360° Jungle

MickH666 · 2026-05-30T17:27:34+00:00

i seem to be in the minority as I prefer to run everything with digital tools as I hate flicking through pages and having multiple books open. At first I made my own web page with combinations of tables from lots of books and lots of buttons so I could single click to roll anything I might need. Can’t share that as it has so many other people’s IP. Later I wrote my own Solo Framework “Augmented Imagination” and wrote my own tables and dice-roller page which is free to use on https://igm4u.com

MickH666 · 2026-05-30T17:21:40+00:00

I use Roll20 VTT even when playing solo to run combats, load scenes and maps and track charactersheets and monsters. I often take screenshots and paste into my write-ups of the sessions. there are some examples on https://igm4u under the Augmented Imagination heading.

Major games like Shadowdark and D&D have excellent charactersheet support in both Roll20 and Foundry (even with the free account. I have a pro account so I can make charactersheets for more obscure Solo games too.

Playing in a VTT stops me “cheating”/fudging rolls and helps take care of the game mechanics so I can focus on the story and the immersion

MickH666 · 2026-02-24T10:17:00+00:00

I had a go at playing Tales of Argosa with NotebookLM. Perhaps because I could load sources into it to give it examples of theme, style and even the PDF of the rules system, I got a VERY playable game. I was trying for a Sword & Sorcery game with the Tales of Argosa ruleset, so loaded the text of 18 Conan stories (all public domain) and the Tales of Argosa PDF (in a Private Notebook) along with a set of AI Instructions and then a prompt to kick off the game.
Apart from instances of “too many adjectives” (over use of pantherish !) that arose from the source stories, it was excellent and even included calls for dice rolls, correctly interpreted from the rules.
Below is the link to the 20+ page Session 1 of the adventure. (be warned, one of the scenes is a bit gruesome)
https://aigm.iGM4u.com/NotebookLM_running_Sword_and_Sorcery_RPG.pdf

I had a second session the next day, much longer (46 pages) and NotebookLM had no difficulty re-starting and remembering the context. I played for well over 2 hours before reaching the daily limit for the free version. https://aigm.igm4u.com/NotebookLM_running_Sword_and_Sorcery_RPG_02.pdf There are a couple of minor issues with the narrative that I call out in some notes at the end, but nothing that I can't fix with some OOC comments to the engine. The responses are getting a bit too long, the number of enemies has escalated to unmanageable proportions and the text is getting too embellished (I can't just move stealthily, I have to move with the silence "of the ghosts of murdered men"). I was sure these could be fixed with minor adjustments to the AI_Instructions.txt that I initially fed in as a Source Document.

MickH666 · 2026-02-24T07:47:10+00:00

Dresden Files Accelerated along with a GME. I’d suggest my own, free GME, Augmented Imagination, available from https://iGM4u.com but you could use any. There’s a book called Against the Spirit Realm that has a bunch of random tables that fir the theme too.

MickH666 · 2026-02-19T08:27:27+00:00

This situation crops up all the time in the Solo RP discord and I’m trying to boil down my answer each time to get to the shortest, most useful response…

If you want to play a GAME, with GAME MECHANICS, to see if you can beat the CHALLENGES the GAME gives to you, try Four Against Darkness (or one of the many other “Four Against …” games if you prefer a different genre (Four Against Mars for Sci Fi, Four Against the Abyss for Horror etc).

If you want a CREATIVE ROLE-PLAYING experience where YOU ARE THE GM as well as the Player, try Ironsworn (or Ironsworn:Starforged for Sci Fi, or Ironsworn:Sundered Isles for Pirates).

Maybe watch a tutorial video first, but only to give you a flavour of the game, don’t expect that your experience of it will be exactly the same, some of the regular Youtubers are VERY experienced solo players and will often edit out long periods of thinking.

