Rolling Solo: TTRPGs for the Lone Adventurer
Whether you're looking for a quiet night in or craving a solo challenge, these tabletop role-playing games are designed to be played by just you.
THE MIN:
Life comes at you fast, and finding time to play games with your friends can be difficult. Luckily, there are a plethora of great solo games for you to play. Here are five single-player TTRPGs you can play any time you have … well, the time.
THE MAX:
There’s a common conundrum in TTRPG spaces: Scheduling. Because most popular TTRPGs involve a group of people sitting around a table playing a game, it can seem like that’s the only way to play. Add that life is busy and time is finite, and scheduling woes can feel like a non-starter for people who want to get into tabletop gaming. I’m here to tell you there’s another way.
Solo-TTRPGs are exactly what they sound like: A game for one player. There are hundreds of solo-TTRPGs out there across all kinds of themes, play styles, levels of ease, and more.
The games I’ll be writing about today are just a small sample of a vast array of solo-TTRPGs to choose from. To give you an idea of scope, I have handpicked games that are quick to play, but also have the room to take your time with. In addition, they each serve a specific purpose: they could help you with your daily journaling, create a character for a creative project or game, or they might just be fun things to do when you want to play a game that’s just for you.
One last brief note before we begin: If you enjoy these games, I recommend looking at their authors. Many of these creators have written other wonderful games that are fun to play alone or with a group (provided you’ve finally found a schedule that works).
A Solo Game About Fun: Hell Holes
$4.00 | To play: A 100-sided die, two d10, and something to write on and with
In Hell Holes, you play someone trapped in hell for a century, but you now have the chance to escape. How? By winning a golf tournament.
This game is hilarious and very fun, and I say that as someone who has never played golf in my life. Because the premise of the game is absurd, you are given a lot of freedom as the player to get a little weird with it and have a great time.
Your success (or failure) each turn is dependent on what club you choose and your dice roll. (Oh, and there's a special bonus if you roll three sixes in a roll, because why wouldn't there be?)
There are nine holes you can play, each more silly and ridiculous than the last. You can play as a lone golfer, but I like to create a “rival” to compete against. The game also flexes up to allow six players, so it’s easy to pick up for either yourself or your friends. However you choose to play, this game is a hell of a good time (get it?).
A Solo Game About Journaling: Tavern at the End of the World
$3.00 | To play: A Tarot deck, two coins, and something to write on and with.
In Tavern At the End of the World, you play as a barkeep in a tavern you create, logging the days’ events as adventurers come to tell their tales.
What I love about this game is that it’s rules-light. Seriously, the game is only one page long. Throughout the game, pull cards and flip coins to determine the kind of visitors that arrive at your establishment. Your cards and coin flip results impact the success of your tavern. Is the patron famous? Are they a wanted criminal? Are they a regular person down on their luck? In this game, anything is possible.
The first time playing, I highly recommend using the rules as written, but the next time, I would encourage you to adjust the setting or make up your own character options.
Tavern At the End of the World is a truly delightful game that can be played over and over again and help you get into (or reestablish!) a journaling habit.
A Solo Game About Worldbuilding: Expansive Skies
$1.00 | To play: Two d6 dice*, a deck of cards, and something to write on and with.
While Expansive Skies is deceptively simple to learn, the journey it takes you on is profound in its revelations. Through this game, you create and narrate the mythos behind news constellations in the night sky, shaping the cultures, belief systems, and lore of the world it looks over.
This is a game I have played quite often, and I have yet to get tired of it. Each playthrough is unique because it’s all based on the draw of cards (which is never the same) and based entirely on the energy you are bringing to it. You may draw all four twos, and no eights, giving you a sky full of sea creatures but no weapons. That’s an entirely different sky from one with a more even distribution of cards.
Expansive Skies is a wonderful game that will help you dive deeper into the world you are creating, while also being just plain fun.
A Solo Game About Character Creation: You, An Astronaut
$4.00 | To play: The game guide and something to write on and with (optional)
In You, An Astronaut, you follow the prompts to tell the story of an astronaut adrift in deep space, culminating in one final, fateful decision.
This game is heavily character-focused, so what you put into it is what you’ll get out of it. As you create your character, you’re asked questions like, “How would you describe your body temperature?” and “Are you in pain?” and “Do you love yourself?”
By the end of the game, you not only have a well-rounded character with winning traits and damning flaws, but you also feel a deep connection to this person you have only been with for fourteen or so pages.
You, An Astronaut is a stunning game about space that will help you develop the skills to think through your characters, history, beliefs, traits, and insecurities while packing a powerful narrative punch.
A Solo Game about Exploration: Tales’ End
$5.00 | To play: Something to write on and with, and a deck of cards (optional)
In Tales’ End, you play as a character sitting around a campfire, reflecting on a long journey. As you play, you develop the landscape you explored as well as your character and their relationship to the others they journeyed with.
Not only is the art in this book breathtaking, but it does a lot in only a few pages. You’re simultaneously building the world and playing in it, and then reflecting on your experience. You play by drawing cards that indicate answers to the all-important questions: who, what, when, where, and why. The cards also give you starting sentences to influence you throughout the acts.
I have often played this game to get my creative juices flowing when I need to get my head in the right space to create. Like most of the other games, this can be played with more people but is just as delightful when played solo.
Meet the Writer:
Mara Franzen
I have accidentally on purpose made my entire life about games, books, and stories. I recently graduated with an M.F.A in creative writing, and so far have used that degree to write about games, gay people in space, and gay people playing games in space. I am also a player and GM on StarlightTales on Twitch, where (you guessed it) I can be found being gay in space.
As someone who wasn’t exposed to tabletop games until late high school and video games until college, I have strived to make up for lost time, and am working my way through all the classics now. To me, a great game has a satisfying narrative arc and has to be a little silly.
Favorite Video Game: Skyrim (don’t mess with the classics)
Favorite Board Game: Clue (again, don’t mess with the classics)
Favorite Indie Game: Oxenfree
Favorite D&D Class: Bard
Favorite TTRPG: Lasers and Feelings
Favorite Franchise: The Fast and the Furious
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Omg, Expansive Skies is going to become a required prep set anytime I launch a new campaign. It’s such a good idea to make a fun take on lore/culture. Looking up more about it right now.