Solo Game Master's Guide by Geek Gamers

Dedicated solo books by big name publishers are a rarity. Especially when they are authored by the very person that got you into the solo hobby.

Preface

The Geek Gamers YouTube channel was my first entry point into the hobby of solo RPGs. Even though my playstyle is very different to the presented examples in those videos, I still really like to watch every single one of them. If you have any interest in solo RPGs or solo boardgames, I highly recommend that you check it out.

When I heard that she had written a book and that Modiphius was publishing it, my playstyle had already changed dramatically. Most of her videos and tips focus on narrative and rules-lite gameplay, while I tend to prefer crunchy, mechanics-heavy games. I also had watched pretty much every video she had published at that point and assumed that most of the book wouldn't be that useful to me.

That being said, I still wanted to buy it. I wanted to support Geek Gamers, while also showing Modiphius that there is a community of solo players desperate for more AAA solo content.

The Book

As always, this isn't going to be a deep-dive review or anything like that. I'm just going to talk about some of the thoughts I had while reading the book, but you should always do further research (preferably from multiple sources) before you do any purchasing decision. Geek Gamers did an overview video here.

You can get the physical version directly from Modiphius and various other online retailers. The PDF is also available at DriveThruRPG.com

Just reading the table of contents will give you a good idea if this book might be something for you.

In terms of production quality, my only complaint is the art. It's so generic and disconnected from the material that it might as well not exist. This may sound harsh, but keep in mind that art is expensive and shouldn't just be thrown into a product because "RPG books have art, right?". Not a big deal, but the book could have been cheaper without all the interior artwork.

Other than that, the book is chock-full of solo RPG goodness. It's basically a collection of essays and advice columns based around all things solo play. Many things that seem obvious in hindsight are actually quite unclear for people new to the hobby. When I first started out, I didn't even know what to type into Google, so a book like this would have saved me a lot of hours of frustrated research.

However, I wouldn't recommend this book as the only starting point, if you're new to the concept of solo RPGs. Sure, you will learn a lot of theoretical knowledge, tips, and methods for various approaches, but I assume that you'd still struggle quite a lot to actually sit down and play a full solo session.

If you've never played any solo RPGs, then I highly recommend that you start by playing a game designed for solo play. All the advice in the world isn't going to help you, if you haven't got an idea how the core gameplay loop is supposed to look like. A perfect example (because it's free) would be Ironsworn by Shawn Tomkin (also on DriveThruRPG).

Another, albeit paid, option would be Scarlet Heroes by Kevin Crawford. It's an OSR game designed for a single player character, which makes it perfect for solo play.

If you absolutely insist on starting with a multiplayer system, then you should get the Second Edition of Mythic Game Master Emulator by Tana Pigeon. It is by far the best emulator in terms of examples. Understanding the principles of GMEs like Mythic, will allow you to play pretty much any TTRPG out there.

Any of these examples would be a perfect companion to the Solo Game Master's Guide. Read or watch a few reviews and figure out what kind of playstyle you would prefer. Allow yourself to try new things, you never know what you might end up enjoying.

A smaller part of the book is made up of various tools like oracles and random tables. They would work perfectly fine for the freeform rules-lite style described in the book, but they are a bit too simplistic for my taste. I'm a fan of tables within tables and needlessly complex flowcharts. I'm aware that I'm in the minority there and the content within the book might be all you ever need. Every solo player is different.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, I'm quite happy with my purchase. I knew going into it that most information wouldn't be new to me, and that my playstyle differs quite a bit from the author's. Nonetheless, It was an enjoyable read and the book looks good in my shelf. The tools won't make a regular appearance in my sessions, but it's one of those books that I will flip through every couple of months.

If you've read this far, then you'll probably already know whether the book is for you or not. For anyone still on the fence, I'd recommend that you give it a shot. Not only because you might end up loving it, but also to show Modiphius that there are people out there willing to spend money for more quality solo RPG content.