This is a list of resources for solo role-playing.

I was looking for a list of solo engines and resources some years ago. Unfortunately, I found none.
That’s why I started this list at the G+ Lone Wolf community and completed it with the help of others.

If you know of a resource that is not listed yet, you can shoot me an email.

Want to know how to get started with solo role-playing? I wrote a short blogpost that covers the essentials. There is also a beginner-friendly guide by Spencer Salyer. John Yorio has an excellent in-depth tutorial in several blog posts. I recommend this for a better understanding of solo role-playing.

Please note that some links below are affiliate links. A small portion of the sale goes to my account credit at OneBookshelf and allows me to buy new games. THANK YOU!
There is no drawback for you. If you still don’t want to support my blog, you can delete the last part of the link, “?affiliate_id=330920”. Just imagine my sad face…

Solo Engines/Games/Gamebooks

• #CannotEverCry (FREE) an Instagame RPG: complete, playable RPG as an Instagram-sized 1080px by 1080px image.
• #WritingWithDice: Reframing Solo Roleplaying blog post here
• 2 Hour Dungeon Crawl dungeon-crawler, playable solo
• 3 Stone Stories (FREE) a lightweight story engine by Rodney Sloan
• A Basic System 12 (ABS12) (FREE) by Ken Wickham
• Adventurer: The Solo Roleplaying Game (FREE) an attempt to write a full Solo RPG by Shane Garvey and Stuart Lloyd
• ALONe: A Solo Game Engine BETA (PWYW) a standalone solo engine (beta)
• Ancient Odysseys: More Treasure Awaits! the supplement for Ancient Odysseys with wilderness adventures and more classes
• Ancient Odysseys: Treasure Awaits an introductory dungeon-crawling game which allows you to play solitaire or with a group
• Avalon Quests: Pathfinder solo gaming (the price point of USD $14.99 is a bit steep)
• Beholden (FREE) “Beholden” is a game based on “Beloved”. It basically switches the roles, and adds another twist: You’re a deity.
• Beloved (FREE) a story game by Ben Lehman
• Bivius Solo RPG (FREE) simple solo system by Lino Pang
• Chapter System (FREE) a simple solo system by RoryB Bracebuckle
• Chronicles of Arax (FREE) a solo swords and sorcery RPG set in the world of Arax
• Chronicles of Blood (FREE) a solo wargame in the world of Arax (see Chronicles of Arax)
• CRGE (PWYW) a complete GM Emulator by the guy who made UNE and BOLD (see below)
• Daydream Solo (FREE) by Henry Harrison, feedback appreciated
• Death Queen and the Life Stone a D&D 5e solo module for a Cleric or a Fighter
• EPIC (FREE) solo engine by RoryB Bracebuckle
• First Ride / Last Ride a short but intense one-player game about living on the edge, pulling heists and driving high performance cars in illegal street races
• Flipping Zombies (PWYW) a 1-player dexterity game that prints in two pages and plays in about ten minutes
• Four Against Darkness solo dungeon-crawler solo dungeon-crawler, additional adventure Caves of the Kobold Slave-Masters available
• Free FAE Solo Adventures (FREE)
• Free Will (FREE) addon for Mythic GME (so-called “driver”): more about that here and here
• Grey Flowers (FREE) web-based Choose Your Own Adventure
• Hall of the Dwarven King (FREE) a solo dice game
• High Stakes – Free Storytelling and Adventure Rules (FREE)
• Impetus (FREE) a solitaire rpg driver to move things forward when you’re stuck
• IN-RADIC (FREE) solo wargaming system, but can be used for RPGs, too
• Legend of Wayfarer 1st ed. (FREE) by Stuart Llyod, some free adventure gamebooks are here (scroll down to Wayfarer)
• Lone Blade Solo Rules for (Advanced) Song of Blades and Heroes (FREE) solo rules for ASBH by Aleksandar Battreps
• Microscope world-building/epic history game: while not strictly a solo game, it can be used as great solo engine, as explained on the Risus Monkey blog here
• Miso RPG (FREE) minimal freeform solo framework; epub, mobi and PDF package here
• Miso RPG Houserule: Rolling Critical (FREE) by Dan Davis
• Mystic Punks a zine-only RPG, more information here
