solo ttrpgs – PopCult Reviews

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Ironsworn: Starforged Part Four

Ironsworn: Starforged (Mophidius)
Written & Designed by Sean Tomkin
Art by Joshua Meehan, Jeff Zugale, and Sarah Dahlinger

You can purchase the game here.

Read part three of this series here.

The Vigilant nears its first destination on its first shortened FTL jump. Kei Becker searches the ship’s supplies for anything that might help Rozhan Kane’s damaged eyes but comes up short. Kane weakly assures Kei that he will be okay; they will reach Lyra and find sanctuary there. Astrid is watching the sensors as they get closer to ending the jump while Jorruns is trying to brainstorm ways to keep the engines running a little longer. Kei notices those two keeping their distance from each other, with Astrid not attempting to hide her dislike of Essence-using laborers from the Trade Enclave. In better times, Kei might address this tension, but now, people seem to focus on their tasks, and more significant threats are happening.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Ironsworn: Starforged Part Three

Ironsworn: Starforged (Mophidius)
Written & Designed by Sean Tomkin
Art by Joshua Meehan, Jeff Zugale, and Sarah Dahlinger

You can purchase the game here.

Read part two of this series here.

The Vigilant gracefully glides through the vast expanse of space, weaving its way through the remnants of long-abandoned planet-cracking mineral drills & shards of the ancient facilities that once dotted Orcus’ surface. As it approaches this floating graveyard, the hull groans under the stress of sudden turbulence as if protesting the eerie surroundings.

The graveyard itself is a haunting sight. Metal carcasses of massive, once-grand spaceships float listlessly in the void, their lifeless frames casting shadows in the darkness. Debris and wreckage are scattered everywhere, testaments to the violent ends of these colossal vessels. They had been coming here to pick up for distribution or in orbit, waiting for clearance to jump. Their crews never fully understood what was happening.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Ironsworn: Starforged Part Two

Ironsworn: Starforged (Mophidius)
Written & Designed by Sean Tomkin
Art by Joshua Meehan, Jeff Zugale, and Sarah Dahlinger

You can purchase the game here

Read part one of this series here

In our last part, I did a brief overview of some of the differences between Ironsworn and Starforged that stood out to me and engaged in the worldbuilding process of getting our game set up. My particular take on Starforged is much more populated and inspired by the core science fiction tropes in film & television (Star Trek, Star Wars, Dune, Alien, Blade Runner, etc.). That’s a lot to take in, but as we create our character and hone in on their particular goal, there will be a lot of elements in this universe that don’t immediately touch on the type of story I’m attempting to tell.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Ironsworn: Starforged Part One

Ironsworn: Starforged (Mophidius)
Written & Designed by Sean Tomkin
Art by Joshua Meehan, Jeff Zugale, and Sarah Dahlinger

You can purchase the game here

It’s no surprise that Starforged is a science fiction “version” of Sean Tomkin’s fantastic solo rpg system Ironsworn. But it’s much more than that. Mechanically, this is Tomkin taking his system further, tweaking things from Ironsworn but also improving it. As with Ironsworn, this can be played solo, co-op, or as a traditional GM-guided tabletop experience. If you thought Ironsworn was impressive with its many themed oracles, Starforged will blow you out of the water. Everything about this game evokes the tone of the science fiction genre and helps to immerse the player in a world of space exploration and encounters with alien entities. So far, this has been my favorite solo tabletop experience doing this series.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Welcome to the Habitrails

Welcome to the Habitrails
Written and Designed by AYolland
Can be purchased here

I don’t know if I ever lived in the suburbs. I lived in neighborhoods that resembled what I saw of the suburbs on television, but these were always relatively poor working-class places. They weren’t necessarily the artifice of the suburbs but the strange dark attempt to mimic them. So when I came across Welcome to the Habitrails, it immediately stood out as a theme I could sink my teeth into. I’ve always been a fan of modern existential horror, and there aren’t many ttrpgs in that vein. Because of Dungeons & Dragons, fantasy dominates, making Habitrails seem pretty unique.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Ironsworn Part Two

Ironsworn (Tomkin Press) Part Two
Designed & Written by Sean Tomkins
You can download Ironsworn for FREE here.

