Solo RPGs - Why Playing Alone Is Pure Magic

The Fun of Solo RPGs: A candle, a page, and a whole world that shows up anyway

Picture a table at the edge of the tavern. Not the loud one where everyone argues about initiative. Not the crowded one where snacks disappear like magic items in a greedy rogue’s pockets.

A smaller table.
One chair.
A candle that makes the room feel kinder than it really is.

This is where solo RPGs live.

And if you have never tried one, here is the secret: solo roleplaying is not “playing alone” in the sad sense. It is “making your own adventure” in the creative sense - like doodling in the margins of a notebook and accidentally drawing a doorway, and then realizing you can step through it.

Solo RPGs are fun because they give you something rare:

- A story that waits for you, not the other way around
- A pace you can actually breathe in
- A way to roleplay on a Tuesday night when real life has taken your whole weekend hostage
- A little pocket of wonder that fits between dishes, deadlines, and sleep

And they are not all the same. “Solo RPG” is not one genre, it is a whole shelf. Some feel like writing a diary. Some feel like exploring a map. Some feel like surviving one terrible night. Some feel like living a thousand lifetimes and forgetting most of them.

Let’s talk about what makes solo RPGs different from each other, and why those differences are exactly where the fun lives.

What a Solo RPG Actually Is (and What It Isn’t)

A solo RPG is a roleplaying game designed to be played without a traditional Game Master. That does not mean it has no structure. It means the structure is built into the game itself.

Instead of a GM deciding what is behind the door, you use tools that create answers:

- Prompts (questions or instructions)
- Oracles (tables or yes-no systems that surprise you)
- Procedures (step-by-step loops: travel, discover, face trouble, recover)
- Constraints (limited resources, limited memories, limited time)
- A record (a journal, a log, a character sheet that becomes a scrapbook)

So if you have ever thought: “But who decides what happens?”
The answer is: the game does... and then you do.

Solo play is a conversation between rules and imagination. The rules ask. You answer. The rules push back. You adapt. The story forms like footprints in fresh snow: one step at a time, and suddenly you are far from home.- 

The Core Joy: You Get to Be Surprised by Your Own Story

A good solo RPG does something magical: it makes you feel like you are discovering, not inventing.
That sounds like a small difference, but it is huge.

When you sit down to “just write a story,” your brain tries to be clever. It tries to control everything. It wants the ending to make sense before the beginning even begins.

Solo RPGs pull the steering wheel out of your hands - gently, with a smile - and hand you something else instead:

- A dice roll that says: “No, that plan won’t work.”
- A prompt that says: “You lose something you care about.”
- A table that says: “The stranger is helpful… but only for a price.”

You still create, of course. But you create in response. You improvise. You react. You get that delicious player feeling of: “Oh no… what do I do now?”

That is the heartbeat of roleplaying. Solo RPGs just let you have it without scheduling six adults and a babysitter.

The Fundamental Differences Between Solo RPGs

Solo games tend to fall into a few big styles. Each style has its own “engine,” and each engine creates a different kind of fun.

1) Prompt-first journaling games

Useful context: Cozy, emotional, reflective - the game gives you questions and you answer in your own voice. Best when you want: comfort, creativity, a soft landing after a long day.

2) Prompt-plus-randomizer games (cards, dice, varied tables)

TUseful context: More surprise, more texture, more “curated chaos.” Best when you want: variety, strange turns, story sparks you did not see coming.

3) Procedure-driven sandbox games

Useful context: Exploration that feels earned - travel loops, discovery loops, “make a map as you go.” Best when you want: adventure structure, roaming freedom, a sense of journey.

4) Boxed sets with dedicated solo booklets

Useful context: A guided experience - like a choose-your-own-adventure, but with real RPG teeth. Best when you want: quick setup, clear direction, a complete “game night for one.”

5) Full RPGs with built-in Solo Mode

Useful context: The solo rules are not an afterthought - they are part of the system’s identity. Best when you want: a big world, a strong theme, and the option to play solo or in a group later.

6) Full RPGs with optional solo tools

Useful context: A complete core game that also supports solitary expeditions - ideal for side stories and personal campaigns. Best when you want: a rich setting first, solo support second, and room to grow.

