Craft Items with Epics Stories in these Four Solo Games
What is similar between Excalibur, the Millennium Falcon, the Ship of Theseus, and the Elder Wand? They are all items with complex and interesting backstories that often outlive and outlast their owners.
With several different Solo RPGs, you can create items of such an epic scale and story! In these games, you can make valiant weapons, exotic spaceships, powerful spellbooks, and magical works of art.
Artefact by Jack Harrison of Mousehole Press
https://mouseholepress.itch.io/artefact
Items of power do not die; they are just lost for a time before someone finds them again, and their story continues. That is the premise behind Artefact by Mousehole Press. Firstly, this is a well-organized and easy-to-read book. You start by picking an artifact. It can be a weapon, a shield, a piece of jewelry, a deck of cards, and more. You will now play the game from the point of view of the item, and you can draw the item.
You are also provided with a list of questions you can answer to help explain the item and how it was created.
Next, you take your item through a series of Keepers, which are the people who temporarily own your item and use it for good or bad things. Keepers will always lose the item and eventually, after a period of time, move on to another Keeper until it is lost forever.
A cool part of Artefact is that it asks you to replicate the march of time by actually resting as a player for a period of time. It really drives home how it would feel to be an artifact, lost for decades or years.
You can then take this item with all its rich history and put it into any fantasy RPG game. No doubt your players will love the backstory of these items.
Bucket of Bolts by Jack Harrison of Mousehold Press
https://mouseholepress.itch.io/bucket-of-bolts
Another excellent solo journaling game by Jack Harrison of Mousehold Press. Bucket of Bolts takes the game in a completely different direction. Ever love the ‘lived in’ feeling of spaceships like the Millennium Falcon or Serenity? You can tell those ships predate their current owners and will probably be playing around the galaxy long after those owners lose the ship in a card game or it was impounded by the Imperial Security Agency (or whoever).
Well, in Bucket of Bolts, you can follow the ship in a similar way to how items were created in Artefact. You’ll start by imagining a ship and who built it, a name, and some traits. Then you can draw a mockup of it as a brand new shining spaceship.
Similar to Artefact, you’ll then follow the ship as it goes through different captains, and time passes. My favorite prompt is about your ship becoming part of a bar in a seedy spaceport for a time. How awesome is that for storytelling?
Again, like Artefact, you can then use your ship for any Sci-fi themed RPG like Fantasy Flight Game’s Star Wars, Scum and Villainy, Traveler, etc.
Grimoire by The Bardic Inquiry
https://thebardicinquiry.itch.io/grimoire
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/393212/GRIMOIRE?affiliate_id=3323577
Have you ever thought about those old spell books they often have in books and movies? The old ones that look a thousand years old and have deep secrets and power within them? Well, in Grimoire, you create one of those spell books as you play through a wizard who is creating one. As you play the game, you’ll be forced into making difficult choices and making terrible sacrifices.
Mechanically, Grimoire has a bit more under the hood than Artefact or Bucket of Bolts. You draw cards, use stats, look up prompts, and conduct rituals. You have to balance resources and make sure your wizard doesn’t die of unnatural causes too early.
At the end of a game of Grimoire, assuming your wizard has survived, you will have a completed spell book. A completed Grimoire holds three spells, its words of power, and a magical glyph. After it is created, this book of magic and secrets could be interjected into any fantasy RPG you may be playing in the future and really give your players a magical artifact with a deep history and strong power.
Want to read more about Grimoire? You're in luck. I did a review of the game last year: https://croakerrpgcorner.blogspot.com/2022/09/grimoire-solo-journaling-rpg-of-immense.html
Galatea by S. Kaiya J. of Mirror-Lock
https://mirror-lock.itch.io/galatea
Have you ever seen a statue and thought how perfect it is? Now, what if that statue came to life because the creator desired it to be alive? Now, imagine being the statue, with the weight of expectations forced on you by your creator? That is the premise of Galatea, a solo journaling game by S. Kaiya J. of Mirror-Lock games.
In Galatea, you play a creative work that comes to life. A painting, statue, AI program, or whatever you can think of. You use a deck of cards and a tumbling block tower to build your story, and then watch it come crashing down.
A beautifully designed book, Galatea can create a melancholy story, so be prepared for some deep introspective stories and self-reflection. But don’t be scared away. It is an experience completely unique to other solo RPGs out there.
At the end of a session of Galatea, you will have a rich story about a work of art that could possibly be worked into a different RPG. Or it can sit by itself, in my mind, for a long time.
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And there you go! Four Solo RPGs about creating Items with a great backstory. Go forth, create, and have fun while you are doing it!
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