Solo RPG Resources

Post by Sophia

06 Sep 2017

solo

This is a list of resources for solo role-playing.

I was looking for a list of solo engines and resources some years ago.
Unfortunately, I found none.
That’s why I started this list at the G+ Lone Wolf community and completed it with
the help of others.

If you know of a resource that is not listed yet, you can shoot me an email.

Want to know how to get started with solo role-playing? I wrote a short blogpost
that covers the essentials. There is also a beginner-friendly guide by Spencer
Salyer. John Yorio has an excellent in-depth tutorial in several blog posts. I
recommend this for a better understanding of solo role-playing.

Please note that some links below are affiliate links. A small portion of the sale
goes to my account credit at OneBookshelf and allows me to buy new games. THANK
YOU!
There is no drawback for you. If you still don’t want to support my blog, you can
delete the last part of the link, “?affiliate_id=330920”. Just imagine my sad face…

Solo Engines/Games/Gamebooks
#CannotEverCry (FREE) an Instagame RPG: complete, playable RPG as an Instagram-
sized 1080px by 1080px image.
#WritingWithDice: Reframing Solo Roleplaying blog post here
2 Hour Dungeon Crawl dungeon-crawler, playable solo
3 Stone Stories (FREE) a lightweight story engine by Rodney Sloan
A Basic System 12 (ABS12) (FREE) by Ken Wickham
Adventurer: The Solo Roleplaying Game (FREE) an attempt to write a full Solo RPG by
Shane Garvey and Stuart Lloyd
All We Love We Leave Behind (PWYW) a solitaire writing game focusing on themes of
isolation, abandonment, independence, and the passing of time
ALONe: A Solo Game Engine BETA (PWYW) a standalone solo engine (beta)
Ancient Odysseys: More Treasure Awaits! the supplement for Ancient Odysseys with
wilderness adventures and more classes
Ancient Odysseys: Treasure Awaits an introductory dungeon-crawling game which
allows you to play solitaire or with a group
Avalon Quests: Pathfinder solo gaming (the price point of USD $14.99 is a bit
steep)
Beholden (FREE) “Beholden” is a game based on “Beloved”. It basically switches the
roles, and adds another twist: You’re a deity.
Beloved (FREE) a story game by Ben Lehman
Bivius Solo RPG (FREE) simple solo system by Lino Pang
Blade and Lockpick. A game engine for solo and two player games presents a group-
oriented resolution system
Blood & Bile (PWYW) a narrative, lightweight RPG of emergent storytelling, where
vampires manage their human resources in a world that’s fallen to the zombie horde
BuJo RPG (FREE) a to-do list game inspired by the Bullet Journal, more info here
Chaos Cypher System Game Master Emulator a GM emulator for the Cypher System
Chapter System (FREE) a simple solo system by RoryB Bracebuckle
Chronicles of Arax (FREE) a solo swords and sorcery RPG set in the world of Arax
Chronicles of Arborell (FREE) a series of free gamebooks, novels, etc.
Chronicles of Blood (FREE) a solo wargame in the world of Arax (see Chronicles of
Arax)
CRGE (PWYW) a complete GM Emulator by the guy who made UNE and BOLD (see below)
Crossroads (FREE) a creative writing game
Crypt of the Shadow Lord - a solitaire dungeon crawl adventure an adventure for a
solo 1st level cleric, designed to help a beginning player or game master
Daydream Solo (FREE) by Henry Harrison, feedback appreciated
Daily Quests (FREE) a to-do game
Death Queen and the Life Stone a D&D 5e solo module for a Cleric or a Fighter
Disciples of Bone & Shadow stand-alone one player game with free-from character
creation and tables to generate new worlds
English Eerie: Rural Horror Storytelling Game for One Player (PWYW) by Trollish
Delver Games
EPIC (FREE) solo engine by RoryB Bracebuckle
Escape from Old Tokyo (FREE) a solo cyberpunk adventure for Barbarians of Lemuria
by Garnett Elliot
Expedition, the roleplaying card game a card game with a free app that guides you
through an adventure
First Ride / Last Ride a short but intense one-player game about living on the
edge, pulling heists and driving high performance cars in illegal street races
Flash Fantasy: A serie of mini fighting fantasy playable in 5 minutes (FREE) a fast
Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-Game
Flipping Zombies (PWYW) a 1-player dexterity game that prints in two pages and
plays in about ten minutes
