How I Play Solo (And You Can Too)

 Welcome to How I Play Solo (And You Can, Too)! We’ll be discussing my solo roleplaying techniques that I use to play games that are normally group-oriented. In eight easy steps, you can start soloing any game!

Step One: Read The Book

First, and most importantly, read the book of the game you want to play from cover to cover. There’s a chance that there’s already tips for playing solo inside. Even if not, it’s good to familiarize yourself with the systems.

Step Two: Create Tables

Once I’ve read the book and have a pretty good handle on the vibe of the setting, I create three of my own d100 tables for Urban Events, Wilderness Events, and Dungeon Events if the game does not already provide tables for these events. These can help me when I get stuck. I just roll on one of the tables, depending on where my characters are at, and it helps me get moving. The events should be generic enough to fit into any setting, but detailed enough that they can trigger a quest or a scene.

Step Three: Make Items

If the game doesn’t already have items, I also make at least a d20 list of items so my characters have some treasure to find after fighting enemies or discovering a treasure chest. Most games have magical items built into them, but there are plenty of system-agnostic books out there that detail magical artifacts if you’re looking for more ideas.

Step Four: Lore

Next I create the lore for my world if it doesn’t have any already. Games like Perils & Princesses don’t have much lore, but games like the One Ring have tons of established lore. Either way, this is the time I write down notes about the game world in a document, create characters, make maps, and plot locations.

Step Five: Map 

When I make a map of my game world, I write down notes about different locations to try to help me figure out what kind of encounters I might have in that area, or what kind of people I might run into. I also write down any potential quests in that area.

Step Six: Enemies

Most games include a bestiary, but if you’re like me, there’s a few monsters and/or enemies you just have to have in your game. This is the time to follow the outline of the monsters in the book’s bestiary and make your own creatures to fight. I am thoroughly creeped out by spiders, so giant spiders are always a must in my games, for example. I tend to make all of my unique enemies have medium difficulty. I don’t want to go too easy on myself, but I also like a bit of a challenge.

Step Seven: Create Your Team

Once you’ve made your world, your map, your events, maybe homebrewed some rules, now is the time to create the characters you’ll be roleplaying as in the game. Almost as a rule, I always create at least four characters to roleplay as solo. That’s because if you’re playing a game intended for a group, you need to simulate a group on your own. Four characters usually provides a good balance for most games. I print out four character sheets for the game I’m playing and fill them out. I might draw pictures or symbols of my characters. Then I write out their backstory and how they connect to the world I’ve created, or to the world that the game is set in.

Step Eight: Grab Two Notebooks

After that I grab two notebooks: One for chronicling my adventure and one for notes and combat logs. I like to keep these separate so my writing in my adventure chronicle will look smooth, while my other notebook will look like a lot of erratic notes. I love to read back over my adventures again and post them online on my blog.

I also keep a lot of notes on my phone, as well as a dice roller app. Depending on where and when I’m playing, the dice roller app may just make things easier. Like when my son is asleep; I really don’t need to be rolling a lot of loud dice then!

I keep the rule book by my side the entire time I play. PDFs are useful, but I prefer physical copies because it’s easier to flip through a physical book and bookmark it than to scroll up and down a PDF. I’m checking the rule book constantly as I play, especially in the beginning, to make sure I’m keeping up with the flow of gameplay and the overall vibe of the setting.

That’s how I get ready to play roleplaying games solo. All of this is to immerse me into the game more. It may seem like a lot of prep, but prep work is part of playing and/or GMing any roleplaying game. In order to start my story, I usually come up with an inciting incident that my characters find themselves in the middle of, like a bandit attack on their village or a delve into a cave searching for treasure. If you place yourself in the middle of the action, it’s a lot easier to get started playing solo.

Remember: Have fun! Solo roleplaying is about freedom and creating your own story with your own rules with no restrictions and without someone telling you “No, you can’t do that”. If a rule doesn’t work for you, tweak it, or dismiss it entirely. If you like a mechanic from another game, try applying it to the game you’re currently playing and see how it works out. Experiment, experiment, experiment! And try lots of different kinds of games, whether they were intended to be solo or in a group! Journaling games may help you discover prompts to move your adventure game forward. Adventure games may help you turn the journaling game you’re playing into a kind of sandbox. There are no limits to your creativity when all the restrictions are turned off.

Forever Witchy

Hi everyone! I'm back with a new game and a supplement for the new game! The game is called Forever Witchy. In it you play, you guessed it, Witches! The Witches in Forever Witchy are being hunted down by Witch Hunters as the technologically advanced kingdom of Marten has invaded your rural home, the land of Ruth. They have brought with them pollution that has upset the natural balance of the land of Ruth, causing the elemental guardians of the temples that watch over Ruth, the Daemons, to go mad. The Daemons, in their madness, have corrupted Ruth, turning the fae folk into ravaging killers and mutating the animals into terrible beasts. Ruth cries out for heroes. What it will have instead are Witches.

