So what's the deal with solo gaming?

[Doctor Futurity]

Does anyone post samples of how this works? I thought I could make sense of it as I once played a lot of Tunnels & Trolls solo books and I used the randomized tools in the 1E DMG back in the day to solo the game, but I've looked at several modern solo options and none of them really explain the process well, certainly not enough for me to have a clear framework of approach. (EDIT: I've looked at Solodark and Dragonbane)

 

[Autumnal]

Reddit’s r/Solo_Roleplaying regularly has writeups of play sessions of a bunch of different systems.

 

[Scott Christian]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but the D&D board games from 4th edition like Wrath of Ashardalon and Ravenloft were kind of fun solo games. And of course if you want something a bit more complex, there is Gloomhaven.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but the D&D board games from 4th edition like Wrath of Ashardalon and Ravenloft were kind of fun solo games. And of course if you want something a bit more complex, there is Gloomhaven.

I have three of those games. Most fun I've ever had with the 4e rules (more or less).

 

[dbm]

Does anyone post samples of how this works?

There are quite a few YouTube channels on solo gaming. My personal favourite is Me, Myself & Die which is done by Trevor Devall who is a voice actor so the videos are entertaining as well as informative (IMO). If you start with Season 1 he explains a lot of what he is doing as he goes along. He wasn’t previously massively into solo gaming before starting the channel during lockdown so he understands what needs to be explained as a newcomer.

 

[Scott Christian]

You could also just use ChatGPT or Gemini. Have them run a twelve-room thematic dungeon for you with puzzles, combat, and whatever else you want. Tell it which ruleset you would like to use, and it will oblige.

 

[Autumnal]

Depends on what you want from your game. If you want an average-ish experience, within the usual outcomes of a game genre, then LMMs will serve. And I have been known to eat popcorn and marshmallows, not at the same time, and I’m not knocking the place of expected outcomes. (I also sometimes read Clive Cussler and Matthew Reilly.)

If you do solo gaming at least partly to get experiences that just don’t happen much or at all in group play, because they’re some specific combo of wants that only line up in one head (i.e., mine), then LLMs available to the general public won’t help much.

 

[Scott Christian]

Depends on what you want from your game. If you want an average-ish experience, within the usual outcomes of a game genre, then LMMs will serve. And I have been known to eat popcorn and marshmallows, not at the same time, and I’m not knocking the place of expected outcomes. (I also sometimes read Clive Cussler and Matthew Reilly.)

If you do solo gaming at least partly to get experiences that just don’t happen much or at all in group play, because they’re some specific combo of wants that only line up in one head (i.e., mine), then LLMs available to the general public won’t help much.

If you read the OPs comment, I don't really know of any "solo" game that can offer what he wants outside of an LLM. They are certainly broader in scope Than any boardgame, dungeon crawl, or solo RP game I have seen. And, also as the OP asked that he didn't want to spend a lot of time making a character or have complex rules... well, the LLM will do all of that for him. He also mentioned he wouldn't mind text based with multiple setting, ones where he could "use his imagination." LLMs fit that request too.

As far as usual outcomes, I don't think that an LLM is always going to have usual outcomes, nor are they even trope oriented. I have a friend told me he died while playing solo, and then it went on to describe all the terrible things that happened to the area he was trying to save. Not very usual in my opinion.