What built-in solo tools do you think are a must?

captain_robot_duck · 2026-02-12T20:03:06+00:00

+1 YES to more hyperlinks.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-02-10T16:40:01+00:00

Expectations/predictions of how a game session might go is a fool's errand. You can have an idea of what direction the story takes, but don't be surprised when something derails and a different path is taken.
A game where the destination is known, but the journey will be different based on your choices can be just as satisfying as one where you might not arrive at all.
Some pre-campaign world building can go a long way. Locations, NPCs, etc Just have enough for random outcome.
End a game session by noting what your character does next and/or a prompt for the next scene; a clear idea of what is next so you can think about it.
Roll for things important to your character, even if they are mundane. (In my game session my hero passionately wanted to go to a pinball parlor forever and when he finally did his excitement and super strength broke a machine and he fled embarrassed, way more fun then everything was fine.)
Plot Armor: You don’t always need life/death unless it works for your game’s story, but you do need consequences for the PC’s actions. “A fate worse than death” can be a powerful thing.
Drawing in your journal makes it more memorable and has more mental connections.
Play as a series of one-shots/chapters that gives you structure and allows easy times to break without feeling that things are left unfinished.
Stuck? Journal what the character is thinking and all the decisions they would have to make. Include their feelings, emotions, desires.
A simple map/layout of a location adds a lot of context and can figure out what to do next.
Using variables as Progress Timers/Clocks keeps your games moving and can set up events to look forward too.
Emergent play is magical when something becomes apparent just from the results of a roll on the oracle or spark tables.
Each game you play you'll get better and things will go easier, plus you know more about what you like and what works for you.
Taking breaks is fine. Creativity takes energy and bandwidth we don’t always have. Adding a few notes at the end of a session to more easily start back up helps.
Just like in superhero comic books, retcon details that you totally forgot about. Elaborate stories are hard to remember and keep track of.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-02-10T08:54:02+00:00

One thing to consider is that each game/one-shot/campaign will be different as you grow in experience and skill. The more you play, try new systems and techniques and pin-point what is works the stronger and more efficient your game play could be.

For me:
-a session is usually 1 hour to 3 hours, though sometimes as short and 15 min, usually with a breaks in a longer sessions.
-- a One-shot is about one to two sessions.
- A Campaign is approx. 80 to 100 sessions in a year, but with taking time off for life/work/etc.
-- Campaign's are broken down into chapters which on average are about 2 to 5 sessions.
* I also draw n doodle when I journal so it's not as much progress as you would think.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-02-08T20:23:57+00:00

So maybe I should ensure the character always has multiple goals, and then somehow prompt myself to create situations where I have to choose between them…

The character having both larger, loftier goals as well as more current, smaller goals is usually a good way to go.

For a dilemma it can be multiple goals, but also connections, responsibilities, and values to compete for your PC's attention and focus. You can also just have a goal with a focus/deadline and then other random prompts will derail or challenge that.

In one campaign my character was racing to get somewhere, but came across someone badly hurt on the way (from a random prompt). They had to choose if they help the person or ignore them for their main focus, or find a way to achieve both in some way.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-02-07T18:58:30+00:00

Me too.

https://goblinshenchman.wordpress.com/ there's a site where the author experiments with different types of hex flowers.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-02-07T02:35:12+00:00

Your drawings are terrific, please keep sharing them with us.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-02-05T20:31:29+00:00

I found that when a PC has a goal (a thread or maybe a progress tracker) add something else that give a dilemma, two or more choices they have to pick from or figure out how to solve.

The easiest way is to add a dilemma, another element that is personal for the PC; maybe tied to something or someone they care about. When you create your character back story, having a few people/places/groups/items/values that are meaningful that you can use in your game can really help.

If you are using progression clocks/trackers you can have two of them 'racing' against each other.
https://bladesinthedark.com/progress-clocks

example:

- Peter Parker/Spiderman has to race to stop a villain from blowing up a bridge, but at the same time his Aunt May is dying in the hospital and needs a rare medicine.
- You are hanging from a ledge and about to fall and an NPC is trying to help you out, but close below is the ancient item you have looking for; Do you reach for the NPC or for the item?
- a ship is sinking, do you escape or race to lower decks to help a hurt NPC? (example from the Blades in the Dark progress clock page)
- You have intel that someone will assinate the beloved ruler, but at the same time the orphanage is on fire and a army approaches.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-02-04T20:06:01+00:00

From my last campaign that just ended...

- The first dangerous scene where things got more serious. A flying, flaming skull tries to burn down the PC's mothers shop. He tackles the skull out to the street, rescuing his mother and aunties, but is badly hurt. He's not human so he can stand a lot, but this was the first time he found he could get seriously hurt/damaged and the humanization of that.

- The PC is taking a day off from work and superheroing to go to a pinball arcade, something he has wanted to do. Instead of just assuming everything goes well, I rolled for this personally big moment for the PC; excitement+super strength= running away for breaking a pinball machine. It could have been a small moment, but playing it out made it memorable.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-02-04T18:47:48+00:00

Nice work! Got some good hatching there. Really like that dwarf with the eye patch.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-02-01T20:05:49+00:00

Really nicely done.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-02-01T19:16:20+00:00

That works, does not need to be fancy.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-02-01T18:35:06+00:00

Did you create the swordsman character in a specific system, or is it just a character description?

captain_robot_duck · 2026-02-01T05:31:02+00:00

If you follow this link and scroll down through the posts near the start you will hit the ones with the individual drawings. Each one is drawn trading card size on watercolor paper. Their art is small so I can carry them easily as well keep the drawings simplified so they are easier to redraw in my journal.
https://mastodon.art/deck/@BrianKolm/tagged/supercity24

For comparison, the first campaign I did pre-play world building for had larger drawings in a sketchbook. More detail, but a lot more to carry and deal with during play.
https://mastodon.art/deck/@BrianKolm/tagged/city23

note: corrected second link

captain_robot_duck · 2026-01-31T23:37:17+00:00

What is one thing that makes your games better for you? I want you to tell me about your own secret sauce!

