Solodark

I just took a look at Solodark, the free rules for running the amazing Shadowdark RPG as a solo game. To be honest, there’s not a lot of material here, but what does exist is interesting.

Essentially the understanding is that you basically have everything in the Shadowdark core rules to run the game by yourself, so no systems other than initiative in combat have any mechanical changes. What you do lack is a GM to answer questions, which is why you are provided the details of the “Oracle Die.” This is a d20 roll with a variety of outcomes to determine yes/no questions and add twists to the responses with a random table of verb and noun prompts. The creator, Kelsey Dionne, has made several great videos showing how she’s employing these rules as an example.

When I have the opportunity I’d love to try out a Solodark campaign and I’ll put out write ups of my experiences. In the same vein I’ve been meaning to try out Ironsworn for the same reason—and a close friend recommended it.

On the larger subject of solo RPG play, I think it’s a great exercise in creativity, particularly as Kelsey demonstrates, because the player must creatively and imaginatively interpret ambiguous results. I could see it being a great creative writing exercise to get through writer’s block. It’s also just a great practice for a GM, interpreting new results and creating the story on the fly so you can nimbly respond and interpret your players’ actions in a multiplayer game. For this same reason I plan to spend some time soon looking at Ironsworn as well.