Solo Role Playing Games

Solo role playing games (RPGs) allow you to play without a Game Master.

In the early 1980s, the Choose Your Own Adventure and Lone Wolf books were an earliest form of solo RPGs. In them you would read a page or two, be given a choice, and read another page or two based on your choice.  The Choose Your Own Adventure series didn’t have a character with stats that could affect the game, whereas the Lone Wolf books did.  TSR also did a “Solo” set of adventure modules where you could pick a pre-made character, and read a passage, then pick a new passage based on a choice you made. You would also be given room descriptions or mini maps to add to a map you created along the way, and sometimes you would use the D&D rules to fight foes, overcome traps, etc.

The solo RPG world was re-vitalized with the introduction of Mythic Role Playing in the early 2000s.  This game introduced the idea of an Oracle for a more free-form adventure where you ask the Oracle a Yes/No question (Is the King hiding something?) and you roll dice and check the result on a chart.  You may even roll a critical Yes or No (where you may learn a clue of what the King is hiding or the King becomes suspicious of you). A couple of inspiration charts could help you decide what it is the King may be hiding if you don’t have anything yet established in your setting.

Since then, different games and systems have tried to do one of the following:

  • Innovate on the Oracle, or simplify it.
  • Include a simpler or less free-form game system with the Oracle.
  • Improve the tables that augment the Oracle and/or add tables for many random things: monsters, quests, room contents, names, etc.
  • Integrate the Oracle with a popular or favorite game system.
  • Increase the flexibility of Choose Your Own Adventure style games.
  • Improve the production values of solo games.

Although the chart below tries to stick to just a few columns, it is trying to put together a lot of information as simply as possible. It is seems like too much, you may find the following Q&A bullets more helpful.

  • If you just want to play D&D by yourself:
    • Want to try a 5e based Choose Your Own Adventure, but with your own character & tactical combat: D&D Solo Adventure: Death Knight’s Squire and others in that series.
    • Want to try an early D&D based Choose Your Own Adventure with a pre-generated character (maybe you can substitute your won) with D&D style Combat: Try the early solo modules BSolo, XSolo, XS2, MSolo, etc.
    • Do you have a decent budget, love miniatures & making the map by randomly placing mini-maps & the 4e system: D&D Board Games such as Wrath of Ashadralon
    • 5e with an Oracle: Elminster’s Guide to Solo Adventuring or Solo Adventures for 5e or Solo Adventurer’s Guide for 5e. (See those rows in the chart for which may be best for you.)
    • 5e with an Oracle and 100+ pages of tables for creating quests, picking monsters, or the troll’s toenail color (well, no table for that, probably): Solo Adventurer’s Toolbox for 5e.
    • Something more Old School in feel with several game rule optimizations for solo play and with an Oracle and a good set of supporting charts: Scarlet Heroes
  • If you want a simple system custom made for Solo role-playing with an Oracle but no specific mapping system: Mythic Role Playing.
    • Or a simpler one that doesn’t use an Oracle but has charts for room mapping and lists of monsters: Four Against Darkness.
    • If you want something even simpler: Micro Chapbook RPG series.
  • If you like Apocalypse World and think a system inspired by that with an Oracle and a lot of depth would be good: Ironsworn.
  • Or if you want an add-on for a simpler RPG with an Oracle added: Tiny Dungeon Solo.
  • If you want a card game to battle monsters and don’t care much about story: One Deck Dungeon.
  • For a detailed high-production quality board game without an Oracle/story-telling (although it has a storyline) aspect: Gloomhaven.

The following is a breakdown & mini-reviews of several solo tabletop role playing games. Each short summary has a link to more details about each game.