Four Against Darkness solo dungeon-crawler solo dungeon-crawler, additional
adventure Caves of the Kobold Slave-Masters available
Free FAE Solo Adventures (FREE)
Free Will (FREE) addon for Mythic GME (so-called “driver”) by Neldelx, flowchart
here
Grey Flowers (FREE) web-based Choose Your Own Adventure
Journey (FREE) a game for writing travelogues by Neldelx, example here
Hall of the Dwarven King (FREE) a solo dice game
High Stakes – Free Storytelling and Adventure Rules (FREE)
Holidays (FREE) a solo writing game where you describe what happens during the two-
week long holidays you spend with your partner by Neldelx
Impetus (FREE) a solitaire rpg driver to move things forward when you’re stuck
IN-RADIC (FREE) solo wargaming system, but can be used for RPGs, too
Ironsworn (FREE) a tabletop RPG of perilous quests for solo, co-op and guided play
Legend of Wayfarer 1st ed. (PWYW) by Stuart Llyod; some free adventure gamebooks
are here (scroll down to Wayfarer)
Libre Solo Role Playing a gamey solo engine coupled with a rules-lite RPG system
Libre Solo Role Playing - Training Wheels Adventure (FREE) a branching path
adventure solo RPG
Lone Blade Solo Rules for (Advanced) Song of Blades and Heroes (FREE) solo rules
for ASBH by Aleksandar Battreps
Lone Wilderlands card-based solo sandbox fantasy game
Microscope world-building/epic history game: while not strictly a solo game, it can
be used as great solo engine, as explained on the Risus Monkey blog here
Miso RPG (FREE) minimal freeform solo framework; epub, mobi and PDF package here
Miso RPG Houserule: Rolling Critical (FREE) by Dan Davis
Miso RPG Portuguese (FREE) translation by Tarcisio Lucas
Miso Six (FREE) by Peter Kisner; a lightweight solo game based on minimald6,
Pocketmod version
Mr. Bell, Regarding Your Machine... (FREE) a game that is very much in the vein of
"Quill"; by Scott Slomiany
Mutant Outpost Massacre a solitaire game of outpost-raiding in a post-apocalyptic
universe
Mystic Punks a zine-only RPG, more information here
Mythic GME the classic amongst the solo systems, requires a bit bookkeeping and
playing it can feel a bit scattered, nonetheless the most “complete” GM emulator
Mythic Variations a collection of rules modifications for Mythic Game Master
Emulator
Mythic Variations 2 a collection of rules modifications for Mythic Game Master
Emulator
Mythic Variations 2 Rules Tweaks (FREE) fan-made rules tweaks by Lomax_Mark
Nine Steps And A Bloody Heart (FREE) investigative system
No GM's Sky (PWYW) an adventure setting for Trav/Cepheus Engine with a solo
framework
Non Gratus Rodentum: A solitaire dungeon crawl inspired by the tunnel rats in
Vietnam includes mechanics for campaign play
Oculus v1 (FREE) Geoff Osterberg’s version
Oculus v2 (FREE) Konrad Zielinski’s version
Of the Woods: Lonely Games of Imagination a collection of six single-player lonely
games - a lonely game is a game of questions to tell haunting, introspective, and
quiet stories
One Page Solo Engine (FREE) by Karl Hendricks
One Portal and Some Cars (FREE) solo LARP by Tarcisio Lucas
Pen Pals vs. Star Spawn (FREE) a letter-writing game; by Kyle Latino
Pencils & Powers (FREE) a Roll & Write Adventure Game
PenguinComics.com Random Solo Adventures solo gamebooks, some books are on Lulu,
too, and the guys behind these also run http://www.gamebooknews.com/
Perilous Intersections (FREE) great story frameworks by RoryB Bracebuckle
Player Emulator with Tags (FREE) a framework for running your favorite system with
virtual players, here is an example of the tool in play
Pocket Dungeon (FREE) a print-and-play dungeon-crawler with stealth dice (so you
can play it at work)
Pythia Oracle (FREE) Python framework for solo gaming/sandbox content creation
QADD: Solotastic! a four level dungeon of solo adventuring action for the QADD:
Quick And Dirty Dungeons RPG
Quill: A Letter-Writing Roleplaying Game for a Single Player (PWYW) by Scott
Malthouse
Quill: Coal & Parchment (PWYW) supplement
Quill: Love Letters (PWYW) supplement
Quill: Shadow and Ink Lovecraftian horror supplement
Quill: The X-Files Report (FREE) fan-made supplement by Tarcisio Lucas
Quill: White Box (PWYW) supplement for playing classic fantasy adventures
Quillia Bookcase (FREE) an assorted list of Quill scenarios
Randori (FREE) by Todd Mauldin; a very simple and creative framework to create
