This is a guest article by Asa Donald, designer of solo RPGs SPINE and Rust Never Sleeps, as well as an upcoming duet game Violent Delights.

In December, I was invited to be a special guest at the 2026 Breakout Con and to run at least one of my games there. It was an honor. And I was also surprised, because I was invited to run SPINE in particular — my dark solo RPG about losing yourself in a book. I wondered, how do I run a solo game for a group? I’m glad I tried.

As Breakout’s RPG manager Christian Malleck told me, solo RPGs “had never been intentionally added to Breakout Con” but part of his role is “paying attention to what is popular in the RPG community and figuring out how to bring that to the convention.” He suggested that players learn the game together, play alone in company, and discuss their experiences afterward. I ran five sessions with SPINE, and they were incredible.

Many of the participants remarked that they buy solo RPGs and then have a hard time playing them on their own. One said that our collective play was like a study session at university. It created a positive sense of accountability. They felt less inclined to check their phone. Another said that it just “felt good.” They observed each other’s reactions, caught glimpses of what others were doing, and enjoyed the curiosity they felt.

SPINE encouraged that curiosity, I think. In my first session, we looked up from the table at an attendee who held a cup of water in her hand. “This is so wrong,” she whispered, letting the water drip on to her booklet. We laughed together. Earlier in the same session, we watched another participant stab her book with a pencil.

Participants enjoyed the conversation afterward too. It was a chance to compare how their stories diverged, to debrief, to socialize over a shared experience. One said, “When I go to a movie, I like to talk about it afterward.” This created a similar experience. More than one said they “want to do more” solo sessions like this. It was a way to meet people with similar interests, be “alone in company,” and connect with each other.

I was not alone in running solo games at the con. In fact, Ian Howard of Leafy Dragon Games ran several of his solo RPGs by having the attendees collaboratively play one character. This provided a boisterous experience closer to group-oriented RPGs. “I’m glad that I chose to run the solo sessions collaboratively,” he said, “and I don’t think I’d do it any other way in the future!”

Breakout Con is on to something, and I hope to see more of it. Heck, I’d like to see it at game stores and cafes too. Or for solo RPG clubs. Join me. Maybe we can play alone together.

2. Solo Missions, Shared War

DANGER CLOSE is a tactical military skirmish RPG for one or more players inspired by the videogame shooter, Helldivers 2. You command a squad of five troopers through hostile territory, managing momentum, positioning, and cover in a tense combat loop where every decision balances mission success against brutal survival.

A Persistent Discord Campaign

Designer saw an opportunity to make playtesting the game more engaging for players by turning the game’s Discord into the hub of a persistent, asynchronous play-by-post campaign.

Players run solo missions on their own then post after-action reports on the server’s Ops Center. The collective results shape an ongoing shared war. Lars delivers in-universe news, rumors, and developing intel in the Comms Room. Players interact and vote in the Conference Room, where they decide everything from military tactics to base pet policies.

“So far, it’s really been a fun exercise in cooperative worldbuilding with the players coming up with their own interesting hooks that I can then turn into new plotlines (i.e., “I recovered intel on this mission, curious what our Intelligence department makes of it”).”

The server has been up for about two weeks and has a small but dedicated group of players.

“It’s fully open to beginners. I try to always have multiple missions up at the same time, as each has a time window of about two to three weeks. Missions can be completed multiple times, and each contributes to the campaign’s overall development.

Lars wrote a blog piece on how it works and why his system fits the format. DANGER CLOSE is nearing its v1.0 release. The basic rules are free and can be found on itch.

3. New to the Tabletop

Tom Gibes, the owner and operator of Tabletop Bookshelf, writes this recurring section highlighting solo titles that have recently arrived at his shop.

• Caught in the Rain is an investigative mystery solo RPG from The Ravensridge Emporium, creators of Cartograph. Players uncover satisfying, cohesive, and sometimes unexpected revelations as if guided by an unseen hand, using unique card-based mechanics. Grab the companion Solo RPG Playing Cards and begin your investigation.

• Midnight Muscadines is a solo+ RPG that uses dice and playing cards to explore a world with a shattered sun, survive the lurking shadows, and craft deliciously powerful jams to keep the magic alive. From the creators of best-seller Whispers in the Walls.

• A Perfect Rock is a sci-fi worldbuilding game for rock collectors. Search for a new home by exploring planets made of rocks, gems, or crystals. Create your explorer and their lost homeworld. Discover the strange lands, the cursed skies, or the deadly life on each planet. Debate how you would survive and, when everything has been explored, choose a planet to be your new home.

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4. More Solo and GM-Less Releases

• Five Parsecs From Home: Planetfall is a standalone solo and co-op sci-fi campaign game that shifts the popular series toward colony-building on a hostile alien world. You lead a crew of colonists, scientists, and soldiers, managing expansion, research, and survival while engaging in fast tactical combat against pirates, alien factions, and evolving threats. The game blends base development with mission-driven play, featuring extensive random tables, 14 mission types, and a deep R&D system that unlocks buildings, upgrades, and even augmentations. This may be the best Five Parsecs yet!

• Alone Against the Zone is a solo survival RPG set in a warped exclusion zone of mutations, anomalies, and lethal storms. You play a lone operative with minimal gear, navigating ruins, and trying to endure in a hostile world. Play emphasizes fast combat and relentless resource pressure, with a streamlined setup that only requires the book, paper, and a couple of d6s.

• Solo Tools Expanded expands Shadowdark solo play beyond the official SoloDark booklet by adding new tables, replacements for existing ones, and entirely original tools. Designed as a flexible toolkit, it supports a wide range of play, from finding work in town to wilderness exploration and dungeon crawling.

5. Crowdfunding Now

• Pine Shallows by is a solo-friendly mystery RPG about kids solving strange happenings in a coastal town where adults look the other way. Inspired by The Goonies and Stranger Things, the 80-page book includes quick character creation with distinct backgrounds, a detailed town with locations and NPCs, three starter adventures, and a large set of random tables for generating mysteries, clues, and characters.

• Ster is a solo journaling RPG where real-world walks turn into a spacefaring adventure. Your physical journeys become the map for exploration, with dice rolls and prompt tables transforming each outing into a narrative of strange encounters, distant settlements, and unfolding mysteries.

5. Last Roll 🎲

What I’m Playing: Old Morris Cave

Old Morris Cave from Tim Hutchings (Thousand Year Old Vampire) is a solo archaeology, map-making game where you excavate a cave that’s been used continuously for over 1,000 years. You build a strata map from the bedrock up with different layers every d6 inches. Where you draw the layer usually results in an event from the past, like an animal taking shelter or someone building a campfire, that you play through with simple flowcharts. You draw pots, bones, or ashes into your strata layers. Sometimes events, like treasure hunters digging, erase your older drawings.

Building the strata map is fun and you don’t need art skills (which can sometimes be a barrier for art-journaling games). There’s no bookkeeping. I found myself really caring about the history of this cave, a sign of a good world-building game. I’d recommend the printed version because there is a lot of page flipping and also the presentation is great. It looks and reads like an in-universe field report.

What I’m Working On: Solo Borg Playtest

This week I released the “Bare-Bones” Edition of my RPG project: SOLO BORG. Writing the book has taken me longer than I had hoped, but it’s now far enough along to share with folks interested in playtesting. It’s a playable, mostly-text, 80+ page Google Doc missing the commissioned art, setting, optional tools, and play examples. Players should be able to play the Thief class through an entire story arc. I’ll be taking the feedback and incorporating it the final version over the next few weeks.

If you’re interested in trying it out, the Bare-Bones Edition is available to SOLO BORG’s Kickstarter backers. Late pledges are still open. Paid subscribers to The Soloist also have access (just drop me a message and I’ll send you the link).

In this series, we’re building a “Solo RPG Toolkit” from scratch. We started with the Solo Ritual, a repeatable game loop that guides you through sessions scene-by-scene. Then we added the Yes/No Oracle to answer questions you might ask a GM.

The third tool is the Spark Table.

This is a matrix of words, usually divided into at least two columns, that you randomly pull from to create word pairings. These combos of unrelated words help you answer open-ended questions and fill in world details.

My Generic Fantasy Spark Table

When to Use Spark Tables

• Coming Up with Oracle Complications: Your Yes/No Oracle will frequently give you a “Yes, but...” or a “No, and...” result. Rolling on a Spark Table can provide the twist.

• Filling in Blank Spaces: Sometimes you need details (like a person, place, event, or object) for a scene. Or you might not know what should happen next. Rolling on a Spark Table can provide quick inspiration.

• Starting Scenes: Rolling a Spark Table as you set a new scene can inject life, action, or a surprise before you make your first move.

Tips on Interpreting Spark Tables

• Context is key. Start with viewing the word combos through the lens of the current scene.

• Trust your gut. Use the first result that pops into your mind. Write it down before your inner-critic tries to overcomplicate it.

• Reroll if you’re not feeling it. If the word combo isn’t giving you an idea in 30 seconds, invert the dice results or reroll to get something fresh.

• Don’t be too literal. If the word combo makes no sense literally, look for the metaphor. Let the words represent a feeling, an atmosphere, a theme, or vibe.

• Tie it to the existing story. Rather than creating a new thread, build off of existing characters, locations, and events.

Example: Solus Arrives in Town

Let’s give it a try using my Generic Fantasy Spark Table! For this example, our hero, Solus, has entered a new town after exploring some ruins.

1. Establishing the situation: What’s the first thing Solus notices?
   I roll Action 9 (Unite) and Subject 1 (Person).
   There is a young woman standing on a worn boulder in the town square addressing a crowd.

2. Narrative details: Solus has to know what she’s speaking about and draws closer.
   I roll Theme 10 (Faith) and Subject 2 (Artifact).
   The woman is the town cleric. She is holding an empty reliquary, trying to rally the townsfolk to recover a stolen holy artifact.

3. Oracle Complication: Solus approaches the crowd. I ask the Yes/No Oracle: “Does the crowd accept an outside visitor?” I roll: Yes, but... I need a spark for the complication.
   I roll Action 12 (Worship) and Theme 8 (Duty)
   Yes, but the cleric points to Solus in the crowd and says she is glad to see a newcomer, obviously a person of action. “You there, in the armor! If you worship any gods of justice, you are bound by duty to aid this town in its darkest hour!” The entire crowd turns and stares expectantly.

Go Deeper

• Tana Pigeon is credited with developing the two-word bashing tables for solo roleplaying. In her Mythic Game Master Emulator (first edition published in 2003) they’re called “Meaning Tables,” split into d100 tables for Actions, Descriptions, and Elements.

• popularized the term “Spark Tables” with Electric Bastionland and has expanded their use in Mythic Bastionland. His Substack has a bunch of examples from the recent book including a great one on what your knight did between sessions.

• ’s Substack has examples of his own Spark Tables and how he uses them not just to answer questions, but to inspire future action. Allen suggests rolling on the tables preemptively, keeping those words in mind until during play. Once you find a place to use them, roll again.

• Need a Cyberpunk Spark Table? just posted a free one on itchio.

2. New on the Solo Bookshelf

While PDF rules are convenient, for me nothing beats having a printed book in hand when playing. One of the best curated collections of indie RPGs in the US comes from the Tabletop Bookshelf. Since launching in 2023, they’ve delivered thousands of books and supported dozens of independent, creator-led projects. This month, the shop is bringing its online collection to a new physical store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Tom Gibes, the owner and operator, is partnering with The Soloist to introduce “New on the Bookshelf,” a recurring section highlighting solo titles that have recently arrived at the shop.

Here is what Tom sent in this month:

• MIIIRU (MIRU 3): Latest installment of an “Analog” solo game trilogy from . Each zine is a self-contained solo-first game that involves rolling dice, drawing maps, and solving cryptic puzzles. This defensive game has you exploring uncharted territory, defending your city from an onslaught of bots, and treasure hunting with companions while an AI god hunts you down.

• We Shall Be Monsters: Written by Seb Pines, this is a solo game of creation, obsession, and playing god to assuage loneliness. It uses a custom system of rules and prompts to generate a story of horror and self-discovery, putting a new spin on Frankenstein where you play as a reclusive scientist letting obsessions take over to build a perfect companion.

• Estate of Play: Mystery journaling game from Glyphtide Games using the Hints and Hijinx system from . You play as an attorney specializing in the execution of wills for eccentric millionaires, and this time, you suspect a potential heir may have murderous intent.

3. ZineQuest/ZineTopia Late Pledges Open

I was traveling much of February and missed writing up recommendations from this year’s indie RPG crowdfunding events ZineQuest and ZineTopia. I did back a bunch of games, some of which are open for late pledges or preorders:

• Triple-O form is for solo RPG players who want to invert roles and play as the GM instead of a character. While the crowdfunding campaign for the zine is closed, you can get the one-page tool that it’s built from on itchio right now.

• Dedboi: A solo murder mystery where you investigate how you died.

• Gossamer Frontier: A sci-fantasy solo RPG where you build a crew, earn their trust, and find companionship along the way.

• All-Cards: A storytelling game where 1 or 2 players use their own trading cards (sports, gaming, whatever you have lying in that shoebox) to collaborate on a story, but compete over whose character gets the happy ending.

• Lucky for None in Space: A solo or group comedy-horror game about strange and awful things happening on the ISS Grimweaver. Comes with a physical or virtual 13-sided die!

• Glide Part 2 from doesn’t have late pledges open, but has a preview on itchio. I love the first Glide and am excited about the sequel. Go check it out and follow its development.

4. No ICE in Minnesota Bundle

The No ICE in Minnesota Charity Bundle is available on itchio until March 13. It includes 1,439 RPGs, zines, art packs and more for a donation of $10 or more to support Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. The bundle, organized by , has raised over $500,000.

ILCM provides free immigration legal representation to low-income immigrants and refugees in Minnesota and North Dakota. They also work to educate the community about immigration matters and advocate for public policies which respect the universal human rights of immigrants.

There are over 250 solo and GMless RPGs in the bundle including:

• Alone On A Journey: A zine collection featuring three different solo journaling games where you document your discoveries.

• ECO MOFOS!!: A post-apocalyptic, weird-hope RPG that includes a dedicated “SOLO MOFO!” ruleset for single-player exploration.

• The Hourglass Sings: A storytelling game inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask that supports 1 to 6 players.

• Substratum Protocol: A “solo+” survival mystery TTRPG about scientists delving to the center of the earth.

• Tangled Blessings: A dark academia horror journaling RPG designed to be played solo or as a two-player duet using a tarot deck.

I’ve been looking for an excuse to try out Exquisite Biome, a solo/co-op ecosystem building game. Now I have it as part of the bundle!

Thanks to all the contributors, everyone who has donated, and to for organizing the bundle! And a high-five to the awesome Mel for putting together a table that sorts everything in the bundle.

5. The Soloist Reader Survey Results

Thanks to everyone who filled out the survey from the last issue. Your feedback helps shape The Soloist. Reading through your kind words in the open-response section was incredibly motivating. Here are some of the results:

• Favorite Content: Readers like content that’s usable. Some 83% look for links to tools and resources, followed by game reviews (79%), news on upcoming games (77%), and tips for improving play (70%).

• New Features: When asked what new features you’d like to see, 72% liked the idea of solo gaming “kits” for new TTRPGs. Once I complete SOLO BORG, I’d love to find time to work on these smaller scale projects. There is also interest in solo and co-op boardgame coverage (46%) and original games and supplements (42%).

• Genre Interest: Classic genres took the top spots for reader interest. Fantasy is at 91%, with Sci-Fi at 86%. No other genre broke 50%, with Superhero at the back of the pack at 20%. I’ve always thought that supes would be natural for solo play. There were write-in requests for cozy journaling games and world-building games. I’ll add these in the next survey.

6. Last Roll 🎲

What I’m Playing: Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts

Steam Next Fest is live and I’m playing my way through a couple dozen new demos. My favorite is Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts. It’s an art toy where you drag and drop medieval illustrations to create your own illuminations. The developers understand the appeal to fantasy tabletop RPG fans. They encourage “non-commercial” use for making character sheets and maps in their examples. There is a game and a sandbox mode. I haven’t touched the game (where you manage a scriptorium) as I’m having too much fun making two-headed rabbit knights. Check out the demo here. The full game comes out later this year.

Have a game I should check out? Want to pitch an idea, a story, or write for The Soloist? Drop me a DM on Substack or email me at patrick@soloistgames.com.

As The Soloist enters its fourth year, I wanted to give a massive thanks to the 10,000 subscribers who read, share, and support the newsletter. I’m especially grateful to the designers and artists who have shared their time and work in interviews.

What’s New for 2026: I’ve decided to focus my work exclusively on tabletop games this year, specifically writing The Soloist and finishing SOLO BORG.

To support this shift, I’m turning on optional paid subscriptions. To be clear: nothing is changing for free readers. I won’t be paywalling any content.

Turning this on helps with the Substack algorithm and should expand the newsletter’s reach. Any money raised will go back into the game creator ecosystem: purchasing games, commissioning art, and paying for guest writing.

Before we dive into year four, I thought you might be interested in a couple data points from 2025.

• The most-read issues from the year were: 8 Journaling Tips for Solo RPGs and The Dungeon Delving Special Edition.

• The most clicked-on games of 2025 were: Wrath of the Wyvern, Citizen Sleeper Spindlejack, and The Archivium.

Thanks again for reading and being part of the solo game community. If you would like to share your thoughts about The Soloist fill out the 4-question reader survey.

Take the 2026 Reader Survey

2. Solo Toolkit: Yes/No Oracles

There is a huge variety of solo RPGs, but if you’re looking to play a traditional RPG and already own the rules, you don’t need to buy new books to start playing solo. In this series, we’re building a “Solo RPG Kit” from scratch. We started with the Solo Ritual, a repeatable game loop that guides you through sessions scene-by-scene.

Now, let’s add another essential tool: the Yes/No Oracle.

What is a Yes/No Oracle?

When you play an RPG on your own, you don’t have a GM to answer questions or introduce surprises. A Yes/No oracle is a tool that helps you answer those questions. You could flip a coin for the answer (heads YES, tails NO), but I recommend using this table:

How to Use the Oracle

Start by asking a question just as you would a GM. If the answer could benefit the character, frame it so that “Yes” represents a positive outcome. For example, ask “Is the guard sleeping?” rather than “Is the guard awake?”

