Solo TTRPG Play!
Advices and a little how to start guide!
Fun fact, did you know that solo play started on 1975? Me neither, all started when Gary Gygax created the set of rules of "Solo Dungeon Adventures".
What is Solo Play?
Solo RPGing is creating a story with the help of RPG rules, conventions, and randomizers (usually dice), where you (the player) are also acting as the GM. (Solo Game Master Guide)
So in a nutshell, solo play is when you play any TTRPG alone, acting as the player and the Game Master, using help of some resources like random tables and oracles (more later).
How to start playing solo?
To be specific there is no correct way to start playing solo, but i can give you some advices for you to follow and make things easier:
Choose a system: One of the most important things to do first is to choose the TTRPG system you are going to play. From DnD to Shadowdark, there are a looooot of system right now (golden TTRPG era), choose the one you have or like to usually play, the mechanics should not be the most important thing as soloist.
Look for a oracle and tables: I usually prefer to have decided beforehand which oracle im going to use, so i can go full into the story without thinking what tables or oracles should i use in the middle of it.
Build your character, not only stats: As we know, in TTRPGs we play as characters, its usually the first thing we do as players, now, as soloist i recommend also to be the first thing to do, but with a little twist. As soloist our character history and background could be more important to spark ideas and threads in our minds. Usually a good character history would give us a lot of ideas of how we could start our play session or campaign, so i recommend you could give a strong emphasis into building a great background for your character or characters.
Get an adventure hook: As we are going to start our playing session, one of the most difficult things is really how we start? what our character should do?. Here you can use a lot of techniques, obviously we can have one adventure idea in mind and get a start from there, we can also use random tables for generating some random adventure hooks, we can also use some generative resources like books to get an adventure idea from a random page. I could recommend the tables on Shadowdark (Pages 122 and 123), where you can find an adventure generator and a adventuring site name generator, getting options like “Escape the Cult of the evil wizard” in a site name “Temple of the cursed queen”, just reading this you can get a lot of ideas flowing in your mind, and i consider is the easiest way to start an adventure for beginner soloists.
“Its all about the story, if you don’t want to be involved in the story, you are just rolling dice”
What is an oracle?
An oracle is simply a table that emulates a Game Master answer to a specific question. When a situation is uncertain, we should use and oracle to see what its going to be the output. Oracles can but do not necessarily provide a clear answer or outcome to any situation, most of the times the oracles are based in a yes/no answer, but each one give it a special taste to the outcomes. Maybe you get a No but with a little random event, or maybe you get a Yes answer, all depends on the oracle. Some known oracles are Mythic Game Master Emulator, One Page Solo engine, SoloDark, etc.
Mindsets of solo GMs
The Solo Game Master’s Guide by Geek Gamers its one of the best resources to start to play as a solist, i totally recommend it. It has a lot of resources, but one of the more important things i’ve found inside is the mindsets of solo GMs:
1. Everything is playing
2. But you don’t need everything
3. Don’t forget the G in RPG
4. Words, not dice rolling, will get you through narrative transitions
5. “What happens next?” is the only essential question
6. Play emotion, not mechanics
7. Stats are not story; numbers are not narrative
8. History is your friend
9. Specific items can generate abstract ideas
10. Similarities and differences yield themes
I totally would recommend to buy this book to start, but from those mindsets i could extract thats its super important to always remember thats everything is playing, from searching and playing some evocative music, preparing your favorite pencil, order your desk to play, create characters, etc. Another point that the mindsets highlights is that our narrative and story is the main thing, not mechanics, not stats, not combat tracking, not tables, ¿who is going to remember that X character with Y stat defeated some Z monster because a roll of W number? the answer is no one, you are going to remember that your main character Astrid got involved in a fight in a dark cave versus a smelly goblin with a big scar on her face, Astrid manage to use his long sword to swing around and cut the goblin in half in just one hit!, thats why we should play RPGs in general, because the story, because those precious memories we build, and we build those not putting emphasis on mechanics and numbers, instead, we putt al our emphasis on the story.
(Do not misunderstand me, if tracking stats, combat, playing around mechanics and numbers overall is your thing, go a head, but the most part, the history should be at least equally important.)
Personal Advices
Understand what is the thing you really want and what you want to get from playing solo: This its more of know ourselves, know what we like and what we don’t, maybe i don’t like too much combat in my sessions and i love to have more dialogs with NPCs. This is very personal but we have to know what we want from the session.
Give the correct attention and focus: In this time we usually get bombarded by constant notifications, information, and distractions, but if you really want to play solo give the time and focus that this hobby deserves. Personally i work as a software engineer, all day on screen and looking code, so i take my solo sessions on paper to rest, out of the screen, i also turn off my phone and just concentrate on letting my mind fly into the session.
Find the ways to make it special: As every activity we love, we find ways to make those special and unique for us, using special accessories like pencil or sheets or books, do it in a special place, use figures, anything that would make it special and fun to your taste.
Stop your inner critic, you are the only audience: Its a common thing that our minds sabotage ourselves, “im doing it wrong” its a common thought, but remember, you’re playing solo, you are the only audience, no one is judging you because you took a bad choice or choose some path, stop that inner critic we all have and just have fun, no one would know if you make a mistake.
Fix thing to suit your liking: This point its for more advance soloist, when you already know the mechanics and ways to play, if there is something you don’t like how it works, just tweak it, no one would know, you are the only one who matters. Make house rules and tweaks to suit some rules or mechanics to get to like it more. We also have some communities where house rules are very desirable!.
Final Thought
For me, playing solo is another way to enjoy TTRPGs, its not such thing where you like to play solo and stop playing with a group. Playing solo is a way where i could enjoy systems and mechanics that if it didn’t played solo i couldn’t find a group to play it all. But the most important thing for me its that playing solo it became a therapy, allowing me to get out from the screen and social media when im alone, get my mind to fly and enjoy being creative in so many ways, getting to really enjoy being alone and even get to know my self better. I can think that playing solo its not for everyone, but why don’t you give it a chance?