adventures in a CYOA
Rewind (PWYW) by Todd Zircher; a framework and light role playing game for solo
game play
RPG solitaire playing card dungeon (FREE) by Mark Ainsworth; a door-kicking dungeon
crawler with treasure, stats, and lockpicks; its roguelike gameplay with playing
cards
Rune Walker: A Solitaire Rune Game (PWYW) a solitaire game which uses rune stones
Scarlet Heroes one of the BEST systems for solo-ing with an OSR ruleset, great D&D-
like system + solo engine
Scarlet Heroes Quickstart (FREE) a free quickstart version of Scarlet Heroes
without the solo engine and the tables
SCRAWL (FREE) by Stuart Llyod; short for Solo CRAWL, involves wandering around a
world, killing monsters and stealing their stuff (murder-hobos), free adventure
Dungeon of the Orc Boss
Sellswords and Spellslingers a solo and cooperative fantasy miniatures game for 1
to 6 players
Simple RP System (FREE)
so1um (FREE) simple solo system by Matt Jackson
So1um Expanded Edition (PWYW) "So1um was created as a fast system for solo play.
This expanded edition takes the original mechanics and adds to them, providing more
detailed rules for combat, vehicles and character advancement to make them suitable
for solo as well as group play and mid-length campaigns."
Sole (FREE) An Exploration Space Game for One Player
Solo Engine for 7th Sea Role Playing Game rules supplement that allows you to play
7th Sea (1st or 2nd Edition) without a Games Master
Solo - Zozer Games solo add-on for Traveller
Solo Shotgun Diaries (FREE) by Tarcisio Lucas; for John Wick's zombie survival
horror RPG The Shotgun Diaries
Solo engine by Tiny Solitary Soldiers (FREE) based on Free Universal Role Playing
Game (FU)
Solo Gaming Rules a stand-alone solo rpg
Solo Grail (FREE) by Evandro Novel
Solo-HACK-tastic! a four level dungeon of solo adventuring action, requires “The
Black Hack” core rules
Soloist RPG Tool (FREE) online tool by Chris Atthestudy, WIP
Soloist RPG Draft (FREE) by Chris Atthestudy
Space Journey (FREE) a travel game by Tarcisio Lucas
Space Scavenger (PWYW) a roll-and-write solitaire game where you become the captain
of the galaxy’s lowest budget spaceship
Star Fighter Micro sci-fi SOLO RPG/tactical game hybrid
Star Smuggler a classic game from 1982. It’s a lot like Traveller, but for one
person and a little simpler.
Storium a new play by post RPG platform, although it’s primarily played by a
narrator and players, you can play it solo by being both the player and the
narrator
Supervillain You (FREE) one person game by Ron Edwards and Rafael Chandler, an be
used as a backstory generator for super powered characters.
Swords and Savagery another dungeon crawling game that you can play solo, this one
has a"dungeon deck"
Swords of the Skull-Takers (FREE) solo RPG by Joe J Prince
The 9 Questions (FREE) a story framework by John Fiore
The Avalon Solo Adventure system (FREE) a solo system for D&D 5e
The Beast an unsettling erotic game of imagining you are having sex with the Beast
— an alien and inhuman creature — and writing a diary describing your erotic
encounters, your fears and your anxieties
The Covetous Poet’s Adventure Creator and Solo GM Book lots of tables, classic
Three-Story-Arc structure; I was pretty disappointed, but others enjoy it very much
The Death Knight's Squire - A 5e Solo Gamebook a 100+ page solo adventure for D&D
5e
The Doctor Who Solitaire Storytelling Game (FREE) solo game by Simon Cogan with
over two-dozen expansions; Twitter account
The Doctor Who Solitaire Storytelling Game Second Edition (FREE) a new edition of
the popular solo game; Twitter account
The Dwarven Ruins – A Dungeons and Dragons Solo Adventure (FREE) a Choose-Your-Own-
Adventure
The Gamemaster’s Apprentice a card-based idea generator & solo engine
The Madey Upy Namey Emulator (FREE) a simple solo engine made for D&D 5e (but quite
generic); example play here
The Trouble with Rose (PWYW) a story telling parlour game of romance, comedy, and
betrayal
They're Onto Me (FREE) a "question prompt and write" type of solo game where you
play a conspiracy theorist
Tiny Details (PWYW) a collaborative writing game for one to four players
Tiny Monsters GO (FREE) by Ben Wray
Tower of Mages (PWYW) a dice game for one player where you build a tower to gather
elemental energies, convert them into valuable spells, and to predict and
