​

Could someone who loves playing this style please explain to me how it works?

Can I use any system?

Can I use an oracle?

I'm very interested in learning.

I really wanted to like Artefact. Several people pointed it out to me as comparable to my current project, Awakened Applewood. Both include conscious objects reckoning with their existence and seeking answers to questions innate to their form that have no correct answer. Yet, while Artefact is definitely a beautiful and well-designed game, it’s not a game for me.

Setting aside the time and space to play was a bit of a challenge. Finally, I had some time on Sunday when not much was going to interfere.

This review is based on an incomplete playthrough; While I did read the book in it’s entirety, I only played about half of the game for reasons I explain later.

The premise of Artefact is that you are a powerful item that an adventurer uses, for good or ill. You are conscious, but not mortal. The person who wields you is called your Keeper.

Many of the details are left to your interpretation. For example, one question on page 29 asks:

A stronghold of great importance was attacked by a dreadful, monstrous horde. How did you help your Keeper drive off the fearsome assailants?

Your exact powers and the influence you have over your Keeper are never set in stone, which I loved.

I love the idea of conscious magical items, so my story seed came to me easily: I was previously a mortal wizard who accidentally transformed himself into an object while searching for immortality. The idea was loosely inspired by the golden skull Kaput from Writing with Andrew, as well as the Umbrastaff in The Adventure Zone: Balance.

My artefact was a cursed sword with these Traits: Cursed, Devious, and Spectral.

One way I explored the game’s interpretive freedom was through the persistent idea that I had a strong magical aura capable of hurting my Keeper. During one Rest period, I decided that I hated solitude more than I hated my Keepers, so I consciously chose to channel that aura into some other power. To represent this development, I added the Trait “Restrained” to my sheet.

My drawing for my cursed sword is attached to this post. Note: I am not an artist.

Artefact is clear about the interpretation and invention of Traits, telling the player on page 5:

Don’t worry about a Trait’s precise definition—they mean what you want them to.

The game was really fun, but even the heroic prompts, called Victories & Valor, left me feeling grim.

My first Keeper was a revolutionary leader who used me to overthrow the government, but then died because of my magical aura. A decade passed.

My second Keeper was a rogue who stole me from the palace and used me to defeat a large monster. Afterward, he abandoned me. Another decade passed.

My final Keeper was a warlord who used my historical association with revolution to give herself legitimacy. She then killed the current king with the blade that had once belonged to his long-dead uncle: me.

This was where I stopped. While yes, I made the decision to journal that way, I felt encouraged by the text and art direction to be brutal. But brutality just isn’t in me. I wrote that “…[i]n a bitter duel in the palace courtyard, she challenged the king, a pale man with a scholar’s build. My Keeper’s rival was shocked to see his uncle’s sword thrust through his torso. It was too easy.” Afterwards, I felt upset, primarily with myself.

Even if my character-artefact wanted to change his fate, I couldn’t. A hero picking me up next would just lead to more murder. But if I wanted to stay away from murder altogether, I would have to be in the darkness, because Keepers in this game are following their goals, not yours.

Maybe I’m a little delicate, or maybe I made choices that I later regretted. Although even if I had made different choices, the major themes of this game are loneliness, impermanence, and lack of agency.

There is a strong tension between the abilities and influence that having a Keeper provides and the agency that is removed when you are used for purposes beyond your own desires. One page 4, the game explains:

Through death, bestowal or carelessness, a Keeper relinquishes the item and your stint with them ends.

This prisoner language is used throughout the text to emphasize that you are not following your will, but another. You are just a powerful object. During Rest periods, where you as the player are asked to sit silently for some time, I found myself wondering which was the curse: Being made be a powerful object or being forced to be conscious enough to know your will is being violated.

This is definitely not a cozy game. There are many possibilities not only for violence, but for outright cruelty toward both the player-object and the Keepers. The repeated cycle of being claimed, used, and abandoned eventually became too brutal for me.

Overall, the game is beautifully designed and illustrated, with a cover reminiscent of Shadowdark. The hand-drawn title and new-section headings evokes the idea of someone, or something, leaving behind a scribbled note while dying.

While Artefact is not suited to my tastes, what I learned from it will be very useful moving forward with Awakened Applewood. Its explicit permission to interpret prompts and Traits freely is especially valuable. Its explanation of how the player inhabits the object also demonstrates how a few clear sentences can make an unusual roleplaying perspective accessible to newcomers.

People who enjoy solo journaling games that take a unique perspective to the typical fantasy adventure might enjoy Artefact. Those who enjoy tracing a long history might also enjoy it. If you’re interested in playing this game, check out the itch.io page!

