Talking Solo #1
Housekeeping
I shortened the name because after some thought because including “with myself” just to keep it similar to “Playing with Myself” seemed unnecessary. I’ve added the numbers to differentiate one post from another, though I’m not sure if I want to number it like this, #1, #2, and so on, or maybe just include the date. Talking Solo, August 25th, 2022? For now, I’ll use numbers and see how it goes.
Substack is a new platform for me and I’m still learning how to organize and format things. Apparently, I could add new substack newsletters within the PWM substack, so “Talking Solo” and “Talking to myself” could be separate newsletters, but under the same overarching PWM newsletter? Maybe that would be better because you could just subscribe to what you prefer, but I also don’t want to flood you with three newsletters instead of one. For now, we’ll just keep it how it is. As we go, if you love or hate the way I’m doing it, let me know. I’m open to feedback and ideas as this place grows.
I also realize I completely missed the Thursday schedule that I’d set for myself for “Talking Solo” posts. I have to admit, as a special education teacher starting the school year next week, I simply ran out of time and need to be more honest about what I can accomplish. So, continue to expect a chapter or play session every Monday but for “Talking Solo” posts, I’m not going to commit to a regular schedule. They will come when they come and I have to be okay with that.
Solo Role-Playing Games
For today, I’m only going to talk about games I have some experience with. There are many, many games out there, and though I know of many, I would prefer not to flood you with an overwhelming list. Towards the end, I’ll list some places you can find more solo games as well as resources and information. This is not meant to be a wealth of knowledge around solo-gaming, as there are other, better places for that.
Solo Role-playing games are games designed around the familiar systems of rpgs, creating a world, a character or characters with certain stats, and using that character or characters to interact with a world, rolling dice, using abilities or traits or assets, etc. to overcome challenges.
Ironsworn
This is many players first solo role-playing game and it makes sense why. It provides a perfect framework to push you to create a unique and wondrous story as you play. The framework revolves around swearing vows to complete quests, which is what pushes your character to go about the world, interacting with NPCs, struggling through conflicts, and fighting others. It provides a wealth of oracle tables for which you to roll on to spur the story on and force you to make interesting choices. It’s a great introduction into using randomness to guide you in playing a game by yourself. It takes place in a fascinating setting, the Ironlands, a vikings-esque gritty wilderness full of danger and glory.
I remember first reading the rules years ago and bouncing off. I couldn’t quite figure out how the quests and combat worked. I think because I didn’t give it a try, I just couldn’t picture how to play in my head. I’m glad I returned a couple years later, a resurgence of my interest in solo-games, and I gave it another try. If it feels complicated or confusing, actually attempting to play it really helps you understand how the rules work. It’s a great system. You can also use it for Guided Play, which is with a group but without a GM, or as a more typical system, with a GM and a group.
If you’re interested in trying solo role-playing but aren’t sure where to start, this is a great system. And best part of all? It’s free!
Starforged
Take the wonderful system of Ironsworn, place it in a vibrant sci-fi setting, adapt the mechanics and assets to better suit the setting, and you have Starforged. This is a fantastic solo rpg and setting. It’s wide open, you can be a trader, explorer, bounty-hunter and more. You can tell any sci-fi story you want, including action, horror or space-western.
In my opinion, it improves on some of Ironsworn’s systems:
Combat is about achieving an objective, not just dealing damage.
Legacy tracks to push your character to explore, interact with NPCs, and complete quests, which gives you more chances for XP.
New and updated moves that really go with the setting.
World Truths bursting with quest hooks and ideas that make your universe unique.
An awesome starter-sector generation system.
An amazing library of oracle tables, everything from Starship Names to Planet Types to physics-defying Vaults.
I’ve started multiple solo campaigns and have always found myself engaged in the story.
It’s the system I used for my “Sanguine Dust” campaign, which I’m currently playing through and posting every Monday on Playing with Myself.
I can’t say enough about how great Starforged is.