Next, assess the likelihood of that positive result based on the current situation. If it is likely, roll two dice and keep the highest result; if unlikely, keep the lowest. For even odds, roll a single die.

Finally, consult the table. If you get a qualified answer (a “Yes, but…” or “No, and…”use the immediate context of the scene to improvise the specific twist or consequence.

Types of Questions

• Environmental: Is there…?

  • “Is there a back door?” “Is there a spring nearby?”

  • These build the scene and give you elements to interact with.

• Sensory: Do I see/hear…?

  • “Do I hear anyone moving inside?” “Do I smell smoke?”

  • These help determine hidden information and potential threats.

• Social: Does the NPC…?

  • “Does the blacksmith sell weapons?” “Do they look nervous?”

  • These questions can help fill in where a standard reaction table doesn’t offer all the details.

• Lore: Do I know…?

  • “Do I recognize this symbol?” “Is this plant poisonous?”

  • Use this to see if your character has specific knowledge or to establish elements of the world.

• Feasibility: Can I…?

  • “Can I jump the gap?” “Is the lock simple enough to pick?”

  • These determine the difficulty or possibility of an action before you even roll the dice to attempt it.

When to Use the Oracle

You don’t need to roll for everything. If you walk into a busy tavern, don’t ask the Oracle, “Do they serve ale?” Of course they do. Just assume it’s true and move on.

Use the Oracle when:

• The outcome is uncertain. “Is the tavern crowded?”

• The answer moves the story forward. “Is the assassin at the bar?”

• You are out of ideas. “Does a brawl break out?”

Handling the "Buts" and "Ands"

When you roll one, don’t overthink it. Look at the immediate situation and ask: What is the most obvious problem or advantage right now?

Example: You are ransacking a desk looking for a specific letter. Question: “Is the letter here?”

• Yes, and…: You find the letter and the signet ring needed to forge the Queen’s signature.

• Yes, but…: You find the letter, but the ink is smudged and part of the message is unreadable.

• No, but…: You don’t find the letter, but you find a dagger with dried blood on.

• No, and…: You don’t find the letter, and you knock something off the desk and draw attention.

Sometimes you stare at a result and your mind goes blank. When context isn’t enough, you need an external spark to fire your imagination. That is where Spark Tables come in. These are lists of random verb/noun prompts designed to kickstart your creativity. And that is exactly the tool we will add to the Solo Toolkit next.

3. New Solo Games and Supplements

WHY WE FIGHT is a solo/GMless solarpunk RPG where you play a crew of guerilla freedom-fighters working together build a brighter, greener future. Set in the ruins of a post-civil war country, the game focuses on collective resistance, pitting your team against the hedge-fund backed “White Fist” militia. In solo or group play, each player controls a Crew of four characters, managing their relationships and distinct skills to survive. An illustrated and playable 48-page preview edition is available for free from the Stop, Drop and Roll website and itchio.

EIGHTH DAY OF THE WEEK is a game about staying awake for 7 days while enduring everyday life and the specter of sleep debt, all to get a taste of unlocking the secret eighth day of the week.

VESSEL: WARDEN’S SIN: Classless Dark Fantasy RPG with overland and dungeon exploration. A dice pool represents stamina. When that pool runs dry, your character is exhausted, vulnerable, and forced to adapt. Nicely illustrated by the game’s designer. 84 pages | $1.34

SOLO HOPE & FEAR FOR DAGGERHEART: Prolific designer Parts Per Million has released a solo supplement for Darrington Press’ popular Daggereart. It follows his approach of not letting his solo rules get in the way of the core rules. 62 pages | $7.99

THE LAST MAN’S GUIDE TO THE BADLAND: A system neutral toolbook for traveling through a post-apocalyptic setting warped by ley line ruptures, strange weapons, and the fallout from a broken world. 20 pages | $4.67

A FATHER’S JOURNEY FORR DRAGONBANE: A complete solo adventure for Dragonbane with 3 structured missions and randomized exploration. 5 pages | $1.99

MODERN WAR SOLO: This book provides solo rules for Zozer’s Modern War, a squad-level RPG for contemporary military-themed settings. 47 pages | $4.99

DIPLOMATIC REALITIES: A sci-fi diplomatic mystery journaling game. 11 pages | $4.99

4. Solo Bundles and Sales

Mundos Infinitos Bundle: Explore a variety of worlds in 13 brochure RPGs from Ennie-nominated Mundos Infinitos. Games come in English and Spanish language editions.

Sasquatch Games - Solo Winter Bundle: Get 50% off Dune-inspired Glide and other solo games.

Hollowponds Trifolds of 2025: This is a collection of 10 trifold brochures, each with a specific tool to help your solo play. If you enjoy the Hollowponds Solo Sagas how-to videos, this bundle is the printable kit that helps support the channel.

5. 🎲 Last Roll

Join the as he introduces dozens of solo games in quick (5 min per game) segments.

I’m keeping an eye on Gossamer Frontier, a “witchy, sci-fantasy solo RPG,” hitting Backerkit’s Zinetopia in a couple weeks. As captain of a starship you assemble and build developer relationships with a crew, while pushing back against an oppressive force.

Have a game I should check out? Want to pitch an idea, a story, or write for The Soloist? Drop me a line at patrick@soloistgames.com.

Before departure, review the previous mission logs:

The 2023 Sci-Fi issue - Traveller, Starforged, Stoneburner and more.

The 2024 Sci-Fi issue - For Small Creatures Such as We, Across a Thousand Dead Worlds and more.

1. Arathi Sector: Spacefaring Sequel to Kal-Arath

Castle Grief, designer and artist behind the barbarian fantasy RPG Kal-Arath, is returning this month with the Kickstarter for Arathi Sector, a solo sci-fi evolution of the Kal-Arath design and style. I caught up with Castle Grief to talk about what Kal-Arath fans can expect from the shift from desert wastelands to orbital ruins.

What is Kal-Arath?

Kal-Arath is a 56-page solo and co-op fantasy RPG built around procedural systems and fast, deadly combat. It emphasizes exploration with a hex-crawling gameplay loop and dozens of tables for encounters, dungeons, NPCs, items, and more. The art, hand-drawn by Castle Grief, has the raw, pulpy vibe of early-80s sword-and-sorcery zines. Its mix of speed, setting, and solo-first design has helped it stand out in a crowded OSR scene.

✅ Lingo check: “OSR” stands for “Old School Renaissance” or “Revival" or "Rules," (no one agrees on the "R"). It usually refers to games inspired by RPGs of the 1970s and 1980s with simple rules and high-risk play that encourages player ingenuity.

The Grief System

Kal-Arath runs on what Castle Grief calls the Grief Engine, a custom system that blends mechanics from Mörk Borg, Barbaric!, OD&D, and other RPGs.

• 2d6 vs 8+: Most actions use 2d6, aiming for an 8 or higher

• Five stats: Adapted from Mörk Borg

• Exploding damage: Roll the max on a damage die, roll again, and add it

• Armor reduces damage: Instead of boosting defense

• No classes: Characters advance through skills

• Player-facing rolls only: No GM rolls.

• High risk: Combat is unforgiving. Survival depends on smart choices.

Enter the Arathi Sector

The next evolution of the Kal-Arath design and the Grief Engine is Arathi Sector. Still solo-first, deadly, and pulpy, but now with jump gates, corporate enclaves, crashed dreadnoughts, and laser pikes.

When asked why he’s taking the Grief Engine to space, Castle Grief credits his regular play group:

“My table wanted a break from fantasy and asked me to run an old school sci-fi game. We tried Traveller, but it was a bit more than they were looking for. But reading those Traveller books was incredibly inspiring. My friend and I set out to make a game that still felt old school, retro and grimy, but was more set up for speed.”

What’s New

While it uses the Grief Engine, Arathi Sector brings new tools, settings, and tone:

• A full sci-fi sandbox starter with factions, locations, and hooks

• Procedural generators for spaceports, salvage missions, and tech ruins

• New gear, enemies, and environments

“We wanted something that could be used to run John Carter, Aliens, or Total Recall vibe adventures with equal ease.”

And fans of Kal-Arath may discover some strange crossovers.

“Kal-Arath isn’t a time in this world. It’s a place. The timeframe is the same. If you wanted to, you could go there. As you’ll see — some already have. Others have already left.”

Illustrating a Sci-Fi World

Grief’s art is part of Kal-Arath’s draw. Moving from fantasy to sci-fi has brought new challenges:

“It’s damn hard! With fantasy, it’s a lot of organic shapes and natural objects. In sci-fi, so much is straight lines, machinery, architecture. This was another reason I wanted to do a sci-fi game — to broaden my artistic horizons and challenge myself.”

Arathi Sector Kickstarter

Grief says the game is close to done and ready to launch this month.

“I never treat Kickstarters as ‘what ifs.’ They’re always used to fund a product that is already 90% of the way there and just needs capital to pay the fine people involved and print it. More of a pre-order than a crowdfunding. It’s just that Kickstarter is easy to use and gets more eyes.”

Get notified when the Kickstarter campaign launches.

Go Deeper

• Join the Castle Grief Discord

• Subscribe to the Castle Grief Substack

• Play Kal-Arath now

2. Notorious Returns as a Solo Card Game

Five years ago, Jason Price released Notorious, a compact, space opera RPG about bounty hunters. Its structured play, quick sessions, Star Warsy setting, and fun art made it one of my alltime favorite solo games. A tight game loop made it very easy to get into. It also limited its replayability.

“The original book was designed as a short game you could play a few times before feeling like you’d seen most of what it offered,” Jason told me. “But it’s always been my most popular game. I’ve thought a lot about what I’d do with more time, resources, and ambition.”

The result of that thinking has led to Notorious: Tales of Hardscrabble Bounty Hunting, an all-new standalone solo card game co-designed with Jack Harrison (Koriko).

The theme of the new game remains the same: you seek out targets as a Guild Nomad for competing factions. Each job sends you to a planet where you’ll extract intel from locals, face rivals, and deal with other challenges.

The scope, though, has expanded. The game uses 450+ cards, dice, and planet maps to generate each mission. A single bounty is one session; a full campaign chains three bounties into a personal trilogy.

“Fans of the books will recognize parts of the setting — a few of the classes and location names. But it’s a brand-new system focused on replayability and discovery. You’ll only see a thin slice of content with each trilogy you play.”

Jason describes the game as bridging solo RPGs and open-world adventure card games like Earthborne Rangers.

“There’s a table presence you don’t get with the books and it looks really appealing to have all these little decks set up around your player board and a planet map.”

Torben Bökemeyer’s illustrations have a colorful, lived-in sci-fi aesthetic that tie everything together. (I liked his art from the original book so much I asked him to create The Soloist’s banner.)

Kickstarting Now

“There’s so much I’m excited to talk about, like how each bounty is a self-contained story, and the in-universe cash cards. But I’ll save that for campaign updates!”

The Kickstarter campaign wraps up in a week and for Notorious fans, it feels like the long-awaited sequel to a favorite space opera.

3. Reader-Recommended Solo Sci-Fi Games

I asked readers for their favorite solo sci-fi games. Here are their picks.

• Against Time and Death: A storytelling game where two players take turns portraying rival operatives in a multiversal time war. Scenes are exchanged asynchronously through written correspondence over eight turns.

• Hostile Solo: A DriveThruRPG Platinum-selling solo RPG where you control a crew of deep-space workers. They interact, fall out, form bonds, and pursue careers in asteroid mining, exploration, freight and salvage, and more. Set in a near-future inspired by Alien and Outland.

• Niv Lova: A post-apocalyptic RPG set in a frozen northern wasteland warped by an unexplained catastrophe. Play as a scavenger exploring forests, tundras, and ruined cities filled with mutants and anomalies. Built on Kal-Arath’s streamlined system, it’s written by , who also publishes a great solo-focused Substack.

• Reign of the Star Kings: A solo RPG about building dynasties and charting the rise and fall of galactic empires. Players record the triumphs and failures of successive rulers, tracing how their choices shape future generations. Inspired by Dune, Foundation, and the designer’s earlier game, Lineage.

• Star Drifter: A print-and-play solo game where you pilot a fragile ship through a dangerous, event-driven galaxy. Simple rules, quick turns, and hundreds of branching encounters create a tense mix of risk and discovery that keeps you rolling for “just one more jump.”

• Universe at Your Door: A journaling game where you play an explorer documenting worlds, relationships, and memories from their travels. This expanded edition features new art and optional group rules for collaborative play.

• Voidlight: A 90+ page rules-light sci-fi horror RPG from where you explore the innards of a spacefaring leviathan. While the game can be played with a GM, its 70 themed tables and dedicated single-player rules make it ideal for solo play.

• What We Found Beyond the Stars: A GM-less co-op RPG about cooperation and discovery on alien worlds. Players form a small research crew exploring planets, conducting scientific missions, and uncovering hidden truths about each other. Every expedition concludes with a shared report on what the crew found among the stars.

• 1000 Empty Lights: A 40-page solo survival horror zine for Mothership by . Written as an in-universe corporate manual, it casts you as a lamplighter tasked with restoring power to an abandoned underwater tunnel. Includes solo procedures, an adaptable oracle system, and a d50 table of safety signs inspired by Alien’s semiotic standard.

Thanks to everyone who contributed. Share your own solo sci-fi recommendations in the comments below.

Leave a comment

4. Great Galaxy-Building Books

Not everything has to be built for solo play to spark solo inspiration. Here are two of my favorite recent sci-fi RPG supplements.

• The Perilous Void by Jason Lutes: A system-neutral toolkit for creating science-fiction settings, from the galactic to the planetary level. It builds off of the collaborative worldbuilding systems from The Perilous Wilds, Jason’s classic guide for Dungeon World. It’s not just that it has 160 pages of generators for planets, lifeforms, societies, NPCs and way more; it’s the way they build on each other to make cohesive settings. I’ve used it in group play, but for solo players, the tables alone are pure joy. Sometimes I just roll up a sector of worlds for fun. The Perilous Void is an Encyclopedia Galactica for GMs and solo players alike.

• An Infinity of Ships by STATIONS: A 150+ page toolkit for creating unique starships for sci-fi RPGs. Inside are tables for ship details, theme packs that collect tools around a specifc vibes, and encounter ideas for the ships you make. It’s equal parts art book and creative engine. It’s perfect for solo players looking for inspiration for that new unknown contact on their deep-space scanners.

  🧑‍🚀🧞🧟 The creators of An Infinity of Ships are currently Kickstarting 100 Strangers, a collection of misfits, outcasts, weirdos, normies, and other folk for your sci-fi universe.

“Aren’t tabletop roleplaying games inherently multiplayer?” It’s a question I get from gamers who haven’t played solo. And fair enough, most popular RPGs are built for groups.

Understanding why people play solo helps us think and talk about these games more clearly. It gives creators insight into the motivations of their audience. It gives players a broader sense of what solo RPGs offer. And it gives us all the language to advocate for a style of play that’s personal, flexible, and rewarding.

Everyone has their own reasons for playing solo. Here are some of mine.

Flexibility

Most solo players I know are also group players, but coordinating a game night can be hard. Solo play fills the gaps. You can play for as long or as little as you like whenever the mood strikes.

Creativity

A good RPG group supports each other’s stories and builds cool worlds together, but compromise is part of collaboration. Solo play frees you to chase your strangest ideas, follow detours that would derail a group campaign, and write scenes that might not make sense to anyone but you.

Some of my favorite solo “games” are GM tools: random setting generators and worldbuilding systems designed for campaigns that may never be played. Prep is play!

Skill Building

Solo RPGs are a fantastic way to learn a new system. If you’re a GM preparing to run a game, solo play lets you get a feel for the mechanics, pacing, and tone before sitting down at the table. As a player, running through a game solo can help you understand the rules and lore of a new system.

Focus

In group play, the story revolves around a party of characters. In solo play, the story can follow one character in depth. And no one else is waiting for their time in the spotlight.

Immersion

Solo games invite you to bring your experiences, emotions, and questions into a game in a way you might not be comfortable with in a group. Solo games can become a form of self-reflection, where the line between character and player blurs.

In The Ink That Bleeds, Paul Czege writes about playing a slighlty altered version of yourself. Czege believes that when you bring something of yourself into your game, something from the game follows you back out to your real life.

Community

Ironically, solo play can be quite social. The solo RPG community is huge and growing, with players writing play reports, sharing character journals, and posting their stories online. Those artifacts create conversations, inspire tools, and connect players. My sense is that solo RPG stories are documented and shared more than stories from group RPGs.

Why We Play Solo RPGs?

We don’t play solo games instead of playing with others. We play solo because there are stories that only we can tell at our own pace, in our own voice, and sometimes, for no one else but ourselves. And maybe the next time someone asks us why we play solo, we’ll have a better answer than just, “Well… sometimes I like playing alone.”

2. New Game Releases

🚪 The Time We Have

Elliot Davis, the creator of Project ECCO and Rom Com Drama Bomb (and The Soloist’s first subscriber) has just released The Time We Have, a two-player storytelling game about the last conversation between brothers as one begins to turn into a zombie.

I received the physical edition this week, and it’s beautifully produced: thick tarot-sized cards, solid packaging, and clear instruction cards for out-of-the-box play. I especially liked the 13 “Door Cards,” each illustrated by a different artist and depicting a unique origin for the apocalypse.

🔥 Fire in the Spires

Fire in the Spires is Michael Elliott’s follow-up to his popular solo RPG, A Torch in the Dark. Using the same Blades in the Dark-inspired system, it trades dungeon delving for tower climbing. In each session, you pick a crew of 3 rebels to climb one of the five spires of Kyneburgh. You choose a route up the spire and move up level-by-level, fighting enemies and gathering treasure.

💾 Single Player Mode

Single Player Mode is a solo supplement for the popular cyberpunk RPG, Cyberpunk RED. It includes new “quick and dirty” rules for combat, guidelines for running solo play investigations, mission builders, and over 100 lists, tables, and random encounter charts. It’s been the top title on DriveThruRPG for a few weeks, and I plan to feature a Solo Session on it soon.

