Solo Role Playing Games (rpg) - print and play, as well as fancy ones

As much as I would love to play D&D, let's face it, I have no friends that play.

My librarian suggested I try Solo RPG (solo role playing game) where we use dice, cards, or some other random chance to guide us through a unique adventure.   Little bit confused, but intrigued.

There are a lot of different styles from gardening to herbal medicine soft playing games, to battle adventures treasure hunting games.  I'm no explaining it well.  Maybe someone else can?

I found a list of free solo rpg games to get a better idea.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Solo_Roleplaying/comments/v2v47e/some_cool_solo_rpgs_all_are_free/

How we play has all sorts of variety.   A lot seem to be about journaling.  Some is about walking and observing.  Some use photography or drawing as a method of keeping track of the game.  Some is about exploring dreems we had when asleep and others dive deep into psychology.   Most of them seem to be just fun.

this game seems designed for artists, but it's no longer free, but the cost is small.  It looks a bit difficult for my game playing and art skills.  

Here is a game based on victory gardening and seems to be journaling focused.  

into the woods uses a deck of cards to explore the woods and observe how it changes over the year.

her journey is another one I'm considering as it looks a lot like what I imagine rpg is like.  

There are also a bunch on amazon but I don't know what they are like.  Most of the popular ones seem to be on this itch io site.

I don't know where to start or even if it's worth trying a solo rpg.  Personally, I am more interested in drawing than writing stuff these days.  

So, anyone out there tried solo rpg before?  What's it like?

Apothecaria appears to be the most popular solo rpg on YouTube for people new to the game.  It looks like fun, but a bit complicated.

Here is a person playing the first day.

I might start with the wandering tea garden or its predecessor, the wandering library.  These are both very open world journalling style games.  Sort of soft world building.  

And they are both free.  



The library is two pages and uses 2, 6-sided dice to give prompts of location and events.  There aren't many challanges to overcome, more prompts like describe a local landmark at this location,  "a curious creature enters your library.  What happens?"  

Tea garden has the same gameplay style, but also foraging component.   2, 6-sided dice are also used to decide the location and event.  Again, the events are very open and low stress. A restful, exploration game.  This feels like more opportunity to draw in the journal.



I imagine, eventually, there could be a way to combine the two games prompt list as an expansion.

A soft place to start.  It feels weird to have a game without inventory and challanges. I also don't know if this will fit well in my day or theif time away from other tasks.

Anyway, I would love to hear from people who have tried solo rpg playing.  

Can't say as I know much, as it's my son that's into this sort of thing, however, your descriptions of journaling and drawing make me wonder if it would be a way of encouraging your creativity in a gentle way. I wonder if it would help people who are scared to write, because writing is too attached to the concept of school, and many people don't have fond memories of school.

If you have a chance to ask him, I would love to hear what thoughts your son has on solo rpg.

I think it would be a wonderful tool for people who want to write fiction but are afraid.

Although, maybe stay away from youtube as some of the journals people make are intimidating...and they don't even play the game, just like combining scrapbooking, fancy journal spreads, etc.  Beautiful, but scary how much money and energy go into it.

Just a writing journal is enough with room for sketching.  I think that's the fit for me.

I have done my share of solo rpg's but have always found them lacking compared to team play like DnD.  They have their place, and it is very true they end up being self reflection mostly.

I usually enjoy them for a few weeks then retire them.  Self reflection isn't as big for me now as it used to be (or even should be).  I think that is the major driving force in why team based is far more satisfying, I'm no longer alone in my own little word and instead have to adapt to situations that my party causes (often times I'm the DM so it's even funner since I can throw what I want their way).

I guess the point I'm trying to make is they are the same genre but completely different livestock.  If your goal is reflection and journaling/art then solo is an amazing experience.  It won't be anything like the companionship and laughs you will get from the other side though.  Both fulfill a different niche in the system.

Honestly you don't need to pickup a game to do it either.  Set yourself in an imaginary system and roll for things you may encounter.  "I attempt to make a hugel", I roll a d20 and add a modifier (-4 for lack of materials on hand, +2 for proficiency due to prior hugels). If I get below 10 then it's subpar and I waste time.  If I get a natural 1 on my roll I'd get an injury, or my hugels spontaneously combusts and I gotta put it out.

At the end of the day it's all role playing, it can be as complicated as you want, as simple as you need, and ultimately limited by your own imagination.

Pardon any grammer or spelling mistakes, done on my phone.  I might edit for those later.

I imagine having a team of people would be awesome.  The creativity can feed off eachother to make something one person alone could never imagine. One day I will find the right people.

My goal is to stretch my imagination beyond where it would normally wander on its own.  

I wonder...

