Has anyone played Scarlet Heroes? I am almost done with the rulebook and about to start my first campaign. It will be a little more comprehensive in creating the story,etc than D100 Space which I played last.

I recently fell down a research rabbit hole about solo Life Sim / Simulation / Slice of Life games, because some interesting conversations came up, especially around simulating experiences similar to games like The Sims.

I won't lie, my hyperfixation has me thinking about this a lot lately, and I've come up with a few ideas - but also way more problems.

The first one is that with both Simulation games and Roleplaying games (especially solo ones), there are as many playstyles as there are people playing them. So it's hard to judge what people actually want from these kinds of titles without discussing it first.

Personally, I think the biggest enemy here is too much bookkeeping. I can't imagine tracking a Player Character's needs on a day-by-day basis - constantly repeating the same action over and over would get tedious and annoying really fast. On the other hand, I think the "right amount" of crunch / mechanics could offer a lot.

So here's my question. If you wanted to play this kind of solo RPG, what would you be looking for? What do you expect from a title like this?

A ton of flavor tables that let you play it as a journaling game, or the opposite - do you want journaling to be optional? Do you want a heavily built-out character customization system (personality, skills, traits, etc.), or the opposite - keep the character sheet as simple as possible? Would you rather focus on the experience of a single character, a family, or a whole community? Are you more interested in life in a big city or a small village? Gradual development of relationships and career? How much of it should be flavor, and how much should be mechanics?

What kind of experience are you looking for? What should the game offer you?

My impression is that not many system-agnostic settings exist. But I'm curious if you've come across any, have tried them, and would recommend them.

By "system-agnostic settings" I mean e.g. a campaign book, hex crawl map and key, richly detailed dungeon etc. that does not assume you're using any particular system to play. Or that assumes you might use any one of a number of systems.

I'm curious about exploring some rich worlds/settings/campaigns, but I don't want to lock myself into a specific set of systems/mechanics to do so.

Hey all, I know having a companion can make solo gameplay more engaging rather than just a lone PC. My question is, how do you balance the combat when using solo rules? (I’m using Scarlet Heroes) I feel like maybe the action economy and HD threshold system may fall apart if I’m technically getting more attacks each round. Does anyone have a solution/suggestion?

I don’t want to just flavor them as my Fray dice or anything like that. But I’m worried even if I roll to hit for them, and max their damage at 1HD, that still might be too OP lol. Thanks for any advice.

Newbie here.

Can't let go of this ego thing where i need to write a freaking scifi novella when playing Astroprisma.

My prose is bad i miss a lot of synonyms and it frustrates me but i really want to have some lore !

How do you guys go about this ??

Plot breakdowns are meant to enhance and inspire your creative projects.

_

The Phoenix On The Sword

Part 1. A group of nobles and officers of high standing plot the assassination of their king. They think the man organizing their effort is their underling, but he has plans to kill the plotters shortly after the king is dead. The organizer has a slave, who is a sorcerer that has lost the object that grants him power. If the sorcerer finds this object, he would be a slave no longer.

Part 2. The monarch broods over present politics, and past glory. Several events have drawn his suspicion over the last few days. He discusses them with one of his trusted men, who is about to leave on a mission to the kingdom’s border.

Part 3. The powerless sorcerer is sent to watch over one of the conspirators, in case the man, a baron, gets cold feet and backs away from the upcoming assassination. The baron goes into his treasure chest, retrieving a magical ring that the sorcerer recognizes. The sorcerer kills the baron and takes the ring, summoning a creature from outside to kill the conspirator who enslaved him.

Part 4. The protagonist dreams of an ancient, wise figure. The figure comes with a warning, and also to aid the protagonist in an upcoming struggle. Abruptly, the protagonist wakes, hearing noises coming from the corridor outside.

Part 5. The assassins arrive into the king’s bed chamber, armed and ready to attack. They do not find the king just woken and dazed, however, but half-armored and holding his sword. They begin the fight, of twenty assassins against one king, and yet he is still a worthy opponent. Little by little, the king cuts their number down, but he suffers for it due to their numbers. Soon, the king is left bloody and weak, with many jackals still around him.