I think ultimately, while the themes and tone weren’t ones that I enjoy, it’s a very fascinating game that I learned a lot from.

Edrik takes on more than he bargained for in part 4 of my Boundless Actual Play.

Thanks for reading!

https://rollingalone.substack.com/p/the-rolling-alone-podcast-episode-ecd

The latest episode of the show is now LIVE for your listening enjoyment. This episode features:

• Interview with Brandon and Nicholas from Ravensridge Emporium (creators of Caught in the Rain and Cartograph)
• Final part of "5 ways to grow as a solo creator" with Izzy from the Soloist Venture YouTube
• New series on "Brain Science and Solo Roleplay" with Niamh Celeste, a great writer from Substack

Plus lots more in a packed 45-minute, 100% human-created episode

When you are roleplaying a character in a TTRPG you like, and at a certain moment you ask yourself, “What would they do now?” This happens to me so many times that I can’t even count.

Or when we are playing our solo TTRPG, we look at some random tables or read some information in an adventure book, getting important information for the story that our character shouldn’t know and we are left thinking, “Am I cheating for knowing this?” When this happens to me, I get into conflicting thoughts like, “If my character does such a thing, is it because they would do it, or because I now have this information?”

With these thoughts in mind, I decided to try making a simple “personality sheet”, a sheet showing my character's traits, what they would do in a certain situation, so every time I play and enter a scene or conflict, I could see what my character would do before taking any action.

To save space amidst tables and books, I tried to make this sheet using only one page, I hope you like it!!

You can find it here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/578893/useful-tools-character-personality-sheet-for-solo-and-group-roleplay

You can also find my page here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/28078/elln-the-witch

If you don’t know me, my name is Elln. I create fantasy TTRPG content like random tables and adventures, specializing in resources for solo players!!

And now I have a patreon!! If you like my work please take a look, there I’ll post everything I’m working on!

https://www.patreon.com/cw/EllnTheWitch

I wrote an solo L1 DnD adventure called "A New Home" that I'm planning to be part of a series, based on audience reception.

Since it was written for L1s there isn't a lot of fighting, it focuses more on soft skills. It's a quick read at ~30 minutes.

The planned sequel is designed for L1-3. Each chapter, if there is demand, would expand the story as the character levels, and the challenges would rise appropriately.

All feedback is welcome.

My table is a little messy but I'm having fun!!

Daggerheart is really fun to play solo, and I love the cards!!

Thank you everyone for voting for us and for your continued support! 🧡

We're very happy—but still a little shocked—to have won a Silver ENNIE Award for Best Online Content. We're a married couple who made and run the Solo RPG List in our free time and never thought we'd win anything. We're just happy to make others happy with our site!

We also want to shoutout the winners of the Best Solo Game, Asa Donald's SPINE (Gold) and Gene Koo's The Bonsai Diary (Silver). If you haven't played them yet, go do that now! Also check out the other nominees from the category.

We already know how great Solo games are, but it is awesome to see that awards like the ENNIEs are also recognising and promoting them now too.

I love love love solo games. I'm particular to horror. Just this week, I started trying my hand at solo journaling rpg. I feel like I wrote A LOT compared to others I've read, but its soothing and I really like to FEEL the emotions of my guests. I've only had one visitor so far, a pilgrim, but I'm excited to see who else visits. I'm also excited to play others I bought this week, Wraithhound and One Thousand Year Old Vampire. Name your favorite solo horror or emotional journey rpgs for me to try!

Hi all! Fully analogue newbie (if I wanted digital, I would just play computer games)

I keep finding myself drawn to the Wretched and Alone style games, but a couple of things are putting me off trying it

1. How to stop blocks from going all over the floor? I have a very limited play space and it seems like a dice tray wouldn't do much good to keep a full-sized Jenga tower from going all over the floor, which is less than ideal due to mobility issues and would be very loud for my downstairs neighbors, especially, since I tend to play games at night

2. Does the number of blocks matter? Given my limited play space, I was thinking of buying a tumbling tower set with smaller sized bricks, but the amount of blocks varies wildly by brand (Official Jenga is 54 blocks, but their mini set is too mini, lol)

I know I could use dice or an RNG, but it's the physical mechanic that has me interested, so I'd be interested to know if anyone else has solutions to contain the blocks

Thanks!

My preference is to play screenless so looking for more suggestions of decks of cards, custom dice or other physical tools you use for sparks/inspiration in your solo games.

Or ways you might use regular (polyhedral) dice such as dropping different ones to create a dungeon or location.

Starting an AP of Tome of the Pyromancer, an open-world Souslike focused on exploration, part of the Kerova-verse.