...could we hivemind a solo rpg game for permaculture?

r ransom wrote:...could we hivemind a solo rpg game for permaculture?

We can do anything - just give the hive mind a little direction!

My son only plays and writes multi-player games, but he threw a bunch of lingo at me:

First up, you need to decide a setting - a) things like "now", "future", "Roman era" etc. b) things like magic vs dystopian vs dinosaurs, c) how "crunchy" you want it - I gather "crunchy" comes from crunching numbers and is an indication of how complex the rules are. Some rulebooks are one page (crunchy light) and some are 100 pgs, and I don't recommend you go there.

So you can create your own world using an existing set of game rules which will have been given lots of testing VS creating all your own game rules which is a lot of work.

However, if you want to get a bunch of permies to pitch in, we likely would find it easier if there where some guidelines and baselines to work from.  

A lot of these games use cards as source of inspiration.   Draw random card and compare it to a table or list.

we already have a pretty nifty list of playing cards and permaculture ideas.  So people could play with the permaculture playing cards or with a regular deck and look stuff up on a table



I don't know where this idea would go from here.  I like the idea of combining it with going outside and observing or nature journal for the players local area, but a fictional, not so distant future, maybe with a darksky situation.  People are reskilling and maybe this deck of cards and grandparents stories, was the only resource left now the internet is gone.  Some dice to decide how well a situation goes or what kind of challenge to overcome or rewards.

maybe?

I only just discovered this solo rpg a couple of days ago, so I don't know what would be required to make one.  I haven't played one yet.  But maybe hive mind can expand on this or improve it?

The discussion of card-adaptation puts me in mind Jerry's Map, a card-driven collage project spanning 60 years. I posted about it here: https://permies.com/t/262623/art/Jerry-Map-perennial-art

There's a new-this-year subreddit called JerryDecking in which people use Jerry-style cards to prod them in other hobbies and someone might get ideas there: https://www.reddit.com/r/Jerrydecking/

r ransom wrote:...could we hivemind a solo rpg game for permaculture?

Homestead

In this solo role-playing game, you will take on the persona of someone trying to prosper in harmony with the land on which they live. You’ll want a notebook or blog or something for your main work, a deck of cards as your randomizer, and some index cards or scratch paper or the equivalent.

Start by creating a character and a setting.

The relationship between a player and their character is interesting. Sometimes you inhabit their skin, powerfully imagining their experiences and the most important thing to you, the player, is making decisions as this fictional person would if they were real. Other times they’re just a character in some fiction you’re writing and generating an interesting narrative is your priority without regard for the character’s “feelings” or wellbeing. As such, sometimes you’ll think (and write) about the character as “I” and at others as “they”. Both are good.

Write a paragraph about who you are. It’s fine to just be some typical modern person who might be interested in a pastoral life and I think it’s also fine to be more or less fantastic (a 7th century druid, an intelligent mouse, or a robot escapee from the redaction mines). Think and write about which of these apply to your character: your age, your family, your best friend, your previous profession, skills, avocations, pets, favorite food or music, other things along these lines. Write down something about your childhood – an earliest memory, a pet’s death, a favorite birthday, a recurring nightmare, or anything.

Write a paragraph about the land. Where do you live? What’s around that place? What resources exist on the land and how reliable are they? What brought you here and how long have you been here? What’s the weather like? Who shares the land? What do you most love and what do you consider a constant trial? Did you live on land that was important to you before this? If so, what are the big differences?

Look back over those two paragraphs and pick out three resources that your character relies on to get by. They can be skills or friends or attributes of your land or a childhood experience or whatever. These will be things that might help you succeed at overcoming challenges – how they do that doesn’t need to be obvious. Write them down as a list.

Play the game.

Each time you sit down to play a “session” of Homestead, start with a freshly shuffled deck of cards. Reshuffle when you’ve used the last card or if the rules tell you to before that. If this isn’t your first session, look over what’s been going on to remind yourself of the situation. If any challenges are active, remind yourself of them.

Flip a card. The number you reveal indicates what activity you’re starting with. Once that’s done, if you have time and the inclination, repeat the process.

2 - Unexpected challenges. On the homestead, if it isn’t one thing, it’s another. These things often take a while to work through and they can stack up and seem hopeless. Just remember that people have gotten through worse and you can too.

Flip a card. If the number is less than or equal to the number on any of your pending challenges, you’ll spend this turn working toward resolution of one of those. If it’s higher than all of them (or you have none), a new challenge arises.