Read Part One for a brief overview of the rules for Ironsworn.

To play Ironsworn, I used a remarkable and free online play resource called Iron Journal. First, I chose the Truths for my version of the Ironlands default setting. These are as follows in a more summarized version than the game presents them:

The Old World: There was a pandemic that ravaged our homelands, and people fled in droves; many were tossed overboard when they were found to be sick, and those who survived have carved out a home in this new, rough land.

Iron: The weather here is brutal, and the sun rarely breaks through the clouds. Those who make it here that can survive the long winters are said to be made of iron.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Ironsworn Part One

Ironsworn (Tomkin Press) Part One
Designed & Written by Sean Tomkins
You can download Ironsworn for FREE here.

I’ve written previously about the types of games that fall under the solo banner. However, when most people think of tabletop roleplaying, they immediately think of Dungeons & Dragons. It makes sense due to the Satanic Panic of the 1980s acting as some of the best marketing the game could ask for. So, when most people imagine RPGs, they think of people sitting around a table rolling dice to do skill checks and fight monsters in a dungeon. That can be tricky with solo tabletop because of the crucial role a Dungeon Master or Game Master plays in that scenario. However, designer Sean Tomkins has cracked that code with his incredible Ironsworn system. To accomplish this feat, he borrowed heavily from a game system not as many people are familiar with.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Artefact

Artefact (Mousehole Press)
Created and Designed by Jack Harrison

The world of solo tabletop roleplaying is made up of a lot (but not entirely) of what you could classify as world-building exercises. These are some extremely fun games that could be easily used to spark ideas for a campaign in another, more complex system. I saw someone refer to these types of games as toys for the GM, something the person planning sessions can play that also helps build the background of stories. One of the best options in this subcategory is Artefact, a brilliant game where you play a magical item, telling your story over the course of anywhere from a decade to millennia. Your life is framed through the Keepers who wielded you over time.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – The Wretched

The Wretched (Chris Bissette)
Writing, Design, & Layout – Chris Bissette
Design Consultant – Matt Sanders
Wretched Logo – Liz Gist

Most solo tabletop RPGs are centered around journaling which has been a sticky point for me in the first two reviews. I don’t really journal, my posts here on PopCult Reviews are about as regular as I sit down and write about my thoughts. But I understood that for these games to have their full impact, I needed to be able to document the experience in some way. The solution I thought about goes back to being a kid (again). I filled up reams of spiral-bound notebooks starting at seven and going into college. I eventually trashed these notebooks during a move around 13 years ago (yes, a lot was lost, but I have moved a lot and just was exhausted from lugging so many things around). Within were lots of things: sketches & ideas for video games, I went through a period of drawing comic book covers after discovering books about the Silver Age, and I loved creating a tv show and writing episode descriptions. I was a weird kid; many might argue I am a weird adult. So, I thought that for the games where it worked, I’d like to frame each journal entry as an episode in a tv program. That just happened to work perfectly with The Wretched.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Notorious

Notorious (Always Checkers Publishing)
Written & Designed by Jason Price
Artwork by Torben Bökemeyer
You can purchase Notorious here

When I was a little kid playing, pretending was a big part of my life. We did not have a lot of money, so action figures & elaborately manufactured play accessories were just not something I ever had. When I wanted to play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I got a spare piece of purple fabric, cut eye holes, and wore it on my face. I put my backpack on for my shell & used a cardboard wrapping paper tube as my bo staff. I was a Donatello type of kid. When I wanted to play Ghostbusters, I took that same backpack, tied one end of yarn around a strap, punched a hole in a paper towel tube, and tied the other end to make my proton pack. I even took a shoebox and some yarn to make my ghost trap. Superman was easy: safety pin and some fabric for a cape. Star Wars was another wrapping paper tube to serve as my lightsaber. Big confession I used to be embarrassed about: I never had many action figures, so I would make paper cutouts of every comic book hero & villain I could think of, keep them organized in a series of envelopes, and bring them out to play when I was bored. Being the oldest of four siblings and homeschooled, I didn’t have many friends, so imaginary play was a solitary time. In playing Notorious, I felt taken back to that sort of joyous solo imaginary play, which is about the biggest compliment I could give a tabletop rpg.