Why I Play Solo RPGs

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Tabletop RPGs were built from the very start to be collaborative games where people come together to tell stories and accomplish grand quests. So why do I choose to willingly play games by myself (Insert joke here)? Well read along and you will find out!

Time

This is by far the biggest reason. I just don't have the time to play more than my one weekly campaign. A busy life leads me to make some hard decisions. More time playing games is less time with my family or working. But with solo games, I don't have to give in to just having one gaming session a week, I can play a few minutes here or a few minutes there, or I can even sit down and play for a few hours if I want to.

The flexibility of solo gaming allows me to fit it in when I have the time to do so. There is also the travel aspect. When I have to travel for work, I can easily bring a journal or laptop and play on the airplane or at the hotel easily enough. 

Try out new systems and settings

Let's say you just bought a new rule set and you are excited to try it out with your group of friends, but it's not something you've played before? Why not try a solo campaign to learn the rules in a quiet and easy way? That way you have experience before you jump straight into a campaign with other people. This is another strength of solo games. 

People learn rules and new systems at their own pace, and sometimes a GM may think they have a set of rules figured out but then your players may start asking questions and clarifications, and your knowledge is a bit short. Well, by playing solo beforehand, you can try out combat mechanics and travel mechanics, or whatever unique mechanics your game may have.

Take the story the way you want it to go

Have you ever played in a group and thought "I'd really like to talk to this NPC more" or "What if we went into that room" or "What if we just went off the trail right here and explored"?  But your group wanted to continue down a different path? Well with solo games you can do that. You can do whatever you want, go wherever you want to go, and talk to whoever you want to in a solo game. It is all up to you! 

I've had some incredibly unique adventures playing Solo-RPGs that I can almost guarantee a group of people wouldn't have been interested in doing. 

Stop playing when you want to

Alternatively, let's say the solo game you are playing is no longer interesting? Fine, no problem, stop playing. You can just stop. Put down your pen and paper, or computer and walk away. Maybe come back to it if you want to or don't, it's all good! You can't just stop a campaign on a head when playing with a group, there may be group reasons why the game keeps going. 

Side note, if you are in a traditional game and not having fun anymore, please speak to your fellow players or GM! Don't hold onto it until you are an unhappy gremlin!

A great community

Community? With solo games? That doesn't make sense! But the solo community is really strong. Check out the subreddit, R/Solo_Roleplaying, and the discord community Lone Wolf Roleplaying. They are great places to talk about your campaign and to get to know what other people are playing. 

If you are unsure where to start with Solo RPGs or are stuck with a certain point of your game, these two communities are a great place to ask questions and get to know other Solo roleplayers. 

A really strong and emerging ecosystem

Maybe you've got Ironsworn or its sci-fi counterpart, Starforged. Maybe you've seen a new DnD 5E solo module. You could have seen the huge amount of indie solo games on Itch.io. The fact is that solo RPGs, while not necessarily new, are a booming portion of the RPG community. Every day there are new solo games getting funded on Kickstarter, being included with mainstream rules or being played on youtube. Jump in and find something new and cool to play. 

Why do you play solo games? I'd love to hear about it in the comments. 

If you'd like some examples of solo play, take a read of my solo The One Ring 2E campaign, set in the world of Lord of the Rings! 

And I've joined Twitter! Follow me @croakersrpg!

RPG Books I Use (And support the blog!)

These are the books I used or referenced in this write this blog. These are affiliate links, if you click this link and buy something from Drive Thru RPG, I get a small cut of the price at no extra cost to you. It will help support the blog and allow me to buy new and interesting books!

Ironsworn: Starforged - This is a fantastic Solo-first game developed by Shawn Tomkin. It has powerful tools for creating an amazing sci-fi adventure. I can't recommend it more!

You know what, I can recommend it more. Just go get it! Such a fantastic experience!

Ironsworn - The OG of solo-gaming, at least for me. Written by Shawn Tomkin, this was my first solo experience (insert joke here) and I loved it. Great low fantasy setting with strong world-building tools and fantastic oracles. The core book is also free, so go get it!