Game Format/Type Characters Oracle Quest or Dungeon Mapping Monsters, Traps, Room Contents, Magic System
D&D BECMI Solo Adventures (BSolo, XSolo, XS2, MSolo, CM5, MV1)
1980’s 32 page module (On DriveThru), standard polyhedral dice 1; Pick one pre-generated character N/A Each adventure module is its own quest & map Use D&D (BECMI) stats for monsters, traps, & magic
Blends a Choose Your Own Adventure with classic D&D (BECMI) rules. Read a passage, make a decision and jump to another block of text. Text blocks note rooms to draw and monsters to fight as well as area descriptions.. More…
D&D Board Game: Wrath of Ashardalon Board Game: booklet, map tiles, mini, cards, chits, 1d20 1-5, 1 per player, pre-made; Can become second level N/A Select quest, Place tiles to map From monster or encounters deck, other event triggers; Magic via power cards
One of a series of high-production value board games. Players select quests, enter a dungeon by placing tiles and follow rules for placing monsters as tiles are added based on a card deck. Traps and treasures are also available. Based on the 4th edition D&D rules. More…
D&D Solo Adventure: The Death Knight’s Squire (5e) 98 page PDF (On DMsGuild), full polyhedral dice set Standard 5th edition D&D character(s) N/A Pre-made scenario Pre-set, but based on player’s choices; 5e D&D Magic
The first of a series (many have already been released) of D&D 5th edition solo adventures, it merges the classic Choose Your Own Adventure concept with allowing you to make your own D&D 5e character and perform skill checks and run combat on area grids as needed. More…
Elminster’s Guide to Solo Adventuring (5e Dungeons & Dragons) 10 page PDF (On DMsGuild), full polyhedral dice set Standard 5th edition D&D character(s) 3-tiered based on task, situation, & stats Nothing specific (based on Oracle) Nothing specific (based on Oracle); 5e D&D Magic
An add-on for 5th edition D&D that features a three tiered Oracle that tries to fit in better with the game’s difficulty checks than a standard Oracle. It also has advice for running modules intended for a group in a solo way. More…
Four Against Darkness 90 page (1/2 size) PDF (On DriveThru), 1d6 4; Customization: pick key equipment; Chance to level up N/A Roll on quest chart, Map by rolling on chart Roll on simple charts; Pre-made list of spells
Relatively simple RPG mechanically (without being very narrative driven) with random dungeon map charts, monster lists, and simple magic, but no oracle. More…
Gloomhaven Rule book, scenario book, cards, counters, dials, and tokens 1 to 4. Customization: pick among several cards for abilities/powers N/A Overarching story, with many scenarios unlocked and described/set up in scenario book. Based on the scenario or on two random dungeon cards; Power/ability cards sometimes represent spells
A huge board game/co-op RPG hybrid, Gloomhaven can be played solo. The game has an story line with scenarios to achieve the main goal.  Players choose among the scenarios and unlock more. Characters are pre-generated, but players have some choice for power/ability cards. More…
Ironsworn 259 page book/PDF (On DriveThru) 1 (if solo, supports Co-op and GM play). Customization: divide out ability points, pick assets (talents, etc.) Oracle charts broken down by type of information Use oracle charts to set a scene; No mapping focus Monsters/traps/contents: driven by the fiction; Magic: driven by narrative & moves
Blends the oracle and narrative into mechanics, flexible character creation, and worldbuilding, but doesn’t have a detailed magic or dungeon mapping system. It does have a fairly detailed oracle and setting which you can augment. More…
Micro Chapbook RPG Series Series of 4 page (1/2 sized) PDFs (On DriveThru), 1d6 1. Customization: Divide out ability points, pick key equipment. Growth: +1 to a stat between adventures N/A Each Chapbook is a new quest; Roll for room height, width, doors, & type Monsters/traps/contents: Roll on a chart, chance a door is trapped; Magic: Uses Will score in combat
Simple two page (four half size pages) one character, four stat roll under on a d6 dungeon crawl with random dungeon mapping and monsters but no oracle or quest generation because each chapbook is its own quest. More…