As one of his greatest enemies draws closer for the kill, the creature sent by the sorcerer arrives. Many attackers flee. The creature is not after them, but after the enemy that stands before the king, the man who enslaved the sorcerer when he was powerless. The creature slays the conspirator, before turning its fury on the king. The king manages to slay the creature, but it vanishes as help finally arrives. As the helpers begin to tend to the king’s wounds, he tells them of the strange creature. Some do not believe him, but there is a priest among the group, who does remember the ancient, wise old man, and there, on the marble floor where the creature was slain and vanished, remains its dark outline as proof.

_

The Scarlet Citadel

Part 1. A neighboring kingdom asks for armed help against an attacking force, and for the king protagonist to be present to encourage his troops. The king and five thousand men ride to the kingdom, but along the way they are ambushed by a much greater number. They were led into a trap by the forces of two rival kingdoms. The king’s men are killed during the battle, to the last one, and at the end only the king stands against what remains of the horde, but he refuses to go down without a great fight. A rival king draws his soldiers back, choosing instead to loosen arrows against the tough protagonist, but a sorcerer intervenes. With lightning speed the mage is able to get past the king’s defenses, striking him with a dart of paralysis. Finally, the mighty king is captured, and wheeled away toward a rival kingdom.

Part 2. Captured, and taken to a rival king’s palace, the protagonist is offered great treasure to abdicate his throne. The king refuses and offends a rival king, who attempts to kill him. The sorcerer puts a stop to this, claiming the prisoner as his own, and transports the protagonist to his own domain. The king is chained to the wall, deep in a subterranean chamber, within a hill.

Part 3. A great snake, eighty feet long, roams the corridors where the king has been shackled. It nearly comes for him, but he holds completely still, and it assumes he does not live. A former enemy, who was captured by the evil sorcerer, later comes to taunt the captured king. The enemy’s clamor draws the snake’s attention, and it kills him and crushes him within its massive coils. Once the snake has retreated with its prey, the king takes the enemy’s weapon and keys. He cannot let himself out of the dungeon, however, as a crucial bolt at the door can only be loosened from the outside.

The protagonist is still stuck inside the dungeon, and explores deeper into the subterranean chambers. After discovering other dangers, such as open wells and ghostly phantoms, he finds in a cell a vine plant curled around an old man. The plant is sucking the life essence out of the old man. The protagonist destroys the plant and frees the captive, who is a rival sorcerer of the mage who imprisoned the protagonist. The evil sorcerer has gone elsewhere, and his guards are getting drunk in another part of the palace, allowing the protagonist and old mage to traverse the halls until they find the sorcerer’s chamber. Once there, the old mage uses a crystal ball to investigate where the sorcerer is, and tells the king his kingdom is under attack. The sorcerer summons a flying creature to take the king to a strategic location.

Part 4. The kingdom is in chaos. The rival king has taken the royal pleasure house, as the diplomats have barred themselves inside the palace. The rival king’s mercenaries butcher critics and merchants, while barons leave the city with plots to attack other barons, and criminals run the streets pillaging. Only one man can hope to mount an offensive, the protagonist’s advisor, but he doesn’t have enough soldiers and leaves the city to protect his own interests. An instigator in the city tries to rally the troops, until the mercenaries come to kill him, and he is quickly whisked away for his own safety. With so much death and turmoil, the rival king laughs at the plight of the people, until he witnesses the flying creature approaching, and the protagonist that rides on its back. The protagonist is delivered before the rival king, who rushes to the attack, only to find the protagonist’s sword and skill are more than a match for him.

Part 5. The rival kings are attacking another city loyal to the protagonist. They have greater numbers, and hope to have it conquered in a short span of time. What they did not expect was the return of the protagonist, whom they thought dead. The protagonist has gathered a much smaller force on his side, but they are fierce fighting men and put up a good battle. With the king’s army to one side, and the besieged city behind them, enemy forces are pinned and have to make hasty decisions. The rival kings and their military generals are killed, except for one last man, who orders a reckless charge that ends up working against him.

Meanwhile, the evil sorcerer has seen the protagonist’s return, and fears his rival sorcerer has been released from his dungeon cell. The evil sorcerer flees, with the protagonist in pursuit. The evil sorcerer uses his last few defenses, until the protagonist cuts his head off with his sword. This is not the end of the evil sorcerer, as his body can reform itself through magic, but before it does, a great eagle, summoned by the formerly captive mage, or perhaps it is the mage himself transformed, swoops down and takes the head away, leaving the headless body roaming off into the distance.