manipulate the spell market
Wayfarer (FREE) by Stuart Lloyd; your character explores a quasi-medieval world
full of ancient ruins and strange creatures
Wicked Blades of the Blood Forest (FREE) a #200WordRPG solo game by Ivan Vaghi
ZATHRUM (FREE) a simple d20 solo engine by Riccardo Fregi
Solo RPG Media (Blogs, Podcasts, Youtube etc.)
#SoloRPGVideoResources (FREE) youtube videos about solo role-playing
Abandoned Brain by Dan Davis
Adopted by Mentor Apocalypse World 2e
alea iactanda est blog with elaborate session reports
Alone Amongst Many has a great series about old school gaming with Scarlet Heroes
Battreps solo role-playing and wargaming
bob loblaw’s solo log blog Mike Overbo’s development blog for his solo web app
Chimerical Realm Vampire the Masquerade blog
Damn Elf Press solo gaming with Pits & Perils and more
Dan’s Gaming Blog solo dungeon-crawling
die heart solo the solo section of this blog
Dungeons & Dutch Ovens by Ed Ortiz
FiveMeninNormandy by Ivan Sorensen
Gaming While Driving by James Carr
Geek Gamers Youtube a Youtube channel focussed on solo play
maulpodtoddcast - solo rpg actual play solo rpg podcast and youtube channel
Metamorphosis Zeta Scarlet Heroes solo play and more
Moggy No Mates Scarlet Heroes solo play etc.
MoonSylver’s blog
Mythic RPG Youtube series videolog
Nights Of Solitude Karl Hendricks’ page on Obsidian Portal
No One to Play With RoryB made several small solo engines (I like Perilous
Intersections, see above) and also writes interesting session reports
Noels 15mm SciFi and Fantasy 15mm SciFi wargaming blog solo role-playing and
wargaming, the link goes to the 4AD tag
One Player, Many Stages solo actual plays and other collaborative efforts
Plundergrounds Hangout #1 (With Yours Truly) G+ Hangouts discussion about solo
role-playing, especially with Dungeon World
Play Every Role blog by Eric Bright with reviews, actual plays, and tools
Quest RPG Solo blog by Tarcisio Lucas; mainly in Portugese
Reddit Wiki Solo (FREE wiki entry) A simple article to get you started
Rolling Dice and Writing Words solo rpg and writing by Geoff Osterberg
Scrawls solitaire musings by Ovy Ortega
Skaldforge Scarlet Heroes solo play etc.
Solo Actual Plays on RPG.net thanks to Alex Yari for tagging
Solo Heroes by Steven Lincoln
Solo Roleplayer a general resource for solo gaming
Solo Rpg Gamer some general thoughts about solo rpgs
Solo Rpg Voyages interesting break-down for different role-playing games
Solo un mondo di carta the author constantly tries out new tools with cool
sketches, very interesting
solospelunking mostly actual plays with different systems (Star Wars FFG, 13th Age,
FU etc.)
Tabletop Diversions excellent solo musings by John Yorio, check out his tutorial on
how to play solo rpgs on the right side of the page
The Iron Realm the world's first Play-By-Podcast RPG where you listen to the audio
while playing the game in a dungeon maze, with tons of gaming aids
The Bwogosphere short snippets of actual play reports which are easy to read
The Lone Crusader solo D&D role-playing
The Silverfang Inn actual play
The Soloist old-school gaming actual play by Alex Perucchini
UbiquitousRat.net classic fantasy games (RuneQuest, Traveller etc.) solo
World of the Fifth Sun solo RPG blog by Kern Wickham, also develops his own solo
system
Wisps Of Time Spencer Salyer's blog
Solo RPG Tools (Websites, Game Aids, Random Generators etc.)
A No-Budget No-frills Pencil and Paper d12 Dungeon Generator (FREE) by John Yorio
A Pseudo-Fey-ish Generator Table (FREE) a table for generating fey monsters
Abulafia (random-generator.com) (FREE)
Adventuresmith (FREE Android app) random generators and solo engines
Bad Situations (FREE) a genre creator
Boardgamegeek Solo Roleplaying Guild a discussion community for soloist gamers;
subscription thread here
Black Stream Solo Heroes (FREE) an overlay for fantasy OSR games so that you can
play them with 1 player and 1 GM: not a strictly solo system but on the way there
(predecessor of Scarlet Heroes)
BOLD, Universal PC Stories and Deeds Generator (PWYW) setting and system agnostic
generator
Castle Gargantua another procedural dungeon generator
Chaotic Shiny (FREE) lots of generators
Convo (FREE) an open-source online tool to create conversations; source code
DM Muse (FREE) fantasy/dungeon-themed generator