• Mythic GME the classic amongst the solo systems, requires a bit bookkeeping and playing it can feel a bit scattered, nonetheless the most “complete” GM emulator
• Nine Steps And A Bloody Heart (FREE) investigative system
• Oculus v1 (FREE) Geoff Osterberg’s version
• Oculus v2 (FREE) Konrad Zielinski’s version
• Of the Woods: Lonely Games of Imagination a collection of six single-player lonely games - a lonely game is a game of questions to tell haunting, introspective, and quiet stories
• One Page Solo Engine (FREE) by Karl Hendricks
• PenguinComics.com Random Solo Adventures solo gamebooks, some books are on Lulu, too, and the guys behind these also run http://www.gamebooknews.com/
• Perilous Intersections (FREE) one of my favorite story frameworks, again by RoryB Bracebuckle
• Player Emulator with Tags (FREE) a framework for running your favorite system with virtual players, here is an example of the tool in play
• Pythia Oracle (FREE) Python framework for solo gaming/sandbox content creation
• QADD: Solotastic! a four level dungeon of solo adventuring action for the QADD: Quick And Dirty Dungeons RPG
• Quill: A Letter-Writing Roleplaying Game for a Single Player (PWYW) living document
• Quill: Coal & Parchment (PWYW) supplement
• Quill: Love Letters (PWYW) supplement
• Rewind by Todd Zircher (PWYW) a framework and light role playing game for solo or single player game play
• Scarlet Heroes one of the BEST systems for solo-ing with an OSR ruleset, great D&D-like system + solo engine
• Scarlet Heroes Quickstart (FREE) a free quickstart version of Scarlet Heroes without the solo engine and the tables
• SCRAWL (FREE) by Stuart Llyod, short for Solo CRAWL, involves wandering around a world, killing monsters and stealing their stuff (murder-hobos), free adventure Dungeon of the Orc Boss
• Simple RP System (FREE)
• so1um simple solo system by Matt Jackson
• So1um Expanded Edition (PWYW) "So1um was created as a fast system for solo play. This expanded edition takes the original mechanics and adds to them, providing more detailed rules for combat, vehicles and character advancement to make them suitable for solo as well as group play and mid-length campaigns."
• Solo - Zozer Games solo add-on for Traveller
• Solo engine by Tiny Solitary Soldiers (FREE) based on Free Universal Role Playing Game (FU)
• Solo Gaming Rules a stand-alone solo rpg
• Solo Grail (FREE) by Evandro Novel
• Solo-HACK-tastic! a four level dungeon of solo adventuring action, requires “The Black Hack” core rules
• Soloist RPG (FREE) by Chris Atthestudy, WIP
• Soloist RPG Draft (FREE) by Chris Atthestudy
• Space Scavenger (PWYW) a roll-and-write solitaire game where you become the captain of the galaxy’s lowest budget spaceship
• Star Smuggler a classic game from 1982. It’s a lot like Traveller, but for one person and a little simpler.
• Storium a new play by post RPG platform, although it’s primarily played by a narrator and players, you can play it solo by being both the player and the narrator
• Supervillain You (FREE) one person game by Ron Edwards and Rafael Chandler, an be used as a backstory generator for super powered characters.
• Swords and Savagery another dungeon crawling game that you can play solo, this one has a"dungeon deck"
• Swords of the Skull-Takers (FREE) solo RPG by Joe J Prince
• The 9 Questions (FREE) a story framework by John Fiore
• The Covetous Poet’s Adventure Creator and Solo GM Book lots of tables, classic Three-Story-Arc structure; I was pretty disappointed, but others enjoy it very much
• The Doctor Who Solitaire Storytelling Game (FREE) solo game by Simon Cogan with over two-dozen expansions, playable online
• The Gamemaster’s Apprentice a card-based idea generator & solo engine
• The Trouble with Rose (PWYW) a story telling parlour game of romance, comedy, and betrayal
• Wayfarer (FREE) by Stuart Lloyd, your character explores a quasi-medieval world full of ancient ruins and strange creatures
• Wicked Blades of the Blood Forest (FREE)a #200WordRPG solo game by Ivan Vaghi
• ZATHRUM (free) a simple d20 solo engine by Riccardo Fregi

Solo RPG Media (Blogs, Podcasts, Youtube etc.)