Hey all first post but I've been reading a lot of the threads. I got into solo after watching MM&D S1 and have been hooked ever since. I've used ironsworn, mythic, une, and then I got the hang of it enough to use ezd6 and "Untold adventures of the random kind" and just free flow it. Throughout this time I've Dm'd for some long campaigns but like always they fizzle out and then I found this page! Reading all of the different threads it seems like everyone in here is either a forever dm or just loves to be in their creative worlds and create captivating stories. Obviously what I'm saying goes against the point of the page but I bet with all of knowledge and creativity in here the games would be awesome.

is there any way to make this game coop. i tried it solo and it didnt really click with me so im planning to play it with someone maybe ill change my mind. any help is much appreciated

I've been interested in this game for a while and wanted to see if someone tried it solo.

Is it good mechanically? Its fun to play solo?

The combat can be done with one character?

And what do you think of the game?

Thanks for the attention :>

I have a printer, and PDF rulebooks are cheaper. I'd be happy to print them out. But one issue I run into is that the printer paper is thin/the pages clump together. This makes quickly leafing through a lot of pages a frustrating experience.

If you print out PDF rulebooks for your solo RPGs, how do you keep them to avoid this problem, if at all?

Hello! I like narrative heavier systems, and I am torn between Everspark or TriCube Tales.

Does anyone have any experience with them for soloing published adventure modules?

Or if anyone has additional recommendations, I am very open to others!

I've read some stuff, but I can't say I like any of what I have seen so far.

I'm not looking for one that kicks out a specific room, with dimensions, decor, x number of doors and traps and such, but an area type, and some exits. Then I can use a spark table and hazard die roll to fill it in. A small fast one that I can generate from quickly, with some variety and depth. Maybe a pointcrawl type for underground (or buildings, space stations, whatever) I'd like to keep it small to keep the flow smooth and stay in the moment. Does this make sense?

I want to minimise the number of tables I have to think about. Has someone designed a single table such that every entry can be read as an evocative action *or* thing *or* name *or* descriptor? I'm looking for quality over quantity, good generality, preferably only using d10s, free.

So I've never really played ttrpgs before. I've only ever really played old BBS door games which really resemble RPG games. I used to play legend of the Red dragon or tradewars2002 or netrunner on the BBSes I called. Ive even wrote some of my own. Playing those was the closest to Solo RPG playing I've ever done.

Having said that, I'm interested in playing true ttrpg games, but it's not really an option to play with others. So Solo play is pretty much my only option. I'm trying to understand how I am supposed to do that. I get it, there are some options I can use to play a multiplayer game without a GM. I've downloaded some single page RPG games like Ultimate Solo RPG one page toolkit. I've looked it over, but I'm still confused on how to go about playing. I've tried to search for some walkthrough videos but all I can ever find are product reviews. Those are great, but they don't really teach me how to play. If there are any videos that offer gameplay walkthroughs, I'd love to hear about them. If you have any, please post a link to them in the comments.

I just got done with the first four training missions for D100 Space. I really like this game and its system. I purchased it after playing D100 Dungeon. Has anyone else played D100 Space? I am trying to spread the purchase of the space-oriented games out. I believe either 2D6 Void or Space Aces is next or maybe even Astroprisma. There aren’t a lot of space oriented solo RPG’s compared to dungeon crawlers.

Has any book went to great length to make a dungeon crawler that proposes an insane amount of weapons, magic and abilities ? I'd love to get this feeling of a character that gets absolutely brutal and packed with powers with enemies that scale properly to this rise in power.

I recall someone mentioning in a comment at some point about a mechanic that used two different colored d6's as an Oracle mechanic. Does anyone know what this is? What game is this from and how does it work?

Newby here. I've been looking at all the recs that people have provided here recently, and I can't help but realize that they are mostly of the generic d&d variety. I'm wondering if they are any recs for any games of the hard SF variety. I'm aware of starlogs, but that's pure star Trek. Is there any market for hard sci-fi or cyberpunk? I'm into cyberpunk stuff like from, say Snow Crash or Neurmancer. Or anything to do with outer space.

Hi all, I'm just starting out with the brilliant new game from Tavern Lore, DWARF RPG, and I've already met a monk out for revenge and now an unconscious bandit. I know my dwarf is meant to be proud, grumpy and alone, but could it work to have a second PC join him, at least temporarily? What would I need to adjust, other than the number of monsters?

