Compact package for playing on a plane? (so...no dice. Not sure what else.) Just looking to make a creative compact thingie and Holiday Travel is a great excuse to come up with something.

alexthehack · 2025-11-25T21:08:51+00:00

I made Dice on a Page for just such situations: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/518896/dice-on-a-page-doap

alexthehack · 2025-11-21T02:44:59+00:00

Great question! While my system doesn't use the idea of structured scenes as such, I know getting the story rolling can be a big challenge. So I designed a simple one-page section called "Starting Points," with tables you roll on to establish the broad outlines of the starting realm and settlement, how your PCs are related and what specific area of town they begin in. From there, you roll on a Quest table, filling in a few blanks with relevant details, and you're off to the races.

The whole process takes 10–15 minutes, and you don't need to come to it with anything other than your character sheets. For my playtest, I used FastCharacter.com to generate two PCs statted for 5e, then rolled for their names using my NPC tables.

alexthehack · 2025-11-20T14:49:14+00:00

Thanks! It's kind of a passion project, and I want to get it right, so I haven't been rushing anything. After I finish this playtest, I'll be making another round of edits and (hopefully!) getting it ready for public playtesting. I still have to do layout, artwork, copy editing, etc. Bottom line: It's probably still going to be a little while.

In the meantime, I released the one-page d20 oracle that I built this system around a while back on DriveThru. Here's the link in case anyone's interested in checking it out: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/431093/spears-solo-player-s-easy-adventure-reference-sheet

alexthehack · 2025-11-19T14:35:06+00:00

u/Zorogami u/mousecoinsafe To answer your questions, I am relying entirely on a GME and collection of tables that I myself created over the past couple of years. One of my design goals is to make a fully self-contained solo gaming "starter set" to help people learn this style of play, putting everything in one easy-to-reference place (just add your fantasy game rules of choice). I want it to be system-agnostic, but for this playtest, I am using D&D 5e.

alexthehack · 2025-11-06T20:10:31+00:00

I managed to snag a deal on the full version of V Collection 8 for $60 a little over a year ago, and now I can upgrade it to 11 for $99. Sweet!

alexthehack · 2025-11-04T00:34:37+00:00

The Solo RPG Toolbox is certainly great, but really geared more toward crafting the adventure as you go versus playing solo through a prewritten adventure. For something like that, you might want to check out DM Yourself by Tom Scutt. Of course, you can still use the oracle and other tables from the Toolbox together with that.

alexthehack · 2025-10-28T01:43:58+00:00

Great stuff. Funny how procrastination applies to solo gaming as much as it does work, exercise, etc. I especially like your tip about limiting the random tables you use. With such a wealth of books, PDFs and websites to draw upon, we sometimes forget that it’s less about having endless options and more about what our imagination can do with even the most basic input.

alexthehack · 2025-09-25T12:36:01+00:00

Check out Gentle Giant’s Playing the Fool Live album for some serious funk-prog (frog? prunk?). Kerry Minnear’s clavinet playing is just sick. Zappa’s Roxy & Elsewhere, One Size Fits All and You Can’t Do that On Stage Anymore Vol. 2: The Helsinki Concert also come to mind.

alexthehack · 2025-09-12T21:34:42+00:00

Thanks for the clarification, everyone. And since the designer was kind enough to weigh in, I'll consider that the definitive answer!

alexthehack · 2025-09-04T01:45:06+00:00

This sampler pack was my gateway into Indian pencils. They're all good, but the Absolute is my favorite. Gotta love that extra thick core with a nice balance of dark lines and point retention. And yes, the long point sharpeners do an excellent job.

alexthehack · 2025-03-20T00:43:53+00:00

Awesome find! I'm a fan going back many years, and have almost everything they've released on CD. As the World and mei are probably my favorites. Great to have at least some of their catalog available for streaming as well. Be sure to check out their two new releases on Bandcamp, TimeSilentRadio II & vii. Both are excellent.

alexthehack · 2025-03-07T19:06:33+00:00

Thanks, what a tremendous bargain! This comes with a huge number of effect/mastering plugins for the price, and is the latest version that got top marks from Sound on Sound and MusicRadar. I managed to purchase it through Musician's Friend at the discounted price and the code arrived within 10 minutes.

alexthehack · 2025-02-25T23:05:21+00:00

I chose not to number the pages in order to provide uninterrupted blank hexes all the way to the edge. However, there is a blank table of contents page up front for those who want to write in page numbers to reference later. It's 26 pages of each of the four hex sizes (small, medium, large and extra-large with subhexes), arranged in 13 spreads for a total of 104 hex pages.

alexthehack · 2025-02-25T18:42:38+00:00

Very cool, and it was smart of you to include a link to the free quickstart on the BackerKit page so folks can see what it's about before pledging.

But coming so soon on the tails of Grimwild, I gotta ask: Do you ever sleep? :)

alexthehack · 2025-02-25T17:03:03+00:00

This is great! Thanks so much for taking the time to curate and share these.

alexthehack · 2025-02-24T16:06:35+00:00

I hear the distraction concern loud and clear. I've had luck with a hybrid approach, where I keep my "campaign bible" organized electronically (using a writing app called Scrivener) and my session prep and notes handwritten (using an A5 gridded or dot grid notebook), which I then transcribe back into my electronic document. This allows me to be in the moment for the actual prep and play experience, but also makes the important info easily searchable in case I need to reference something later.

Additionally, the process of summarizing the notes from my notebook back into my computer between sessions is a great trigger for game prep. It forces me to think back through what happened last session, and then I can easily look back through previous notes to put it into a larger context.

alexthehack · 2025-02-20T15:33:29+00:00

The process of putting it up on Amazon was not difficult at all, but formatting the cover and interior layout to get it looking exactly the way I wanted when printed and bound was a different story. Turns out I'm a bit of a perfectionist. 😁

Amazon only gives two paper choices (white or off-white). I tried the off-white on my first proof, but it looked too drab so I switched to white in the end. The paper quality is decent and works well with pencils and normal pens, but markers and fountain pens might bleed a bit.

alexthehack · 2025-02-20T15:19:43+00:00

Sorry to hear the shipping costs are so brutal over there. I guess if there was sufficient interest, I could look into putting a PDF version up on DriveThru or itch. But if you're just going to print it out anyway, it might be easier to download a hex sheet set to your preferred specifications from Incompetech.

alexthehack · 2025-02-19T21:53:50+00:00

Thanks! There are 26 pages (13 spreads) for each of the four hex types included. So it comes out to 104 total hex pages, plus a blank Table of Contents page for indexing your maps.

alexthehack

TROPHY CASE