• #SoloRPGVideoResources (FREE) youtube videos about solo role-playing
• Abandoned Brain by Dan Davis
• Adopted by Mentor Apocalypse World 2e
• alea iactanda est blog with elaborate session reports
• Alone Amongst Many has a great series about old school gaming with Scarlet Heroes
• Battreps solo role-playing and wargaming
• bob loblaw’s solo log blog Mike Overbo’s development blog for his solo web app
• Chimerical Realm Vampire the Masquerade blog
• Dan’s Gaming Blog
• die heart solo the solo section of this blog
• Dungeons & Dutch Ovens by Ed Ortiz
• FiveMeninNormandy by Ivan Sorensen
• Gaming While Driving by James Carr
• maulpodtoddcast - solo rpg actual play solo rpg podcast and youtube channel
• Metamorphosis Zeta Scarlet Heroes solo play and more
• Moggy No Mates Scarlet Heroes solo play etc.
• MoonSylver’s blog
• Mythic RPG Youtube series videolog
• Nights Of Solitude Karl Hendricks’ page on Obsidian Portal
• No One to Play With RoryB made several small solo engines (I like Perilous Intersections, see above) and also writes interesting session reports
• Noels 15mm SciFi and Fantasy 15mm SciFi wargaming blog solo role-playing and wargaming, the link goes to the 4AD tag
• One Player, Many Stages solo actual plays and other collaborative efforts
• Plundergrounds Hangout #1 (With Yours Truly) G+ Hangouts discussion about solo role-playing, especially with Dungeon World
• Reddit Wiki Solo (FREE wiki entry) A simple article to get you started
• Rolling Dice and Writing Words solo rpg and writing
• Rolling Dice and Writing Words by Geoff Osterberg
• Skaldforge Scarlet Heroes solo play etc.
• Solo Actual Plays on RPG.net thanks to Alex Yari for tagging
• Solo Heroes by Steven Lincoln
• Solo Roleplayer a general resource for solo gaming
• Solo Rpg Gamer some general thoughts about solo rpgs
• Solo Rpg Voyages interesting break-down for different role-playing games
• Solo un mondo di carta the author constantly tries out new tools with cool sketches, very interesting
• solospelunking mostly actual plays with different systems (Star Wars FFG, 13th Age, FU etc.)
• Tabletop Diversions excellent solo musings by John Yorio, check out his tutorial on how to play solo rpgs on the right side of the page
• The Bwogosphere short snippets of actual play reports which are easy to read
• The Gnomish Embassy old-school and new school
• The Lone Crusader solo D&D role-playing
• The Silverfang Inn
• UbiquitousRat.net classic fantasy games (RuneQuest, Traveller etc.) solo
• World of the Fifth Sun solo RPG blog by Kern Wickham, also develops his own solo system
• Wisps Of Time Spencer Salyer's blog

Solo RPG Tools (Websites, Game Aids, Random Generators etc.)

