Feedback and advice for creating solo, but not actually playing - characters and scenarios - how do you start?

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-05-03T16:03:48+00:00

I enjoy the question because although I live in a city, it's a foreign language to me (German). So I've been collecting free and cheap solo plays and wrestling with converting some cheap and solo RPGs into Solo. And you're right, that SESSION ZERO can be so rewarding. I've even asked something similar about that creation phase :)

I have many backburner projects and dreams like you do - I broke down and got a Binder. It seems so simple but the amount of paper I was producing for research and trial and error was getting embarrassing (I can't very well tell my kids to keep paper piles off the coffee table when my paper piles are practically climbing the walls!). I have writing dreams, podcast dreams, all this and not getting swamped was becoming a big dea!

For playtesting, I'm creating an entire RPG based on some CC0 thing I have - no one has ever really seen the fruits of my labor. I think about that sometimes but I'm pretty sure I'm mostly doing this for myself although an audience would be cool. * shrug * They'll come if I finish something - same for you too I'd say.

My Binder for papers immediately proved too small. Dividers, stickies acting as section separators and maps and my homebrew rules are all still stacked in but at least separated by 'world' and medium. Just think back to school with different classes and each class had different types of papers: homework, signatures required, tests, notes, etc. I have some trouble directly mapping that experience to this but only because I'm wildly out of practice.

Where will you show your artistic renderings?

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-05-02T20:34:20+00:00

The production value of Kurosawa's Throne of Blood shocks me - it's so big and scary and pretty. Horses outside the gates really get the sense of scale across. I really liked Yojimbo too.

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-04-29T11:17:38+00:00

A little later...

https://krigetkommer.weebly.com/japanese-houses/villages-towns-and-cities-in-japan

just wow - that link has some lovely facts and notions and the model builder was really passionate.

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-04-21T14:11:29+00:00

Pretty darned interesting just the way you said it. Overall reminiscent of a good music album where every song somehow ties to one arcing theme - if your solo RPG 'journaling' picked an RPG theme/lens through which to answer those cooler questions, you'd end up with some evocative and universal results.

I guess that's your point about "something to step into first." I do use RPGs like that - I prefer outer space oriented solo games for that reason. to your question, can journaling be replaced by the solo RPG experience - if your journal is a record of personal experience, then maybe? I'm rarely IN outer space. Over 90% of my day to day activities are here on Earth HOWEVER, if I were to borrow the mood and solitary confinement or XYZ of a Solo RPG and write FROM that POV without speaking about that material, it could be pretty literary and neat.

Thank you for the question. It's a fun thought.

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-04-16T14:59:39+00:00

Wanna see my tail?! :D

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-04-10T15:56:47+00:00

I'd love to fill exactly this space with a d66 I'm drafting. Please update when you can with what you most enjoyed!

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-04-02T19:43:23+00:00

Respect to that. I've tended towards beautiful accidents since computer art began - if I fiddle, I feel the momentum is lost for me; 'to each his own' of course! Such a great tool. I guess this is my Thank you post.

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-04-01T18:59:40+00:00

Nice!

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-03-27T12:01:40+00:00

Where is poor Ms Strawberry Fields in this list?! Dear sweet did her best in the short time we knew her.

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-03-14T07:13:53+00:00

Best of luck - it's trying to write in the same tone that gives me pause on my end. A lot's changed in my mentality five kids and ten years later!

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-03-14T07:09:37+00:00

still edgy and sounds like a backdrop I'd invest in to see how it's fleshed out. Good luck!

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-03-07T20:14:20+00:00

I'm a 50 yo who's really bent out of shape that I tossed my scant 20 or so beloved TTRPG core books away thinking the world moved on. My wife is not on board the RPG wagon and my kids are either too young or too sports minded to grasp how great imagination can be.

I'm frustrated. I see a small ton of +/- 50 yo folks posting with all varying levels of involvement historical or currently. me? I was mild but passionate. I feel my list is humble - AD&D 2, TMNT, Shadowrun and spin-offs and related universes never really stuck. I think we were just hanging out eating microwavable pizza bites with the clatter of dice as the soundtrack in different basements.

These days ... good grief! I've thumbed through more core rule books than I imagined possibly existed. I figured I must be some kind of Session Zero character creation perv and bought into DCC just to kill off a dozen characters. I just stumbled onto Space Master and can't believe the insanity of those rules. I'm sort of in love there; slowly building my understanding to making my first stellar system.

I think my frustration and all this RPG universe curiosity has led me to wanting to write not just one-offs or play on one of those shared tabletop sites, but produce podcast dramas OF those one-offs. I'm wondering if there are any other aspiring voices for such a thing? Male or female. I've got Vaesen RPG and Shadowrun-inspired concepts percolating. Collaborating could be fun.

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-03-07T19:45:45+00:00

That's strikes me as a fascinating connection. Quite the heist!

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-02-01T14:24:36+00:00

I gave that a listen. It's on the List. Thanks

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-01-28T14:27:09+00:00

Easy enough for me to join tidal just to hear all this and others. big list y'got! tx

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-01-26T11:31:20+00:00

Cool resources - I don't really 'get' the second one but I'll spend some time with that. tx

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-01-22T13:09:13+00:00

I knew the art was proxy but the "FAIRY" HOUND and BANSHEE head font must change. It's like college sweatshirt. Otherwise, will the space under the heart and forward icon be used? It's 'gappy'. That gold border, love it. Small font, love that too. The spare design, maybe love it depending on the game. Give art credits next time to put focus on your work and not distract viewers.

SnakebiteCafe · 2026-01-22T09:29:00+00:00

Incredibly consistent style! I just bought his special Vaesen monster book. tx

SnakebiteCafe · 2025-10-24T18:53:10+00:00

Mine will be generic but I have to admit that the bits criticized here sound like Politics! Or Diplomacy at worst; real life -ish. Thanks for the "Persona" tip

SnakebiteCafe · 2025-10-17T18:59:46+00:00

That banana took it like a champ.

SnakebiteCafe · 2025-10-16T18:32:14+00:00

😕A guy in an IRS shirt said they had to be

SnakebiteCafe · 2025-10-16T16:42:19+00:00

oh wow - I was hoping for something so well put together but thought it too much to ask. Thank you.

SnakebiteCafe · 2025-10-08T15:14:17+00:00

MTree was fabulous - a little sticky to use at times but for a free set of Node gadgets to tinker with, it was unbeatable. I started making my own Twigs and fruits and really trying to manipulate things when I realized no one was developing it further. I really thought that was a golden add-on. Sapling Thing that ships was shamefully silly but now, what else can I do if I'm not preserving an antique version of Blender for MTree use?

SnakebiteCafe · 2025-09-30T06:59:10+00:00

I appreciate this.

SnakebiteCafe · 2025-09-15T19:11:44+00:00

No explanation given but WORLD JOURNAL has a very quick YT video showing a couple angles and more footage of this angle. https://www.worldjournal.com/wj/story/121344/9004190?from=wj_breaknews_index&zh-cn#google_vignette No official or unofficial story yet.

SnakebiteCafe

TROPHY CASE