In 2025 I started a new blog project to record my adventures as a solo roleplaying gamer over at the Chronicles of a Solitary Heroine. I’ve only been able to update it sporadically, with my return to work and preparation for the holidays sucking up much of what little free time I enjoy. But with my recent purchase of the Mythic Game Master Emulator Second Edition (and my child finally settling into a sleep/nap schedule more conducive to my feeling awake enough to create), I’ve finally been diving back in.
I’d been wanting to try starting a solo campaign for many months now, due in part to my subscription to the Soloist and The Lone Toad newsletters, but also because the medium seemed like a natural fit for me as someone who equally loves writing, roleplaying, and gamemastering.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that playing solo RPGs would let me indulge in some of my favorite parts of RPGs, remove some of the barriers I faced to playing and writing, and reduce the severity of some of my bad gaming habits:
- I love creating characters. The more chances I get to go through the character creation process, the better.
- I like prepping for campaigns, rolling on random tables, and looking up setting details.
- I want to get gaming in more regularly, but my schedule is very irregular and difficult to plan around. I never know if I’ll have gotten enough sleep to do more than simply get through the day.
- I want to write more prose fiction, but I often get stuck. Where do I begin? What happens next?
- I am always interested in learning new systems (and sometimes settings), but I purchase more games to add to my collection than I could ever possibly play with a group.
- I want to roleplay more, but I often have a hard time focusing during a session as a player, especially if the GM isn’t running a fast-paced game.
Solo RPGs seem to satisfy these whims and solve many of these problems. I can make as many characters as I want, including enough PCs for an entire party if I so desire. I can play on my own time without trying to coordinate schedules with 3+ other people. If I need to skip a day and take a nap instead, I’m not letting anyone down. I can start and end campaigns as it suits me. I can focus on the prepping part of games, which is sometimes just as fun as playing, if not more. The tools of solo RPGs can help me inject a little more unpredictability and game into the writing process. I can try out as many new systems and settings as I have the attention span for, and I don’t have to worry about seeming disengaged at a gaming table. And who doesn’t love the chance to roll more dice?
It helped that I also discovered the Fictioneer WordPress theme right as I started to work on my new solo RPG blog. The Fictioneer theme was specifically designed by a group of authors to house their story collections, with shortcodes to display stories, chapters, and more in a way that seemed perfect for a blog that would feature multiple concurrent campaigns.
I also started using Obsidian to keep track of my session notes and setting lore. Because I use cloud storage for my files, even the free version can be synced between my laptop and desktop, which proved extra convenient when I was away from my desk bouncing a baby to sleep in his BabyBjörn.
I’ll end with some amazing advice from the Solo Game Master’s Guide, which has given me permission to enjoy solo roleplaying even if I don’t produce something I can share. Even if it’s just rolling randomly without any particular end in mind.
If you are getting involved with an RPG rule set in any way, you are playing.
Going through rules and thinking about what to do and downloading a pdf—and not doing anything more than that—is not a failure. It is not a waste of time. It is part of playing.
If you create characters but never use them in a session, that is still experiencing the RPG world. That is part of playing.
If you read rule sets but never run sessions with them, that is still experiencing the RPG world. That is part of playing.
– Geek Gamers, the Solo Game Master’s Guide
Consider this your invitation to find your fun wherever and whenever you can, especially if times are hard, and especially if you are busy. When we find delight in life, we can kindle the inner flame that helps us illuminate the lives of others.