3. The Inquiracle

The Inquiracle is The Soloist’s self-interview microgame where creators roll a 20-sided die to determine a “theme” and a “subject” to make a question they answer.

Nate Whittington — Grinning Rat

Nate designs and publishes RPGs like Dungeoneering and writes the spectacular Substack Grinning Rat. He’s just launched a crowdfunding campaign for Certain Fathoms, a Mothership module.

🎲 Theme: (18) Influental| Subject: (19) Experience
Q: What’s the most influential experience you’ve had related to designing or writing for games?

A: “I downloaded Caves of Qud over the summer of 2020 when everyone was in lockdown. I was obsessed for the rest of the year. It was such a weird game with so much humor and emergent depth. It felt like the closest thing to tabletop games I had experienced by that point. There’s no doubt in my mind that without having played that, I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I’m at today with my design and writing.”

Paweł Kicman — Heltung Storytelling

Paweł is a RPG designer, writer, and publisher of CORP BORG, Kill Your Necromancer, Heretic’s Guide to Dying Lands, and more. His solo game Odyssey of the Giant is coming soon.

🎲 Theme: (14) Personal | Subject: (5) Decision
Q: What was the most difficult personal decision you made?

A: “Funny enough, if I’d picked a different order for the dice roll, so 5 and then 12, I’d have landed on “Inspirational & Career” and still arrived at the same answer. My most difficult, most personal decision (in the sense of “only I could make it for myself”) was going full-time into TTRPG design. After spending seven years in corporate roles and ultimately losing my job, I was drained and depressed. I chose to build something of my own - my first game, CORP BORG. Two and a half years - and several games and modules - later, I haven’t looked back.”

Explore The Inquiracle Index for links to self-interviews from over 25 creators.

4. Sales and Bundles

🎃 DriveThruRPG Halloween Sale

Spooky Season is here and now you can get yourself some treats. Save on thousands of RPGs, maps, comics, adventures, and more.

• DriveThruRPG - Call of Cthulhu, The Walking Dead, Monster of the Week, Deadlands, The World Below...

• DriveThruComics - The Darkness, Howard Lovecraft, Night Spider, West of Sundown, Dracula...

• DriveThruFiction - Arkham Horror, Whispers from the Deep, Delta Green, Tales of Freeport...

• Roll20 Marketplace - Virtual tabletop versions of Titanomachy, Cthulhu Awakens...

🧙 Apothecaria Halloween Bundle

As the village witch it is your job to guide spirits from the Other World and put on the best Bogle’s Night display! This Halloween bundle hosted on includes the base game Apothecaria as well as the Halloween themed Bogle’s Night and the night centric Nightfall.

• Each item 40% off or buy everything for $18 (regularly $30).

• Visit the Apothecaria Bundle on itchio.

⚖️ HELLO//GOODBYE Charity Bundle for Legal Aid

This bundle brings together tabletop games, video games, zines, essays, and tools to support access to legal aid. All proceeds support the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society and the Legal Aid Justice Center.

• You get 203 items for $12 (regularly $900).

• Visit the HELLO//GOODBYE Bundle on itchio.

5. Last Roll 🎲

I’m Playing: Prototypes

Last weekend I attended Design Day hosted by Stonemaier Games. They’ve been running these gatherings for 12 years to bring together designers, playtesters, and creators to share ideas, test games, and spark inspiration. I played six prototypes that all showed promise. There was an auction party game called Guesstimates by Pete Wissinger that I’d have bought on the spot to play with family. I loved how engaged and open the designers were during feedback sessions. You can read more about the event on Stonemaier’s blog.

I’m Reading: The Butcher’s Masquerade

I’m listening to The Butcher’s Masquerade, book five of Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series. It’s probably the best-produced audiobook series I’ve ever heard, with multiple narrators giving each character real personality. It’s bordering on audiodrama. The humor can be a bit juvenile at times, but the story is funny, well written, and oddly heartfelt. This one is my favorite since the first. The series is now being turned into a tabletop RPG by Renegade Game Studio..

I’m Watching: The Lowdown and Slow Horses

The Lowdown is a noir crime story set in Tulsa, with Ethan Hawke perfectly cast as a down-on-his-luck writer/truthstorian following a conspiracy. Slow Horses continues to be one of the best spy shows on TV, even if season five feels a little looser than earlier ones.

“Solo RPGs? Isn’t that just writing a book?” That’s what one gamer told me when I explained what The Soloist covers. It was said teasingly, but the truth is that most of us keep some sort of record of our play.

We call this “journaling,” but that word isn’t a perfect fit. It suggests polished writing when, in reality, solo players use all kinds of methods: notes in the margins, shorthand symbols, voice recordings, silly doodles. The point isn’t how it looks, but how it helps you play.

I asked solo players and designers on Bluesky and Substack what works best for them. Here are their strategies, in their own words:

Don’t aim for polish

Quick notes, scribbles, or half-sentences are fine. Use scrap paper, sticky notes, and index cards to explore concepts and prompts without the pressure to be neat in the moment.

“I think it’s genuinely important to accept you’re often writing notes, drafts, little scribbles of ideas as you journal. The game isn’t really in the writing, it’s somewhere between your pen and the book you’re reading from.” —

Capture first reactions

When you’re given a prompt or are trying to figure out how two words from a spark table can work together, write the first thing that comes to mind. You can always refine later.

“Start w/ your first reactions and note them down, then revisit the prompt after a short break to allow for more rounded thoughts to brew & possible reinterpretation. Your answers can change and that’s part of the fun.” — Finley

Separate mechanics from narrative

Some like to track stats, rolls, and inventory in one space, and keep story notes in another to reduce clutter. Others, like myself, keep the narrative and rolls in the same space, but use formatting to keep the story clear.

“I find it helpful to have separated areas where I track any ‘numbers’ stuff like stats, health, etc. and where I write my journal entries.” — Chris, Junk Food Games

Pick the tool that keeps you in flow

Notebook, iPad, Google Doc, or Obsidian, choose whatever keeps you engaged and comfortable. I get distracted when playing a solo game on my PC, so I take my notes analog then polish on the PC. But many others find a computer faster. If you’re interested in using Obsidian for solo play, Kyward suggested this video.

“My handwriting becomes incomprehensible after half a page (plus ouch my hands). I think far too quickly for my writing speed. I’ve been using Scrivener recently, which works much better for the game I'm playing. It just *flows* with the right recording tool.” — Emma Grier

“I quite like the feeling of something that has a sense of the adventurer’s note book. So rough paper and cover. Pencil. I like drawing too.” —

Use shorthand

Icons, color codes, or abbreviations speed up play and make notes easier to scan later.

“When I journal I tend to establish some icons to use as shorthand for resources or nouns that come up often.” — Emily Entner

Mix in visuals

Doodles, maps, stickers, or pasted images can bring your story to life. Eleanor Hingley says she likes to “fancast” her NPCs using photographs or genre-related art because it makes them feel more real. I had no idea what fancast meant, so I asked her.

“It just means finding photos or images that you use to represent characters. Comes from the fan community that “fancasts” specific actors as characters in books in their ideal adaptation of a book.” — Eleanor Hingley

Play with perspective

First-person can deepen immersion. And at the end of play, you have what feels like your character’s diary. Third-person works better for me when I’m playing a cast of characters.

“Third person when I’m freewheeling, first person when I’m feeling fancy!” — Cormac

Hack your setup

Add pockets for index cards, sticky notes for quick ideas, or dedicated sections for NPCs and plot threads.

“I use a notepad that has a particularly wide left margin. On the left side, I track the moves, the oracle questions, and the rolls. On the right side, I jot notes about what’s happening in the fiction. In the back of the notepad, I have a section for NPCs: name, description, location, important notes and current status. Then, I have a section for story threads, plot seeds, and key locations.” —

Thanks to everyone who contributed! You can read the original Bluesky thread here. Something resonate with you? Have another idea to share? Mention them in the comments.

Leave a comment

2. My Journaling Style

I’ve just posted a new Solo Session, The Soloist’s play examples of recommended solo or solo-friendly RPGs, for Star Borg. Solo Sessions are journals combining “how-to” instructions and a full session write-up. In it you’ll see that I’ve separated the narrative from the mechanics. I write in the third-person and try to throw in cinematic camera language to help paint the picture. I’ve also included some of my silly illustrations. I had a great time playing Star Borg!

3. New Releases

Anna Blackwell’s Death & Pottery Collection

just released three new games but they’re something different from who you might expect from the creator of solo staples like Apothecaria, Delve, and For Small Creatures Such As We. The Death & Pottery Collection are multiplayer games (though GM-less) now available individually on itch with print editions coming soon from Anna’s website.

• ♟️ A Conversation With Death: This is a duet RPG where one player is Death and the other is someone who just died. A chessboard drives the roleplaying and may prompt questions when you take the other player’s pieces.

• 🏰 Our Once Proud House: A GMless RPG where you play squabbling spoiled heirs tearing apart their family’s noble legacy for their own selfish gains.

• 🖼️ Mistorical Museum: An improv party game where you’re curators of a weird museum and your job is to make the best exhibits by grabbing things from around the house or wherever you’re playing and make up what they are.

The fourth game in the set is still in the works.

The Outer Darkness Part 1

YouTuber and game designer Man Alone has just released The Outer Darkness, a 112-page solo game about ritual, memory, and perilous travel. As a pilgrim with a forgotten past, you take up the Oath of Ether and vanish into the forest that borders the known and unknown.

The game draws on the psychology of Carl Jung, especially his idea of inner transformation, the concept that facing your hidden fears and flaws makes you whole. In The Outer Darkness, the foes you meet are symbols of your hidden self. Play becomes a way of exploring these shadows through imagination, story, and ritual. Progress is less about leveling up and more about uncovering and piecing together who you are, echoing Jung’s view that the path through darkness leads closer to wholeness.

• The Outer Darkness is currently $4.99 (regularly $11.99) on DriveThruRPG. This includes all updates, 50% off Part 2 (The Inner Light), and $5 off the physical book. Man Alone will be polishing The Outer Darkness over the next month with fixes, examples, improved sheets, and a print-friendly edition.

Project Opulent: A Shared World Experiment

has launched Project Opulent, a collaborative RPG setting called Zemaryth. Instead of one author, Zemaryth will grow through community contributions (polls, stories, art, mechanics) curated by Nate into a usable whole.

Contributions can be as small as a proverb or as large as a myth, all gathered in ongoing chat threads and then curated into lore, tables, and play hooks. The goal isn’t a polished setting book but a raw collaborative archive.

• Project Opulent lives on Nate’s Grinning Rat Substack.

4. Sales and Bundles

• The Play for Peace – Games for Palestine 2025 Charity Bundle brings together 382 PC and tabletop games (including solo RPGs) games to raise funds for humanitarian aid in Palestine. Organized by volunteer curators and partnered with UNRWA USA, all proceeds go directly to relief efforts, making the bundle both a showcase of global creativity and a fundraiser for an urgent cause. Runs through Sept. 21.

• Beth and Angel Make Games are hosting the Free Zine Week! Bundle on itch. This is a collection of over 125 zines from 63 creators. The bundle is pay what you want (including free) and runs through Sept. 14.

• DNGN CLUB GAMES is running an Emergency Moving Sale to help with the costs of a surprise move. Get 14 (nearly every paid PDF in the DNGN CLUB shop) for $14. Normally these games together would cost over $90. These are well produced supplements and games (including solo) with great content, layout and human-made art.

• Final Days of the Solo D&D Adventure Sale: The Solo D&D Adventure Sale at DriveThruRPG’s Dungeon Masters Guild is almost over. Save up to 40% on almost 250 solo adventures, toolkits, and more. Sale ends Sept. 15.

• DriveThruRPG is also running The Savage September Sale. For a few more days you can save up to 40% on more than two thousand Savage Worlds RPG and Fiction digital titles. Including Deadlands, Rifts, The Secret World, Scarred Lands, Pathfinder, Broken Earth, Titan Effect, and more. The Savage September Sale is on at DriveThruRPG and DriveThruFiction.

• To celebrate his birthweek, ROLLINKUNZ has made all of the digital DUNGENERATOR content 50% off. I enjoyed DIE in a Dungeon, a solo or co-op game where your polyhedral dice are adventurers attempting to save and rebuild a village. The ROLLINKUNZ Birfday Bonanza! ends Sept. 20.

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5. Crowdfunding Now

Asher’s Ridge

Asher’s Ridge is an RPG of paranormal drama television for 1 to 4 players, with no GM and zero prep, by the designer of The Almanac of Sanguine Paths and Dead Letter Society.

• Create a character that suits the type of game you want to play. Their attitudes shape mechanics and evolve across multiple episodes.

• Each episode begins with a logline (chosen or created), that guides tone and story direction.

• Decide on the locations to use in the episode. Draft a 20-card deck or use a pre-set deck to get quickly into the game.

• Play to find out what is happening. Create a web of interlinked plot threads using Scrabble tiles, and play out scenes at locations across the town and its surroundings.

The Kickstarter campaign closes Sept. 16.

You Were Made

In the solo RPG You Were Made, you play an Echoform, a synthetic being built as a vessel of memory by humanity in its final days. You will uncover fragments of the past through narrative prompts (memories, questions, anomalies, etc). On your turn, you’ll choose one of five action types (Remember, Decipher, Explore, Connect, or Override) and roll a d20 to determine the results. Through each cycle, you’ll navigate themes of identity, memory, loss, and purpose.

• A 40-page book provides instructions and lore.

• The 50-card prompt deck is divided into five themes: Discovery, Echo-kin Encounters, Crisis, Philosophy, and Glitch Events.

• Companions are recruitable Echoforms each with a distinct voice, perspective, and history.

• Paradox Cards challenge your Echoform with contradictions. Emotional, temporal, or philosophical.

The Kickstarter campaign closes Oct. 2.

I first encountered Kyle Latino (aka Map Crow) and JP Coovert through their YouTube channels when I was looking to improve my RPG cartography and character illustration skills. In addition to being amazing illustrators, inspirational teachers, and authentic champions of our hobby, they are also game makers.

So when I heard that they were collaborating on Star Borg, a Star Wars-themed hack of Mork Borg, I was immediately excited. At Gen Con 2025 I met JP in person, and he shared with me the four zine-sized books. To my surprise, one of the books was a full solo-play supplement by ! I knew I had to give it a try.

1. Create Character

The first rolls are on the Bits and Bobs tables. I start with:

• no Bits (the galactic currency)

• a Busted Blaster Rifle (D8, bulky, shoddy)

• a Scarf and Leather Jacket (tier 1, -D2 damage)

• Binocular w/ Laser Microphone

This gear leads me to choose Bounty Hunter from the 6 included classes. I choose the Tracker skill and roll a 🔥 Flamethrower (D6 damage) as my heirloom weapon and that I have a soft spot for “youthful whippersnappers.”

For Stats I roll: STR +0, AGI +1, PRS -1, KNW +0. I have 3 HP.

I roll my species to be “Lithe Pseudopoid” the game’s Twi’lek and name him Inchil Ladda.

I also opt to adopt a foundling to train as a Bounty Hunter. I roll on the species table and find she is a “Little Ursanid,” Star Borg’s Ewok. I name her BooBoo of course.

2. Campaign Setup

On the Damn Fool Idealistic Crusades table I roll:

Villain: Galactic Legion
Goal: Control
Plan: Recruit
Means: Beasts

On the Episode and Missions tables I roll:

Episode: NPC, Cage, Journey, Home
The Mission: Rescue
The Goods: Base
The Spot: Space Ship
The Reward: Bits

My interpretation is that Galactic Legion scientists have discovered that the gelatinous ooze from the rare Anemonoid beast can be converted to a concentrated mind-control toxin. One drop could brainwash an entire planet! The mission is to rescue the caged creature when it is transferred from an NPC’s Space Ship to the legion’s secret laboratory base. Once rescued, I’ll need to journey to its native home.

3. Threat Dice, Danger Clocks and Mission Tracker

Star Borg’s solo rules add 3 simple procedures.

• The Threat Dice is a heat tracker. It starts at 1 and increases with new threats and Blunders (critical fails). When it reaches 6, you increase your Danger Clock.

• Danger Clocks represent some force that is acting against your character. They can range from 4 to 10 segments. When a Danger Clock fills up, some major consequence occurs.

• The Mission Tracker marks progress on your mission. These range from Short (4 boxes) to Galaxy Saving (10 boxes).

I set my Threat Dice to 1 and create a 6 box Mission Tracker (Average).

4. Create Opening Scene

I roll on the Opening Scene table and get: An NPC has betrayed you, the Galactic Legion is on the way.

And now we have enough to get started. Roll the Crawl!

THE HUNTER AND THE PREY

Cantina Escape

• We see a crowded bar, with various species talking, drinking, and gambling. Thick coats and enviro suits hang by the door. The bar serves up hot beverages and steaming bowls of the local stew.

• Cut to Inchil and BooBoo sitting in a booth. A hooded figure has just left the table after shaking Inchil’s hand.

• Inchil looks at the small data pad. Text describes the mission and we see video footage of a large beast with a cylindrical body and a mouth surrounded by tentacles. “Looks like these rebels need our help again Boo. We could sure use the Bits!”

• Across the cantina heads turn to reveal a squad of Galactic Legion foot soldiers entering - snow blowing in behind them. A customer points towards Inchil and BooBoo who decide to run quickly to their ship docket at the small spaceport.

I start a 4 segment Danger Clock with the consequence “captured” if it fills up. I determine that the escape is an AGI test. Star Borg’s solo rules keep tests simple. You roll a D20 + Ability Score. 12 and above is a strong hit (things go as planned), 9 - 11 is a weak hit (things are good, but there is a complication), and 8 or below is a fail (things don’t go your way). Inchil passes this test. I also roll a morale check for BooBoo. She passes.

• They retreat through the kitchen. A tentacled chef with multi-colored stains down its apron is startled, catching something on fire. Inchil smashes the service door open and BooBoo apologizes with a “lub nub.” It’s cold and snowing outside.