• A No-Budget No-frills Pencil and Paper d12 Dungeon Generator (FREE) by John Yorio
• A Pseudo-Fey-ish Generator Table (FREE) a table for generating fey monsters
• Abulafia (random-generator.com) (FREE)
• Adventuresmith (FREE Android app) random generators and solo engines
• Bad Situations (FREE) a genre creator
• Black Stream Solo Heroes (FREE) an overlay for fantasy OSR games so that you can play them with 1 player and 1 GM: not a strictly solo system but on the way there (predecessor of Scarlet Heroes)
• BOLD, Universal PC Stories and Deeds Generator (PWYW) setting and system agnostic generator
• Castle Gargantua another procedural dungeon generator
• Chaotic Shiny (FREE) lots of generators
• DM Muse (FREE) fantasy/dungeon-themed generator
• DonJon RPG Tools (FREE) an online source for random RPG stuff, mostly old school role-playing. FANTASTIC random solo dungeon generation!
• DunGen Pointcrawl Dungeon Generator by Ed Allen
• DunMap Dungeon Map Stocker v 0.5 by Ed Allen
• Entanglements (PWYW)a story mapping tool for RPGs, alternative download
• FREE adventures for Adventurer Solo Game (see above) by Stuart Llyod, scroll down to “Adventurer”
• Guide to Playing Alone an introduction to solo role-playing
• Hexmancer (FREE) procedural hex generator by Martin Ralya
• Hiring Hall retainers and hirelings for old school dungeon crawling, a generator by Ed Allen
• IMPROVisr 4.0.0 (FREE) a java application designed to generate tabletop RPG material as an improvisation tool for the game master
• Instant Game (FREE) a great setting creator, plus a solo game included
• It’s Not My Future! inspired by Evil Hat’s It’s Not My Fault! cards for generating NPCs and a revolting scene (for Fate Accelerated)
• Mad Monks of Kwantoom the successor of Ruins of the Undercity: a random old school dungeon generator with an Asian flair: city encounters, shops, and atmosphere
• Mark’s Adventure Glyphs (Android) an image app similar to Rory’s Story Cubes, uses the same Game Icon library as Zero Dice, same image source but different mechanics
• Mekton Zeta – Lifepath Generator (FREE) a tool for making random character back stories by Todd Zircher
• My Abominable Experiments In Solo Role Playing Javascript tools for solo play
• One-roll Generators (FREE) by Brian Holland
• Overstand Basics Mythic RPG/GME Loot (FREE) material for Mythic RPG/Mythic GME by D Jones-Dixon
• Perilous Wilds generators (FREE)
• Prompting Oracle (of sorts?) (FREE) web tool
• ranDM Solo by Mike Overbo (FREE) combo offline webapp/random table generator with different solo engines
• Random Dungeon Generator (http://henrycjc.com) (FREE) you can change the number of rooms in the url
• Roll3d6 random generators
• Rory’s Story Cubes dice with images on it for inspiration, available at game stores or online retailers like Amazon.com, mobile apps are available for iphone/ipad or Android
• rpgsolo.com (FREE) Mark has created an online tool that integrates several other solo tools as well as creating his own die roller and solo game features, there was some flak because he didn’t properly credit the original authors at first
• Ruins of the Undercity a random dungeon generator for old school gaming, reviews here, a print version is available at lulu
• Schweig’s Themed Dungeon Creator a template which you stock yourself and in turn gives you a tool for creating a random dungeon
• Simple HTML Roller (FREE) by Konrad Zielinski
• solo dungeon generator - one room at a time (FREE) by Chris Stieha
• Solo Roleplay Tools (FREE) a Google Docs addon for Mythic GME
• Solo RPGs forum (free, of course) The G+ Lone Wolf community forum
• Springhole.net (FREE) generators for writing and role-playing
• Stellar Heroes (FREE) an overlay for sci-fi OSR games so that you can play them with 1 player and 1 GM: not a strictly solo system but on the way there
• SWN Sector Generator (FREE) random generator for Stars Without Numbers
• The “Aladdin” Technique (FREE) “The “Aladdin” Technique (FREE) an easy way to spontaneously spice up RPG encounter ideas, solo or otherwise, by John Fiore
• The Location Crafter from the folks who did the Mythic GME, a universal location creator, softcover available via lulu
• UNE, Universal NPC Emulator (rev) (PWYW) a great way to create NPCs by Zach Best
• Wizardawn (FREE) lots of random creators for old school role-playing games
• Zero Dice (FREE) an online tool for rolling image dice like Rory’s but with additional support for forum play, by Todd Zircher
• Zero Tarot web tool for Tarot cards as NPC or scene generators