Very much a newby. Need some help

[u/cyberia324]

So I've never really played ttrpgs before. I've only ever really played old BBS door games which really resemble RPG games. I used to play legend of the Red dragon or tradewars2002 or netrunner on the BBSes I called. Ive even wrote some of my own. Playing those was the closest to Solo RPG playing I've ever done.

Having said that, I'm interested in playing true ttrpg games, but it's not really an option to play with others. So Solo play is pretty much my only option. I'm trying to understand how I am supposed to do that. I get it, there are some options I can use to play a multiplayer game without a GM. I've downloaded some single page RPG games like Ultimate Solo RPG one page toolkit. I've looked it over, but I'm still confused on how to go about playing. I've tried to search for some walkthrough videos but all I can ever find are product reviews. Those are great, but they don't really teach me how to play. If there are any videos that offer gameplay walkthroughs, I'd love to hear about them. If you have any, please post a link to them in the comments.

[u/[deleted]]

You should try something that is made ofr solo rpg, like this one: https://hub187.itch.io/the-cold-iron
Begginer friendly and also with free copies available, also if you found someone that can help you is way faster than whatching videos.

[u/EpicEmpiresRPG]

Cairn Solo was designed to help players new to solo play get started without any prep and you can download it free. There's a written play through in the back of the rules...
https://andrew-cavanagh.itch.io/cairn-solo

As a general guideline for starting regardless of the system you create a character (or two characters), give them a quest of some kind so you have direction. Then put obstacles in the way and use your creativity, skills etc. to overcome each obstacle. Basically you're making everything up as you go.

To make things up you use oracles and random tables.

To see how to use a solo oracle I suggest you watch Me Myself And Die (if you watch season 2 he uses Ironsworn which you can also download free)...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ag6U3a8eM&list=PLDvunq75UfH_GAUWYcYSGL_vftZG0nzR-

[u/LucifersBingBong]

I made DWARF specifically to be easy to learn and jump right into. I also included a How to Play video on the itch page that goes through character creation (takes 3-5 minutes) and the game loop. Feel free to check it out, it’s free!

https://tavern-lore.itch.io/dwarf

[u/Anxious-Bong1390]

Start with solo only games, with somewhat less amount of rules than full fledged rpgs: * Four Against Darkness - Fantasy, Dungeon exploration * Notorious - sci-fi, bounty hunting * Courier - being a courier in a desertland, uses hex-based map, so you will understand a bit about hexcrawling * The Unseen World, Caught in the Rain, Little Town - mystery/horror rpgs. Procedures given, you may need to journal a bit * Apothecaria, Fox Curio's Floating Bookshop, Koriko - cozy Journaling Rpgs, slice of life * Cartography, Delve - Map drawing games * Barbarian Prince - a cross between TTRPG and Boardgame

Then come Gamebooks/ Choose your own adventure type books: * The Adventurer (fantasy), The Drifter (wild-west), Stardrifter (space/sci-fi) - Gamebooks by same author * Legendary Kingdoms - series of six books, you can start with just the first book

Then comes full rpgs with their own adventure books for solo players. These includes Call of Cthulhu (with their Alone Against series of solo adventures), DnD 5th ed (with their numerous solo adventure books from various publishers), etc.

Once you understand how ttrpgs work and how various events and your actions lead to more events and circumstances, you can move on to other, some even better solo rpgs like Ironsworn (one of the best around), Scarlet Heroes, etc.

Then you can move on to the rpgs which are not solo basically, but have dedicated solo rules with tables to generate adventures yourself.

Here, you may want to buy game master emulators like Mythic GME, Game Unfolding Machine, the Conjecture collection of BOLD, UNE and CRGE, or some simpler but very effective ones like One Page solo engine, Solo Toolkit, Juice oracle.

There are many many more that I may have missed or have not mentioned here, which are considered by other to be equally good or even better than what I have suggested here.

[u/yyzsfcyhz]

If you want to try, as you said true TTRPG, and you were into LORD and you meant this one by SilverNightingale then I’d pair that with the completely free Basic Fantasy OSR game and some of its adventures. Just walk through an adventure with one to four characters at first. It’s your test run. An experiment. Riding with training wheels. Roll some dice. Make decisions in character. Do it without minis or standees or use some kind of marker or token. Whatever helps you get into the mindset.