Spaceport Ambush

I roll a PER test to see if we can find our way through the storm. I pass and check a box on the Mission Tracker (now 1/6) for making it out of the Cantina in one piece. I roll on the Event Oracle to help set the situation at the spaceport and get: Secure, Secret, Repairing, Tracks. I interpret this to mean that the ship is in port for repairs to its landing gear. I ask the Affirmation Oracle if the repairs are complete and get: no.

• BooBoo grabs Inchil’s hand and leads the way through the blizzard to the underground space dock where their small ship, The Skulljammer, is undergoing repairs to its landing gear. Slow moving mech-droids are welding a long metal ski to the ship’s forward strut. “We’ll never be able to land if we don’t have that pad in place!”

To spice things up I roll on the Scene Shakeup table and get: Ambush. I imagine a squad of Foot Soldiers were waiting for our heroes to show up. I roll for initiative and they start. I increase the Danger Clock to 2. In Star Borg, only player characters roll, so I roll an AGI test and get a natural 20, a crit which offers a positive opportunity. To inspire this, I roll on the Oracle and get: Balance.

• Before Inchil can yell at the droid boss to wrap things up quickly, a squad of armored Foot Soldiers open fire. Everyone takes cover from the blaster bolts. BooBoo points to a stack of storage units precariously balanced behind the Legion troops. Inchil opens fires with his old blaster, but misses the crates. The Foot Soldiers exchange fire and miss. A second shot from Inchil hits the boxes at just the right angle and they tumble down on the Foot Soldiers.

I ask the Affirmation Table if the soldiers are subdued and get: Extreme Yes.

• Through the cockpit window we see Inchil pushing buttons and flipping switches to warm up the engines. Booboo straps into the jump seat. POV shift: looking out the cockpit and we see the mechdroids signal with a thumbs-up that their repairs are done. The ship rumbles and lifts off. Cut to a squad of confused Foot Soldiers looking up from outside the spaceport as they see the Skulljammer depart.

The scene is complete. We have escaped the planet and I mark the Mission Tracker (now 2/6) and remove the Danger Clock. Because we are travelling to a new location I roll to see if there in an event. There is! I roll on the Travel table and get: Science, Legionary Troopers.

Science Base Arrival

• We see the Skulljammer exit with a flash out of hyperspace. In the cockpit, Inchil points to a screen with the outline of a massive star base and text reading Legionary Science Base Bariatric. “There it is Boo, right where the rebels said it would be. That’s the base they’re holding that Anemonoid on.”

• There are also science ships, fighters, transports and other craft flying in and out of the station.

Inchil is going to see if he can alter his transponder to show up as a civilian transport. This is a KNW test which he passes.

• Inchil hands the controls to BooBoo telling her to “fly casual” while he makes some modifications to the communications array. Soon the Skulljammer is transmitting that it’s a friendly shuttle transporting lab equipment. BooBoo steers the ship to get in line with others landing at the base. Within moments, the ship is hailed by the base.

I roll on the Affirmation Oracle’s NPC Reaction column and get: Indifferent.

• A bored voice comes over the comms and states the ship is cleared to land at docking bay 327. BooBoo looks at Inchil nervously, shaking her head with a “Napu Napu.”

• The ship follows another small transport into the docking bay and lands.

We've infiltrated the station, so I mark the Mission Tracker (now 3/6). We are in enemy territory, so I create a new 6 segment Danger Clock. If it fills, the Legionary troops will find and capture us. I also move the Threat Dice to 2. First I want to know if anyone greets the ship. The Affirmation Oracle says: Yes. I roll a Trader with a reaction of Curious. I also roll on the Event Specifc table and get: PC Negative.

Squatch Squables

• Inchil opens the hatch and lowers the cargo ramp. An Anthrosquatch (aka Wookie) with bad teeth approaches the pair. He’s the pilot of the ship they followed in. BooBoo, who speaks ‘Squatch, introduces herself. She learns his name is Nurbahn and he’s arrived with a load of Zurgite Quartz. The curious Nurbahn wants to see what is on the Skulljammer and begins to walk up the ramp.

• Inchil reaches into BooBoo’s backpack and pulls out a Ursanid Sweetened Meat Snack and offers it as a distraction to Nurbahn.

I roll an NPC reaction and get: Hostile and mark 1 tick on the Danger Clock.

• Nurbahn roars in disgust and horror! Not only is he a vegetarian, but the Ursanid Sweetened Meat Snack is made from Kragnor Puffballs, an animal revered by the Anthrosquatch. He throws the bar, attracting the attention of some Legionary Foot Soldiers. Inchil activates the system to lock up the ship and attempts to back away from Nurbahn.

I roll a PRS test and fail. I roll NPC reaction for the Foot Soldiers and get: Hostile. I increase the Danger Clock (now 2/6).

• We see a group of Troopers fan out around the cargo ramp with blasters drawn. Cut to their leader, a scar-faced sergeant, who barks: “Step away from the ship. Hands where I can see them!”

• BooBoo, speaking Squatch, tries to ease Nurbahn’s anger, explaining that deescalation is best for all of them and offering a more suitable treat.

I roll a PRS test and fail again. Danger Clock increased to 3. 

• The enraged Nurbahn howls and lunges at Inchil who grabs BooBoo and ducks under the cargo ramp.

I roll an AGL test and pass. 

• Nurbahn misses them both. His momentum carries him into the sergeant and two troopers who fall to the ground. In the commotion, Inchil and BooBoo run off into the station.

I mark another box on the Mission Tracker (now 4/6). The solo supplement includes a procedure for creating Dangerous Locations. I roll the station's size as Small with 4 Zones + the final Objective Zone. Whenever a new Zone is entered, a roll is made to determine its purpose and if there is an Obstacle. I roll Power and No Obstacle.

On the Hunt

• Inchil and BooBoo have escaped the Troopers who seem more concerned with the Anthrosquatch than them. They quickly walk through a pair of massive doors. We cut to a shot showing two rows of Neutronium Batteries, each the size of a house. Arcs of blue electricity course across the ceiling. BooBoo looks in amazement “Yahwah!”

• As they make it to the other end of the power banks, Inchil sees a screen giving directions to the next Zones: Medical, Armory, and Mess Hall. The smell of freshly baked pastries floats down the corridor leading to the Mess. BooBoo looks in that direction, licks his lips and hungrily groans “manna manna.”

• “Don’t let your stomach go to your head, Boo. We need to find a computer to locate our target and get the hell out of here. Let’s head to Medical.”

• The medical suite has only a few sleeping patients. A medical bot is tending to its work and doesn’t register Inchil and BooBoo.

There is no Obstacle. I ask the Affirmation Table if there is a computer terminal that can track down the Anemonoid and get: Yes. I roll a KNW test to see if my computer search works: and it does. Inchil also does a quick Search and finds: Clothing.

• Inchil toggles on one of the screens. After a few seconds navigating menus and tapping buttons, we see a dot blinking on a diagram on the station. “That’s our target, the laboratory. But the only way to get there is through the Barracks. I have an idea.”

• We see Inchil grab a set of surgical scrubs hanging in the room. Time cut to Inchil dressed as a Medical Officer pushing BooBoo on a hover-stretcher through doors marked Barracks - Red Authorization Required.

I roll to see if it’s Red. I get: Yes, but.

• From BooBoo’s POV we see her look at the badge on Inchil’s disguise. It’s red, but as the view pans to the holo-photo, we see a Sucker-lipped Anuran, not a Lithe Pseudopoid.

I’m just assuming there are Troopers in the Barracks. I roll a d10 and get 6. Next I roll their reaction and get: Indifferent. I also roll no obstacle. Our heroes are getting lucky. I mark the Mission Tacker (now 5/6).

• Inchil casually pushes the stretcher through the Barracks towards the lab entrance on the other side. About a dozen Troopers go about their downtime tasks: polishing armor, brushing teeth, and discussing new weapon models. They take no notice, like this is a common occurence. Inchil reaches the laboratory door, scans the badge, and pushes the stretcher through.

This is the Objective Zone which calls for an automatic Obstacle. I roll: Gas. To add some flavor I roll a Scene Shakeup and get: Beneficial Object and roll on the Event Oracle and get: Weapon, Foul, Disabling. I will assume there are scientists. I roll on NPC Reaction at disadvantage and get: Curious.

Last Stop: Laboratory

• The doors slide open with a hiss and Inchil pushes BooBoo’s hover-stretcher through. The room is lit by pale green light coming from a massive plastic containment bubble in the center. Inside, the Anemonoid lays strapped to a table, its tentacles curling and uncurling in toxic green gas. Robotic arms hover above the creature.

• Around the bubble, three scientists adjust consoles, check readouts, and prep the remote-control surgical equipment.

• At first, they barely notice Inchil and BooBoo. Their focus is on the Anemonoid. One scientist taps a readout and mutters: “Levels stable. Beginning pre-op sequence.” Another adjusts the gas regulators, releasing a fresh plume into the bubble and warns: “Watch it with the laser-scalple, one cut to the containment skin and we’ll all be choking in seconds.” The third glances up at Inchil. She tilt’s her head, eyeing him through their visor. “You’re not on the roster… What are you doing here?”

• As Inchil weighs his options, his eyes spot a nearby crash cart and sees: emergency breathers and cutting laser.

The plan is for Inchil to grab and put on the breathers, shoot the hose filling the bubble with the gas and use the surgical equipment to cut the Anemonoid’s bonds. The first test AGI to see if they can grab the breather and laser and use it to shoot the hose. I fail the roll, spend a Destiny Point to reroll, and pass. The second test is the shot to hit the hose and it passes with a Strong Hit. The next test in KNW to see if they can figure out how to operate the surigial tools, and I roll a Crit and Mark the mission complete!

• Inchil lunges for the rack breathers, slapping one over BooBoo’s snout before yanking his own into place. He grabs the laser and uses it to puncture the pressurized hose feeding the bubble. It bursts and a stream of green gas rolls into the room. The scientists stagger, choke, and collapse.

• Through the haze, the Anemonoid thrashes on the table. Inchil dives onto the control panel. The robotic arms twitch, and then slice through the restraints.

• Lab klaxons blare and warning lights flash red. Inchil and BooBoo find the portable containment pod the Anemonoid was transported in and move it inside.

Epilogue Montage

• Cut to the hangar: the Skulljammer lifts off under a hail of confused blaster fire. With engines roaring it clears the bay doors.

• Cut to hyperspace inside the Skulljammer: Inchil steps out of the cockpit into the small galley. From his POV we see green light from the containment pod flickering across BooBoo’s face as she dozes next to it. The Anemonoid floats inside, its tentacles touching the side of the pod closest to BooBoo.

• Final shot: stars stretch into streaks as the Skulljammer vanishes into the void with the hunter, the foundling, and the freed creature racing toward its distant home.

Reflections on Star Borg

Playing Star Borg with Perplexing Ruins’ solo rules was fast and fun. The solo supplement is a toolbox with just a few procedures paired and a bunch of atmospheric tables. One of the smartest changes from the core rules is simplifying tests. That tweak kept the momentum going in my story. The supplement also includes excellent tips for solo play.

My only frustration was having to jump between all the books. That said, I strongly recommend Star Borg if you want to create your own saga in the spirit of A New Hope or The Mandalorian.

This Summer marked my first time attending Gen Con and it was a blast. I spent most of my time hanging out with friends, talking with awesome designers, and playing a bunch of indie RPGs. I returned home with a bag full of games and a head full of new ideas and energy.

Solo RPG Highlights

• Underneath: Will Jobst (Good Luck Press) gave me a preview copy of Seb Pines’ cave exploration and mapping game. It’s not a dungeon delve. Underneath is about modern cavers overcoming obstacles and encounters. It’s available for pre-order.

• Old Morris Cave: I picked up another game about modern cave exploration, this one from Tim Hutchings (Thousand Year Old Vampire), which came out in 2024. The booklet looks like an old archaeology journal, but it’s actually a solo game where you create the history of the site, building the cave floor upwards over time. When archaeological finds are uncovered, you use a flowchart to learn about that find and how it came to be there.

• Chuck: Tyler Crumrine (Possible Worlds Games) previewed this micro-RPG where your romantic partner is shrunken to toy size and you carry their meeple representation of them with you IRL. You’ll roll dice and journal your experiences as a couple. When you or your tiny partner have had enough, the game requires you to (literally) chuck Chuck out of your life, tossing their meeple into the distance as they embark on a life of their own!

• Better Strangers: Also from Tyler is a new 52-card deck that turns people-watching into a game. Select a figure in view and start answering the game’s 80 prompts to create stories.

• Hexploration Decks & Tiles: The Inkwell Ideas booth had their new decks of unique fantasy locations and reusable hex tiles on display. The tiles, with illustrations by Dyson Logos, are printed on flexible vinyl and come with die-cut geographic features and map elements to place on them.

• I would love it if you noticed: At the IGDN booth, Jordan Dube of shared this solo mindfulness reflection game where you notice something that day and use it to create a character. Jordan also gave me a “Silly Goose” badge ribbon that I proudly wore during the convention.

• Star Borg: I picked up copies of the Star Wars-inspired RPG from the always-delightful JP Coovert. Star Borg has 3 zines including a solo rulebook written with . Fantasy RPG art often leans grim or generic, so I appreciate JP’s light-hearted, adventurous style. If you’re a fan of his YouTube channel (see video below) you won’t be surprised to hear he’s just as nice in person.

Other Cool Stuff

• Solo Gaming Library: ran a pilot library featuring around 150 solo RPGs available for drop-in play. Organizer Sean told me it was well received and hinted at plans to expand the offering into a dedicated room next year.

• Vantage: I didn’t get to play, but I watched a session of Vantage, the open-world solo/co-op game from Stonemaier Games. The massive card-based, first-person exploration looks complex, but is very simple to play. It’s highly replayable, has meaningful player choices, and can deliver epic stories of exploration. And Vantage is NOT a campaign game, which means you can complete a game in one session.

• Scented Dice: I picked up two sets of Baron Smelly Bones dice. Fireball Char smells like a campfire and Ancient Armory smells like metal. They are incredible!

What I’d Do Differently

• Schedule meetings in advance and for day one (ideally outside the Hall).

• Attend the Exhibit Hall opening ceremony.

• Explore the Playtest Hall.

• Join a Mega Game session. This Mothership session with 75 players playing across 15 tables sounds insane!

• Capture better notes and more photos/video.

• Go to the ENNIES.

Tips for Attending Gen Con

• Use Games on Demand to try a variety of indie RPGs without needing to pre-register. GMs offer to run games in designated slots, and players choose from the available options.

• Leave room in your schedule for unplanned discoveries.

• Book lodging close to the convention center. Avoid le stinky Le Méridien.

• Get your badge and tickets mailed in advance to skip the long Will Call line.

• Have at least one meal outside of downtown.

• Go with friends or plan meetups to avoid feeling overwhelmed.

• Pack snack bars, a water bottle, hand sanitizer, pencils, and dice.

Next Stop: PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, Nov 21 to 23.

2. 🎲 Last Roll

Wyrd Science #7

The 7th issue of the always spectacular Wyrd Science is now on sale. Contents include:

• Essay by Dr. Malcolm Craig on Cold War–era RPGs.

• Interview with Warhammer creator Rick Priestley.

• Feature on the Oldhammer scene and 1980s Games Workshop.

• In-depth interviews on Triangle Agency, Through the Hedgerow, Undaunted, and Caves of Qud.

• Reviews, new columns, a media section (film, TV, books), and a standalone game by CJ Eggett.

Ironsworn Bundle

Through September 1, Bundle of Holding is running an Ironsworn-Starforged Bundle with Ironsworn, Ironsworn: Starforged, Sundered Isles, and Delve for $14.95 (usually $50.50) as DRM-free ebooks. Each purchaser also receives a discount code, good through September 30, for 25% off Starforged and Sundered Isles print editions through Modiphius. Ten percent of revenue from most Bundle of Holding offers is donated to a charity.

1. My Gen Con 2025 List

The largest tabletop gaming convention in North America kicks off July 31 in Indianapolis and The Soloist will be there for the first time.

Why it matters:

• Gen Con draws more than 140,000 attendees annually.

• Now in its 58th year, it features 500+ exhibitors and 16,000+ events, including RPGs, board games, card games, live-action roleplaying, and more.

• For solo gamers, Gen Con is a great chance to demo unreleased titles, discover new systems, and meet the designers building games for us.

I’ll be there all four days playing games, checking out the solo RPG library, hanging around Games on Demand, and looking for surprises. Here’s what I’m watching:

Top 10 Solo-Friendly Boardgames

• Vantage
  An open-world solo or co-op game from Stonemaier, publishers of Wingspan, where you explore a massive planet from a first-person perspective. With nearly 800 interconnected locations on cards and over 900 other discoverable cards, the world is a massive sandbox.

• Final Girl: Shriek
  Final Girl is a popular solo-only game that casts you as the fearless female protagonist of a horror movie. Shriek is the newest “Feature Film” add-on, clearly inspired by the movie Scream. The slasher theme isn’t for me, but Final Girl comes up every time I ask solo boardgamers what they recommend.

• Ace of Spades
  A solo or a two-player co-op game that uses poker mechanics to resolve dangerous duels against the worst spawns from Hell.

• The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship
  This promises to be Matt Leacock’s most mechanically-rich Pandemic-style game to date. Gather heroes to defend the havens of Middle-earth from advancing shadow troops, complete objectives that change each time you play. I’ve already pre-ordered Fate of the Fellowship to play with family, but I’m also interested in the solo mode designed by Matt.

• Hercules & the 12 Labors
  A solo card and dice game where you become the legendary hero. Battle mythical beasts, overcome challenges, and strive for redemption to claim your place among the gods in this epic Greek mythology adventure.

• The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era
  A solo or co-op campaign game set in the world of the popular video-game RPG. Players take on the role of guild agents questing, battling, and exploring over three connected sessions.

• Unstoppable
  A solo or two-player co-op card-crafting game set across three planets, where you train, upgrade, and fight to survive a world-ending menace. It’s not on Renegade Game’s official Gen Con demo list, but I’m hoping it makes a surprise appearance.

