My Favorite Books For Solo TTRPG Play

I have a ton of PDFs and books that I use when playing TTRPGs solo. Which ones I use really depend on the specific game that I’m playing, but there are some books that I find myself using no matter what game I’m playing. This is a list, though not an exhaustive or definitive list, of great books to use for solo TTRPG play.

Four Against Darkness

I love Four Against Darkness. It’s a great game all on its own, and then you add in all of the adventure supplements like More Mountainous Mayhem and Fiendish Foes and you have several campaigns worth of materials. But while I’ll do a full review of Four Against Darkness eventually, today I wanted to talk about it in context of other solo RPGs. The best part of Four Against Darkness is arguably its dungeon generation. It comes with pictures of dungeon rooms and corridors to roll on to build your own dungeon as you play. It’s a great thing, and I use the dungeon generation system in ALL my solo games so far, except Ker Nethalas, which has its own dungeon generation system that is kind of similar and can also be used in other games. I would recommend Four Against Darkness just for its easy-to-draw dungeon rooms and easy to use system. It also has some simple traps you can easily convert into your game, whatever game you’re playing.

Table Fables I and II

The Table Fables series are written by Madeline Hale and they are fantastic. They are full of tables to use in your games. Things like wilderness events, cult generators, city events, dungeon events, town generators, magic items, character generators, etc. Just a lot of fantastic stuff. I recommend getting both because they can be bought fairly cheap on Amazon. I use Table Fables II a lot for the landmarks table in my games. There’s also Table Fables Modern, which has modern tables for futuristic or modern games. Also a great book for the price.

Knave 2nd Edition

Speaking of tables, Knave is full of them. Like, most of the small book is just tables for generating your own monsters, items, spells, etc. Even if you have no plans to play Knave, which I totally think you should it’s a great game, it’s worth it for the tables alone.

The Solo Adventurer’s Toolbox

There are actually two of these, but I just want to talk about the first one. Have you ever wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons 5E solo? Then this book is made for you. It has an oracle, tables, events, and advice for playing solo. It takes you through everything from camping to exploring cities and the wilderness to combat solo. I found it to be infinitely more useful and easier to understand than something like Mythic (not that I don’t like Mythic, it just takes a bit of time to get used to). There’s also a quest generation table, which is always a plus. Coming up with new quests when playing solo are where I get stuck the most, and this really helps me out.

A Life Well Lived

A Life Well Lived is technically for 5E, but I use it for anything. It just takes some conversion. A Life Well Lived is about the smaller moments of adventuring, like running a business, maintaining a family, buying a home, or even retiring. It’s a beautiful book full of nice art and it’s got a pretty good layout. I use it when I need some inspiration for down-time activities.

The Game Master’s Book Of Instant Towns and Cities

Any of the Game Master’s Books could be on this list. They’re all incredibly helpful and not too pricey on Amazon. But I really like Instant Towns and Cities for the inspiration it gives me for settings. It has a ton of examples of cites and towns in every environment imaginable, and even has a town generator. It’s worth your money for the inspiration it provides alone.

The Monsters Know What They’re Doing

Are your battles dull and uninspired? This book can help with that. It’s a thick book full of actions that monsters may take before and after battle. It has the basic 5E monsters like goblins and elementals, and its layout is really nice and easy to navigate. There’s a sequel to this one but I haven’t read it yet, but I’m sure it’s just as useful.

The Ultimate Random Encounter Book

Are you at a loss for encounters or quests? Then this book is for you. This book provides encounters in every environment you can think of, like deserts, swamps, villages, and more. It's great for coming up with quests when your brain has gone dry for ideas. It has some random generators in the back, too. It’s a good book that you can find in game stores or on Amazon.

Sandbox Generator

Are you interested in making hexmaps? Then this book is perfect for you! I used it to create my first hexmap and had a blast. I’m not really big on hexmaps but this may be a game-changer for me. It’s full of tables and helps you come up with landmarks, monsters and what they’re doing when you encounter them, and more. It also includes tons of tables. The most useful thing about it to me is coming up with landmarks. I mostly use Table Fables II for landmarks but when I decide I want to make a few for myself I use the Sandbox Generator to come up with some. I can’t express how useful this book is for those of you who love making hexmaps.

 

That’s just a few of the books I love using when playing solo TTRPGs. There are definitely more out there that are great for solo play. Let me know in the comments what your favorite books are!