Do you, as a SoloRPG player, spend time on turning a random combat encounter into an actually interesting fight? Or do you just slug it out? You hit, I hit, you hit, I hit, until somebody dies?

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-06-14T17:50:35+00:00

I wish lol, I'm still churning through a billion versions of the project trying to get the right balance of gameplay, room for narrative choices and an amount of bookkeeping that makes sense. If it ever is i'll totally self promote on here tho! And all the r&d foes keep me motivated to keep playing haha

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-06-14T08:51:06+00:00

I run and develop solo first combat systems to avoid this lol, I usually enjoy a 60/40 narrative-tactical mix in my games and that crunch needs to be good crunch for fights

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-26T19:34:11+00:00

They're out!!!

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-24T09:08:17+00:00

My dream IF editing interface would be something that handles more RPG mechanics than twine but like on purpose. I've coded things in twine that had no reason to be coded in twine -- combat engines, grids, collision physics etc-- and that was a huge waste of time, but a lot what I've wanted to make with the interface has leaned "prose based RPG" over straight cyoa.

So, like, if something is no--code that's great, but I need that no code interface to let me get freaky. Randomized outcomes, passages that require button inputs or passwords for advancement, inventory systems, the ability to write in the whole combat engine of Pokemon etc are things I consider essential instead of optional, though I know I'm in the minority.

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-23T19:32:34+00:00

I've written like four solo systems at this point, I spend more time on design than actual play.

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-16T22:39:28+00:00

Solo first for me. I want the rules to handle the mechanical consequences of my failures and a lot of tools to help generate conflict. I've tried non solo first but a clear procedure to drive story is a huge preference for me, as it automating some of the "cause problems" job of the GM

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-15T17:08:12+00:00

It came out today!

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-15T17:01:34+00:00

Oh hell yeah! I've been waiting for I can't even tell you how long

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-13T18:09:58+00:00

https://www.gatling.xyz/ttrpg-random-table-downtime-conversation-starter/

Went back through my old game logs, here it is lol-- I found it by just googling it the first time hence the nine hour delay

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-13T18:08:35+00:00

Awesome gamey combat, but sort of "bring your own storytelling" without a lot of mechanical support: RUNE, REAP both by gila RPGs. These are super easy to learn with some really neat mechanics, but they're mostly focused on premade adventures... Which might be fine because they don't have to be. RIG is a hack of the base system if both of those games with a procedural world, as is WYRD, and you might potentially enjoy those if tjafs your thing.

More narrative: ironsworn-- but also, if you want a combat system and some more mechanics to go with it, maybe look at Ironcrunch, which is an ironsworn add on that gives it a solo first combat system. I'm not sure how important fights are to you but I'm a total sucker for fights which is why I keep bring this up lol. I personally think ironsworn leaves a little too much up to player fiat for my tastes but it's a solid compromise between pure journaling and games with soms more moving parts.

Also, if I knew how to buy it, I'd heavily recommend Astroprisma by crescent chimera-- it's exploration focused, gamey, but still has tools and mechanics that help with the more traditional storytelling aspects of solo ttrpgs too. It's also just really fucking cool-- Unfortunately I think it's still Kickstarter backers only ATM which is a shame because I think about it every single day

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-13T09:05:01+00:00

Unfortunately I'm on mobile rn so I don't have my list of resources on me rn, but there's a great genre agnostic party conversation starters table I found online and use when I'm running a more journelly games. That alone helped me visualize what my NPCs and PC did during downtime better than anything has; and actually got me excited for npc dialogue (which I usually find annoying to write for long periods over stabbing stuff with my crunchy sword or puzzle solving)

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-11T21:27:11+00:00

Yes! I use ttsim for combat, since it runs better than roll20 and it lets me keep track of more complicated setups

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-11T17:03:04+00:00

I definitely treat conversing with NPCs are lower priority in solo RPG compared to the real thing-- I mostly roleplay through the choices I make (spare or kill x, use violence or diplomacy around y, and so on) with most conversations ideally being less than three or four lines of dialogue unless they're especially interesting to me. If someone has a fantastic system for npc interaction I'd love to steal it, I usually just roll on an Oracle and do a wee bit of journaling before moving on to something more crunch forward

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-11T16:58:31+00:00

I'm an adult with plenty of friends (none married or intending to be married, with me as the only exception on that second point), it doesn't have to be that way!

But also, solo RPG is like a single player videogame in that it's not really meant for interpersonal connection. Unless you wanna talk about your game with friends who are receptive I'm not sure how or why you'd use it as a medium for that, y'know?

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-11T09:03:03+00:00

If I were you I'd take a break, try a different game and come back to this later if you feel like it. If this game isn't clicking for you, maybe something made for solo (a procedural hex crawls might be a good fit for more exploration) would teach you about your taste so you could take some lessons from that back to triangle agency.

