2023: My Year Of Solo-Gaming

A Year of Growth

Photo by Leandro Ruiz on Unsplash

48 Posts.

Over the year, I’ve written about Game-Master Emulators, Journaling games, my interest in history, and NANOWRIMO.

I lived a thousand years as a vampire, a short time as a werewolf, and as a post-apocalyptic Long Haul Trucker.

I played 17+ chapters of a Blade Runner RPG campaign called “Shadow of the Waxwing Slain” as two detectives solving randomly-generated cases, following randomly-generated clues.

I started an OSR solo-hex-crawling game called Kal Arath in Substack Notes.

I’ve gotten up to 130+ subscribers and started Paid Subscriptions.

I’ll admit I have not been super consistent, mostly getting out a post weekly but with a haphazard posting schedule, which I know isn’t the best. Goal for 2024? Be more consistent!

Current plans for 2024? I’ve begun building a fantasy world using games and tools to generate different regions, cities and areas, which I then plan to use as a setting for an as-yet-to-be-determined solo game. In January, once SOTWWS is finished (temporarily, I will return to it!), I’ll being posting about my experiences playing and building this world, currently called Kol Noth. If you’d like to provide input as I play, check out this post and please consider becoming a Paid Subscriber! Money earned from this substack will go entirely towards purchasing new solo games and tools, supporting those creators who make this hobby possible.

There’s also a ton of games I have and would like to play/use. What are they, you ask? Here, have a big list! Knave, Mazerats, Mythic GME 2, Scarlet Heroes, Worlds Without Number, Vaesen, Sundered Isles(new game from Ironsworn creator about pirates), Game Master’s Apprentice decks, The One Ring, Quill, Princess with the Cursed Sword, Artefact, Bucket of Bolts, Jamais Vu(a Disco Elysium ttrpg), Apothecaria, The Wretched, etc. The list goes on! There’s more on itch.io that I have through bundles that I’ve yet to try. Let me know which ones you’ve played that you think I should check out.

As for the rest of this year, you can expect one more chapter of SOTWWS coming out next week. As nice as it would be to put a bow on it, completing the case before year’s end, I doubt that will happen but we’ll see how the chapter plays out.

Paid Subscribers will get a post detailing what I’ve read, watched and experienced this year and my thoughts on all those things.

Thanks to readers, old and new, who’ve joined or stuck through with Playing With Myself throughout 2023. I appreciate it and it keeps me going.