Solo Journaling Games
Journaling games are quite different from role playing games but do keep some similarities. You often take on the role of some character, you often have a couple traits or abilities, but these are often quite open and flexible. Instead of a +3 in Iron, you might have a resource of "a gold hoard” that you just write down and keep in mind. You then move through the game, responding to prompts that come up. Some games may ask you to roll a die to randomly determine a prompt while others will simply have you go through each prompt in order to form a story. You react to each prompt by writing a response. Some prompts may affect your traits or abilities, or give you new ones as you play. These responses form the story over time, change your character and eventually end. Some journal games can be very personal, asking you to use real life memories if you feel comfortable, while others are completely fanciful. These games involve lots of imagination and are much more structured, but also lead to incredibly interesting and fun stories.
Thousand-Year-Old Vampire
This is the first journaling game I played and it’s also the best. Become a vampire and progress through history, killing, hiding, traveling, and losing yourself along the way. It has a fantastic system through which you create memories, but as you begin to live a long time, you must choose which memories to lose and thus, you begin to lose the person you were when you started. Who will you be at the end?
The book is also full of old newspaper clippings, weird old art, and collages of strange things. It’s just a wonderful and beautiful book, even besides the fantastic game within! It’s very much worth the money, though you can get the pdf for cheaper, and Hutchings does offer Community Copies for those who can’t afford to pay.
Here’s the write-up from the website:
A solo roleplaying game of loss, memory, and vampires.
In Thousand Year Old Vampire you chronicle the many centuries of a vampire’s existence, beginning with the loss of mortality and ending with inevitable destruction. Prompt-driven play and simple resource tracking provide easy rules for exploring your character’s human failings, villainous acts, and surprising victories. Expect gut-churning decisions and irreconcilable acts.
The game mechanics are simple and intuitive. Play progresses semi-randomly through a book of Prompts which let you explore your vampire’s wants and needs, resolve problems, and chart the decline into senescence. Play can happen entirely within the character sheet or can become a journaling activity--both work equally well.
I’ve played through multiple vampire lives, yet to make it to a thousand years, but each one has been different, surprising, brutal, and most importantly, fun. I hope to write up a new game here at some point in the future.
Field Guide to Memory
This is a very interesting journaling game. I’ll start with the write-up from the website:
Field Guide to Memory is a connected path game about legacy, wonder, cryptids and the vastness of a human life, designed by Jeeyon Shim and Shing Yin Khor.
Your mentor, the beloved and illustrious cryptid researcher Dr. Elizabeth Lee, has been officially declared dead five years after she went missing in the field. You will end the game with a physical artifact you've created yourself - your journal - in collaboration with us: your own field notes and documentation of your relationship with Dr. Lee. You will continue her legacy.
In this game, you follow a series of prompts daily or at your leisure. You create a character but also use yourself, you will use personal memories at times, as well as writing out letters, emails, notes and other things in your journal, as if you were sending these things to others. You then read the new prompt for the day and respond. The game will also ask you to explore around where you live, spend some time in nature, and other tasks. It’s much more structured and tells a more specific narrative, but one that still becomes very personal to you as only you have the memories you have, and you’re the one writing the notes, the interactions and the story.
It’s very interesting and I enjoyed it. You get out of it as much as you put into it, is what I would say. I’ll just end with another bit from the website:
Through writing, drawing, and mapping out your character's experiences in your own journal, you will explore the ecosystem of Dr. Elizabeth Lee's remarkable and complicated life, as you explore your own feelings and your role in her carefully constructed universe. Your gameplay process will become a part of the story itself — the "show and tell" nature of all connected path games — and when you are done, you will have a memorable keepsake you've made with your own hands.
Solo Gaming Resources
There is so much out there for solo gaming, you may feel overwhelmed. I’ve only dipped my toes in the water here, I haven’t even mentioned the many, many tools you can use to adapt any tabletop role-playing game to solo. Tools such as Mythic and GME (Game Master Emulator) and Motif, etc. But I don’t want to overwhelm you.
If you’d like to learn more, I’d recommend the Solo_Roleplaying subreddit,
There are many resources there, as well as a link to a Discord, where fellow solo players are welcoming and helpful.
If you have experience, questions or comments about any of these games or others, please let me know. Maybe there’s another game you’ve heard of and you want my thoughts, or maybe you have a question about a game I’ve described and I didn’t answer it. Whatever it is, leave a comment if you’d like.
Expect Chapter 5 of “Sanguine Dust” on Monday, even if I have to write all night to get it out on time.
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