• Western Legends: Stories
  Start as an anonymous character in the Wild West and build your legend through your deeds. The campaign is replayable, as each scenario, depending on your choices, has various events and narrative developments that may or may not occur. Even the campaign’s conclusion can vary. If you’ve played other Western Legends games from Kolossal, note that Stories is more narrative and is stand-alone.

  

• Conservas (English Edition)
  A solo bag-building game which made its English debut a few months ago. In it you fish the Spanish coast, draw from a sea bag each round, trying to harvest without depleting the ocean. If you overfish, you lose.

• Age of Galaxy (Second Edition)
  A lightweight 4X game that places you in control of an interstellar alliance consisting of three factions (out of 30 available) with unique powers. You can explore systems, colonize planets, research technologies, build ships, and more. This edition introduces an enhanced solo mode, new graphic design, and improved components.

Dungeon World 2 Alpha

• The original Dungeon World was my intro to modern indie tabletop RPGs and has been an inspiration and foundation for many designers. Dungeon World 2’s Alpha Playtest will be at Gen Con and hopefully I’ll get a chance to play.

Solo RPG Library

• The wizards at Wizard Staffing Co have amassed a large collection of solo RPGs for players to read and play. I’ll be exploring the collection and hopefully meet some readers of The Soloist while I’m there.

If you’re at Gen Con and have a game to show off or just want to say hello, send me a message here or on Bluesky. I’ll be handing out the Soloist Wanderer stickers while they last!

2. DriveThruRPG X-Mas in July Sale

This is the last week of DriveThru RPG’s biggest summer sale which has thousands of games and supplements 30% to 75% off. Here is a curated list of solo RPGs that I either already owned or picked up during the sale:

• Playing God: A GM-less RPG inspired by mythologies from around the world and fantasy fiction. Instead of playing a mortal hero, you are a god. After you create your deity, Once you're ready to play, you can perform wonders, like creating worlds, people, titans, cataclysms, and more. I’m excited to give this one a try.
  $13.97 $19.95

• Ker Nerthalas: A deep purpose-built fantasy solo game. It’s a dense game at first, but once the systems click, it runs fast. For solo players looking for grit, challenge, and tension, Ker Nethalas delivers. One of my favorites.
  $10.50 $15.00

• Across a Thousand Dead Worlds: From the creators of Ker Nethalis, Across a Thousand Dead Worlds is a (446 pages big!) solo-first, horror sci-fi RPG. I did a deep dive on it in the 2024 Sci-Fi Special Edition and give it a strong recommendation.
  $14.00 $20.00

• The GameMaster's Apprentice 2e: Base Deck: A deck of 60 double-sided cards with more than a dozen randomizers. Difficulty generator, yes/no oracle, prompt icons, sensory snippets, names, traits, and much more. I have the fantasy and cyberpunk decks and love their convenience.
  $6.99 $9.99

• Five Leagues from the Borderlands: In this solo adventure wargame, you take the role of a warband of adventurers exploring a grim fantasy world following a procedurally generated campaign. Play with a handful of miniatures (any will do) on a 2x2 or 3x3 table. Perfect for your first minis game.
  $14.00 $20.00

• Flint: A Cairn 2e Solo Handbook: Plug Flint into a standard Cairn adventure to transform it into a great solo campaign. With a tarot deck and the Cairn 2e core rules, you’ll generate your own campaign, character arc, and fate.
  $6.29 $8.99

• Mythic Game Master Emulator: This is the new 2nd edition of the popular toolkit that can be used to play any RPG system on your own.
  $10.47 $14.95

• Mythic Magazine Compilation 7: The creators of the Mythic GM Emulator publish a fabulous monthly e-zine with rules, tips, and other goodies for the system. I get these through Word Mill Games’ Patreon and have found many of the articles can be applied to solo gaming in general.
  $10.47 $14.95

• SOLO Second Edition for Traveller: This is the new edition of Zozer Games’ best-selling supplement to Traveller (Mongoose, Cepheus, and earlier editions). It uses campaign frameworks for different play styles and campaign types. The new edition adds more solo tools, two new campaigns (mercenaries and salvagers), and stats for all the ships required in the game.
  $8.39 $11.99; Core Traveller rules $21.00 $30.00

• Sandbox Generator: Create a fantasy world from scratch with tools for everything from maps to the menu at the local tavern.
  $8.40 $12.00

• The One Ring Strider Mode: Rules, tips, and tables to facilitate solo play in the official RPG based on Tolkien’s Middle-earth books.
  $3.74 $4.99; Core rules $17.49 $24.99

Non-solo Recommendation

• Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme: I haven’t played it, but it’s been my favorite gaming book to read this year. As a Python fan, I deeply appreciate the care, creativity, and absurdity the writers brought to it. Spam, spam, spam!
  $28.00 $40.00

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3. 🎲 Last Roll

• Curators from the Victoria & Albert Museum unbox six historic tarot card decks.

• The creator of The Blades of Gixa provides an update and walks through his amazing and insane megadungeon project.

Welcome to Solo Sessions, a solo play example from one of the game’s covered in The Soloist.

Space Aces: Voyages in Infinite Space is a whimsical sci-fi RPG where your characters are galactic gig workers with a taste for adventure. The tone is Saturday morning cartoons meets Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. While it’s not specifically for solo play, I needed no supplements or GM-emulators to have a great single-player experience.

Create a crew - p. 10

Characters get a randomly generated past career, knack, and quest. They each start with 3 gumption, a measure of willpower and the game’s only stat.

I decide to create a crew of 3 and roll the tables. My crew...

• Luna Latte, a psionic barista raised by the pirate flotilla called the Space Wolves. She dreams of reliving the glory days of adventure with her adopted family. Luna has two robot companions:

• Chrono Chipper, a nervous temporal teamster-bot with a holo-memory, and

• Ensign SN4-RK, an engineer-bot who feels unappreciated by the “meatbags.”

  ---

Make a starship - p. 6

Your crew starts with a small ship and rolls for the ship’s purpose and personality.

I rolled "combat" for purpose and "fastest in the galaxy" for personality.

• The Leavitt, a former military courier ship named after astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt, has boosted engines that are prone to overheating.

Start at Starbase 42 - p. 63

Space Aces has 60 locations, each with detailed descriptions and tables to generate adventure hooks and events. Starbase 42 is located at the center of the galaxy and is the character's home port.

I roll the "What’s Happening" table and find the crew has witnessed some shady business! For inspiration I roll the Space Treasure and Wandering Space Captain tables.

Upon arrival at Starbase 42, the Leavitt is rerouted to a D-grade berth when The Problem Solver is given priority by dock traffic control. When they land, SN4-RK hovers towards the decked-out cargo hauler, to give the crew of their rival a piece of its mind. Speeding through the dockyards is dangerous as there are crates, haulers, ships, and crew everywhere.

Actions - p. 4

Two dice are rolled every time a risky, dangerous, or uncertain action is attempted:

• Action d20: The player rolls a d20. The action succeeds on a roll equal to or greater than a difficulty level: easy 5, tricky 10, hard 15, and epic 20.

• Effect d6: Players also roll a d6 to check if there is a snag (on a 1 or 2), or a benefit (on a 5 or 6). Snags hinder and benefits help the situation.

I determine SN4-RK’s dash across the dockyards to be tricky. My action roll of 12 succeeds. My effect roll of 1 means I’ve hit a snag. I increase heat, a measure of tension in a session, from 1 to 2. Higher heat results in worse negative effects from snags.

The much larger and faster Chipper intercepts SN4-RK, but they crash into some cargo containers drawing the attention of Levi Athan, The Problem Solver’s 6-inch tall Gargantuan captain. He sends two Gargantuan guards towards the bots.

Scuffle - p. 4

Space Aces's combat system has you first determine How’s it Lookin which measures advantage and then roll on the situation table.

In this case, the bots are in a Tight Spot which means I roll 2d6 and pick the worst result. I roll 4 Trading Blows and choose to take a hit and try to counter attack. The Gargantuans each have 1 gumption and do 1 harm.

The Gargantuan guards fire their blasters towards the bots. The white beams indicate an EMP setting which are harmless to bio-beings but dangerous to robots. The blasts hit SN4-RK and Chipper who each lose 1 gumption. The shock also unlocked one of the containers and freeze-dried oranges spill on the floor. Chipper throws the fruit box at the guards while SN4-RK tosses oranges.

Scuffle success is determined by rolling 1d20 equal to or over the difficulty level. These guards are inept so I've set difficulty at 5. However I roll a 4 for both bots and they fail their action!

The guards dodge and take cover.

In this situation, the groups are now Evenly Matched. This means I roll 1d6 and use the result to set the situation. My roll of 5 puts the bots In the Clear and they can attack without reprisal.

Chipper notices that guards have positioned themselves on a cargo lift. The bot transmits a Teamster-net command to the lift to raise it into The Problem Solver’s cargo bay. SN4-RK shouts one of his rude bio-unit insults.

I roll successes for the bots and defeat the guards who have 1 gumption each

The guards disappear inside the ship. We hear containers falling to the hull floor and screams from the guards and other Gargantuans.

Heat increases after a scuffle and is now at 3.

The job board - p. 128

Most planets and systems have adventure hooks, but at Starbase 42, you can check the job board and roll to pick a mission. Every mission has 3 objectives and reward. Each also has a Time Bob(s) that trigger at various Heat levels. A mission fails at Heat Level 20.

I roll 4 and get the mission Smile for the Cameras.

As the dust settles, Luna strides confidently through the chaos. She gathers her crew. “Alright, team, we’ve got a new job. Alfrat Hitchcock, the Ratonian director, needs our help. We’re heading to Tantor to capture footage of the elusive Skelle for his next holomovie.” Chipper’s servos whir excitedly as a small camera pops out ot its chest. SN4-RK’s displays flicker red. “Perfect. Another mission risking my circuits for bio-unit fantasies.”

Hypersurfing - p. 6

Space Aces’ galactic hex map is randomly generated. A ship can hypersurf as many hexes as their ship’s Drive Range allows, at a rate of 24 hours per hex. After hypersurfing, the ship’s drive needs to recharge leaving the ship vulnerable. The pilot rolls after each trip to see what happens with a neat push your luck system.

I roll a 4 and decide not to push my luck with another roll. A 4-5 means we pick up something on sensors. I roll on the Deep Space Encounters table.

We see the crew at their stations on the Leavitt’s small bridge as the view screen goes from hypersurf star trails to standard space. SN4-RK alerts the crew that there is another ship here and we see the captain of Los Boosterleros replace the starfield. “Leavitt crew! Word is you’re chasing holovid glory. But there’s only room for one ship in the spotlight. You want Skelle footage? Gotta go through us.”

Starship Scuffles - p. 7

Starship Scuffles are just like regular Scuffles except the Ships are the Characters. There are 3 phases.

Phase 1: Red Alert! Each crew is assigned to a station. Helm: Luna Latte, Engineering: SN4-RK, Operations and Tactical: Chrono Chipper. Each Staion can be used once a Round.

Phase 2: Make It So!

• Round 1 – How’s It Lookin’?: Because the Leavitt is the Fastest in the Galaxy, I roll that the crew starts In the Clear.

  • Helm – Luna attempts to outmaneuver Boosterleros and break for open space. Difficulty: Hard (15) Roll: d20 = 17 → success

  • Engineering – SN4-RK routes emergency coolant to the primary thruster. Difficulty: Tricky (10) Roll: d20 = 14 → success

  • Tactical – Chipper fires a full plasma spread across the enemy’s nose. Difficulty: Tricky (10) Roll: d20 = 9 → fail

Luna slingshots the Leavitt around a nearby asteroid. The engines roar as SN4-RK adds more coolant. The jolt from the engine causes Chipper’s shot goes wide. But it doesn’t matter, the Leavitt leaves Los Boosterleros eating its ion wake.

Arriving at Tantor

Every sector in Space Aces comes with a full page description including features of interest, maybe a Delve, and a table or two of random encounters. Tantor is home to the Skelle, a sentient fungal species who rebuilt civilization in the image of a spaghetti western.

The Leavitt lands just outside town. Chipper complains about the dust. SN4-RK starts scanning. Luna straps on her blaster and steps off the ramp like she owns the place.

I roll for what’s happening planetside and get Bonecrab Rodeo. It’s the yearly test of bravery where the Skelle try to ride giant crabs through downtown New Tombstone. It’s apparently a very big deal.

Luna eyes the arena. SN4-RK mutters, “Please tell me we’re not doing this.” Chipper checks his chest-cam battery and grins.

What’s Next?

• Will the Skelle welcome the ousiders?

• Will Luna ride a bonecrab for glory and footage?

• Will she end up as another skeleton in Dead Man’s Gulch?

The answers lie in the dust-choked streets of New Tombstone...

Reflections on Space Aces

Space Aces is a blast! It’s light, fast, and works well for solo play with tons of tables, easy-to-use systems, and little to track. The tone is silly and joyful without feeling throwaway. The book is packed with ideas and great illustrations. Highly recommended!

The creators have a whole galaxy of other games worth exploring including the solo-first Space Aces: Wreck Runners.

1. Citizen Sleeper: Spindlejack

The video game Citizen Sleeper, an RPG about an escaped worker living on a remote space station, was one of my favorite PC games of 2022. It has an elegant visual style, strong writing, great worldbuilding, unforgettable characters, and meaningful player choices. It feels like playing a tabletop RPG, with dice spent on actions, clocks to track progress, and an engaging skills system.

• More than 2 million players have played Citizen Sleeper and the sequel, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector.

Now, the game’s designer Gareth Damian Martin, has released a solo tabletop game set in the universe, Citizen Sleeper: Spindlejack. In it, you play a zero-g bike courier delivering packages across Far Spindle station. Gareth says:

“Spindlejack is a bit of experimental design I first dreamed up when I was researching the Far Spindle’s bike couriers of which Kadet [a character from Starward Vector] is a member. It is a turn-based solo game where you play as a courier, dodging haulers, cutting through intersections and trying to make enough cryo to get by.”

Maneuvering around giant haulers, running deliveries, and dealing with complications is surprisingly immersive. The game is free, but you will need to print out the included map and playsheet to play.

The instructions are dense but clear. Here are some useful rule clarifications:

• Any travel between locations/intersections requires an IN TRANSIT move.

• Only increase the time counter during an intersection when instructed.

• Heat resets at the end of the cycle.

Follow Gareth on the Substack.

2. In Development: Mausworn

is developing Mausworn, a new solo/group RPG that combines the cozy danger of Mausritter with the narrative-driven structure of Ironsworn. It’s a game about brave little mice journeying across the abandoned Rustlands. Cezar is developing Mausworn in public to get feedback as it takes shape.

From Ironsworn:

• Solo-first: Designed with strong narrative procedures

• Core mechanic: Roll 1d6 + stat vs. 2d10 to determine outcomes

• Progress tracks: Story advancement is tracked visually

• Moves: Specific actions that players can take

From Mausritter:

• Inventory game: Gear and conditions take up physical space in your pack

• Three core attributes: STR, DEX, and WILL

• Exploration: Procedures and tables from Mausritter’s hex translated into a Move based on watches (the divisions of the day in Mausritter)

Asked if he’s bringing anything new to the mix, Cezar says:

“I am, yes—both out of necessity (merging such different systems requires a middle ground that feels cohesive, not tacked on) and from my own design principles and goals. In the process of streamlining the moves, a few new ideas naturally emerged—ones I’m genuinely excited to see at the table.”

Cezar is also creating a new setting for Mausworn:

“Ironsworn takes place in the Ironlands, so I thought—what if humans once lived there for ages, but vanished long ago? What remains is a world of rusted ruins and forgotten machines, now home to mice and other animals. That’s the seed of the Rustlands. But just like Ironsworn, players will shape their own version by customizing the Truths of their world.”

Cezar is sharing progress and design insights on his devlog. You can get the current draft of Mausworn free on Itch.

3. Five New Solo Games

🦋 Dead Orbit Mall
This vaporwave cyberpunk solo RPG by Evlyn Moreau is a reskin of Dark Fort, the predecessor of Mörk Borg. In it you explore a decaying digital mall filled with forgotten data caches and security. Hackers and thrill-seekers jack in to chase buried intel and vintage software. Includes tools to bring the Dead Orbit Mall into a Cy_Borg campaign.

🌱 Glide: The Ecologist
This solo journaling game for Glide is based on the Hardcore Ecologist solo module for David Blandy’s Eco Mofos!! and expands on the Guild of Ecology found in the base Glide rules. As a member of the Guild, you’ll explore the desert planet Eridoor, recording your findings before the next sandstorm.

🚀 SOLO Second Edition for Traveller
This is the new edition of Zozer Games’ best-selling supplement to Traveller (Mongoose, Cepheus, and earlier editions). As before it uses campaign frameworks for different play styles and campaign types. The new edition adds more solo tools, two new campaigns (mercenaries and salvagers), and stats for all the ships required in the game.

🧌 Dawn of the Orcs
A GM‑less dark fantasy worldbuilding RPG for 1–8 players where you are the magical technocrats who create the first Orcs as weapons of war, modify and improve them over time, and tell the story of how they become their own people. Nominated for a 2025 Ennie.

⚔️ Convict Combat
A solo miniature‑agnostic sci-fi combat game where you take control of a convict fighting other convicts in sponsored arena battles. You only need a 12” x 12” play area, a half dozen terrain pieces, and 5 or more miniatures to play. With lite character building and advancement, a simple enemy rule system based on a D6, and well documented instructions, Convict Combat is focused on getting you playing quickly.

4. The Inquiracle Index

Over the past 2 years, 25+ game creators have played The Inquiracle, The Soloist’s self-interview microgame. Players roll a d20 twice and consult The Inquiracle’s oracle table to generate a theme and subject. They use these prompts to inspire a question, which they must then answer themselves. I’ve put together an index so you can check out all of the interviews (including the following new entry from the amazing Evlyn Moreau).

Evlyn Moreau

Designer of games and adventures illustrated with wonderful whimsical detail
Patreon | Itch | Bluesky

Theme: Collaborative | Subject: Career

Q: Which collaboration helped you the most to grow as a RPG designer?