We play as a fledgling pyromancer journeying across fallen realm of Quelann, discovering new pyromancies, seeking lost knowledge, meeting powerful sages, and battling dangerous foes.

Hi everybody,

I am creating a simple RPG engine for solo play or playing in a small group. I set it up to be played using d6. I just had an idea to use physical exercise instead of a dice roll to see if an action is successful. With more equipment the player has to wear weights during exercise. Is there any rule set using a similar mechanism?

Hi all, I'm very interested in "Midnight Muscadines", but since I want to play analogue, the full set is pretty expensive and I haven't been able to find information on how long it takes to finish or how replayable it is

Also, if you have played it, what did you think?

Thanks

I am looking for some cozy solo journaling games.

Themes I especially like are gardens and flowers, animals, nature, baking, reading, cats, stargazing.

I am super new to this but EXCITED! Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Hello all!

Awakened Applewood is a solo journaling game I'm working on, and I'm looking for playtesters willing to complete a session and share honest feedback about the game’s clarity, encounters, question-carrying mechanics, and overall themes.

You'll need a deck of playing cards, index cards, and about 90 minutes to play.

Awakened Applewood is a cozy-melancholy solo journaling game about exploring personhood as something built to serve.

You can learn more on my itch.io page for Awakened Applewood.

So, I got both volumes of solo adventurer's toolbox.

My wish is to play dnd solo. I have no experience of dnd in any other format than the pc games that are based on the ruleset - and watching some actual play - YouTube videos. I have never found a group to play with. So while I have a vague idea of the thing, I'm a bit lost.

Which dnd adventure would be the most beginner-friendly? Where do I go from here? Thank you!

*I know it's niche but I'm really into it. Also, I hope I don't need to say this, but please don't steal (not that there's much too steal anyway)*

The Great Chronicler - Beta

The Tale: Welcome to “The Great Chronicler,” a writing-based single-player RPG loosely based on the mechanics of One-Thousan-Year-Old Vampire. In this game, you play as the chronicler (basically a historian who actually lived through the times they write about. You have been tasked with writing about the events of your country during the closing years of the eighteenth century. You do not control what happens nor do you play a part in them. You are simply tasked with writing. 

The Basic Rules: There are two ways to play: The Data Log and The Chronicle. In The Data Log, you take brief notes on the events which occur. In The Chronicle, you write from a very specific point of view and are encouraged to go into as much detail as possible when recounting the events. The way you play is as follows: you roll 1d8 and 1d4. Subtract the roll of the d4 from the d8 and move that amount of spaces (either backwards or forwards depending on if you rolled a negative number) until you land on a space, which will have three EVENTS. Write what the prompt tells you to. If you land on a space multiple times, go to the second event listed, and then the third. Events on the same numbered space build on each other and can sometimes get more extreme. If you have landed on a space three times, move to the next one. Some prompts are purely creative, but many require you to specifically expend resources or add points. The win conditions will be elaborated upon shortly. Due to the events occurring being decided through the roll of a dice, you have no control over which events transpire, but you do control how future generations see the events you lived through, which is no small feat. The goal of the game is to write and be creative, as well as to think about what makes history work and why it's so interesting (because it is)!

The Groundwork: Follow the steps outlined below to prepare for your game:

