Solo Game Reports

The write-ups from a bunch of solo table-top roleplaying games that I have played. Each game is a little different and each write-up is too. How I play and how I record things changes over time. Some of these are transcribed from notebooks with a little editing, others were typed up as I played.

Buried Alive

Trophy Dark 36 minute read Tomb of 10,000 Dreams

This was my first submission for #SHOCtober, Solo Horror October on Reddit and my first attempt playing Trophy solo too. I ended up using a slightly odd dialogue routine, literally playing out both role of GM and player as well as the player-character. It sort of works?

I ran this from the Trophy preview materials released for the crowdfunding drive. The incursion and rules were both updated slightly for the final print release, so if you look at the adventure in the final Trophy Dark book it might differ.

Chiron’s Doom

Chiron's Doom 6 minute read

A journalling game about a trio of misfits entering an alien artefact which doesn’t go well. I seem to play a lot of games like that.

Into the Elder Caves

Ironsworn 9 minute read

A short game inspired by some of the artwork in the Ironsworn: Delve supplement. I took inspiration from the photo, then built the details of her quest from random oracle rolls. I was very pleased with this whole game and how easily it seemed to come to life.

No Man’s Land

Trophy Dark 8 minute read

An improvised game set on the Western Front in the Great War. I played this in the days of posturing in the run-up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Outlaw Bessie Bien

We Deal In Lead 8 minute read

The bounty hunter Matilda Kruul tracks an injured outlaw to some shacks in the wilderness. Procedurally generated adventure using an OSR weird west system.

Arkham on Fire

Cthulhu Dark In Progress

I was looking for a Lovecraftian mystery to play that I didn’t have to invent on the fly or worry how I was going to play without spoilers. Mystery games are the hardest to play solo, I think — well, those and horror games! — so there was never going to be a good answer. I turned to Night of the Zealot, the introductory campaign from the Arkham Horror Card Game for inspiration.

Episodes (5)

Part 1 — Up is Down, Left is Right

8 minute read The Gathering

Carolyn Fern’s house is the battleground between magic and monsters

Part 2 — Hunt for the Wolf Man

8 minute read The Midnight Masks

Carolyn and Lita begin their search for the cult followers of Umôrdhoth.

Part 3 — The Mask from the Mortuary

9 minute read The Midnight Masks

Carolyn and Lita head to the hospital mortuary to learn more about the bodies that may have been the subject of cannibal rites. Then a short visit to Velma’s diner for some sustenance.

Part 4 — A Letter from a Friend

8 minute read The Midnight Masks

Lita receives a letter linking the cult to the disappearance of her lover, the unnaturally talented Sefina Rousseau. Elsewhere, agents of the cult destroy the lives of anyone they cannot corrupt.

Part 5 — Visions at the Library

11 minute read The Midnight Masks

Carolyn and Lita consult with a librarian at the Miskatonic University and put more of the story together connecting the cannibalistic rites taking place in the outskirts of Arkham.

Strangers on a Misty Road

Trophy Gold In Progress

I dreamt up this opening encounter one night and had to decide what system I should use for the ensuing adventure. As I first imagined it this would be quite a creepy, Gothic atmosphere (maybe they were approaching the gates of Barovia) but sadly that disappeared as play continued.

Episodes (2)

Part 1 — Entering the house

10 minute read

Bevan follows up on rumours of riches being smuggled into town.

Part 2 — Exiting in a hurry

12 minute read

Bevan creeps through the ramshackle mansion in the dead of night.