If it’s a new challenge, come up with a difficulty that might be associated with your homestead life. Maybe it’s a sick animal, a broken pipe, a disease in the garden, or a neighbor causing trouble – the number of things that can go wrong are limitless. Write a paragraph – a couple of sentences is fine or more if you’re feeling like it, about this problem, how it came up, and how it is stymying you. Try not to say how serious the problem will be. Then take an index card or scrap of paper and write a brief name for the problem on that. Flip a card and write the number you reveal down (face cards are 11 and an ace is 12) with the name. Big numbers represent bigger problems that will take longer to solve.

If you just added a new challenge, you’ll tackle that immediately. Otherwise, choose any of your pending challenges that have a number higher than the card you flipped and you’ll work on that.

Write a paragraph about how your character is dealing with it. Have you acquired new knowledge or materials? Are you just making time to put in the labor? Is someone helping? Write it up. Then you’re going to lower the number on that challenge. By one, or – If you use one of the entries on your character’s resource list, by two! If you get the number down to 1 or 0, the challenge has been overcome. Write a brief paragraph about what that means for your life on the homestead.

3 - Depict the state of things. Look over the last two or three paragraphs in your journal and pick something you want to illustrate. Use any medium you prefer and add an image to your journal inline with the narrative. And it’s fine if this is cartoonish. Still, some people are scared of being “bad” at drawing or painting, if that’s an impediment for you, search the web for imagery that speaks to you about the current narrative and print something out that you can insert.

4 - A visit. Someone comes to your home and you have to deal with it. Flip two cards and consider the suits.

First card:
Diamonds - The visitor has a monetary impact.
Hearts - The visit is emotional.
Clubs - The visitor is dangerous.
Spades - The visit has potential.

Second card:
Black - The visit is an overall positive experience.
Red - The visit is a drain.

Write it up as a paragraph or two. Who are they, what do they want, how does it go? What is the context? Does this happen a lot or was this an oddity? What did you gain or lose?

5 -

6 -

7 -

8 -

9 -

10 -

J -

Q -

K -

A -

Joker(?) -

---

OK, hivemind, fill in the blanks! There are 10 or 11 more kinds activities needed.

Very cool.

I wonder if there could be dice for challenges and the cards would correspond to the topics of the permaculture playing cards?

Looking at the more gentle solo rpg, there seems to be more focus on events rather than challanges which makes it more difficult for me to get my teeth into

2 - Unexpected challenges. On the homestead, if it isn’t one thing, it’s another. These things often take a while to work through and they can stack up and seem hopeless. Just remember that people have gotten through worse and you can too.

Roll 2d6 (two six-sided dice). If the number is less than or equal to the number on any of your pending challenges, you’ll spend this turn working toward resolution of one of those. If it’s higher than all of them (or you have none), a new challenge arises.

If it’s a new challenge, flip two cards from the purple permaculture deck and use the subjects printed there to come up with a difficulty that might be associated with your homestead life -- use one or integrate the two. Write a paragraph – a couple of sentences is fine or more if you’re feeling like it, about this problem, how it came up, and how it is stymying you. Try not to say how serious the problem will be. Then take an index card or scrap of paper and write a brief name for the problem on that. Roll 2d6 and write the sum down with the name. Big numbers represent bigger problems that will take longer to solve.

If you just added a new challenge, you’ll tackle that immediately. Otherwise, choose any of your pending challenges that have a number higher than the card you flipped and you’ll work on that.

Write a paragraph about how your character is dealing with it. Have you acquired new knowledge or materials? Are you just making time to put in the labor? Is someone helping? Write it up. Then you’re going to lower the number on that challenge. By one, or – If you use one of the entries on your character’s resource list, by two! If you get the number down to 1 or 0, the challenge has been overcome. Write a brief paragraph about what that means for your life on the homestead.

But actually, both places where I added the roll could still be another card-flip. You can use the number in one place, the suit in another, and the subject of the card in yet other places. And you could even have the game modify the cards!

5 - Change your deck. Flip a card and think about it. You're going to use permanent marker or whatever you prefer to alter the card. First consider the subject/art. Does it apply well to your homestead? If not, gesso over it and put something else there. If you want to keep the center stuff, change either the rank or the suit!

I gave a try at setting up for The Wandering Library (free game listed above).  

The first step, before we start playing, is to describe who we are, why are we a Wandering Librarian, What does our library look like and how does it travel?  And what is our favourite section of the library?

And you know what... that's not as easy as I expected.  After about an hour of drawing a blank, I began to suspect that this is part of the brain that needs constant use.  Just come up with ideas off the top of my head like that.  I usually need objects to bounce ideas off.

So I changed my strategy to make a brainstorming list.  I tried to be a bit wild, but meh.  It was midnight and my brain just spent an hour trying to do hard work.

My list of library options

cottage
cart
old time wood caravan
door in wall
book
tree

That was 6 things, so it's easy to let chance choose.

How does it travel?