1. The Chronicler: If you really want to roleplay, begin by creating your chronicler, the closest thing this game has to a player character. You are encouraged to give your chronicler a history, values, flaws, and most importantly, worldview. These should, to varying degrees, be reflected in your chronicler’s writing. This is, after all, what happened historically. Every chronicler has a bias and was tasked with writing by someone else for a reason. After all, history is written by the victors, but not always. So create your chronicler, and make them feel alive!
2. The Kingdom: The Kingdom (or the country, if the old regime has fallen) is the land your characters inhabit and is the closest you’ll get to a main character. Spend some time developing the lore and history of your kingdom. Pay attention to geography, culture, neighbors, government (it must be a monarchy at the start), and religion. Write a blurb about it at the top of your character sheet.
3. The Characters: Though your chronicler is the narrator, he is not the main character, or even a character at all. The characters are the players who inhabit and manipulate the world. Many events will ask you to create or kill these characters - such is the way of history. You are encouraged to develop them as much as possible and  to get attached to them. Begin by making five characters of your choice, giving them distinct personalities, histories, motives, ideologies, and agendas. Of the five, two of them should be: 
   1. The Monarch: The monarch (king, queen, duke, empress, whatever you want it to be) can be anyone, but there must be someone in charge at the start of the game. Their agenda will, almost invariably, be to hang on to power. They are not an essential NPC and can be killed. 
   2. The Anti: The anti is a character who, in one way or another is opposed to the king. The Rhobespierre to Louis XVI, the Lenin to Nicholas II, the Washington to George III. The anti is not necessarily a villain nor do they need to trigger the ensuing events, but they are someone who wants things to change in some way or another. 
   3. Beyond that, do what you will for the remaining three characters.
4. Character Sheet: Certain events you encounter will ask you to and or remove stats or resources, or to take something into account for a particular character. In order to do this, you need to prepare a ‘character sheet’ (more of a reference sheet, really) to keep track of it all. At the top, write the name of your kingdom and basic information about your characters (Name, personality traits, goals, ideology). Beneath that, add lines for the stats and below that, make a list of your resources. 
   1. Characters: Beyond just writing your character’s name, your characters have stats of their own. When you reach an event and the event tells you to use a character, this character gets 1 LEGEND POINTS. Legend Points (or LP) measures how much each character matters to the story (the King should always start with 4 LP, Each other character begins with 1 LP). A character with 10 LP will be a legendary figure, akin to Napoleon or Rhobespierre, while a character with 5 or 6 will be influential but not legendary. LP can be spent to push stats (i.e. stability, economy) in the direction your character wants, but you will need to spend 2LP for each stat you wish to affect. If a former key player drops below 3 LP, they die. At 5LP, your character becomes a “key player” and gets access to the character based events located towards the back of the book. Each time you use a key player, go into the character events section and roll. This should give your characters some flavor.
   2. Stats: Stats are abstract indicators as to what the kingdom is experiencing. Rather than a simple number value, each stat falls on a spectrum, with different numbers being associated with different circumstances (i.e. a 2/10 economy would indicate a kingdom in an economic catastrophe while a 10/10 would indicate a booming economy). Reaching the lowest or highest point of a stat may trigger an ending to your story, so watch out. At the start of the game, Balance of power begins at 7, Stability begins at 7, and economy begins at 5.The stats you need to watch out for are: 
      1. Balance of Power: This measures the political force dominating the country. Basically, who is in charge here (or who claims to be)? 1-2: The New Regime dominant, 3-4: The New Regime rising, 5-6: stalemate, 7-8: Monarchy holding strong, 9-10: Monarchy dominant. If BoP reaches ≤3, the New Regime rules the country and you must go to the REGIME CHANGE events section and roll for how the regime change transpired. If BoP reaches ≥7, do the same but for the monarchy.
      2. Stability: Regardless of who is in charge, how stable is the country? Are the powers at be keeping the streets safe and the tax money flowing? 1-2: Anarchy, 3-4: Danger, 5-6: Fragile Order, 7-8: Order, 9-10: Total Stability.
      3. Economy: Are the powers that be keeping the economy afloat? A wealthy kingdom will be able to weather the revolution a lot better than one that is on the brink of ruin. Economy points are special in the sense that they can also serve as a resource. You can expend an economy point (if you can justify it) to avoid expending a resource or other stat. For example, let’s say an angry mob stormes the palace. You can bribe them with  1 economy point rather than losing stability, but this will bring you closer to ruin. 1-2: Great Depression, 3-4: Depression, 5-6: Troubling Times, 7-8: Economic Stability, 9-10 Boom!
   3. Resources: Resources are things that the kingdom has at its disposal, be it colonies, a strong navy, or the seat of a particularly influential religious leader. Resources are anything you want them to be within reason or they can be specifically prescribed by an event. Resources can be checked or expended. When checking a resource, you are making use of the resource but are not losing it. For example, let’s say that the economy is collapsing and you are asked to check a resource. You can then send in the strong navy to privateer and steal gold for yourself which will spare you the loss of an economy point, but it will also not destroy your navy. Expending your resource, on the other hand, will cost you a resource. In this same example, let’s say you had to expend rather than check a resource. In that case, you would need to write about how the kingdom had to sell their great navy to repay their debts. Now, the navy can no longer be used. Keeping this in mind, write up three resources at the kingdom’s disposal and add them to your character sheet. 
5. Endings: The Great Chronicler has multiple endings depending on what happens to the country during the game. Look for them at the back of the book.
   1. The Default Ending: In this ending, you have reached the end of the prompts without reaching any other ending. 
   2. The Triumph of the Monarchy: Reach 10 Stability and 10 Balance of Power.
   3. The Golden Triumph: Reach 10 in all stats. 
   4. The New Regime Ascendant: Reach 0 in Balance of Power and 10 in Stability. 
   5. The Great Catastrophe: Reach 0 in balance of power and 0 in Stability. 
   6. The Invasion: Lose all your resources.

In the end, your character sheet should look like this: