🎲 Groundbreaking solo system's 2nd edition, using solo games for writing, and more

1. Mythic gets first new edition in 20 years

The new edition of Mythic features all new art from Jorge F. Muñoz.

Mythic GM Emulator, the groundbreaking system that established the concept of oracle-style ✅ solo tabletop RPGs, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with the release of its first completely new edition.

✅ Lingo check: oracles are mechanisms, like tables, which assist decision-making and narrative development by generating random outcomes and responses to player questions.

The 228-page 2nd edition has been rewritten completely to make Mythic more approachable to new players. While the core mechanics haven’t changed, experienced Mythic fans will find clarifications, updated tables, and new options.

• “I had the benefit of two decades of playing Mythic, hearing from players, making supplements for it, making Mythic Magazine, and talking with people about it,” said the system’s creator Tana Pigeon.

• “I try to take into account different play styles and it also offers a lot more options so you can customize your adventures the way you like.”

I asked Tana for advice on using the new edition as an entrypoint to playing RPGs as a solo player.

• “Allow yourself to have an adventure or two that are learning experiences. Once you get comfortable I suggest trusting your instincts as you play.”

• “Mythic works by giving you prompts that you interpret and taking the prompts too literally can short circuit your imagination. So I recommend running with what those prompts inspire for you. Instead of asking, ‘What does this prompt mean?’ ask yourself, ‘What does this prompt make me think of?’ And most importantly, have fun!”

More illustration work from Jorge F. Muñoz for Mythic’s new edition.

As a GM emulator, Mythic is meant to be played with a game system you choose and isn’t intended as an introduction to roleplaying in general. It’s not just for playing your favorite RPG solo, it’s also great for learning a new RPG, testing it out solo before playing it with others.

Over 20 years, Tana and the Mythic community have developed many supplements that work with Mythic as well as other systems for solo or group play. These include The Crafter Series of books that provide tools and technique for building adventure content and Mythic Magazine, Tana’s monthly solo gaming toolbox.

Go Deeper:

• RPG Tips’ interview with Tana from February is dense with news and insights

• World Mill Game’s resource page has downloads, tutorials, links, and more

• Mythic Discord is home to an active community

• Tana’s Patreon, which I support, is the home of Mythic Magazine

2. Author uses solo games for world-building

Clare C. Marshall is a prolific creator. The self-publishing author has written 9 young adult novels, produces a podcast based on her worlds, and hosts a YouTube channel where she uses solo RPGs and tools to create new stories.

• Her Let’s Build Wingtorn YouTube series is part actual play entertainment and part fantasy worldbuilding tutorial for writers. Clare uses the cooperative world-building RPG Microscope to develop the Wingtorn series.

• “Microscope was one of my first solo game experiences. I'm discovering the backyard of the world as I create it.”

• Clare has a concise instructional video on Microscope and how she modified its rules for solo play and to support with her writing.

Her channel also includes beginner-friendly actual play tutorials for other world-building games including Ex Novo, Journey, and Lineage.

A year ago, Clare was diagnosed with cancer and in her most recent video she discusses how she used RPGs to outline an entirely new novel while undergoing treatment.

• “I turned to solo RPGs for outlining and writing because it allowed me to create things when I wasn’t feeling the best.”

Like her other videos, it’s full of interesting tips and tools, and it’s also the story about what she has been going through. It ends on a happy note with the successful completion of her cancer treatment and the outline which has become the basis of her next novel.

Go Deeper:

• C. Marshall Publishing site with tutorials and information on self-publishing

• Wingtorn is Clare’s YA fantasy serial podcast written and performed by Clare

• The Story Engine deck is another favorite tool Clare uses for her writing

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3. Last roll 🎲

Art by Oscar Westberg, a Swedish freelance illustrator and comic creator.

• 🧔 Stoneburner has just launched on Kickstarter. It’s a solo-friendly tabletop RPG of demon hunting and community building in a dwarven asteroid mine developed by René-Pier Deshaies-Gélinas and Galen Pejeau.

• 🐺 The Wolves of Langston, the choose-your-own-adventure-style solo mystery that uses the game mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons: 5th Edition, is now available digitally.

• 🏝️ A recent video by Chaoclypse has some great tips for using solo adventures to create content for group tabletop RPGs as he builds the island of Karth for Cairn.

• 🌏 Worldbuilding Corner is a step-by-step video blog that uses science as the foundation for creating a game or story setting.

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4. Join me on Notes

Notes is a new space on Substack for us to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more. I plan to use it for snackable news that readers of The Soloist might be interested in.

How to join

Head to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app. As a subscriber to The Soloist, you’ll automatically see my notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around!

You can share notes of your own. I hope this becomes a Twitter alternative where readers of The Soloist can share thoughts, ideas, and interesting quotes from things we're reading.