(Andrew Lang, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
How To Play D&D Without Other People
How many times has the following happened to you?
- You’re all ready and raring to run an awesome game of D&D, when you find that your players all have routine appendectomies that day?
- You have a hankering for some D&D action, but live in Siberia?
- Your DM only runs one session a year to keep it “immersive,” but you want to play D&D more often?
Well, why not take a stab at solo D&D?
In more reasonable circumstances, there are a lot of times when you can’t play D&D with other people for numerous reasons. Maybe no one can make the session, or starting the campaign is delayed for whatever reason. Maybe you don’t live somewhere where you can meet or meet up with people readily. Perhaps you just really want to play D&D more often than you can with even a regular group, or you’re a forever DM, who wants a chance to be the player. Solo D&D offers a different experience for everyone, but I think it can be fulfilling for any TTRPG fan.
Playing RPGs solo might be a strange concept for the uninitiated. If you’ve only experienced them with other people, it might seem strange or aberrant, especially if you’re the kind of person who plays D&D for the social interaction. In actuality, it’s a surprisingly satisfying and unique way to experience a game you already enjoy with your friends. I’ve you haven’t before, you should try it. You might be surprised.
A quick note: I’m not going to touch on solo board games, journalling games, as well as adventures designed for solo play. I just feel that they’re beyond the scope for today, so this one’s only about creating a TTRPG world for yourself.
First of all, you can play any RPG system solo, all it requires is a little extra imagination. The main thing about solo role-playing is using the rules as a facilitation, not necessarily constraining yourself to them. The rules work to serve you and the experience you want, as opposed to the other way around. If you really like Pathfinder’s combat, then by all means, play it solo. However, if combat isn’t your sole focus, you might find success with a more combat-lite system. Additionally, since you likely already know them, or at the very least, won’t have to stop for 20 minutes to explain how Hp works, the rules will fade into the background, allowing you to let your imagination free. This effect can be multiplied when playing an inherently simpler game. A system like Cairn 2e, with combat forsaking attack rolls, a simplified health system, and a simple system for encumbrance, is much less taxing to run solo than D&D 5e or Pathfinder. Personally, my solo system is more of an amalgamation of many systems, house rules and blog posts, but is primarily based on Original Dungeons and Dragons from 1974. The main benefit to OD&D is how simple it is, as well as how easily it is to accent the experience with new rules and additions. I use WhiteBox: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game(WhiteBox: FMAG), which is a restated version of OD&D without the supplements, keeping it lean and mean. Clocking in at just 140 pages, this book has everything you need for the basics; Rules, character options, spells, monsters and treasure. Another reason I use this system, which isn’t exclusive to WhiteBox, is how it supports procedural play.
This was something I had never experienced until I stopped playing D&D 5e. Procedural play involves have a turn order — not unlike your average board game — which is persistent across the entire game (i.e. not just combat, though you do have a separate turn system for combat). While it may seem counterintuitive, what this does is create an engine through which the game runs. In a dungeon? Move, take an action, then check encounters and mark off time. It may seem simple or pointless, but it lets you devote less mental resources to the game once you fall into a rhythm. I primarily use the rules explicitly from Old School Essentials, but I may shake things up occasionally, like with Cairn 2e’s procedures. Regardless, it breaks down to: Move, if necessary, and take an action — open a stuck door, search, do whatever — then your turn is over. Roll 1d6 for random encounters every other turn, while ticking down torches or lanterns. Even if you choose to use 5e or another more modern system, I would thoroughly recommend you implement something like this. There are wilderness exploration rules available too. Of course, when it comes to Solo, the procedure likely includes “Roll for next dungeon room as necessary.” While there are many, many options for random dungeons, I like the OSRIC dungeon generator (Page 163), which is based on the one from the AD&D DMG. I’ve used both, and this one feels just slightly clearer. Supplement your dungeon with whatever tables you want.
In terms of systems to play, there is no “best” or definitive answer. While I enjoy WhiteBox for it’s simplicity, you might not, and that’s okay. The best system to play is the one that you enjoy the most. However, my point still stands. It is much easier and quicker, to play rules-lite, simple games. So here’s a list of more simple games to try, if you feel so inclined. Oh, and they’re all free.
- Ironsworn — A Powered by the Apocalypse game that is expressly designed for solo play (although it can be played with multiple people). It has a more heroic feel compared to the others on this list, as well as having more rules. It’s not particularly lightweight, but there’s a lot of support for solo systems. It makes things straightforward, not necessarily “easier.” Regardless, it also has a bunch of great tables to generate all sorts of jumping-off points, which can all be used in any game.
- Cairn 2e — A sort of midpoint between Modern RPGs and their classic counterparts. This system has a distinct tone to it, with a dark 16th-century setting. It’s rules-lite, classless, it’s combat eschews attack rolls, with a simple way to manage item encumbrance, and has some pretty unique procedures.
- Shadowdark RPG — I’m cheating with this one, as the whole game isn’t free, but it does have free “quickstart” rules. This game is mechanically similar to D&D 5e, just with a more dark and gritty coat of paint. It’s a pretty fun beer and pretzels style game — it’s easy to pick up and put down. It also has some good random tables, including a shockingly large amount of support for on-the-fly adventure creation.
- OSRIC — A restatement of Advanced D&D. It’s rather dense but has some great tables, including the best dungeon table ever printed. I haven’t gotten a chance to play it, unfortunately, but it’s a more robust system than some others. In terms of tone, it’s much more “sword and sorcery” than other game systems, being a based off of AD&D.