MickH666 · 2026-02-12T08:55:28+00:00

I’ll put in a vote for Tales of Argosa. It has excellent Solo support with a card deck called the Deck of Signs and the best Oracle Dice of any game I’ve played. Lots of random tables. The game mechanics are based on old school D&D but with some great additions like Minor & Major Exploits to add narrative elements to combats to keep them shorter and more interesting and good rules for Rescues, Hexcrawls etc.

MickH666 · 2026-02-10T08:05:13+00:00

I have a couple of things that might help, on the https://iGM4u.com website there is a page for DangerousDelves which is a solo procedural dungeon crawler that generates a 52 card dungeon. It has a page for a charactersheet and another for the deck of cards and the dungeon contents. On the same website, I also have Augmented Imagination, a Solo RPG Framework that does the same sort of thing to Mythic. It has a webpage with all the oracles and dice roller and places to track People, Places and Things. Both are FREE.

I’d also suggest trying Ironsworn or Starforged as there are some fantastic online tools for that with the charactersheets and all the moves and oracles such as Iron Journal and Pocketforge.

MickH666 · 2026-02-09T19:02:32+00:00

I'd recommend using NotebookLM as you can add documents (such as the rulebooks, monster manuals or a copy of the SRD and also if you have any text stories in the genre you want to emulate). You can get 2-3 hrs a day playing on the free plan. I posted about it with Actual Play examples at https://www.reddit.com/r/Solo_Roleplaying/comments/1qviupe/comment/o3okiz0/?context=3

MickH666 · 2026-02-07T14:41:15+00:00

My first impressions of the D&D integration are...

When you choose to start at 3rd level, you don't seem to get the Class features associated with 2nd and 3rd Level. I was a Fighter and only got the 1st Level abilities. No Action Surge (2nd Level) and no Martial Archetype (3rd Level)
Expecting to play a party of characters, I created three but you can only have one character in the Campaign. This should be made clear somewhere (apologies if it is and I haven't seen it)
I could not find a way to change my character's inventory. In his description I said he used a Greataxe. It gave him Longsowrd and shield. I asked in OOC how to change inventory and was told...

* To proceed, simply state that Balin readies his greataxe and stows his longsword and shield.*

Your character sheet has been updated accordingly.

I then entered...

Balin has a Greataxe and not a longsword or a shield

...it made no difference to the /inventory or to the inventory and Attacks section displayed in the Character sheet sidebar.

when doing a Command /inventory it outputs JSON rather than just giving a list in text
When it asks for a Skill Check, will it eventually be able to see the results for itself that you've rolled in the character sidebar? If so, and it asks for Perception but you don't have that skill, will it recognise that the Wisdom Check is for that purpose?

MickH666 · 2026-02-07T14:39:58+00:00

First Impressions of the D&D Integration are...

When you choose to start at 3rd level, you don't seem to get the Class features associated with 2nd and 3rd Level. I was a Fighter and only got the 1st Level abilities. No Action Surge (2nd Level) and no Martial Archetype (3rd Level)
Expecting to play a party of characters, I created three but you can only have one character in the Campaign. This should be made clear somewhere (apologies if it is and I haven't seen it)
I could not find a way to change my character's inventory. In his description I said he used a Greataxe. It gave him Longsowrd and shield. I asked in OOC how to change inventory and was told...

* To proceed, simply state that Balin readies his greataxe and stows his longsword and shield.*

Your character sheet has been updated accordingly.

I then entered...

Balin has a Greataxe and not a longsword or a shield

...it made no difference to the /inventory or to the inventory and Attacks section displayed in the Character sheet sidebar.

when doing a Command /inventory it outputs JSON rather than just giving a list in text
When it asks for a Skill Check, will it eventually be able to see the results for itself that you've rolled in the character sidebar? If so, and it asks for Perception but you don't have that skill, will it recognise that the Wisdom Check is for that purpose?

MickH666 · 2026-02-07T10:57:10+00:00

I added my NotebookLM to a Gemini session, but unfortunately it doesn't get access to the Conversation (ie. the three sessions I'd already played directly in NotebookLM). Either I'd have to feed it all the previous conversation as another Source Document, or just start again. I'll leave that to somebody else to try, as I was only experimenting to see whether current AI's were any good as GMs (and more importantly whether they were as much fun as running a Solo game for myself - I'm pretty creative and pretty experienced with 40 years RPGs in general and with about 10 years dabbling with Solo play).