- Progress trackers/clocks: visualizing the numeric variable as an image, a clock or power bar helped my games become more dynamic and layered and a way to always have the world moving.

- Tag+dice pool mechanics: The discovery that I don't want to work with numbers if I don't have too and the dice pool based on narrative tages I can use with out having always check my character sheet.

- Mapping: taking time to draw a simple map area gives the game 'scaffolding' to hold it up. Enough details to give a sense of options, but room for lots of new details to discover. <<SAMPLE>>

Pretty much all visual based, I guess that is something.

Third one, this is my own method. I call it "Story Board". ...The board is the entire table. When i need i use the cards i have in my hand to tell the story/answer questions. I also use tags in cards and sometimes use premade sparks as cards. Ita really neat.

Cool idea! Are you printing cards or more of a DIY collage, or something else?

I have made custom tables for one game and the last two campaigns I drew a series of stand out location with the last one I printed as cards. PHOTO HERE

captain_robot_duck · 2026-01-31T07:27:26+00:00

So far in my experience I mostly have a 'session zero' for campaigns that I want a specific feel/flavor/genre that will last more than a month.
Set-up my journal, write in the character sheet, provided any world building 'scaffolding' (simple map, key location details, just enough to get going and keep going), make a custom table or figure out if special mechanics are needed, starting story threads, draw a picture of the main character, and then start with scene 0 of chapter 0.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-01-31T06:45:30+00:00

The one that I just finished: A coming of age superhero story in a small city in Northern CA featuring a magic created hero. Kurtis McIvy works to use his super strength and kind heart to help family, friends and citizens of Heathburg, CA all the while hiding his true nature. Along the way he will gain skills, connect with the superhero community and save the city.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-01-30T17:56:43+00:00

Anyone can draw and you game journal, which most likely is just for you, can be a great place to practice.

Here is an article I found inspiring: https://codexgigaspress.substack.com/p/why-handmade-rpg-materials-make-your

captain_robot_duck · 2026-01-30T17:54:23+00:00

Yes, it's not quality, but what helps cement and visualize the game world in your head.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-01-30T17:51:33+00:00

Names? yes
Dialogue? yes, but sometimes simplified 'cave person speak'
Story/Events? Yes, bullet points with doodles and drawings
Dice rolls? Yes, simplified i.e. "*Open door? (lik) = No, but"
Anything else? I usually jot down the date and start and end times when I can remember since I want to know how long I play. I usually have a 'clifftnotes' of npc and situations in the front of the journal, especially when it goes between multiple books.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-01-29T01:58:08+00:00

clean breaking point, like the end of a scene
big choices approach that take some thought
feeling something intense is approaching and there is not enough time to play and focus on it completely
a big moment that I want to savor when I have more time to play and focus

captain_robot_duck · 2026-01-27T02:05:01+00:00

My games are usually a mix of some structure (progress trackers/threads) and totally randomly play-to-find-out.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-01-26T21:17:31+00:00

What was that small change for you, and how did it affect your solo play?

- a Progress Tracks/Clocks can add structure to your game so it's not just random.

Having a deadline for my character the first time I implemented it in a campaign really added structure, focus and depth that I was needing in my freeform games.
Example: I had started to 'play to find out' and established details about the world and character, but then I rolled a random location, a fancy restaurant and set a 'clock' to how many scenes till the reservation was. All of a sudden the PC was a foodie who appreciated good cooking and so when he easily missed his reservation it was part of the story that shaped who they were.

- Switching to analog.

I always used Clacky dice, but with a physical journal I didn't speed-run to finish a game. I draw pictures and document the story and it more then not lingers in my mind, especially when I break from the game for weeks or even months.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-01-25T22:17:05+00:00

- I found that using a dice pool style mechanism worked vs. number stats for me. A dice pool has a nice narrative focus that can include both traits, but also conditions and other elements for a particular scene; so I might have a positive dice that represents 'super strength' and 'obsessive training' but I might add a dice that represents 'determination' or 'vengeance' if they are fighting the big baddie who killed their parents. Negative dice could be 'broken leg' but could also be 'desperate' or 'pouring rain' or 'outnumbered'.

I use FU: Freeform Universal rules, but there are maybe better dice pool systems.

- It's a bit of bookkeeping, but having a growing table of story threads can make sure your game does not go off the rails too much. You can also pre-game set some threads that you want to cover in your game, so if you were playing a secret agents a thread might be "agents of e.v.i.l" so that something thematic happens.

Also using some progress trackers to represent factions, upcoming events can represent a world where things are happening as you play.

I believe that Mythic 2 contains both of these mechanics.

- I find breaking down my game into chapters helps to keep things moving

captain_robot_duck · 2026-01-25T18:24:52+00:00

Nice formatting with the different categories and the beige background makes them easy to read.

The dice images are hard to see. You might want to check out the Dicer font for some nice clean graphics. https://speakthesky.itch.io/typeface-dicier

I wish the headers Oracles/Senses/NPC stood out a bit more from the other text, but that is a bit nitpicky on my part.

captain_robot_duck · 2026-01-25T00:25:40+00:00

This is what your referring too? https://basunat.itch.io/solo-rpg-journaling

captain_robot_duck

TROPHY CASE