A: Nearly all of them but the most significant one had been when I worked with my former partner on Where The Wheat Grows Tall, we learned a lot together, how to do a kickstarter, contacting distributors, etc. Then there was when I illustrated Prison Station Echo, the Magnum Galaxy crew were really fun to work with and I think that we learned from each other during that project. I also learned a lot while working on Goblin Mail with Luna and Sofia. Collaborations are often the best part of crafting RPG zines, you interact with new people, make some friends and learn from each others, this is precious. Working alone is nice too, like with everything, balance is the key, do some solo projects, some with people you often work with and some with new people.

Theme: Personal | Subject: Genre

Q: Which genre feels more personal to you?

A: Oh my, I am really into faeries folklore, survival horror and sci-fi, which form some kind of spectrum. Faery folklore at one pole, horror in the middle and sci-fi at the other pole. I often explore and draw things set in-between either folklore and horror or horror and sci-fi. Fairies because I studied anthropology and I love how queer and strange they are. Horror because I love the more personal and intimate moments hidden in the genre, especially in video games like Silent Hill and Signalis. Sci-fi, well because of the body modifications and post humanity but also because I love how space exploration and astronomy activate our imagination.

5. Summer Game Jams

The One Page RPG Jam returns to challenge participants to write a stand-alone game that fits on a single sheet of paper. Over the past 5 years this jam has generated over 2000 games! It’s open to everybody including first-time designers. Hacks of one-page systems (Lasers and Feelings and Honey Heist are popular examples) and multiple submissions are encouraged. Submissions are open from July 13 to Aug 17.

Another jam to put on your calendar is the 1 Hour or Less Game Jam hosted by Dice Exploder, one of my favorite game design podcasts. It runs from July 10 to Aug 10.

6. Summer Sales

• Free League Publishing: The publisher of Dragonbane, The One Ring, Alien, Vaesen, Forbidden Lands, and many other great RPGs has a huge sale on most of their games and supplements on DriveThruRPG until July 15. Free League has solo modules and supplements for:

  • The One Ring (Strider Mode available as a PDF)

  • Vaesen (Thursday’s Child available as a PDF)

  • Forbidden Lands (Solo Expansion available as a PDF)

  • Dragonbane (included in the core boxed Set)

  • The Walking Dead Universe (included in the core rulebook)

  • Twilight: 2000 (included in the core boxed set)

• Osprey Games: Osprey is running a sale on its board games, wargames, and RPGs until July 31. I picked up Frostgrave: Perilous Dark and Stargrave: Hope Eternal which are solo and co-op rules expansions for the popular tactical miniatures series.

• Nord Games: The creator of worldbuilding tools and oracles is offering 20% off plus a free gift on all featured products when you use the code SUMMERSALE.

• Everything Dice: The maker of beautiful handmade resin dice is having a sale with an extra discount on some of their new blue sets.

7. 🎲 Last Roll

• Dice Engine: Every two weeks, this new Substack from my friend curates a list of new tabletop RPGs and boardgame projects on Kickstarter and Gamefound. Dice Engine has a concise format for quick scanning and you don’t have to slog through AI slop, Dice Engine only covers 100% Human Made content.

• Digital DARK FORT: Enter and die over and over in this free “demake” of DARK FORT, the solo dungeon crawler that later became MÖRK BORG.

  ---

This index gathers all 26 interviews to date.
Clicking on the name will take you to their answer.

The Index

Alex T. — Designer of Across a Thousand Dead Worlds
Theme: Future Subject: Criticism
Q: What would the future you think you should have done differently?

Anica Cihla — Designer of Sin Eater
Theme: Commercial Subject: Decision
Q: Have you ever had to make the decision to sacrifice artist vision for the sake of broader commercial appeal?

Anna Blackwell — Designer of For Small Creatures Such As We
Theme: Experimental Subject: Project
Q: What has been the most experimental project you’ve worked on?

Chaoclypse — Designer, Artist, & YouTuber
Theme: Experimental Subject: Artwork
Q: Why do you enjoy constant experimentation with your art?

Chris Longhurst — Designer of over a dozen RPGs
Theme: Disappointing Subject: Design
Q: What is a disappointing design, to you?

Chris Schnetzler — Designer of Mood Rings
Theme: Future Subject: Genre
Q: What is a game genre you hope to make in the future?

Deborah — Host of the Geek Gamers YouTube Channel
Theme: Influential Subject: Mentor
Q: Who was an influential mentor in your life?

Elliot Davis — Designer, Artist, & Podcast Producer
Theme: Philosophical Subject: Reaction
Q: What philosophical reaction do you hope to create with your work?

Evlyn Moreau — Designer of games illustrated with wonderful whimsical detail
Theme: Collaborative | Subject: Career
Q: Which collaboration helped you the most to grow as a RPG designer?

Theme: Personal | Subject: Genre
Q: Which genre feels more personal to you?

Hodag RPG — Designer of Beneath the Dungeon Floor
Theme: Commercial Subject: Media
Q: How do you feel about the commercialization of media?

Jason Christopher Burrows — Designer of Nihilation
Theme: Experimental Subject: Project
Q: What experimental project would you like to work on?

Jeff Stormer — Host of Party of One podcast
Theme: Collaboration Subject: Media
Q: What’s your advice on being a good collaborator when it comes to media projects such as podcasts?

Jess Levine — Designer of I Have the High Ground and Going Rogue
Theme: Experimental Subject: Experience
Q: Do you have any tips for getting the most out of blind playtesting?

Ktrey — Writer of the d4 Caltrops blog
Theme: Nostalgic Subject: Artwork
Q: How do you create content without paying for artwork?

Mage Advice — Writer of Dungeon Shuffle Substack
Theme: Commercial Subject: Artwork
Q: How do you create content without paying for artwork?

M. Allen Hall — Designer of In Ruins, Sprinkles is Missing and Godspark
Theme: Disappointing Subject: Idea
Q: What is the TTRPG game design idea that turned out to be the most disappointing?

M. Allen Hall — Designer of In Ruins, Sprinkles is Missing and Godspark
Theme: Nostalgic Subject: Character
Q: Have you ever let nostalgia drive your character writing or design?

Matt Gomez — Designer of Detritus and Escape the Iron Dungeon
Theme: Unexpected Subject: Character
Q: What unexpected realization have you had about a character you've written?

Peter Eijk — Designer of Hiria: the Eternal City
Theme: Inspirational Subject: Experience
Q: Can you tell about an inspirational experience that influenced your games?

René-Pier Deshaies-Gélinas — Designer of Stoneburner
Theme: Unexpected Subject: Media
Q: What media coverage did you get on a project that was totally unexpected?

Rollinkunz! — Designer of DIE in a Dungeon
Theme: Challenging Subject: Media
Q: What’s the most challenging thing about working in this medium?

Royce Rosewood — Host of Science Fantasy Awesome solo RPG AP
Theme: Inspirational Subject: Project
Q: What projects inspire you?

Sam Leigh — Designer of Amanesis and Outliers
Theme: Technical Subject: Design
Q: What type of technology do you think should be used more in game design?

Shawn Tomkin — Designer of Ironsworn and Starforged
Theme: Challenging Subject: Failure
Q: Do you have a tip for managing failure in a solo TTRPG?

Susanah Grace — Designer of CHVLR
Theme: Challenging Subject: Artwork
Q: What has been the most challenging piece of artwork that you've made in your career?

Find them on Substack

These designers and creators are on Substack

Follow them on Bluesky

Most of the designers and creators listed in the Inquiracle index are included in The Soloist’s Solo & GMless TTRPG Creators Starter Pack.

PocketQuest, the annual RPG game jam hosted on the DriveThruRPG digital marketplace, wrapped up last month with 80 new “Dreams & Nightmares” themed games released.

Why it matters: DriveThruRPG is the leading digital tabletop game platform. By providing marketing support and front-page promotion, PocketQuest gives smaller creators an opportunity to get their games noticed.

PocketQuest Solo Picks

Here are a few of this year’s games that stood out to me:

• Station 736: Where Dreams Come From
  ☎️ Keep a multi-galactic somnium station running smoothly to send out dreams across the cosmos. As part of this ancient society, you make decisions every night based on ever-changing demands, ensuring dreams are delivered to all the sleepyheads in your pocket of the universe.

• Space Aces: Wreck Runners
  🚀 Explore dangerous drifting derelicts while live streaming your stunts and screwups to fans and sponsors across the galaxy. Dodge the space cops, fend off space pigeons, and survive the very worst of what the galaxy can throw at you, all while chasing likes, loot, and legendary status. I’ve played the earlier Spaces Aces games and this one looks to be just as silly and fun as those.

• Brightborne
  ⚔️ From the creator of the bestselling games ENTITY and KUROI, this dungeon-crawling roguelike, has an easy to follow gameloop and a clever diceless combat resolution system. Check out the creator’s tutorial videos.

• Time of Dreams
  😴 This is a rules-lite fantasy world-building RPG set in an age where heroes known as Adepts delve into a dimension of dreams that are the source of all things physical and metaphysical. Time of Dreams can be played solo or with a GM and group. In fact, the GM and players are encouraged to play solo between sessions so that they can bring to the table their new legends that come out of their adventures.

• Rustling Electric Sheep
  🖥️ You’re a cyberpunk dream-hacker wandering the Net. Using a deck of cards and 2d6, you explore wild digital landscapes, extract paydata, evade electronic countermeasures, and try not to get noticed by the Sandmen (the Dream Securtity Division of the Net Police). Designer Seamus Conneely packs a lot of flavor into just two trifold brochures.

• DreamCrawl
  🌓 This fantasy bag-building game uses beautifully illustrated double-sided hex tokens, with one side representing the dream version of a place and the other representing the nightmare version. The emotional status of your character determines which of the two random tables you will roll on to build the world’s story, and from which pile you will add a new hex to the bag.

✅ Lingo check: A bag-building game is a board game mechanic where players start with a bag containing a limited set of tokens or components. During the game, players draw tokens from the bag to perform actions, and they can also gain new tokens to add to their bag, gradually building up a more powerful and strategic combination.

PocketQuest Solo RPG Bundle

Seamus Conneely of Cannibal Halfling Gaming (and creator of PocketQuest entry Rustling Electric Sheep) has organized a bundle of 21 solo games from the event. You’ll save more than $30 with the bundle. The bundles for PocketQuest 2023 and 2024 are still available.

2. Solo and GM-less Games Crowdfunding

Galactic & Going Rogue

Do you have an Andor-shaped hole in your heart now that the series is over? You can fill it by telling your own stories of rebellion with Galactic & Going Rogue. These two GM-less RPGs (the former inspired by the original Star Wars trilogy and the later by Rogue One and Andor) have been around for a few years, but this new edition combines them in print with all-new art and layout. I’ve been a fan of both since I heard Going Rogue designer Jess Levine playing a session with on his Party of One podcast. The Kickstarter runs until June 30.

Sin Eater

Sin Eater is a solo RPG set in the wretched world of sin-eating: a real, historical practice where a person was hired to consume a ritual meal to spiritually absorb the sins of the recently deceased. You’ll design a unique ritual and gather real-world items based on prompts to create a ritual spread before you. With everything prepared, you perform the ritual using a coin-flip mechanic to balance the four humors (melancholic, phlegmatic, choleric, or sanguine). Will the ritual work or will you be forever tethered to a sullied soul? The Kickstarter runs until June 24.

Echoes in the Deep

In Echoes in the Deep you play as Peridot, a thief seeking revenge in the vast Free City of Eana. The gamebook blends classic choose-your-own-adventure (numbered paragraphs with choices that lead you down branching story paths) with modern solo RPG mechanics. At several points in the story, you can explore the Free City to gather resources or recruit new allies. Tools and random tables help you create and narrate these side quests. Echoes in the Deep uses a simplified version of the Fateforge ruleset, adapted for solo play. As a bonus, the gamebook comes with a Steam key for the Echoes in the Deep visual novel where you cand continue Peridot’s journey on your PC. The Kickstarter runs until July 3.

3. The Inquiracle

The Inquiracle is The Soloist’s self-interview microgame where creators roll a 20-sided die to determine a “theme” and a “subject” to make a question they answer.

Jess Levine — Jumpgate Games

Jess in an author and designer of games including the two-player dueling title I Have the High Ground and the GM-less, and Going Rogue.

🎲 Theme: (11) Experimental | Subject: (19) Experience
Q: Do you have any tips for getting the most out of blind playtesting?

A: “Ask people to record audio of their sessions. Feedback forms are great, but it’s invaluable to hear people think through and interpret your rules without you there. If you’re making a solo game, ask them to verbalize their thought process as they play—if they’re unsure how to do that, the AP podcast Folio makes for an excellent example of what that can look like.”

Anica Cihla — Atticus Haus

Anica is the founder of Atticus Haus, the studio behind Sin Eater.

🎲 Theme: (14) Commercial | Subject: (5) Decision
Q: Have you ever had to make the decision to sacrifice artist vision for the sake of broader commercial appeal?

A: “Only minimally. Sin Eater originally included a few darker themes, which ended up being softened in future iterations and left open-ended for the player to explore. One of my favorite things about designing solo games is how much trust you can put in the player to engage with the experience entirely to their own comfort level. I left a lot of things unspoken, knowing the person playing it would be able to fill in the blanks as they saw fit, and allowing the game to hold broader appeal and giving it easier marketability.”

Chris Schnetzler — Junk Food Games

At Junk Food Games, Chris designs and self-publishes solo and GM-less RPGs that combine big moments with quiet introspection. He recently released Moon Rings, a journaling game where you are a witch seeking to end the reign of the cursed Blood Moon.

🎲 Theme: (20) Future | Subject: (7) Genre
Q: What is a game genre you hope to make in the future?

A: “I would like to explore the horror genre at some point and step out of my comfort zone with writing. A concept I’ve had rattling around for a little while would be a solo game about crawling through a seemingly endless tunnel you're trapped in and maybe falling in love with it.”

4. The Soloist at GenCon

I’m heading to tabletop’s biggest show to play new games and meet up with creators, friends, and readers in person. If you’re at GenCon and have a game to show off or just want to say hello, send me a message here or on Bluesky. I’ll be handing out the Soloist Wanderer stickers while they last!

1. New Solo Releases

🏰 Forgotten Ruin: Adventure Wargame - Modern soldiers vs. ancient magic. Based on the Forgotten Ruin novels and powered by the solo Five X system (Five Leagues, Five Parsecs), this miniatures wargame lets you command a squad of US Army Rangers stranded in a fantasy world of orcs, dragons, and dark magic. Like other Five X games, your squad will fight through randomized missions, battle enemies controlled by the rules, and evolve over time with new loot, skills, and powers. Available now as PDF or hardback.

🪓 Bloody and Alone in Appalachia - A solo survival horror RPG set in the eerie hills of Eastern Kentucky. You play a lost city dweller who’s wandered into the wrong Appalachian town. Built on the Wretched & Alone system and adapted from the multiplayer RPG Bloody Appalachia. Available in PDF or print-on-demand from DriveThruRPG.

⛈️ Before the Storm - It’s just minutes before a high-stakes mission—an infiltration, assassination, or heist. Card-driven prompts guide you through what your character sees, hears, thinks, and feels in the moments before the action. Before the Storm, designed by Soloist favorite , has an interesting poker-like mechanic where you place cards on a grid to build the strongest hand possible. That final hand determines your character’s mindset in the last second before action.

🩸 Blood in the Margins - The creator of The Wretched, , has a new solo game of personal secrets and denial. In Blood in the Margins, you’re a gifted student at a prestigious academy—brilliant, ambitious, and now complicit in a murder. Built on an evolved version of Chris’ own Wretched & Alone system, the game uses cards, dice, and tokens to track the investigation closing in on you. Available now on itch.io.

🩰 Pirouette - A solo horror RPG about a ballet dancer performing for an amorphous eldritch horror. Each move in your routine brings you closer to exhaustion, injury, and making a costly mistake. Played with a tarot deck and a block tower. Available on itch.io on its own or as part of the Bringing Down the House bundle.

🏗️ Let us Build a Tower - While it’s designed as a standard GM-led RPG, Let Us Build a Tower is a nice fit for solo players who like OSR systems and don’t mind a bit of DIY hacking. Set in a fantasy Bronze Age world, players attempt to ascend the Tower to Heaven—a structure reshaped by divine chaos every time it’s entered. It’s that random mega-dungeon generation, matched with flavorful room descriptions and encounters, that look fun for solo play.

2. Solo RPGs Crowdfunding in May

🌲 The Balsam Lake Unmurders - A serial necromancer is raising the dead in a quiet Minnesota town, and it’s your job to track them down in Paul Czege’s (The Ink That Bleeds, Inscapes) new solo journaling game. Unmurders uses a standard playing card deck to drive play. Each card corresponds to a prompt that guides what you write: a conversation with a suspect, a clue about the necromantic method used, or time spent reflecting on the case. Hearts, diamonds, and clubs represent victims, suspects, and other townspeople; spades track your progress piecing together motive, method, and opportunity. A limited number of printed copies will ship as soon as funding clears. Kickstarter is live now.

😱 Liminal Grimoire - One of my favorite Substack writers, , has a collection of five pamphlet supplements for the modern horror RPG, Liminal Horror. The Liminal Grimoire includes multiple adventures as well as a solo-play toolset. You can also get, as an add-on, a five book bundle of M. Allen Hall’s solo RPGs. Live on Backerkit now.

❄️ Morkin: The Lords of Midnight Solo Adventure Game - A massive solo RPG based on The Lords of Midnight, a cult-favorite computer game from 1984. In this version, you are Morkin, a half-fey hero on a 30-day journey to stop an unnatural winter. The 290-page book includes character creation, exploration across a hex map, dynamic weather, travel mechanics, dungeon delves, and over 170 events and quests. You’ll upgrade Morkin’s stats and skills, manage hunger and fatigue, and battle enemies in tactical combat. Available as a PDF with at-cost print options, or as a limited-edition book. Kickstarter is live now.

On My Radar: Sin Eater - Inspired by the old ritual of consuming a dead person’s sins to cleanse their soul, this solo journaling game has you judge the life of the deceased. I’m excited by what I’ve seen so far and looking forward to playing. Kickstarting soon.