Balloon
self perpelled
leggs
magic "poof"
turtle
snail
cart animal
clockwork
plants

More than 6 and I only have a 6 side dice, so I could either use the google dice roller or combine some of the options to make the list smaller.  

Doing this was a lot more comforting and I found it easy to make up a story about the door in the wall that appears and disappears when onl one is looking, something like the shop in The Light Fantastic.  But that the power that moves it is "need" like the Littlest Hobo would always show up where it was needed even if it wasn't wanted.  And so on.  There were quite a lot more words to describe this.  

What I learned is that I need some structure to stretch my creativity muscle against.  limits, but not too much.  

It also gave me some ideas for what it might be like to make a game.  Easier than it looked at first, but also really difficult to find a balance between guidance and allowing freedom of imagination.  

The Wandering Library has neither risks nor rewards and this makes me hesitant to start.  

Honestly I think everyone is overlooking the RPG we already have going here on permies...

SKIP, PEP, AND BBs are all just actively role playing what ideals are.  It is also a helluva base for a full blown game.  One where the end goal is to make it through the badges.  Since there are many ways to progress already it wouldn't be hard to have every run of the game feel quite different.  The order in which BBs gets done also makes for a unique experience as skills play off each other, could even have stats like carpentry or construction that give bonuses when attempting a task.


.

This is one of the best intro to solo gaming and solo rpg I've found so far.  I especially like the list near the start of the video of different flavours of solo rpg games.

It also amused me that there is a massive community for people who solo rpg

It also recommended Her Journey i linked to above as a game we can play in our minds during the day.  Draw a card near the start, then use it to guide observation and journal the game at the end of the day.

Ideally, you should draw a Hazard card from the
deck each morning, spend the day considering
your wanderer’s journey and letting the story
passively develop in your mind, then return to
the game in the evening to make your stat checks
and record the results.

This game mechanic speaks to me because I don't like to be put on the spot to come up with creativity.   I like creativity to grow in the background

D6 (monopoly dice) for decision making I've seen in a few places

6 yes and
5 yes
4 yes but
3 no but
2 no
1 no and

This is what I'm missing.   Oracle stuff.

Basically it's different ways of randomly generating creativity if stuck.  It's all well and good for a game to say, you are invited to a bookclub, but who invited us?  What motivation?  Are they friendly or suspicious?   Sometimes we can easily imagine based on the story so far, like maybe she is the illiterate blacksmiths daughter from yesterday's gameplay, but is she here because she's greatful i kept her dads secret, or does she have ulterior motives?

If I'm playing last thing at night, it's not easy to choose for myself.  

I'm also thinking of making my own oracle tables based on comical things that come across my life.  Example https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/farm-stand-thief-makes-off-with-two-foot-crocheted-snail-worry-monsters-13015491#google_vignette

two-foot crocheted snail, 'worry monsters'

I don't know how this would fit into a story, but I could add it to a list for later.

Any one not familiar with Print and Play Games it's a simple RPG turn based game you can play alone or with friends. You download the file (or draw your own) and play. Usually a dice is needed some one has created flash cards of dice for travelling.

I think this is good entertainment or for the industrious and imaginative a way to make some extra money.

Lots of Kickstarter campaigns for these as well as free ones. There is a FaceBook group of Print and Play fans who give their games away and also sell them via Amazon and other market places. One person has made a Drama game and sold many copies to Drama Students in NYC. Lots of possibilities!

I have no affiliation at all with the website, they review games mostly and don't currently have a game for sale.

https://juegosrollandwrite.com/

r ransom,
I have merged your topic into this topic. I hope that helps.

Starting simple, I finally settled on the wandering library as it seemed a good representative of the style of gameplay.  There is also an expansion available and, I could see combining the story with tables from other games by this author like The Cursed Library and Wandering Teahouse.

I expected to half heartedly play for a couple of sessions, move on to sample a few more games.  Give up because it's too much of a time sink.

I was wrong.  

Somehow, I'm seriously invested in the story of The Library.  I want to know what happens next.  It's a lot like doctor who.  Only, I just seem to gather more puzzles.

I gave up writing five years ago, after an accident, I thought had permanently damaged my ability to handwrite.  It's painful but this feels worth it.  I have to keep my words short so not to strain which makes me think more carefully about which words are worth the pain of writing.   And yet, I've written more in three days than in the last five years.  It's not legible.  I will burn it when the notebook is full.  But it's written.  That's a victory.

A combination of what's happening in my life and dice roll give the story a jumping off point.  But it seems to flow easily from there.  And I like the random elements that the dice provide, as I wouldn't expect a tree sprite to rescue me from a... well, that's a story for aother day.

And I suspect there will be plenty of another days.  This is better than television.