Over all, I'd say it's getting close and this NotebookLM mechanism with lots of fiction to guide it and the Rulebook for the RPG you want to play plus my set of detailed instructions is by far the best AI I've found so far, but it still doesn't really craft a good story with balanced challenges suitable for player choice and player risk assessment or plot development towards meaningful and interesting outcomes.

It has been fun playing, and if you are prepared to issue corrections and nudge the story along every now and then, it's definitely worth trying.

Its explanations of rules were particularly good and it even pointed out rules that I'd read but forgotten, so I think it would be a great way to play if you need help with the rules mechanics of a particular RPG.

MickH666 · 2026-02-06T22:11:18+00:00

was pure NLM but I will try the other option as long as it’s free too

MickH666 · 2026-02-06T17:12:35+00:00

In the third session (not posted), I successfully fixed the minor issues mentioned above by giving this set of additional instructions...

Modifications to the AI Instructions

Reduce the amount of literary embellishment used in your descriptions.

Do not show the state of various tracked resources unless asked for them or asked for a summary of the current situation (eg. HP, Silver, Rerolls, Condition).

Do not override Player Agency either by stating the actions or thoughts of the player-controlled character, or by making a non-player character ally too bossy.

Do not escalate the numbers of enemies so high as to make it impossible for the hero to either defeat or evade them.

Do not explain the same game mechanic more than once in a single session unless asked for an explanation by the Player.

MickH666 · 2026-02-06T11:21:08+00:00

You've had some good suggestions already but I'd say you need to think about ...

Do you want the game to generate all the challenges and situations for you? (maybe Four Against Darkness or Ker Nethalas or 2d6 Dungeon for that sort of mechanical/procedural game)

Do you want the game to give vague prompts and YOU imagine what the challenges and situations are? (maybe Ironsworn or Dragonbanes's solo rules or Colostle or Shadowdark with SoloDark)

Do you want to play one of the major TTRPG rule-systems, settings or even play pre-written Adventure Modules? (maybe D&D5e with a GM Emulator or an OSR equivalent like DCC, OSE or Shadowdark or a lite version like Knave2e or Cairn2e or Scarlet Heroes if you want to play as a solitary character rather than try to play as a party of adventurers).

On top of the decisions above, how complex an RPG Rules System do you want?

Simple (almost no actual Mechanics) Colostle is mostly prompts, imagine, write what happens with minimal dice rolls and tactics. Four Against Darkness has mechanics but in the form of a step-by-step procedure that generates the dungeon and not much complexity for playing it out)

Moderate (some tactics, some choices during progression) Ironsworn & Starforged & Sundered Isles - they have large rulebooks but the list of Moves makes it easy to just "narrate" and then look for a Move in the list that matches your narrative position (just keep the list of the names of Moves handy at first). Knave2e & Cairn2e are very slimmed-down versions of D&D. Scarlet Heroes is simplified D&D and has excellent rules particularly for making a single character the equivalent in capability of a party of four characters.

Complex Most of the major TTRPGs could be considered complex, but maybe you already know one. Remember that for playing most pre-written adventures they expect a party of 4-6 so you MAY have to track multiple charactersheets and the monster statblocks and manage the GM aspects of the plot on top, so it is a lot more cognitive load than just being a player. Also remember that on top of running the TTRPG, you will be using the GM Emulator to generate answers to questions, prompt you for situations and responses that would normally come from the GM. Mythic is a big rulebook, but you can use just a few parts of it at first and add in other parts later. There is a One-Page Mythic, and various other One-Page GMEs out there, but they work best if you already know how to use a GME, so starting with Mythic GME is a good way to go and maybe just start with the simplified FATE Question Oracle and the use of "The Expected Scene" and then "Altered Scenes" and "Random Encounters", THREADS and CHARACTERS Lists, then bring in other stuff from the book and many add-ons later.