3. Solo Card Games of Micro May

Micro May is Kickstarter’s open call for game designers who want to launch small-scale tabletop games. You can browse all games launching during the event here. I’ve picked out a few that might interest solo players.

• 🎣 Shallow Regrets - A fishing game where you collect a progressively horrible haul of sea monsters. It’s a Button Shy wallet game version of Judson Cowan’s Deep Regrets and comes with no extra components and packaged in a vinyl wallet. While it’s built for 2 to 3 players, Shallow Regrets comes with a solo expansion where you play against Frod, a simulated opponent.

• 👸 Cinderella at Midnight - In this solo card game you draw and place cards to create a maze Cinderella must explore to complete her tasks, avoid her step-family, and attend the ball before midnight. The game is beautifully illustrated by the game’s designer.

• 🐉 In the Blink of a Dragon’s Eye - A fantasy novella where each chapter comes with its own mini-RPG. The story is set on a world where every person is born with a connection to a natural element—fire, water, air, stone—and follows a human and a dragon who form an unexpected bond. The story lays the foundation for a larger setting, Harbor of Blight, planned for future games and books. The RPGs are one-page, rules-light, and playable with just two six-sided dice.

• 📜 Hieroglyph Historian - In this 18 card solo game, you create words to collect parchments and decipher Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. It’s a mashup of games like Scrabble, Wordle, and Paperback Adventures.

4. Last Roll 🎲

I can’t keep up with all of the new RPG Substacks in my feed, but damn, there is some great content! Here are a few posts that stood out to me recently:

Grinning Rat

Doors in the Dungeon

A few months ago, I wrote that the most important thing to know about a dungeon is its theme. I stand by that logic, as it distills into many different aspects of the dungeon such as monsters, history, environment, etc…

Read more

a year ago · 22 likes · 5 comments · Nate Whittington

Rotten Chronicles

Rolling for Initiative I: Mastering the Mindset of Solo RPGs

Solo RPGs can seem daunting to everyone. From the uninitiated to the veteran players and GMs. Just presenting the idea of playing RPGs alone is enough to fill one’s mind with endless questions…

Read more

a year ago · 45 likes · 17 comments · Rotten Chronicles

The Geekerati Newsletter: Thoughts on Games & Pop Culture

Mayday! Mayday! This is Free Trader Beowulf!

I was in the process of my bi-weekly perusal of the Bundle of Holding website, when I noticed that they have Shannon Appelcline’s detailed history of the Traveller roleplaying game available for one…

Read more

a year ago · 12 likes · 1 comment · Christian Lindke

BACK SOLO BORG ON KICKSTARTER

SOLO BORG is a complete solo RPG, built from the bones of the dark fantasy game MÖRK BORG, but fully standalone with no experience with the original needed. Co-created by me and Chris Lowry (founder of Beyond Cataclysm), its made for both veteran solo players and the solo-curious.

After two years of writing The Soloist, listening to what players struggle with, and learning how designers tackle those challenges, I wanted to make something that solves the problems we keep running into.

5 Problems SOLO BORG Tries to Solve

1. I don’t know where to start

Problem: If you’ve never played a solo RPG before, it’s often hard to know how it works or how to make it fun.
SOLO BORG fix: It teaches you how to play solo. From scene structure to prompts, the game walks you through the process step-by-step.

2. Too many moving parts

Problem: Many solo games require the core rulebook, a separate solo supplement, maybe a GM emulator, or app.
SOLO BORG fix: It’s 100% standalone. All the rules, tables, tools, oracles, and generators are included. No other books (other than your notebook) are needed.

3. Too much to track

Problem: You spend more time managing inventories, calendars, maps, and NPC logs than actually adventuring.
SOLO BORG fix: It’s designed for minimal bookkeeping. Track what matters: your character, key people and places, and your storyline.

4. They take too long

Problem: Some systems have a lot of prep and long turns.
SOLO BORG fix: The S.T.A.R.T. Ritual is a repeatable 5-step loop that keeps scenes tight and focused. Built for 30-minute sessions that feel complete.

5. The story falls apart

Problem: Random tables don’t always lead to satisfying narratives.
SOLO BORG fix: Each class has a broad story arc, with unique goals and quest mechanics. A lightweight tracking system ties it together so your campaign builds meaning over time.

The Kickstarter page goes into more detail about these features and more. Look for updates on the project in future issues of The Soloist.

SOLO BORG on Rascal News

Chase Carter over at Rascal News sat down with me for a deep dive into the project. We talked about The Soloist, how SOLO BORG came to be, and much more. Check out the interview here.

1. 14 Dungeon Solo Games

Ker Nethalas | big-book RPG

You were executed. You woke up anyway. Now you navigate an endless necropolis.

What to expect:

• Grim tone and high tension — survival isn’t guaranteed

• Meaningful character creation

• Detailed random dungeon generation

• Unique bestiary — each creature has its own action table

It’s a dense game at first, but once the systems click, it runs fast. For solo players looking for grit, challenge, and atmosphere, Ker Nethalas delivers.

You are the Dungeon | journaling game

• Play as a sentient dungeon. Each turn alternates between Foray (adventurers enter) and Fallow (you grow stronger). Story prompts are driven by tarot card draws.

Beneath The Dungeon Floor! | rules-light RPG

• A complete party-based RPG in 6 pages. Dense with everything you need to solo a classic crawl in an hour — classes, rules, setting, monsters, and dungeon generation. Written and illustrated by Hodag RPG.

Cryptkeeper | dungeon-building RPG

• You are the frazzled manager of a broken crypt. You play with 26 playing cards which can each be used as a map tile or saved as an item, but whatever you discard becomes part of the map on the next floor. Fast and funny with a rogue-like feel.

Dark Fort | rules-light RPG

• The solo dungeon crawl that inspired MÖRK BORG. A streamlined system for generating random dungeons, combat, and loot in just a couple pages. Available as part of the MÖRK BORG Cult: Feretory supplement.

DIE in a Dungeon | board game / RPG hybrid

• Your polyhedral dice are adventurers. Send them into a card-drawn dungeon, make tactical decisions, and stop the invading monsters. No rolling in combat—DIE is all about smart strategy and planning.

Marching Order: Curse and Coin Edition | board game / RPG hybrid

• Command a party of scoundrels in branching narrative adventures with tactical combat. This jam-packed new edition adds “Endless Sewer Mode” with procedurally generated dungeons, 40+ new enemies, and the delightfully chaotic “Bullshit Dice” mechanic.

Solitary Depths | supplement

• A dungeon toolkit built for Solitary Defilement, itself a solo supplement for MÖRK BORG. I love supplements that are toyboxes of tools and that’s what community favorite delivers.

In Ruins | dungeon-building RPG

• Build a castle, let it crumble over centuries, and then fight for control. I recently backed this on Kickstarter because I love the concept, and writes one of my favorite TTRPG Substacks. In Ruins is open for late pledges.

How to Host a Dungeon 2nd Ed | dungeon-building RPG

• Create a dungeon, following its history through primordial chaos, ancient civilizations, monster infestations, and the rise of a final villain. Whimsical and fun art and writing give it an OSR vibe. Some rules could be clearer, but this is still a recommended dungeon-builder.

Grotten: 1-Bit Deeper | dungeon-building RPG

• A minimalist, tile-based dungeon crawler. Roll on random tables to fill rooms with monsters, traps, loot, NPCs and a final boss. Includes one-page rules, character creation, cut-out dungeon tiles and tokens, and lots of tables.

Bag of Holding | rules-light RPG

• Free one-page procedural dungeon crawling RPG. Draw random polyhedral dice from a bag to create your character, the adventure theme, dungeon location, and more. Bag of Holding squeezes a lot of adventure into a single sheet.

2D6 Dungeon | rules-heavy RPG

• Classic dungeon crawler. Explore randomly generated rooms, battle creatures, gain loot and XP while expanding your map on grid paper. High replayability, low prep, and once you grasp the core mechanic, it’s fast.

Ironsworn Delve | supplement

• Ironsworn’s exploration expansion. Provides options, tips, and setting details for quest-driven expeditions within perilous sites. Hordes of foes, encounters, loot and quest starters. Ironsworn is available as a free download.

2. The Solo Matrix: A First Solo Dungeon Generator

Before Ker Nethalas, Dark Fort, or How to Host a Dungeon, there was The Solo Matrix — a one-person attempt to automate the dungeon crawl. It’s one of the first third-party solo dungeon generators (the first I have found).

📜 In 1980, The Dungeoneer #17 printed an 11-page system for generating dungeons without a GM. The Solo Matrix by E. Al Hattlestad, Jr. included random generation tables you find today — for rooms, traps, encounters, and more.

The Solo Matrix was published incomplete — missing nearly half of its tables with no corrections came in later issues. It’s basically unplayable.

🧱 It’s a bit of a mess: badly organized, full of typos, and fixated on details like wall quality and light fixture placement.

😍 And yet, it’s wonderful!

This is peak old-school — equal parts grotesque, goofy, and whimsical. One table feels like a haunted house ride (blood from the ceiling, muttering in the dark, a sword on the floor).

Another table might send you to The Rubber Room, where all the monsters are wind-up toys.

It’s clunky and inconsistent, but it absolutely captures the chaotic charm of early RPG zines.

I’m tempted to finish writing the tables — The Solo Matrix Reloaded, anyone? Let me know in the comments!

3. The Inquiracle

The Inquiracle is The Soloist’s self-interview microgame for game creators. The creator rolls a 20-sided die twice to determine a “theme” and a “subject” to make a question that they answer.

Rollinkunz!, DIE in a Dungeon

Theme: (2) Challenging | Subject: (20) Media
Q: What’s the most challenging thing about working in this medium?

In order to bring even a tiny game from concept to completed form, you need to either give up some control of how the game turns out (by relying upon specialists in other disciplines and allowing them to put their own stamp on the work) or learn every single discipline required (including the ones you have no desire to do). Having tried both methods, I’m a much bigger fan of working collaboratively; it’s way more fun to place trust in someone you know is absolutely going to stick the landing on their end and thereby be free to pour all your effort into your specialty! (Unfortunately, this means either never making my own ideas or rising to a new challenge: convincing others that my ideas are worth making.)

Hodag RPG, Beneath the Dungeon Floor

Theme: (14) Commercial | Subject: (20) Media
Q: How do you feel about the commercialization of media?

I’m probably the wrong guy to ask about this because I grew up a pop culture obsessive; desperate to fit in and be noticed for being “up to date” and always, still, being years behind, somehow. I’m in the bracket of the Eldest of the Millennials, watching monoculture’s last stumbling breaths at the end of the analog age, giving us the digital hellworld we currently enjoy. Then again, the platform democratization of publishing has given me everything I have now as a creator—I am of two minds about the subject (in the immortal words of Tommy Lee Jone’s “Two-Face” in Batman Forever), but I can’t help but miss drawing from a smaller pool of influences to give contrast to our (no longer) “counterculture” hobby.

Ktrey, d4 Caltrops

Theme: (8) Nostalgic | Subject: (17) Artwork
Q: How do you create content without paying for artwork?

Our earliest games were with a Holmes Blue Dragon Rulebook from ‘77 that I found at a Yard Sale. It didn’t come with the Box, or Dice (we had to use the chits!), but after realizing it was a Game of some kind and not just a Magazine, I poured over it trying to understand the Rules. The art is pretty sparse in this presentation, so my imagination had to fill in a lot of gaps. I still remember marveling over the illustration on Page 3 of some kind of Lizard Person astride a Giant Reptilian Mount: I scoured the book looking for Rules for that creature, only to eventually realize that I could just “make them up!”

Mage Advice, Dungeon Shuffle

Theme: (14) Commercial | Subject: (17) Artwork
Q: How do you create content without paying for artwork?

I’d love to think one day I’ll have the budget to pay for commissioned art—but right now that’s not a reality. I made an early decision not to use A.I. art—mostly because I want my work to feel authentic. I’m lucky that I have access to some photo editing software that allows me to create some pieces for articles, particularly by manipulating public domain art—the Met Museum is a favourite. I’ve also relied on the generosity of strangers. Matthew S. Armstrong allowed me to use his fantastic Super Mario art for my Mushroom Knight subclass. I also had great fun using pieces by The Basic Expert from his Creative Commons project for the Dungeon Shuffle.

M. Allen Hall, In Ruins

Theme: (8) Nostalgic | Subject: (2) Character
Q: Have you ever let nostalgia drive your character writing or design?

I don’t know if it goes far enough back to be nostalgia, but in the first thing I ever published (a fantasy novel) I had a character named Beulah, a witch with a habit of turning people into chickens. Now that I am mostly writing adventures, whenever I have a place that could use a witch, Beulah comes back. In my own mind, it’s the same Beulah, who has now appeared in almost a dozen works, connecting all of these worlds back to where I started.

4. Substack Delvers

Some recent dungeony resources from Substack TTRPG writers.

• at The Grinning Rat has published an original dungeon generator, “The Teromino Dungeon”, inspired by Tetris’ blocky shapes. He’s even provided a free worksheet to help you make your own.

• has a bunch of excellent dungeon-related articles. “How to generate a dungeon map” breaks down several methods, with pros, cons, and examples for each. In “What makes a dungeon crawl good?”, the author highlights shared elements across board games, TTRPGs, and video games—concluding that “almost every game is made better by adding a sense of discovery, making choices matter, and creating a game arc.”

• “Dungeon Shuffle” is a free tool by designed to make dungeon creation fast, creative, and fun. Instead of doing the work for you, it sparks ideas and pushes you to build unique adventures in under 30 minutes. To celebrate, the creator is hosting a Dungeon Shuffle Jam through April.

5. Last Roll 🎲

• The Lone Adventurer has a bunch of videos focusing on solo dungeon games. This video reviews a bunch of smaller-form delving games I didn’t cover.

• I’ve praised ’ Delve for its brilliant blend of world-building, map drawing, RPG, and combat simulation—but one of its greatest strengths is the artifact you’re left with: a hand-drawn map of your Dwarven fortress. For a beautifully illustrated example, check out Kruggsmash’s video playthrough.

• d4 caltrops is a long-running blog of random generation tables. But these aren’t your usual location, loot, or random encounter tables. They’re fun and fresh ideas like “Why Does This Dungeon Remain Un-Plundered” or “What’s at the Bottom of This Pit?” Perfect to help solo delvers add flavor to their adventures. Check out all the Dungeon-tagged tables for delving inspiration.

6. SOLO BORG is Funded, Kickstarter Continues

SOLO BORG, my standalone solo RPG based on and compatible with MӦRK BORG, hit its funding goal in 12 minutes and already has more than 1000 backers with a couple weeks to go in the campaign. Thank you! Soloist readers make up at least 25% of those pledges. I just published a dozen answers in an updated FAQ if you have questions about the project. The Kickstarter campaign for SOLO BORG runs through April 23.

NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE YOU.

No party. No master. In SOLO BORG, it’s just you, your wits, and your inevitible demise.

SOLO BORG, the complete solo RPG rules and toolkit based on and compatible with the grim, dark fantasy RPG MÖRK BORG, is now live on Kickstarter. Co-created by me and Chris Lowry (founder of Beyond Cataclysm), SOLO BORG is a standalone, single-player system for RPG players looking for fast, structured, dark fantasy adventures.

Designed to run in satisfying 30-minute chunks, it’s for both veteran solo players and the solo-curious—no MÖRK BORG experience required, just a willingness to die brutally and often. It’s the result of three years of writing The Soloist, listening to what frustrates players, and learning how designers solve those problems.

BACK SOLO BORG ON KICKSTARTER

What’s Inside SOLO BORG’s 80+ Pages?

• The G.R.A.V.E. Ritual: A repeatable 5-step gameplay loop that guides players through a complete 30-minute session. Grim Situation → Reckoning → Action → Verdict → Exit

• Random Generation Tables: MÖRK BORG thrives on chaos and SOLO BORG arms players with dozens of random tables built specifically for dark fantasy solo roleplaying.

• Worldbuilder: Forge a setting with a 3-step tool that establishes the geography, fills it with cities and wonders of humanity’s Great Age, and then sees how centuries of decay have twisted these places into their current form.

• Oracles for the Unknown: Simulating a GM, the Oracle Tables answer players’ “Yes/No” questions or generate word combinations that spark ideas. SOLO BORG provides best practices on how to interpret the often weird results of oracle tables.

• Quest System: Start with a simple goal or let fate decide. Players can choose how much direction they want with a basic task generator (perfect for one-shots) or a deeper campaign mechanic..

• Six Solo-Optimized Classes: THE EXILE, THE HUNTER, THE THIEF, THE MESSENGER, THE PROPHET, and THE HUNTED—each with tailored quest mechanics and background tables.

• 100% Human-Made Art & Layout: Original work by Chris and me, and contributions from experienced BORG artists such as Łukasz Piwiński (Vault Crawler), Droned Artworks, Tania Herrero (The Bread Wyrm), (Brandon Yu), (Juarez Tanure), and Rollin Kunz.

The Kickstarter page goes into more detail about these features and more. Look for updates on the project in future issues of The Soloist.

Thank you for reading, supporting, and sharing The Soloist. It started as a small personal project a two years—and it’s grown because of your interest and encouragement. I wouldn’t be launching SOLO BORG without you!

FOLLOW THE PROJECT ON BLUESKY

1. New Solo and GMless RPGs

🚢 The Darkened Son is a Lovecraftian gamebook adventure with 200 sections that follows a rising silent film star who inherits a crumbling estate in England. Between film jobs, you set sail from the US aboard the SS Leviathan, bound for Southampton and unaware of the horrors that await. The game has a simple custom ruleset and beautiful color illustrations.

📚 The Archivium is a dark academia/cozy horror journaling RPG where you play a first-year university student drawn into a secret society hidden deep within the oldest archives of a prestigious school. As the night custodian, your role is to safeguard (or hoard) knowledge while staying one step ahead of the lurking horrors that would gladly consume your soul like soup.

🧝‍♀️ Hunters of the Glade 2nd Edition is a solo journaling RPG that follows the life of an Elven hunter. Beginning with the Training Years, you learn the art of hunting under the guidance of the elders. Stepping into the Early Hunting Years, you explore the land and hone your skills. During the Experienced Years, you lead hunting expeditions, face dangerous creatures, encounter mysterious figures, and discover ancient ruins. Finally, in the Elder Years, your journey comes full circle as you pass down your hard-earned wisdom to the next generation.