7) Legacy-style solo games about long arcs

Useful context: A campaign in one book - you watch a character change across years, decades, centuries. Best when you want: depth, transformation, and the kind of story that lingers.

Now, let’s put real books on the table.

Below are seven solo experiences you can find on Netherbook’s shelves, each representing a different style - and each with its own kind of joy.

Seven Solo Doors (and What’s Fun About Each One)

Door 1: Be Like a Cat

This is the warm mug of tea version of solo roleplaying. You are not saving the kingdom. You are saving your afternoon. The fun here is scale: tiny adventures with big personality. You roll, you get a prompt, and you write a moment that feels like sunlight on a windowsill - until the next prompt turns it into mischief.

Quick heads-up: Low stakes, high charm. A simple loop that makes creativity feel easy, even when your brain is tired.

Door 2: Be Like a Crow

This one adds a delicious twist: you are still journaling, still telling the story in small scenes, but with a sharper beak. The tone can shift. The world can shift. The card-driven approach gives you that “fate dealt me this” feeling, which is basically the solo version of a GM raising an eyebrow and saying: “Are you sure?”

Quick heads-up: Replayability and variety. The fun is in how quickly your story becomes strange, clever, and unexpectedly emotional.

Door 3: Against the Wind Solo RPG

Here the fun comes from movement. This is not a diary on a pillow, it is boots on the road. The game leans into procedures that guide you through travel, discovery, and trouble, and it invites you to build the world as you go - including mapping and exploring your own bleak, fairy-tale wilderness.

Quick heads-up: A true solo sandbox. You are not following a prewritten plot - you are generating the land, the challenges, and the tale in motion, with procedures that keep you from feeling lost.

Door 4: Dragonbane core Set

Some solo games feel like “a toolset.” This one feels like “a complete night in a box.” Between the maps, standees, and the included the solo booklet: Alone in Deepfall Breach, it is built for the moment when you want to play right now, not after an hour of preparation.

Quick heads-up: Ready-to-play solo support inside a full fantasy boxed set. It gives you a guided solo experience while still being a complete game you can later bring to a group table.

Door 5: The Walking Dead Universe RPG Core Rules

Includes Campaign, Survival, and Solo Mode. This is solo play with teeth. The fun here is pressure. Scarcity. Hard choices. The kind of story where you do not just ask “What happens next?” but “What will it cost me?” The rules explicitly support Solo Mode, and the theme makes solo sessions feel intense and personal - because survival stories often do. 

Quick heads-up: A full RPG that treats solo play as a first-class way to experience its world, with modes that support different campaign shapes and pacing.

Door 6: Coriolis - The Great Dark Core Rules

This is for the solo player who wants wonder with their danger. The fun lives in exploration: strange systems, ancient ruins, and the feeling of being a small ship in a very large dark. The core book includes tools and rules for solo play, which means you can run solitary expeditions without stripping the game down into something else.

Quick heads-up: A rich sci-fi exploration game that can also be taken on solo voyages, with tools designed to keep discovery moving even when you are your only crew member.

Door 7: Thousand Year Old Vampire

This is the long night version of solo play. The fun is not in “winning,” it is in becoming. You chronicle centuries. You gain memories, you lose memories, and the loss is not a failure - it is the point.

Quick heads-up: This is a solo game that makes forgetting into a mechanic, which is both beautiful and cruel in exactly the right way. You do not just watch your character change. You watch them erode, reshape, harden, soften, and finally become someone who barely resembles the beginning.

So What’s the Fun, Really?

If you zoom out, solo RPGs are fun for the same reason campfires are fun.

Not because they are efficient. Not because they are productive.

Because they make a small circle of light, and inside that circle, things feel possible again.

Solo roleplaying is permission:

- Permission to play in short bursts or long drifts
- Permission to be messy on the page
- Permission to chase a weird idea without worrying if the table will “buy in”
- Permission to explore themes you do not want to perform for anyone else
- Permission to stop when you want, and return when you miss it

And because solo RPGs come in different shapes, you can match the shape to your mood.

Some nights you want cozy.
Some nights you want the road.
Some nights you want survival.
Some nights you want the slow, inevitable ache of time.

Solo RPGs are not a replacement for group play. They are a different doorway into the same kind of magic.

And the best part?

That doorway is always unlocked.