunchy ruleset, but I think that makes them appeal for solo gameplay, because dice rolls are consistently interesting and the rules cover everything from adventuring to social roleplay. Much of the crunch is front loaded, as character creation is quite complex with PC's being comprised of races, cultures, professions, skills, advantages and disadvantages. That's all taken care of with the solo adventure, as it provides a good pregen PC.

The developer (Ulisses Spiele) have created another solo adventure for TDE titled Conspiracy of Mages. Unfortunately it has an error late in the adventure which somewhat breaks immersion, as you need to read a page ahead in order to fully understand the choices. It was apparently updated since I bought it though, so that may have been fixed.

 

[phuong]

How do you define a solo rpg if there is no roleplaying, since it is solo. Does fighting fantasy count?

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I gave Lost in the Deep a shot and found it surprisingly enthralling. I might also point out that I had never played Jenga prior, so that session didn't last all that long.

Lost in the Deep

You are the last survivor of a band of dwarven warriors who have come to the lost halls of the Kingdom Under the Mother Mountain, to retake it and rebuild it in the name of your ancestors. After months of wandering the almost endless halls of the dwarven ruins, your band unwittingly set free an...

www.exaltedfuneral.com