💀 Blood Engine Essential is a lean and brutal OSR game designed for unforgiving adventures. It streamlines character creation, has deep customization through a flexible tag system, and a clock mechanic to track dangers, resources, and progression. With lethal, tactical combat where every hit lands, success depends on player ingenuity over dice rolls. The 79-page digital book includes all core rules, character creation tools, a progression system, an adventure, and a wealth of weapons, spells, and monsters.

🔥 The Heartlight Chronicles is a journaling game where you explore a peaceful, whimsical world through daily prompts that encourage self-reflection and storytelling. Each day, you’ll navigate small challenges, guided by curiosity, kindness, or creativity, as you interact with the village and uncover new discoveries.

2. Crowdfunding

Wrath of the Wyvern gives solo RPGs the deluxe treatment that’s usually reserved for big box boardgames—innovative mechanics, fresh lore, multiple books, minis, cards, digital support and great human-made art.

This open-world hexcrawl is set in the Umbral Highlands, a mythical land inspired by Scottish Celtic mythology, where monstrous wyverns dominate the skies and humanity teeters on the edge of extinction. You play as a lone hunter fighting to reclaim a dying world. It features:

• Tactical solo RPG that blends exploration, survival, and strategic combat.

• No dice—a six-card Fate Deck resolves saves, encounters, and more.

• Hexcrawl with replayable branching storylines and shifting faction influence.

I’m very excited for Wrath of the Wyvern. It looks like a modernized Barbarian Prince on steroids!

Zhenya’s Wonder Tales is a set of six card games that weave dark, Slavic-inspired fairy tales in just 1-2 hours. Guided by your mysterious host, Zhenya, you’ll journey through an enchanted Eastern Europe that never was—falling in love with a bear, battling shape-shifting fae, or searching for your stolen skin high above Devil’s Bridge. Each game uses a deck of 22 beautifully illustrated cards to shape the tale. Packed in a compact magnetic box, the set includes 135 full-color cards, solo and group play instructions, and map.

A Land Once Magic is a pocket-sized, GMless worldbuilding. Using a deck of playing cards, players collaboratively create ✅post-fantasy worlds through prompts. A Land Once Magic will interest fans of The Quiet Year or those looking to create a completely unique setting for an RPG campaign.

✅ Lingo check: “Post-fantasy” generally refers to fantasy fiction that goes beyond classic tropes often by emphasizing realism, blurring the line between good and evil, and exploring the consequences of magic.

✊ Why We Fight is a 1-5 player solarpunk, GMless RPG about collective resistance and building a future where no one has to “earn” the right to live. You lead a crew from the Community Alliance, an eco-punk movement standing against the White Fist, a fascist militia enforcing the dystopian rule of billionaire overlords. As you travel through rewilding lands, you’ll protect people, defend nature, and fight for a better world.

3. Last Role 🎲

🖨️ Print and Play

Legend of Hexdom is a roguelike print-and-play adventure for 1-8 players with cooperative, competitive, and solo campaign modes. It successfully kickstarted in 2024 but is available now to everyone. I saw Agent Solo Runthrough’s play session video and it looks like just the thing to satisfy that hexcrawl itch in a compact and fast (under an hour a session) form.

🌏 Worldbuilding

Deadline, the news-chronicling, map-making solo game where you are a reporter covering a city of your own creation, is now available from Wanderer’s Tome. The rule book evokes an old newspaper complete with advertisements (most from Kickstarter backers. I love the one they created for The Soloist! Read my Solo Session actual report—creating the steampunk Venice-inspired city of Lunicia.

🪖 Solo War Games

Adam Knight has written a fantastic blog post for Noble Knight Games about solo historical war games. Adam’s post is packed with insights on how these games work, why they’re so engaging, and how to pick the right one for you.

4. Solo Borg Kickstarter Launching March 25

The cataclysm approaches! SOLO BORG, a standalone solo RPG for playing MÖRK BORG on your own, is coming to Kickstarter on March 25.

Created by me and CM Lowry of Beyond Cataclysm, SOLO BORG provides tools for grimdark solo play—where you’ll discover brutal challenges and doomed adventures with your lone wanderer.

What Will Be Inside?

• How to Play Solo: Learn how to take notes, interpret an oracle, and shape an adventure without a GM

• Examples of Play: Follow a doomed wanderer as they struggle to survive using the tools provided in the game.

• Random Generation Tables: Dozens of tables built specifically for dark fantasy solo roleplaying

• Worldbuilding Toolkit: A 3-phase (Plow, Seed and Rot) setting creator

• The Ritual: A 5-step repeatable gameplay loop for 30 minute sessions

• Quest System: Start with a simple goal or let fate decide your purpose

• Six Character Classes: The Exile, The Hunter, The Thief, The Messenger, The Prophet, and The Hunted

• Gorgeous Art & Layout: With a combination of in-house art and design and contributions from experienced BORG artists

• And more!

Face the darkness alone. SOLO BORG is coming.

We’re in the final days of “Zine Month,” the crowdfunding event hosted by Kickstarter and Crowdfundr. In this issue I’ve picked 10 games for as low at $4 that look interesting but haven’t hit their funding goals. What caught my eye is marked with an 👁️. Check them out soon, some have only hours left in their campaigns!

👹 Rumbling of the Giants is an 8-page zine filled with world lore, art, and mechanics to bring the terror and tyranny of a frost giant into your tabletop RPG. It explores the legend of a fearsome giant through a bard’s song of a fallen knight, a necromancer’s journal entry, and the ramblings of a mad lich.

👁️ Prototype: This $4 zine is a proof of concept for creating a comprehensive tool to build brutal giants, uncanny fey, and tyrannical dragons.

☢️ Zones is a solo-friendly modern sci-fi tabletop RPG inspired by immersive survival simulation videogames like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. You explore a radiated, procedurally generated world filled with artifacts of extraordinary power and unique NPCs.

👁️ Sasquatch Games: I enjoyed the solo mechanics in Glide, Cody Barr’s Dune-inspired RPG. And Zone’s preview edition is already fun to play with.

🔮 The Find is a 30-page horror journaling game inspired by films like Hellraiser and Jumanji, where the arrival of a mysterious object changes the lives of the protagonists.

👁️ Chain-journaling: When the game is over, the diary can be passed to a friend who will play your story’s sequel and pass it on in turn.

💖 Heartbeat Highschool is a solo journaling dating simulation RPG. You play a 17 year old who has moved to a new town and high school in the late 1990s. You have schoolwork, a part time job, and opportunities for an active social life.

👁️ Calendar gaming: Use a planner to manage your weekly activity pool of dice to study, work, and pursue hobbies. On weekends you can make calls or go on dates using dice rolls to test compatibility.

☕ Greasy Spoon is a system-neutral and solo-friendly zine inspired by late 20th century New Jersey diners. Designed as a lore-heavy, rules-light supplement, it provides adventure hooks, NPCs, unique gear, and a d100 locations table.

👁️ Underground zine vibe: This book really delivers on the classic cut-and-paste DIY zine style with 20 hand-drawn full-color pages in an oversized horizontal format.

🚀 What We Found Beyond the Stars is a GMless hard Sci-fi game about cooperation between a small crew discovering alien worlds. It’s played with a standard set of dice and a tarot deck.

👁️ Combat-free: The game’s focus is working as a team to solve problems that arise to build the world.

🏰 Collaborative Story Books: Fantasy Adventures is a children’s book without a story—just rich, hand-drawn settings to spark collaborative tales. Guided prompts and storytelling tips are provided to help adults create imaginary worlds with little kids.

👁️ Worldbuilding with kids: Kids are natural storytellers. I love the idea of a tool to help adults and kids create imaginary stories together.

👾 Enter the Space Labyrinth is a solo Sci-Fi RPG where you explore a monster-infested science station, searching for air, weapons, and a way out. You will navigate hazards, uncover events, and wield the powerful Star Sword to survive.

👁️ Retro videogame: Inspired by classic LCD handheld videogames. I’m interested in trying out its procedural space station map.

🩸 Vortex of Blood is the fifth Night Office adventure. It is a Lovecraftian solo RPG book played with a tarot deck, with multiple narrative paths and many ways to die.

👁️ Horror bureaucracy: The book is described as a new exercise for Night Office field operatives that allows roleplaying a journey through magico-temporal space without having your mind devoured by space jellies.

⚔️ Kal-Arath: Twin Sun Sutra is a solo campaign for Kal-Arath, the solo-friendly procedural sword & sorcery RPG. Twin Sun Sutra features a short comic, new play modes, several tables, and deadly monsters.

👁️ Kal-Arath: This old school RPG from is a favorite of many readers of The Soloist. I’ve been meaning to write up a Kal-Arath play report for Solo Sessions, and this expansion gives me one more reason. You can check out ’s excellent video playthrough series here.

2. For Small Creatures Such as We Expansion

Love & Lust, the first expansion to ’ For Small Creatures Such As We, released last week. In it you will find new mechanics and events to explore the relationships of your alien crewmates. You can befriend, romance, and even start a family with them or other characters. Explore their likes and dislikes, their dreams, their kinks, how they reproduce, how their family units are structured, and much more. In the expansion, you can:

• Explore three new worlds,

• Undertake new missions,

• Choose new captain backgrounds, crewmate skills, and ship systems,

• And have children on your ship as part of the crew’s family or as passengers.

Anna reports that A Guide To Fauna, an expansion focused on xenozoology and creating alien creatures, is nearing completion. For Small Creatures Such as We was one of my favorite releases last year. Check out the Solo Session play report to get a feel for the game.

3. News Bits

• In 2024, the DOTS RPG Project introduced the first mass-produced Braille RPG Dice to help make tabletop gaming more accessible for blind players. The RPGs for Accessible Gaming Bundle funds production of additional dice sets for non-d20 systems and supports DOTS’ advocacy for accessibility at gaming conventions.

• The Lone Toad reviewed Sundered Isles: Seafaring Adventures for Ironsworn: Starforged.

• The crowdfunding platform BackerKit told Polygon that it tripled revenues in 2024. The top campaign was th $4.6M raised for MCDM RPG: Draw Steel.

4. SOLO BORG Update

SOLO BORG, The Soloist’s standalone rulebook for playing MÖRK BORG without a GM, is leveling up. I’m partnering with Chris Lowry of Beyond Cataclysm, who will co-create and publish the project. Chris has been making solo RPGs for years, and is a seasoned a MÖRK BORG veteran. His latest project, MÖRK ORG, is a horrifying game set inside a terribly dull office environment.

I’ve been speaking with Chris about SOLO BORG for only a few weeks and I’ve already learned a ton from him that’ll make the game better. With this partnership, we’re expanding the book’s scope, bringing on multiple artists, and refining the design. To accommodate the new content, we’re shifting the Kickstarter launch to mid-March.

Follow SOLO BORG on Kickstarter to be notified when the campaign goes live.

Follow SOLO BORG on Kickstarter

It’s February and that means Kickstarter is hosting Zine Quest and Crowdfundr is running Tabletop Nonstop. Dozens of tabletop game creators are announcing and crowdfunding new games and supplements during “Zine Month”.

What’s a Zine?

• Zines trace their origins to early 20th century amateur printers producing small runs on specific topics. This included writers of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance who self-published “little magazines” to undermine the established literary system.

• Sci-fi fans in the 1930s began writing self-published works which later expanded to genres like comics and horror. The punk music scene in the 1970s and 1980s used zines to promote music groups and venues—rejecting corporate labels and mainstream publications.

Zines and RPGs

• Zines have been a part of RPG culture since the beginning:

  • In 1975, Len Lakofka’s Liaisons Dangereuses—a “Dippy” zine about the board game Diplomacy—began covering D&D just a year after its release.

  • The Dungeoneer, created by Jennell Jaquays and Mark Hendricks in 1976, became one of the first zines dedicated to D&D. It helped shape the way we engage with RPGs today—promoting creativity, house rules, and DIY content. It also demonstrated that independent creators could influence the broader RPG industry.

Are Zine Month Zines Really Zines?

Zine Month blurs the line between DIY zine culture and small-press RPG publishing. While most projects are self-published, creator-driven, and niche, Zine Month is also a corporate marketing event. As says in this issue’s interview, Zine Month’s spirit is “small, weird, fun, affordable.” But some, like , argue it favors established creators over newcomers.

In most cases, what creators showcase during Zine Month fits the classic fanzine model, but the event lacks the anti-establishment spirit of the 20th-century zine scene. Still, dozens of creators are launching amazing projects this month—and that’s worth celebrating!

2. The Games of Zine Month 2025

Here are 10 solo and GM-less zines that caught my eye. I’ve marked what I find interesting with an 👁️.

Heavy Weighs the Crown is a solo game played from the perspective of a magical crown, watching monarchs come and go while helping to decide the fate of the realm.

👁️ Two great solo game creators Jason Price (Notorious) and Jack Harrison (Artefact and Bucket of Bolts) are collaborating on this one. See the short interview with Jason below.

Against Time and Death and The Worlds We Leave Behind are separate duet time-travel RPGs about rival agents rewriting history inspired by the Hugo Award winning book, This Is How You Lose the Time War.

👁️ The book is great material for a two-player game—both epic and personal. It will be interesting to compare how these two games explore the concept.

Caught in The Rain is a solo RPG system for creating investigative mysteries from gloomy noir to far-future sci-fi.

👁️ I’m intrigued by a solo mechanic that seeks to create mystery narratives with clues and false leads that unfold as you play. , of the Lost Toad, wrote a great preview and interview with the designer. Check it out here.

The Traveller is a solo and GM-less RPG about an Earthling on a mission to investigate extrasolar planets, gather and share knowledge with a mandate to do no harm. The game explores what keeps a person together when they’re far from home.

👁️ Sci-fi worldbuilding and exploration is my jam!

Catcrawl is an exploration game for 1-4 players about a cat in a new home. The exploration can be curious and cute or chaotic and destructive.

👁️ This hexcrawl for a cat comes with an apartment map to explore and paper cut and fold minis. Also, my daughter’s cat is moving to a new home—so this is personal!

Tail-end Charlie is a solo game about the contrast between the dangerous life of a WWII tail gunner and the normality of pubs, cinema, and girls between missions.

👁️ The game’s playing card mechanics help build relationships with crew and romantic partners, but the chance of survival in the game is about 50/50—similar to what it was for a bomber tail gunner during the war.

A Perfect Rock is a GM-less worldbuilding adventure game for 1-4 players about searching for a new planet to call home.

👁️ You build planets using real rocks that you’ve collected!

O Patron Mine is a prompt-based solo RPG about a regular person, their encounter with a powerful entity, and the contract they enter into. The prompts, inspired by tarot’s Major Arcana, shape the who, where, and what of the encounter between the player and patron.

👁️ Lots of potential replayability with 66 prompts for determining patrons, meetings details, and contract terms.

Realms: Etria is a solo and GM-less RPG that blends storytelling and strategy. Players generate scenes using a chapter-based system, then arrange them into a narrative before playing through them with dice-driven challenges.

👁️ The flexible chapter system combined with dice challenges is intriguing.

3. Jason Price Interview

Jason Price is an ENNIE and IGDN-nominated writer and game designer from Southampton, UK. He runs Always Checkers Publishing and focuses on solo and GM-less TTRPGs including one of my favorites, Notorious. Jason has a new game launching during Zine Quest.

Why is Zine Quest important for indie RPG creators?

In my experience, it’s a great event to jump in as a first-time creator—my first game, A Complicated Profession was written for Zine Quest 3 back in 2021! I’m always drawn in by the supportive community and how exciting it is to see what others are making. Having a date to work towards each year really helps to focus your mind too.

What makes it the right event to launch Heavy Weighs the Crown?

It’s a staple-bound, DL-sized zine, with an interesting pitch and no frills. In my opinion, it perfectly fits the ethos of Zine Quest—small, weird, fun, affordable.

For fans of Notorious, what will feel familiar in this game?

Notorious has been praised for how easy it is to navigate and play, even for beginners. I hope Heavy Weighs the Crown is similarly accessible, with a theme that most people interested in RPGs would be familiar with (ruined realms, fantasy monarchs, magical items). Torben’s rad art style is also instantly recognisable. [Editor's Note: Torben created the cover art for The Soloist.]

What’s different?

Notorious uses two D6 dice to resolve actions, with prompts for optional journalling. Heavy Weighs the Crown is a pure journalling game where you'll answer questions to build a short story of your fantasy realm—either alone or as a world-building exercise with your RPG group.

This is a colab with Jack Harrison—how has that shaped the game?

Heavy Weighs the Crown is based on two of Jack’s other games, Artefact and Bucket of Bolts (both Zine Quest alumni!) so it’s been useful to bounce ideas off him and figure out how it could work. We've also recently been co-writing card-based versions of both games for the Lost & Found collection, so we’re neck-deep in this system.

4. Follow Zine Month Creators on Bluesky

Over 60 Zine Month creators opted into the Bluesky “starter pack.” You can use this to pick all or some of the creators you want to follow and hear directly from them. You can also follow the list seperately.

5. The Soloist’s SOLO BORG Coming to Zine Quest

I will be launching the Kickstarter campaign for SOLO BORG during Zine Quest 2025. It’s a 46-page standalone game based on and compatible with the award-winning MÖRK BORG RPG. SOLO BORG will work as a complete single-player RPG on its own, but its systems and generation tables will supplement MÖRK BORG and other games.

What Will Be Inside?

• An Intro to Playing Solo RPGs to teach the fundamentals

• Worldbuilding Tools to create a unique setting

• Quest Generators to provide purpose for your adventuring

• Oracles to inspire story elements and add unexpected twists

• NPC and Companion Behavior rules to develop unpredictable allies and foes

• Random Encounters and Challenges designed specifically for solo play

• Mysteries and Veils system to keep your games surprising and challenging

• And more!

Follow SOLO BORG on Kickstarter to be notified when the campaign goes live.

Follow SOLO BORG on Kickstarter