DonJon RPG Tools (FREE) an online source for random RPG stuff, mostly old school
role-playing. FANTASTIC random solo dungeon generation!
DunGen Pointcrawl Dungeon Generator by Ed Allen
DunMap Dungeon Map Stocker v 0.5 by Ed Allen
Encounter Building Cards physial card decks by Eric Bright; the generators are
available for free on his website Play Every Role
Entanglements (PWYW) a story mapping tool for RPGs, alternative download
FREE adventures for Adventurer Solo Game (see above) by Stuart Llyod, scroll down
to “Adventurer”
Guide to Playing Alone an introduction to solo role-playing
Hexmancer (FREE) procedural hex generator by Martin Ralya
Hiring Hall retainers and hirelings for old school dungeon crawling, a generator by
Ed Allen
IMPROVisr 4.0.0 (FREE) a java application designed to generate tabletop RPG
material as an improvisation tool for the game master
Instant Game (FREE) a great setting creator, plus a solo game included
It’s Not My Future! inspired by Evil Hat’s It’s Not My Fault! cards for generating
NPCs and a revolting scene (for Fate Accelerated)
Mad Monks of Kwantoom the successor of Ruins of the Undercity: a random old school
dungeon generator with an Asian flair: city encounters, shops, and atmosphere
Mark’s Adventure Glyphs (Android) an image app similar to Rory’s Story Cubes, uses
the same Game Icon library as Zero Dice, same image source but different mechanics
Mekton Zeta – Lifepath Generator (FREE) a tool for making random character back
stories by Todd Zircher
My Abominable Experiments In Solo Role Playing Javascript tools for solo play
No GM RPG Play by Play Every Role (FREE) a free online tool with different
generators by Eric Bright
NPC Creator and Emulator creates NPCs and helps with shaping conversations; by Eric
Bright
One-roll Generators (FREE) by Brian Holland
Overstand Basics Mythic RPG/GME Loot (FREE) material for Mythic RPG/Mythic GME by D
Jones-Dixon
Perilous Wilds Generators (FREE)
Perilous Wilds Generator Spreadsheet (FREE) by Geoff Osterberg; regenerates the
region every time the spreadsheet recalculates
Prompting Oracle (of sorts?) (FREE) web tool
ranDM Solo by Mike Overbo (FREE) combo offline webapp/random table generator with
different solo engines
Random Dungeon Generator (http://henrycjc.com) (FREE) you can change the number of
rooms in the url
Roll3d6 random generators
Rory’s Story Cubes dice with images on it for inspiration, available at game stores
or online retailers like Amazon.com, mobile apps are available for iphone/ipad or
Android
rpgsolo.com (FREE) Mark has created an online tool that integrates several other
solo tools as well as creating his own die roller and solo game features, there was
some flak because he didn’t properly credit the original authors at first
Ruins of the Undercity a random dungeon generator for old school gaming, reviews
here, a print version is available at lulu
Schweig’s Themed Dungeon Creator a template which you stock yourself and in turn
gives you a tool for creating a random dungeon
Simple HTML Roller (FREE) by Konrad Zielinski
SoloPocket (FREE) a simple pocketmod template for solo fantasy gaming by Carsten
Rossner
Solo Dungeon Generator - One Room at a Time (FREE) by Chris Stieha
Solo Roleplay Tools (FREE) a Google Docs addon for Mythic GME
Solo RPGs forum (free, of course) The G+ Lone Wolf community forum
Springhole.net (FREE) generators for writing and role-playing
Stellar Heroes (FREE) an overlay for sci-fi OSR games so that you can play them
with 1 player and 1 GM: not a strictly solo system but on the way there
Story Roller (FREE) by Jens Hölderle
SWN Sector Generator (FREE) random generator for Stars Without Numbers
Tangent Zero Random Plot Generator (FREE) a simple web-based programm by Todd
Zircher
The “Aladdin” Technique (FREE) “The “Aladdin” Technique (FREE) an easy way to
spontaneously spice up RPG encounter ideas, solo or otherwise; by John Fiore
The Location Crafter from the folks who did the Mythic GME, a universal location
creator, softcover available via lulu
UNE, Universal NPC Emulator (rev) (PWYW) a great way to create NPCs by Zach Best
Wizardawn (FREE) lots of random creators for old school role-playing games
Zero Dice (FREE) an online tool for rolling image dice like Rory’s but with
additional support for forum play; by Todd Zircher
Zero Tarot web tool for Tarot cards as NPC or scene generators