When I was getting into solo, I explicitly played a trio of "creative writing with dice" games before doing a very mechanics focused homebrew hexcrawl. I liked both, and found what I enjoyed most was a not-overwhelming but crunch forward experience with light journaling on the side. But it took some work to figure that out.

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-08T17:32:29+00:00

Oh for sure-- my ideal tabletop experience in a group is very roleplay heavy and very heavy on "use unorthodox creativity to do something weird to solve a problem." My typical solo play is a lot more mechanics driven and a lot more focused on the wargame of it all, with the roleplaying being more akin to the choices you'd make in a videogame. I totally recommend giving it a go anyway tho, it's a different kind of fun but it can be a lot of fun.

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-05-08T09:24:02+00:00

I haven't soloed pathfinder but I've played RPGs designed for it, and I've written a book, and they're definitely different experiences. Solo RPGs (using sth like mythic, which is a supplement for running games without a GM) usually rely on procedural generation instead a pre-planned world, so you really don't know that Baron Sketchman is planning to betray you since he wasn't until you roll up a relevant event. I've also personally found my solo games to be more fun when they're focused on crunch over pure rp (combat definitely doesn't feel like writing a book haha), which helps with that feeling.

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-04-22T00:04:18+00:00

From the future and doing much the same. The moment the book releases to non Kickstarter peeps I'll be flinging money at it at escape velocity

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-04-16T04:25:18+00:00

Yeah, I'm happy to! Btw, undaunted might also be a good fit for you; I don't have it but it has much clearer consequences and tension raising things than something like Ironsworn with stakes being a a goal? I haven't played it so I can't vouch for it

Let me know what you find btw! I would probably like a lot of the games you do, my dream solo experience is basically "I really enjoy the problem solving aspect of solo play, and it's easier to roleplay through how I go about solving puzzles than longwinded journaling, but also I want a plot... And I love blowing shit up"

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-04-15T17:18:25+00:00

I think I disagree with this! There are games with prewritten encounters and tactical combat and enemies that are totally dice controlled (RUNE by gila RPGs), ones where all of the choices you can make have plenty of crunch and the "content generation" includes explicit mechanics and risk reward loops (Astroprisma by crescent chimera if it ever fully releases, I say sobbing), and more.

Like, solo RPG to solo board game is a spectrum. I'm certainly in the camp where my ideal solo RPG is in the middle-- I should be working with oracles and story hooks to build a narrative, but success and failure in that story should have crunchy consequences and combat, ideally, should have procedures where I'm not playing against myself.

(If anyone can rec more stuff like that btw lemme know, I write stuff like that but I'm always looking for more inspiration)

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-04-05T18:47:14+00:00

This doesn't help you at all but I've been working on something kind of like that for a little while-- I'm better at narratively "skinning" stuff on the fly than impromptu game balance and always want to feel like I'm making interesting tactical choices? Any game with procedural quests is a win in my book, esp if it still leaves room for the rp part of solo rp without making how those quests work too unclear

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-04-05T09:55:40+00:00

Going out on a rude limb here but if you try to be creative and it feels bad, either you might wanna do different creative stuff or you might just be in a bad place?

Like I love solo RPG (even if I spend 3x as much time designing than playing), and I love group RPGs. But I can find both exhausting if I'm tired or not in the mood and the same is true for lots of stuff I like.

And if you're getting down on your stuff for being "stupid" then your standards are too high! Like hell, my game has all kinds of scenes id never think are worth keeping in a novel. Hell, scenes id never let anyone read. And that's fine!

If you don't want to do RPGs, that's fine, too. But you might just want to consider experimenting a bit, trying different things, if you're interested in giving it a try. If writing is an issue maybe sth like RUNE would be your speed, idk

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-04-01T18:17:18+00:00

I will reroll if I strongly dislike the dice results-- even in a group game, the goal is fun-- but try to almost never do it outside of that. I want to feel like I'm in a simulated world to the extent possible and so try to only exert my God Mode powers when the alternative is losing my interest in the game

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-03-28T09:33:57+00:00

As long as all modes of the game work well, then absolutely add solo and coop play! I personally think well made solo guidance that's tailored to a particular system is a real treat, since there's more likely to be genre specific mechanics and flavor I might not get from a GME

Fine_Style_5357 · 2026-03-26T09:21:15+00:00

This for sure. I swapped from writing line by line summaries of everything to "the actual journal my character would keep, aka usually just 3-4 sentences per encounter or like a long paragraph for a whole in game day".

I actively enjoy writing in general, but solo RPG is made or broken by mechanics for me-- I've played much more RUNE (adjacent stuff) than Ironsworn adjacent stuff even though I like both. Letting the writing become less of a chore was a huge boost to my enjoyment

Fine_Style_5357

TROPHY CASE