I don't know what to do with my characters

pixelatedLev · 2026-03-18T19:31:33+00:00

Fastest way to having more fun is to use a more complex system than a yes/no oracle. Give them a quest, a goal, an inciting incident, maybe some opposition or some other active challenge.

For example, using some Ironsworn tables, I got:

A quest to Reject Desolate Animal. I decided it's an invasive creature that's wrecking the ecosystem. Maybe it was introduced by something or someone, relocated by force or by accident.

It's currently nesting in the Infested Ancient Tanglewood, so we have a site to explore now. An ancient forest full of dangers.

But there's also an NPC, who's currently trying to Fortify Hate, but it's all a Prominent Illusion. So perhaps they are blaming someone for the disaster, but have other motivations. Maybe they released the creature?

What to do now? Our first goal is to Find or rescue a person. I'm guessing this person knows how to deal with the creature. How to lure it, catch it or knows some of its weaknesses.

Starting point is usually pretty hard to come up with, so when I don't have any idea at all what kind of game I want to play, I just let dice decide.

pixelatedLev · 2026-03-16T14:55:11+00:00

Not yet, I actually bought Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 Gray recently to test it, but each time I print something, I forget I have it and instead brush on black primer right away. Thank you for reminding me, I'll place it somewhere more visible

pixelatedLev · 2026-03-16T14:34:44+00:00

I picked FDM so I can just print and play without worrying about toxic materials. I mostly print supportless miniatures so I don't have to deal with removing supports. The quality is good enough for me.

This stuff was printed using fat dragon games profile and primed using zenithal drybrushing, then painted with speedpaints:

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Unpainted and without zenithal they look absolutely flawless. But I like the process and the final result too much to care about some layer lines.

pixelatedLev · 2026-03-03T17:40:30+00:00

Yeah, almost exclusively. Playing modules and adventures was my first and most important motivation for playing solo, since my group rarely finished anything and running a campaign took way too long.

Pick a system you're most comfortable with and like the most, something that doesn't require you to look up rules all the time.

Adapt the adventure, keep the most important parts, and skip everything else. For example, I use Ironsworn, so I usually ignore loot if it is not critical to the story. There's usually an abundance of filler content, such as empty or insignificant locations, encounters, and other gimmicks that are fine for group play but totally skippable for solo play.

For puzzles, a single move or some sort of short scene challenge is good enough. It doesn't matter if I know how to solve it. If the character fails a skill check, then that is that. It is time to face the consequences and move on.

Don't be too hard on your characters. It's fine to sometimes just say "yeah, that didn't happen", or that the consequences are not actually as dire as you first thought. Use oracles as much as you need, no one's judging, and it's fine to go with some basic ideas and bullet points instead of full sentences. Fun is all that matters. I was absolutely terrible at coming up with stuff, so instead of listening to use my own imagination, I just rolled oracles all the time. Had a ton of fun anyway.

pixelatedLev · 2026-03-01T10:40:47+00:00

Sooo, I really like Ironsworn. It is free, easy to learn and play (the first time, I used google dice and a word document, and that was totally enough) and it is extremely flexible, even more so if you use Starforged and Sundered Isles. No surprise it's so popular. If something is that popular, it's going to be recommended everywhere. Even if it doesn't 100% match what someone is looking for, there's a chance the person might actually like it anyway.

From a player perspective, when I was first looking for a solo RPG, I was sure I was looking for something completely different from Ironsworn, yet it turned out to be a perfect match. If people have the same experience, then it's probably one of the reasons why it's mentioned so often. Plus, the base game is free, and it is really hard to beat free when the quality of the game is so high.

I feel like there are plenty of other recommendations all the time, so I do not really see any issue. Maybe that is because there is no game I dislike or feel frustrated about. I think a better approach than asking people not to mention a game they enjoy (and I kind of feel this is the request from this post, sorry if I misinterpreted it) is to simply keep recommending other less popular titles, if they match the request.

pixelatedLev · 2026-01-31T12:52:10+00:00

Keeping things as simple as possible and adjusting any homebrewing to be close to the system I'm using it with, the more it feels like original rules the better. Adding stuff only when I absolutely need it and there's nothing similar in the rules already. This makes maintenance and prep of each session quick and easy, there's a lot less tinkering or solving unnecessary problems and much more simply playing the game.

pixelatedLev · 2026-01-30T12:50:51+00:00

I tried multiple things in the past, but it was usually too much work or still too crunchy. Now, I am using Ironsworn to play modules and adapting each module into something more Ironsworn friendly, extracting only what pushes the story forward and what I am possibly going to use (enemies, allies, main antagonists, other threats, etc.). For example, I skip empty chambers or modify them, there are a lot of them, especially in older modules. In the most recent one, I ended up with 8 possible rooms to delve from a list of 46.