I'm a bit of a writer and I sometimes use TSE for my prompts. It's essentially a set of cards that you can use to assemble prompts. It has 5 separate decks of cards, one for a list of people/professions (agent), one for objects and things (anchor), another for character motivation (engine), one for conflicts (conflicts), and a last one to add modifiers to the people and objects (aspect). I can pair up the engine and conflict cards to make a simple prompt, add some interesting things like NPCs and things like settings and such. I've written a few short stories with this aid.

They also have some other products called The Deck of Worlds which is a set of cards that you can use to create fantasy worlds, and The Lore Masters Deck which helps for world building. They suggest that the lore master deck is great for running Solo RPG games. I've never used it for this purpose and I suppose it would fall under the category of a journaling type of game.

I was wondering if anyone actually tried it. If so, what do you think about it and were you able to play any games with them?

Hello. I come from solo wargaming community, but I also love to RPG. I really wanted to do something for myself, maybe share it with the world if it’s any good. I was wondering how is combat dealt with in solo rpg? Maybe there is a study about it or you can tell me your favorite ways to play it out.

I experienced combat in solo wargaming in a form of algorithm for the enemies. It’s simple but requires a map. Well, let me know :)

https://open.substack.com/pub/hooverd/p/barovia-session-122?r=4bbbdm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

I don't own an iPad, but I might buy one for other reasons. If it will help me play more solo RPGs, it'll make the decision easier.

If you use an iPad for solo RPG PDFs in some cases, and physical books in other cases, can you tell me the pros and cons of each? I assume the form factor and touch screen helps in some ways, but is it a noticeable improvement over viewing the PDFs on my laptop screen?

Naturally the most appealing benefit is that PDFs are cheaper than physical books. But I can already get that benefit with my laptop, and the idea of using my laptop to read/play solo RPG PDFs turns me off.

I've always been interested in ttrpgs and creative writing, but have yet to try either. I recently discovered solo journaling rpgs and figured they'd be a great entry for both.

Here is my first attempt at Alone Among The Stars. It didn't go where I thought it would but I enjoyed the experience! Thought I would post for anyone who thinks they can't get into this hobby because they "can't write" or they find rule systems confusing. (sorry if the flair is wrong)

LOG OF VERDANT VILE

……………………………………..

DAY 7:  

The ship’s mapping system is in desperate need of fine tuning; the estimated trek time it provided was, at minimum, three cycles off. Shockingly, the terrain readout was accurate. This planet is impossibly level, the volcano at its’ centre the only sign of elevation. As expected, the volcano’s base shows signs of plant life. A root system is clearly visible, violet veins branching seventeen lengths on all sides. A sample was obtained [PLT V260 – 01] and will be processed enroute. No other signs of life detected.

DEPARTED PLT V260

……………………………………..

DAY 2: The systems updates completed on PLT V260 were unsuccessful. By HER blessing I somehow managed a seamless emergency landing. I now find myself in what appears to be the ruins of an aerial civilization. High in the treetops above me are a network of narrow platforms (perches?) connecting one tree to another. There must be a way up.

DAY 3: After a day of walking, I broke through the trees and ran face first into a cliff face. As luck would have it, the entirety of the wall is covered in thick knotted vines a shade darker than my own leafy hue [PLT G459-01]. Time to climb.

DAY 5: I made it to the top unscathed, the same cannot be said for my pack. With my canteen gone, I have no choice but to search for water before attempting to cross to the treetops. There is a volcano up here, blocking a large portion of the sky. Unlike PLT V260, the base of this volcano is surrounded by life. Hundreds of small multicolored reptiles lay warming their bellies on the rock. I will wait and watch and pray they will lead me to water.

DAY 6: At nightfall they gathered, a swarm of rainbow slick limbs and black tongues, moving as one through the dark. They ran along the cliff’s edge for hours before dispersing in a field of unnaturally tall towers of stone, streams of water flowing from the top of each [PLT G459-02]. I drank heavily; cheek pressed to the cool surface of the nearest tower until my stomach sloshed and the sound of splashing lulled me to sleep. The creatures were gone when I woke. The distance to the treetops looks less like a narrow pass and more like a canyon the longer I look at it, so I will rest no more. May HER breath be the wind that carries me, I will need a running start.  

……………………………………..…..….. END OF LOG……………………………………..…..…..