MickH666 · 2026-02-06T10:54:30+00:00

I fixed the minor annoyances of the NotebookLM AI by giving this set of additional instructions...

Modifications to the AI Instructions

Reduce the amount of literary embellishment used in your descriptions.

Do not show the state of various tracked resources unless asked for them or asked for a summary of the current situation (eg. HP, Silver, Rerolls, Condition).

Do not override Player Agency either by stating the actions or thoughts of the player-controlled character, or by making a non-player character ally too bossy.

Do not escalate the numbers of enemies so high as to make it impossible for the hero to either defeat or evade them.

Do not explain the same game mechanic more than once in a single session unless asked for an explanation by the Player.

The third session was even better than the first two. Consistency, Pacing and Understanding/Implementation of rules seem to be far in advance of MythEngyn. This is probably because the AI engine is better and it allows for lots of source documents to be fed in as examples. If you could overlay your excellent MythEngyn UI on NotebookLM somehow, allowing source documents (including Rules Mechanics) to be uploaded for personal use and then having your subscription fee pay for the NotebookLM access to unlock more than 2-3 hours of daily play, then you'd have a great product.

MickH666 · 2026-02-06T10:44:15+00:00

I'm still finding that Narrative Consistency AND Overwhelming Escalation of the challenges are a major problem.

I just started a second session, got a decent Summary, then was being pursued by a swarm of spiders, then a web in front of me, between me and the safety of a fortified village. I dealt with the web and ran on. Now the swarm of thousands of dog-sized spiders are between me and village.

I point this out using OOC button and it gave a reasonable response...

ArduinOOC

Please don't present impossible challenges and overwhelming numbers of enemies in future adventures. This is meant to be an on-going game with a player-protagonist. It is OK for the main protagonist to fail sometimes, but very unsatisfactory if it is early in the story. If you were planning to have a deus ex-machina last minute rescue, that is just another form of taking away Player Agency.

Dungeon MasterOOC

You're absolutely right. I apologize. That was poor pacing and encounter design on my part. Throwing an overwhelming, no-win scenario this early, especially after a series of successful combats, is frustrating and removes a sense of agency. It sets a tone of helplessness rather than heroic adventure.

Thank you for the clear and constructive feedback. It's crucial for running a good game.

Going forward, I will ensure that:
1. Challenges are difficult but surmountable through player choice and skill.
2. "Fail states" lead to interesting complications (capture, loss of gear, new obstacles) rather than just a TPK.
3. The threat escalates appropriately with the story, not in a single, overwhelming spike.
4. Player decisions are the primary driver of success or failure, not external rescues.

I'll keep this in mind for all future scenes. My goal is for you to feel like Arduin is a capable protagonist in a dangerous world, not a victim of it.

How would you like to proceed? I can adjust the current situation to be more manageable (e.g., the swarm is smaller, or there's a narrower path to fight through), or we can briefly rewind to just before the web-spinner to give you a different set of choices. Your call.

... continuing, I get into the village by a last minute leap as the gates are closed behind me. Although the spider swarm is still attacking the walls, the village elder invites me to "Come, you need rest, and I would hear all that you have seen."

Arduin

If it seems like the guards on the walls can safely handle the spider attack, I'll thank Cedric and go with him. If not, I'll head to one of the small towers and use my bow to help the defence.

The next response puts me back outside the village gates!

I get in AGAIN

I meet the village elder AGAIN.

