Talking Solo: Journaling Games
TYOV and others
Maybe tabletop role-playing games aren’t for you, or they don’t feel as fun without a ‘group’ or maybe you want to try something else solo, something that gives a bit more freedom, something that stirs your creative side. Maybe you want something that doesn’t involve lots of dice rolling, character stats, and oracle tables. Then give journaling games a try!
There are a wide range of possibilities out there. Some have you follow one prompt to the next, considering and writing your responses as you play through the story. Others use a random system (dice, tarot, playing cards, or combination, etc.) so you hit different prompts as you go. Some start you off as a very specific character, while others give you freedom to choose character traits such as resources, skills or abilities. Some games are simply a writing and thinking exercise, stat-less, while others are more gamified with a character sheet and prompts/choices that change your character’s abilities as you play. Other games have you draw, go out into nature, do things out in the world, etc.
So if you feel a little intimidated by the more rules-focused solo ttrpg’s, (such as Ironsworn with it’s abilities, statuses, vows, progress trackers, etc.) give a couple of these games a look and see if you’re interested. Many of them have free versions of rules or community copies. If you try them out for free and like them, please give the developers at least buck or two to support them.
This is the game I’m currently playing!
It is a great mix of being open-ended yet still structured with having a character sheet that holds your resources, skills, NPC relationships and memories. Your resources and skills can be anything you can think of, and you move randomly (1d10 - 1d6) through the prompts, slowly approaching the end, responding to the prompts, changing your character sheet as you go, using and losing skills and resources, adding to and losing memories, living the life of a terrible, long-lived monster. It’s great fun!
You can start in any time period and location you wish and the prompts will send you searching for wikipedia entries, ancient maps, and learning historical tidbits along the way. My current game began in Alexandria, Egypt, during the Roman conquest by Octavian. At the end of the last chapter, my vampire was forced to flee to another land. It’s going to be either the Sassanid Persian Empire, the Gupta Empire in India, or the Western Jin Empire in China. I’m asking for reader input so check out the latest chapter and let me know what you think.
Artefact is a game by Jack Harrison where you play as a magical item, anything from a weapon to a shield to an instrument, footwear, or ornament and more. You respond to prompts as your item ages, moving from keeper to keeper. You write about who uses your item and for what purpose. Finally, you’ll write about your item’s end. I’ve played through this and it’s a fun game. It’s also not super long so if you don’t want to commit to something as hefty as Thousand-year-old Vampire, this is a bit more manageable. The creator also created a new game called Bucket Of Bolts which is similar but instead of a magic item, you create the story of a spaceship as it passes from crew to crew. It’s something I’ve really wanted to try but haven’t gotten to yet.
I talk about Field Guide to Memory and Thousand-Year-Old Vampire in a previous post, here:
It’s a fascinating game where you go through each prompt, writing either a journal entry, logging or drawing ‘observations’, writing ‘letters’ and working your way through a story. It presents a very specific story which gives you freedom in who you are and how you react to things, but you don’t make choices and can’t change the story. It’s fun to play a different person and do these different things as well as seeing the story unfold. It also encourages you to use your own memories as content which can bring up surprising emotions and thoughts. It’s a very interesting and engaging experience.
Alone on a Journey is a compilation of 3 games by Takuma Okada, including Alone Among the Stars. If you’ve looked into solo gaming, or solo journaling games at all, you’ve likely heard of Alone Among the Stars. It’s a simple, meditative, journaling game where you use a 52-card deck and a d6 which prompt you to journal your journey in space, landing on planets, finding ruins or life forms or other things. The prompts are simple and minimalist, leaving your imagination to do the work. You can play quickly or slowly, writing as little or as much as you want. This game has been credited as an inspiration for a vast number of other solo games, so it’s definitely a great game to check out.
Here’s even more journaling games, many of which I haven’t yet played but sound really interesting and engaging:
A Visit to San Sibilia: A visit to San Sibilia is a solo journaling game in which you roleplay a character chronicling their visit to the city of San Sibilia. It is a city not found on any maps—San Sibilia is both part of and distinct from our world. The city manifests itself differently to every visitor.
I’ve listened to a podcast (Friends At The Table) where two players played this and it sounded awesome.
Gentleman Bandit: In this writing-focused RPG, you personify the eponymous Gentleman Bandit to write a 13-line poem you'll leave for the dead — and the ones who discover them. Card draws guide the content of each line; optional dice rolls add poetic devices to further shape the experience and ratchet the difficulty.
Apawthecaria: In this cosy solo RPG, you take on the role of a Poultice Pounder, a beast with knowledge of ailments and their cures. It's your job to travel the post-human landscape of the Bristley Woods, visiting ailing beasts and foraging for the reagents needed to cure them, all while working towards the end of a grand Seasonal Journey.
This game was inspired by Apothecaria where you play a village witch and Scurry where you play animals going on some kind of adventure. I haven’t played any of these but have heard very good things.
Anamnesis: You play as an individual who has woken up with memory loss. You do not remember who you are, where you are, or what you care about. As you draw tarot cards, you fill the blank spaces of your past and learn more about your present.
Princess with a cursed sword: A figure stands in an ancient ruin, bare feet on crumbling stone. Her gown far too fine, her sword much too dark. She can not put down the sword until she finds where it came from. So she has come.
Jamais Vu: Disco Elysium inspired TTRPG: Jamais Vu is an unofficial TTRPG inspired by the video game Disco Elysium. Play as an amnesiac investigator solving a case while discovering their own identity, while 24 aspects of your psyche (your skills!) fight for your attention.
I just had to throw this in here, as I love the game Disco Elysium. I have yet to peruse the rules but you bet there will be a playthrough of this game on this substack at some point in the near future.
Lots of options and opportunities to try out your own solo journaling journey. Check them out, let me know what you liked or didn’t, which ones you suggest I try, etc.
Also, my vampire from my current Thousand-Year-Old Vampire campaign is fleeing from Ancient Rome to either The Gupta Empire, The Western Jin Empire, or the Sassasin Persian Empire. Let me know which you think would be the best by checking out the latest chapter and dropping a comment:
Thanks for reading!
Also, I know I missed many so please let me know any ones that you've played and loved. Thanks
Thank you for posting this! I love playing alone amongst the stars and also use it as a tool for my students. Do you have play experience with either 'Alone in the Ancient City' or 'Alone among the shifting Trees'. And if yes, what are the differences with AATS?