As some of the last few Witches, you will join together in a coven and enter the temples, braving traps and solving puzzles, to defeat the guardian Daemons and bring purity and balance back to the land of Ruth.

If you are playing solo, you will create a coven of four Witches. If you are playing in a group, each player will create one Witch. Don't worry, character creation happens over the course of simple minutes. You can create an entire coven in under half an hour.

There are six magic disciplines to choose spells from: Elementalism, Radiance, Daemonic, Necromancy, Chronomancy, and Druidic. At the start of the game, each Witch will select one spell from each magic discipline. After that, how your Witch or Witches advance is up to you.

The game uses a Skill-based system instead of leveling up. You spend XP to buy new Skills that may increase your Ability Scores, upgrade your wand, learn a new spell, or increase your HP. It's a simple, rules-light system for character progression.

You can also brew potions and cook meals. Potions do much of what spells do, although there are a few that are unique. You can cook meals in order to give yourself boons.

I've also released Forever Witchy Beldam's Bedlam. The story of the coven of Witches continues in this installment as you head to the kingdom of Marten for the first time to eliminate the invasion at its source: by defeating the Councilmen who rule over Marten. 

It comes loaded with 18 new spells and 20 new potions, as well as a new map to create and new enemies.

I really love the Forever Witchy series. It's been such a blast working on it and doing research into historical witches. I'm using public domain art in the core book and the supplement, and it was awesome combing through old pictures and paintings of witches and witchy women.

I hope you will give this game a try. Forever Witchy is $4.99 on itchio here.

Forever Witchy Beldam's Bedlam is free and can be downloaded on itchio here.

 

Superhero Game!

 

Hi everyone! I spent half my vacation working on an idea that just wouldn't rest. To start, I LOVE superheroes. I'm mostly a DC kind of girl, but I like Marvel, too. I mostly read DC though. My favorite hero duo is Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, followed closely by Fire and Ice, and a third is Superman and Batman of course. I don't have an ultimate favorite superhero, but I really love The Flash comics (mostly because his Rogue's Gallery is my favorite, though).

I wanted to create a journaling game where I could make my own in-depth superhero by simply answering a few prompts. I wanted the superhero I made to be able to fit in whatever superhero IP I wanted, or maybe I could make my own superhero universe.

The plan worked! I had a great time making this journaling tool. It's not really a game, per se. It's more to set you up for success for a game like Mutants and Masterminds or for making your own well-rounded superhero for your own comic series or novel.

Anyway, I succeeded in coming up with the perfect prompts to answer about your superhero to make them a fully developed character. I even included tables. I'm especially proud of the d100 table I came up with for superpowers. You don't have to use the tables in the book. They are just there if you need a little inspiration.

The game has 22 prompts that ask questions like: What is your background? What are your powers? How do your powers affect your everyday life? Who is your archenemy? What makes them more significant than your other enemies?

I also ask if you have a no-kill rule, who your love interest is, and if your alter ego is a secret to those you love. If some of these questions don't apply to your character, feel free to skip them. Only write about what is relevant to your character.

Have fun making your characters! And feel free to post little blurbs about them here on my blog in the comments below!

You can buy My Hero for $1.99 on drivethrurpg here or on itchio here.

Upcoming Game

Hi everyone! Now that I have 20 published products under my belt, what's next? Well, I've been working on a journaling tool for superheroes that's in the same vein as Cosmic Creator where you answer questions and use prompts to create your very own superhero characters. It's perfect for writers and tabletop players who are using any superhero game system. The system is completely agnostic so you can create heroes for any heroic universe, or make your own. 

I'm currently on vacation, but I'll be back in a few days. The game should be ready by then, if not then a few days after I return. I'm really excited about it! I made a d100 list of super powers that I'm especially proud of! 

As for what projects I'll work on after this, I don't really know. I know there's much more creativity in me, I just need to find my spark of inspiration. I was thinking of doing a supplement for Aethership. Maybe another supplement for Colossus. I really love Colossus. I think it's the game I play tested the most because I just had so much fun with it. 

As a side note, I've play tested my superhero journaling game on the ride to my vacation destination and it has been a lot of fun! Super easy to play in the car! I have a dice roller on my phone so that helped with rolling on the tables I made.

As I am still on vacation and neglected to bring my laptop, please be patient with me. The superhero journaling game is coming soon, I promise! For now, there's 19 other PWYW games I've designed and 1 paid game I've created for you to try out! All are solo friendly games.