Solo Tabletop

Something a bit more in the direction of general GM advice for today. Learning the rules through solo play.

From Humanists to Ink Blotters and Powder Mages - how do the people of Powderborn interact with its magic?

A new world brings new adventures! What contracts and treasures await the Immortal Children on this barren wasteland?

"I see shapes of Men and of horses, and pale banners like shreds of cloud, and spears like winter-thickets on a misty night. The Dead are following."

It's time to let the dice control everything - let's find out what they want us to explore first! (Very long post)

Let's figure out what the Powderborn world is roughly going to look like, shall we? I'm starting with a broad list of areas I want in the setting, followed by an abstract sketch of a possible layout.

Shelves full of books and hard drives overflowing with PDFs. So many choices, but what to play? Embrace randomness and let the dice decide!

With a small footprint and barely any rules, Cartographers is perfect for small breaks or as a warm-up game.

"Gunpowder weapons?! In a fantasy game?! Inconceivable!!"  - too many people I've previously played with. It's finally time for me to actually write down the concepts that have been floating around in my brain for the past several months. It's going to be the setting I have in mind for an (overly?) ambitious solo RPG I'm writing. The working title is going to be Powderborn for now.

Playing in existing settings can be a ton of fun, but many of them have been developed for several decades, and it might feel like there isn't any room for the kind of random generation that is so fundamental to solo play. Here are some tips and methods for how you can approach these settings.

The Immortal Children get hired to deal with militant isolationists who are planning to blow up a local power station.

A short discussion about the core rulebook and how the rules clash with the overall theme, which ultimately led to me ending the adventure.

The night brings many dangers for our dwarf hero.