Mythic Role Playing 144 Page Book/PDF (On DriveThru or Just the GM-less engine on DriveThru), percentile dice Any # of characters, with or without a GM; Assign values to attributes, pick abilities, strengths, weaknesses; Chapter on advancement Fate Chart: 13 columns and rows. Plus random events via an Event Focus table and Event Meaning tables Short world creation section; Quest generation relies on the Oracle Monsters/traps/contents: not a focus–use Oracle. Magic: use Oracle or pre-create  resolution charts
The first Solo RPG system to use the Oracle concept, which many others later revised and adopted.  Mythic can use its own system (which this overview is based on) or just the Mythic GM Emulator with other RPGs. But the game has no specific quest creation, monster, trap, room contents, or magic system rules. More…
One Deck Dungeon Game booklet, cards, & many d6 dice 1-2. No customization. Advance via experience points to level up (have more skills, abilities, etc.) N/A Pick a quest card; no mapping. Monsters/traps/contents: reveal doors and choose to fight/enter; Magic: cards for skill that can be magical
Explore a map-less dungeon by revealing doors and choosing to fight what’s behind each. To fight, you roll a pool of various colored dice and match them up on the monster card to nullify as many effects as possible. Skills & potions let you switch dice, heal, etc. More…
Scarlet Heroes 130 page book/PDF (On DriveThru), standard polyhedral dice 1 or more; Customization: very early D&D like character & creation method. D&D like levels & XP No/No But/Yes But/Yes, plus a series of charts Adventure Tags for plots/tropes with likely enemies, friends, things, complications and places for each Has a number of charts for monsters/traps/contents & a mini-bestiary; Magic is a small D&D-like list
A primarily one on one game system loosely based on early Dungeons & Dragons (with some optimizations to lower the number of rolls & let a single hero handle several foes), a chapter is dedicated to solo gaming. More…
Solo Adventures (For 5th Edition D&D)
22 page PDF (On DriveThru), standard polyhedral dice 1 or more; Standard 5th edition D&D character & advancement No But; No; No And; Delayed/ Interrupted; Yes But; Yes; Yes And Quests via inspiration tables & game icons; Cites the 5e D&D DMG random dungeon generator Use 5e D&D monsters, traps, magic; Determine them via the Oracle, but no direct support
Applies the familiar solo gaming Oracle to 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons along with two random tables or game icons for inspiration.  Closes with advice for using modules solo. No special support for monsters, traps, etc. More…
Solo Adventurer’s Guide (For 5th Edition D&D)
23 page PDF (On DriveThru), standard polyhedral dice 1 or more; Standard 5th edition D&D character & advancement Destiny Check d20 roll, Chaos rolls & focuses that help detail the results, word cloud to help with ideas No direct Quest support aside from the Oracle; Cites the 5e D&D DMG random dungeon generator Use 5e D&D monsters, traps, magic; Determine them via the Oracle, but no direct support
Adds a customized form of an Oracle which meshes fairly well to 5th edition D&D. The Oracle adds a couple of steps and tables to help develop its results. But there is no support for quest generation, determining monsters or traps, etc. More…
Solo Adventurer’s Toolbox (For 5th Edition D&D)
165 page PDF (On DriveThru), standard polyhedral dice Any number; Standard 5th edition D&D character & advancement Simple Yes/Maybe/No modified by likelihood, with many idea tables Several tables to generate quests, augmented by tables for generating dungeons, and more Use 5e D&D monsters, traps, magic; Determine via many tables and/or the Oracle
Adds a very simple Oracle (just Yes/Maybe/No) and many, many tables of information to 5th Edition D&D. More…
Tiny Dungeon Solo
21 page PDF (On DriveThru), 2d6, sometimes 1d6 or 3d6 102; Tiny dungeon character creation & advancement rules: Pick race 3 traits, key equipment; Advance by buying traits, proficiencies, or hp Yes/No/And/But & game icons to interpret Tiny Dungeon has its own Adventure Generator tables; no mapping Use Tiny Dungeon’s monsters, traps, & magic
An add-on for the Tiny Dungeon game, this adds the Yes/No/And/But Oracle as well as rolling on a list of Game Icons to help discern the particulars of the Oracle’s result. More…

Coming Soon: Ironsworn: Delve, Lone Wolf Adventure Books.