How to play a solo tabletop RPG
A tabletop role-playing game is a story told with friends and dice: one person runs the world, everyone else plays a hero in it. Solo play is the same game with no group to gather and no night to book. You play one hero, and something else has to do the job the game master would.
What you need
1
A hero.A name, a few strengths and weaknesses, and a reason to be out in the world. Keep it simple: you will learn who they are by playing them.
2
A way to let chance decide.Dice. Anything risky, a climb, a lie, a sword stroke, is settled by a roll you cannot argue with. That is what makes it a game and not a daydream.
3
A way to ask the world questions.Is the gate guarded? Does the innkeeper know her? Something other than your own wishes has to answer, or every answer will be the one you wanted.
4
A record.Who you met, what you owe, what you promised. Long campaigns live or die on remembering, and a solo player has no table of friends to remember for them.
Three ways to play alone
Solo adventuresA written adventure you read in numbered sections, choosing where to go and rolling for the risks. Easy to start, but the paths are fixed: you cannot do what the writer did not think of.
Oracles and a journalYou are player and game master at once. You ask yes-or-no questions, roll on tables for the answer, and write the story down as it comes. Endlessly open, but the world only does what you think to ask, and the record is yours to keep.
An AI game masterSomething else runs the world: it describes the scene, plays the people, and answers whatever you try. You only play your hero. The catch is that a plain chatbot forgets, says yes too easily and fudges the dice, so it matters how it is built.
Getting started
1
Start small.One town, one problem, one person who wants something from you. A debt, a missing cousin, an empty smithy. The world grows outward from there.
2
Let the dice say no.Failure is where the story turns. A missed climb means another way round, a bad bargain means a debt, and a hero who never fails is not in any danger.
3
Ask, don't decide.Instead of deciding the guard is asleep, ask whether he is, and let the answer surprise you. Surprise is the thing a group gives you, and the thing solo play has to work for.
4
Give people wants.Everyone you meet should want something of their own. That is what makes a town feel alive and gives you something to push against.
5
Keep the record.Write down names, debts and promises as they happen. Coming back after a week is easy when the record is honest.
6
Play in short sessions.A scene or two at a time. Solo play fits in an evening, a lunch break, or ten minutes before bed.
Where Ellor fits
Ellor is an AI game master built for the third way. A rules engine rolls every die in the open and keeps every fact on a record, so nothing is forgotten and Ellor cannot overrule a roll. People in the world want things and act on them between your turns. It plays on the open rules of the System Reference Document 5.1, and it is free in early access.
See what a good AI game master should do in What an AI game master should do, or start with How to play.