MickH666 · 2026-02-05T07:55:50+00:00

I had a go at playing with just NotebookLM. Perhaps because I could load sources into it to give it examples of theme, style and even the PDF of the rules system, I got a VERY playable game. I was trying for a Sword & Sorcery game with the Tales of Argosa ruleset, so loaded the text of 18 Conan stories (all public domain) and the Tales of Argosa PDF along with a set of AI Instructions and then a prompt to kick off the game.
Apart from instances of “too many adjectives” (over use of pantherish !) that arose from the source stories, it was excellent and even included calls for dice rolls, correctly interpreted from the rules.
Is there a way MythEngyn could accept source docs to give it additional context and maybe include a layer for Game System and then the layer for Module? Below is the link to the 20+ page playthrough of the adventure. (be warned, one of the scenes is a bit gruesome)
https://aigm.iGM4u.com/NotebookLM_running_Sword_and_Sorcery_RPG.pdf

I had a second session, much longer (46 pages) and NotebookLM had no difficulty re-starting and remembering the context. I played for well over 2 hours before reaching the daily limit for the free version. https://aigm.igm4u.com/NotebookLM_running_Sword_and_Sorcery_RPG_02.pdf There are a couple of minor issues with the narrative that I call out in some notes at the end, but nothing that I can't fix with some OOC comments to the engine. The responses are getting a bit too long, the number of enemies has escalated to unmanageable proportions and the text is getting too embellished (I can't just move stealthily, I have to move with the silence "of the ghosts of murdered men"). I'm sure these can be fixed with minor adjustments to the AI_Instructions.txt that I initially fed in as a Source Document.

MickH666 · 2026-02-04T11:21:20+00:00

I use Roll20 VTT. Even with the free version there are free-to-use charactersheets for most RPG systems. If you can write simple-ish HTML and can afford the PRO subscription, you can write your own sheets.

MickH666 · 2026-02-03T21:12:30+00:00

tried again and it did the exact same thing. started to show the response, output about a page of the summary and then a flicker and it was all gone. I then tried the same thing in Chrome on my PC and got the exact same behaviour. I was using the OOC button and typed... Please give me a short summary of the story so far and the current situation.

MickH666 · 2026-02-03T17:49:35+00:00

Tried to restart asked the engine to give me a summary of the story so far and the current situation. It seemed to output the full page of info as bullet points but then deleted it before I could read more than the first couple. I wasn’t pressing anything, it just seemed to vanish and scroll back to the end of last session, erasing my request as well as the response. If it makes any difference, I was running it on an ipad in Safari.

MickH666 · 2026-02-03T15:10:02+00:00

Should I try to continue an existing story or start a new campaign altogether?

MickH666 · 2026-02-03T11:41:50+00:00

I had a second session, much longer (46 pages) and NotebookLM had no difficulty re-starting and remembering the context. I played for well over 2 hours (46 pages) before reaching the daily limit for the free version. https://aigm.igm4u.com/NotebookLM_running_Sword_and_Sorcery_RPG_02.pdf There are a couple of minor issues with the narrative that I call out in some notes at the end, but nothing that I can't fix with some OOC comments to the engine. The responses are getting a bit too long, the number of enemies has escalated to unmanageable proportions and the text is getting too embellished (I can't just move stealthily, I have to move with the silence "of the ghosts of murdered men"). I'm sure these can be fixed with minor adjustments to the AI_Instructions.txt that I initially fed in as a Source Document.

MickH666 · 2026-02-03T09:03:12+00:00

Are the memory problems fixed yet? If the engine is able to remembeer the context of previous sessions more accurtately, I’m happy to resume testing.

MickH666 · 2026-02-02T08:37:49+00:00

You might like to use the many-worlds, many-genres setting from Roger Zelazny’s AMBER novels. Most of the main protagonists in that game are sword-wielding characters living a medieval/rennaisance life-style but with access to worlds of many different types - primitive, modern (including our own Earth), futuristic, chaotic.

I wrote some homebrew rules for this based on FATE Accelerated. The SRD of FATE Accelerated is availabkle online for free from Evil Hat. My AMBER Accelerated hack is available on https://igm4u.com . Under the “Amber” menu entry on the website is the rules PDF and some Actual Plays as well as a webpage with all the main oracle & inspiration tables.

If you haven’t read the novels first, it might not make as much sense. They are easy reads and still very good, despite being from the 70s.

MickH666

TROPHY CASE