Solo role-playing game

An oracle, also called a gamemaster emulator, is a mechanism used to answer questions about the game world through randomness, for example with dice rolls or card draws. Typically, oracles operate by providing an answer to a yes-no question posed by the player, much like the Magic 8 Ball and similar methods of divination.^[12] Oracles can range in sophistication from simple coin tosses to systems of random tables adjusting probabilities based on previous game states.^[13] Software implementations of oracle systems exist.^[14]

While oracles are frequently an integral part of a solo role-playing game's ruleset, they can also be sold as stand-alone products aimed at facilitating GM-less gameplay in role-playing games that may otherwise need a gamemaster to run the game or for providing additional assistance to gamemasters running such games.^[12]

A paragraph-based game is a kind of game in which interactions with text constitute the main or the only form of gameplay. If the narrative fragments provided by the game interact with other game elements in some way, the game can be said to be paragraph-enhanced.^[15]: 193

Gamebooks are a prominent category of paragraph-based games.^[6]

Academic Jessica Hammer and Paul Czege explained that "journaling games are a conceptual grouping of single-player games" where writing is a central gameplay element. They highlighted "these games exist as formal, published documents", noting "as of 2023, there were 1,092 journaling games downloadable on the indie publishing site itch.io".^[17]: 171

While "journaling" typically refers to the literal recording of game events in a journal or a notebook, some games experiment with the concept. Some games might require the player to record real events alongside fictional ones, or blend them together. A "journal" may also take a variety of forms, from textual entries on a paper or digital medium, to marks on the player's skin.^[18] While journaling games typically prompt written responses, they may also incorporate other creative practices such as drawing, embroidery or others.^[17]: 171

Map addition is the process of adding to the map as it is explored. This mechanic introduces uncertainty into exploration.^[19]: 465 This mechanic has been used in solo role-playing since its earliest days, particularly in dungeon-crawlers. For example, a 1975 issue of TSR's The Strategic Review contained the feature "Solo Dungeon Adventures", describing the rules for using dice to randomly generate underground passages, chambers, traps, adversaries, and plunder as the player explored a dungeon.^[4]: 139 While these rules allow the player to map-out a location with a high level of detail, games with less focus on tactical combat may provide rules for "lower-resolution" map exploration, adding locations to a bigger map, but only providing general descriptions of the locations themselves.^[20]

Tabletop role-playing as a whole experienced a huge surge in popularity in the mid-2010s, evolving from a niche hobby to a massively popular pastime.^[27] One of the reasons for the increased popularity of role-playing games in the 2010s was the rise of actual play content.^[28] Academic Shelly Jones wrote that players and designers developed "new forms of text-based online freeform role-playing" in parallel with the written gameplay session reports on The Forge, commenting that "textual role-playing has flourished" through the recent growth of solo journaling role-playing games.^[29]: 354 Academic Evan Torner traced the development and impact of online indie role-playing game designer and theorist communities, noting that after 2006 the community fragmented into what became known as The Forge diaspora; social media joined "forums, podcasts, and blogs".^{[2]: 197–198} Torner explained a "sizable community" joined Google+ in 2011 and, after the platform collapsed in 2019, there was "a sudden exodus to two specific, industry-changing platforms: Twitter (now known as X) and itch.io".^{[2]: 197–198} Both Jones and Sarah Lynne Bowman et al. highlighted itch.io as facilitating the growth of solo role-playing games.^{[29]: 354 [30]} Torner argued that "Twitter democratized theory discussions" and "Itch.io permitted creators to sell their works of theory and design easily and directly to their constituent audiences".^[2]: 198

The COVID-19 pandemic that began in December 2019 and spread globally resulted in social distancing measures being instituted nearly worldwide.^[31] Due to the inability to pursue social recreation during this period, many people had to seek comparable alternatives or new hobbies that can be enjoyed within the imposed restrictions.^[32] Rowan Zeoli, for Polygon, explained that solo tabletop games "started in earnest with wargames in the [1980s]" and slowly rose "in prominence for the next few decades until the quarantine period of the ongoing COVID pandemic offered a perfect moment for board games and TTRPGs".^[33] While many people found online video games or virtual tabletops, many chose solo role-playing.^[34][30]

Games also got more experimental with mechanics and themes. For solo role-playing games this meant the rise of the journaling game genre. Katie Wickens of GamesRadar+ noted that many of the earliest games were "solo mods of multiplayer TRPGs", typically involving "dice and/or cards, a character sheet, and a hex map from your chosen tabletop RPG to wander through".^[7] Similar to non-solo games, they often required stat tracking; however, Wickens observed that the journaling elements and story tracking requirements "were far less introspective than the kind we often see" in the 2020s.^[7] Wickens commented that the "genre has evolved profoundly", with many including a narrative focus – "the lines between simple solo RPG systems and journaling games have become far more blurred over the years".^[7] Additionally, she noted that "many solo journaling systems today are not only subversions of the standard pen-and-paper model" but also introduce "their own unique and even far-flung mechanics to help cement the theme".^[7] In 2026, the ENNIE Awards for role-playing game products introduced the "Best Solo Game" category.^[35][36]