- Basic Fantasy — A restatement of the Basic/eXpert set from the 80s (B/X) with ascending AC. B/X is always a great system, and this makes it nice and accessible for the modern gamer. It’s simple, easy, cheap It’s more modern and reinterpreted, compared to something like OSE, but it still is a great balance between original and new rules.
- Blueholme Prentice Rules — My latest rules system fixation. This one is a retroclone of the Holmes Basic set. It’s very similar to B/X, with fewer restrictions. Namely: no race-as-class, multiclassing, the alignment grid, some spellcasting stuff, and a blank check to play as any creature from the book. It has more of an old-school feel than Basic Fantasy, OSE or even WhiteBox. The prentice rules are more of a sample, covering levels 1–3, with the Journeymanne rules having the rest, but you can theoretically fill in the blanks yourself.
- WhiteBox: FMAG — We’ve already talked about this one. It’s a clear and concise restatement of OD&D, along with some nice optional rules, including ascending AC.
While these are all free as PDFs, I would definitely recommend getting them in print if possible. I like to keep things as analog as possible. I know, I need to “get with the times.” I just prefer paper and pencil, the old fashioned way. Anyways, most of the above systems have at-cost printing, meaning you can get physical copies for under $20, and some of them are even cheaper than that. The primary benefit from keeping things offline is that it allows you to focus on the roleplaying more. You’re less likely to get sidetracked if you can’t get on YouTube with a click. Solo Roleplaying also makes for a nice chance to do an activity completely off screens, if you can stomach it. I’ve even gotten to downloading some dungeon synth songs to an old MP3 player for some background music without using my phone.
A lot of the rhetoric surrounding this style of play regards tools to determine how things in the world happen, called oracles. Their main purpose is to fill in the gaps that come from not having a DM. Oracles can vary in content and price, but I personally think they’re a bit overrated. Don’t get me wrong, it can help take the thinking out of the narrative, especially when there are a lot of things to consider. But this is why I encourage you to play a simple, procedural game. If the majority of events can be resolved with separate systems. I do still use an oracle, but it doesn’t need to be a 90 page PDF for $40.
Here’s the oracle I use (Which I even use for my non-solo games)
| Oracle (1d6) |
|---|
| 1 No, And |
| 2 No |
| 3 No, but |
| 4 Yes, but |
| 5, Yes |
| 6 Yes, And |
It’s pretty intuitive, but I’ll still give a break-down. The goal here is to ask a question about the environment, NPCs, actions, etc.
You frame the questions in an affirmative and clear manner (i.e. something that can be answered with a Yes/No. “Is there a smithy in town?” Not something like “There isn’t a smithy in town, right?” It’s for the sake of your own sanity)
Then you roll a d6 on the chart. “Yes,” and “no” are obvious, it’s a hard success or failure without nuance. “No, but” means that your question is false, but something beneficial does happen. “Does the priest agree to my terms? No, but he’s willing to accept a ‘generous donation’ for his compliance.” The exact opposite is the case for “Yes, but.” Your question is true, but there’s a catch. “No, and” is the worst outcome: You both fail, and things get worse; “Yes, and” means that you succeed while gaining a further benefit.
The key with this system is knowing when to use it. While It might be tempting to roll constantly, this won’t really be necessary. The trick is only checking the oracle if there is no procedure for a specified action. Would you use this oracle for combat? Of course not, it already has established rules. The same is true with other things. You can roll on reaction tables, to determine a monster or NPC’s reaction to you; overland travel already has procedures, and you can use wandering monster tables and random dungeon generation to figure out the presence of monsters, and the layout of the dungeon respectively. You use the oracle to fill in the gaps where necessary, as a way to patch the procedures together, in the way that a GM would normally do.
If you’re dead-set on a more robust GM Emulator, a free one can be found here. They’re definitely helpful, but I personally don’t use much more than the one I outlined above and some tables as a jumping off point. If you need some more tables, there’s Ironsworn, discussed above, but also make sure to check out Worlds Without Numbers by Kevin Crawford, which has some other good tables. All of his games are free, tables included, with a premium version available (Check out his Sci-Fi Stuff too, all free this way as well). In a similar vein is the Solo Gaming Sheets by Perplexing Ruins, which offers the bare minimum amount of stables to get you going. I would recommend this more than anything else. But if you find these unsatisfactory, why not make your own tables? If you find yourself in need of a specific thing, let’s say magical locales, then just jot down six of them and roll when needed, and expand as necessary. It doesn’t have to be complicated.
So, all of this preamble is great, but how do you get started?
By getting started, dummy.
Grab one of the free RPGs, some dice, a pencil, a piece of graph paper, OSRIC’s dungeon generator (Page 163), and roll up a character. Note down the starting room, play one turn, and explore the dungeon. Open a door and generate a room, go into the room, check for traps, fight a monster. It doesn’t need to be fancy, all you need to do is just start. Once you’ve played it out, if you want to continue, play another turn. If not, that’s okay. Repeat for as long as you feel comfortable. Once you’re done, feel free to leave it behind. When you feel ready to leave the dungeon, pull up a village generator, or use the oracle to make it on the fly. This small and intimate world you've begun to create will always be there waiting for you. Play one turn every day, and you might just have the start of a glorious campaign.
As a last note, if you ever need some extra motivation for your campaign, check out some play logs. These are great to get you in the mindset to play Solo RPGs, and they can just be plain entertaining. Bandit’s Keep has a great series, where he uses OD&D along with Chainmail, and Wilderness Exploration, starting with this episode: Here. If you want to see WhiteBox FMAG in action, check out this video, by Caverna do Lekkis.
And maybe, sometime soon, I might have a solo play log of my own…
This blog is, and always will be, 100% human generated.