Looking for solo tabletop rpgs.

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

Only stuff I seem to find needs at least 2 players but I liked playing against a gamebook, random chance cards, or a die that allows me to build a world by words or by my own imagination. I've done the Lone Wolf series and while I'm not the biggest fan of stat keeping I'm willing to learn them and new rules. Would definitely appreciate ones with deluxe kits that contain world builders like maps, coins, dice and and such but I'm good with digital downloads.

 

[Raziya The Seeker]

I'd played solitaire TTRPGs before, and have been trying to get myself to do it again for a while now. There are a few I've heard of, but not a lot I've actually played.

Four Against Darkness looked neat. I'd peeked at it once, and it seems a bit more old-school D&D in some ways. It's a fleshed out system where you randomly build a dungeon encounter with character types suited for the format.

Dungeons and its expansion, Dragon Fang Mountains, uses a dice pool system and is a bit more streamlined. It's more events-based than making a whole map. I have never beaten any runs of this game.

There's always Tunnels and Trolls for classic games, which has a few CYOA-style modules floating around. There's a free demo version of the basic rules I've linked.

I know r/Solo_Roleplaying really seems to treat Ironsworn as its sacred cow. Never played. It's based in Powered By The Apocalypse rules, and seems to be a vikings-esque dark fantasy game from afar? I can appreciate a Dark Souls and a SKALD for dark fantasy video games, but viking stuff is overrated IMO.

Of course, there's also something called Scarlet Heroes. This allows you to play old-school D&D-esque games solo. There's a new funky damage dice rule, something called a Fray Die to damage enemies, and a way to reroll when you'd be defeated by some adventure-ending spells and effects (save-or-die poisons, sleep spells, petrification, et cetera). It has this Southeast Asian theme, more Chinese than anything, but I recommend this quickstart version the most of any of these from personal experience.

Aaaaand, of course, there's also just BSing your favorite game systems in ways to play them solo. Using simple oracles for randomization, dungeon generators, et cetera. I usually prefer simpler RPGs to run solitaire, but I've been dying to do it with Savage Worlds. One of my favorite oracles for generating plot twists is Impetus. As for when to ask a question to determine in-world answers? A simple roll of a six-sided die, meaning...

1. No, and...
2. No
3. No, but...
4. Yes, but...
5. Yes
6. Yes, and...

Good luck and happy gaming!

 

[RageBurner]

Also, some games do have alternative, fan made rulesets for a single player, so I'd look those up and adapt them to your needs. Slay the Spire the boardgame also has a solo mode, if the IP suits your fancy.

 

[KaiserRitter]

The ones I know are the following
Mothership
The walking dead universe
this two have solo play in the rule book.
The Adveturer by James Chip, this one is a journalism rpg, you use a deck of cards to play. Im currently playing this one with extra rules I created.

 

[Raziya The Seeker]

The Adveturer by James Chip, this one is a journalism rpg, you use a deck of cards to play. Im currently playing this one with extra rules I created.

Heyyy, I've played The Adventurer before! I forgot about that one, but it was a ton of fun. Helped me come up with a backstory for a character of mine, kinda of a "year one" for her adventures.

 

[RageBurner]

Heyyy, I've played The Adventurer before! I forgot about that one, but it was a ton of fun. Helped me come up with a backstory for a character of mine, kinda of a "year one" for her adventures.

I'm trying to remember a cute game with with goblins. You lay down dungeon pieces and doors to get treasure and level up. Can be played solo or multi-player.

 

[Raziya The Seeker]

I'm trying to remember a cute game with with goblins. You lay down dungeon pieces and doors to get treasure and level up. Can be played solo or multi-player.

I'm afraid I wouldn't know. The closest thing that comes to mind is Goblin Quest, but the game's website doesn't say anything about laying down dungeon pieces and doors. Sorry. :(

 

[RageBurner]

I'm afraid I wouldn't know. The closest thing that comes to mind is Goblin Quest, but the game's website doesn't say anything about laying down dungeon pieces and doors. Sorry. :(

It's no worries! it's just funny that I wanted to contribute but forgot critical information, haha.


Edit: I remembered!

Munchkin (card game) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

Was about to mention ChatGPT gave me Munchkin Dungeon

 

[ThatOneLum]

I think that The Electric State RPG has some solo play rules, but I've never tried them out.

I know there's some systems that say they can turn any game into a solo TTRPG i just can't remember what it's called. It's something like Mythic or Runic or somewhere along those lines. I'll try and wrack my brains for the name unless someone else can remember it for me.

I can also second the recommendation for munchkin, though it's not exactly a 'solo' TTRPG. It's a fun game though.

Final honourable mention would be for any of the Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebooks. They're basically single-player TTRPGs but you do have some limited state management to worry about. Bonus is that they all use pretty much the same system (outside of the occassional gimmick and spin-off series)