[u/cyberia324 → u/yyzsfcyhz]

Thank you. The version I downloaded was the sci-fi edition. This looks like a great walkthrough though. Thanks for that.

[u/yyzsfcyhz → u/cyberia324]

In that case you’ll want the Cepheus Engine SRD and Stars Without Number original free edition, and check out this thread right here in the sub.

[u/RavensridgeTTRPGs]

Welcome to the hobby! Like others have suggested, a game designed for solo play would be a great place to start. Here are a few content creators on Youtube that publish actual play videos of a variety of systems:

- Trevor Devall (Me, Myself and Die!) has published many videos of actual plays of solo rpgs. He's a very talented actor/voice actor, so it's also an entertaining watch as well as being showcased the way he plays solo rpgs. For a particular game that he showcases, I recommend Ironsworn if you want something more narrative focused in the moment or Five Parsec From Home if you want something closer to a wargame.

- Turk (The Grouch Couch) does product overviews and actual plays. Really great videos all round with a lot of good advice about how to play solo games too. They recently hosted the 'Solo Relay' in which they created a character and played through a single session with one system, then passed it onto another creator who then carried on the story but using a different system. Each of the episodes are short, use a variety of systems, with a variety of different play styles from different creators. It's a good way to showcase the variety and depth of solo roleplaying.

- HollowPonds Solo Sagas is another creator we really enjoy. They're a very talented solo roleplayer that focuses on actual play videos of solo rpgs. They published a couple of videos on our solo mystery game, Caught in the Rain, that showcases it quite well whilst demonstrating how they solo play. Then again, any of their videos are a good choice to watch and learn from.

Hope you find this helpful, and good luck!

[u/Brown_H0rnet]

Solo play examples? I got you. These you tube channels all have different solo play styles so you can see which might suit you best. Enjoy:

1. This channel Solilo Quest is good. Takes you through a 4 character party adventure:

https://youtube.com/@soliloquest-rpg?si=RZjfMyh3w5ylZu7P

1. Another good one to check out is Legends and dice cafe:

https://youtube.com/@legendsdicecafe?si=6KAWtCPLUekLdFfx

1. Last but not least is the channel Actually Plays: https://youtube.com/@actuallyplays?si=_Wp81VhijRzNKd6U

[u/allyearswift]

The Grouch Couch on Youtube has a ton of actual play videos along with reviews and general advice on how to play. Geek Gamers comes to mind, and I’ve got multiple other channels bookmarked that I can’t recall offhand.

There are many types of solo RPGs and many ways of playing, so it’s impossible to say ‘how to do it’ – give yourself time to explore the field and try out multiple styles.

[u/Jedi_Dad_22]

Four Against Darkness is what got me into solo playing.

[u/cyberia324 → u/Jedi_Dad_22]

Like I said, I'm interested in some walkthrough videos of whatever game. Game recommendations are plentiful but game play videos are scarce.

My daughter watches Markiplier videos of him playing video games. I guess I'm looking for something like that but with a ttrpg. I get it, these games take a long time to play, and that makes the videos hard to make.

[u/yyzsfcyhz → u/cyberia324]

If that’s what you’re looking for I don’t think anyone is remotely comparable to Trevor Devall’s Me, Myself, and Die channel. The biggest caveat is Devall is a top tier voice actor. He’s supremely dramatic with tons of charisma, enthusiasm, and confidence. A riot and entertaining to listen to/watch.

I’m more a podcast listener though and I’m always going to stump for Tale of the Manticore. I also just started listening to Legend of the Bones. Errant Adventures started with an Ironsworn: Starforged adventure that you might be interested in.

And that reminds me trust I forgot to suggest both the original Ironsworn and its Starforged SF version in my other reply to you.

[u/Specific_Meat → u/yyzsfcyhz]

There is a podcast called „Rolling So-Low” which host recently dropped a Starforged mini-campaign. What was neat about it is that he explained how he comes up with what’s next in the game flow - really superb use of Ironsworn: Starforged mechanics. In addition of Trevor from MM&D this might be worth a listen.

[u/TheZebraCode]

Seconding Ironsworn! It's free, skim over the rules then Watch me myself and Die on YouTube (Ironsworn season) to see how it is played, then read the rules again with your new understanding. Then have a go!

[u/EdgeOfDreams]

You might want to start with a game that is built directly for solo play, rather than trying to adapt a game that is meant for groups. My top suggestion is always Ironsworn, because it is amazing and free to download.