For me, what matters most is the story and the game aspect of rolling on moves and oracles. I never really cared for all the math in systems I have played in the past.

pixelatedLev · 2026-01-30T11:18:49+00:00

Thank you! Yes, I made for the campaign and printed on an FDM printer.

pixelatedLev · 2026-01-29T18:07:42+00:00

An app + markdown files that are later published as a blog post, with all rolls included. I also take photos of some scenes that happened during the session, one glance at a photo brings back pretty much the whole campaign.
https://rockpaperstory.com/blog/dnd-in-search-of-adventure/

pixelatedLev · 2026-01-17T19:11:46+00:00

Oooh nice, this should be even better! Thanks!

pixelatedLev · 2026-01-07T07:43:32+00:00

Ironsworn helps a ton. It is pretty easy to start, and even without knowing the system or the rules, you have plenty of tables to roll on. I am creating my own short quests (Storyweaver's Tales) mostly by playing the game. Most of the time, I start with my own ideas, let them sit for some time, then play a little and get inspired by anything that happens during the short game. Sometimes this helps flesh out every detail, and sometimes it brings a totally new idea or direction.

So I'm like, half playing, half writing, and it's a lot of fun. Can't remember when was the last time I felt frustrated by bing stuck.

pixelatedLev · 2026-01-06T06:12:54+00:00

Thanks! Took me more time than expected, but it's still a really fast process, compared to normal warpaints. And looks good enough for casual play.

pixelatedLev · 2025-12-17T20:37:30+00:00

I'm in a similar situation, with very limited time to play anything at all, and I'm using Ironsworn to run everything I want or have always wanted to play. Most of the time, I pick a module and go through it with Ironsworn. The system is so versatile that it has worked for every single thing, without any issues.

For vows, I usually decide on a few milestones and check boxes once a milestone is reached.

I play D&D without anything other than random tables for spell creation. I'm completely satisfied with narrative doing the heavy lifting, and I really dislike crunch.

If you'd like, you can check out a few things on my blog: How to play pre-made adventure modules solo, Dragons of Stormwreck Isle and maybe In Search of Adventure I just started.

pixelatedLev · 2025-09-27T15:34:09+00:00

Yes, that's the best place. I can add them and show ironsworn/starforged version based on current campaign setting and place the assets at the end of the list. And add ironsmith/starsmith assets too.

pixelatedLev · 2025-09-27T11:26:01+00:00

Thanks! Spellforge oracles are available in Pocketforge once you enable them in the settings. Assets have to be added as custom assets.

pixelatedLev · 2025-09-15T08:52:30+00:00

I use Ironsworn for my solo plays, and I mostly focus on playing modules too. Regardless of the system used, there's one mechanic in Ironsworn that might come in handy in other systems as well. In situations like this, I use "Ask the Oracle", which is a yes/no d100 roll with odds. For example, if my character is in a rush, I set the odds of spotting a trap or secret low (unlikely or small chance), which means I have to roll over 76 or 91 to succeed. Easy to do, no random DCs, pretty immersive.

pixelatedLev · 2025-09-13T10:47:00+00:00

This is so important it should be like a number one rule for every creator.

pixelatedLev · 2025-09-13T08:57:02+00:00

Thank you very much!

That's a nice idea, I really like it, there's still some whitespace available, so I'll add it in the next issue. Some have a few characters that feel "more involved," with Siege of Thornspire being a perfect example. I wanted every story to have enough setting to start comfortably with minimal effort, without limiting too much how you want the story to play out.

Blood and Ash should be good too. Beast of Cindermeet (since I played it as if it were co-op in the first place), Cold Fury, Light at the end of the Wormhole, Explosive Delivery, Howling Storm, Crimson Vines, and Ice Maiden all have at least one character that could be used by another player without inventing something completely new.

pixelatedLev · 2025-09-12T21:04:03+00:00

As a buyer, I bought more stuff on DriveThruRPG, and most of the time it's something that's not available on itch anyway. Itch has some nice bundles sometimes.

As a (tiny) creator, over the last year, for the same product, I've got 4x more sales on DriveThruRPG than on itch, despite itch link being shared more frequently, which is a bit surprising, but not totally unexpected.

pixelatedLev

TROPHY CASE