solo ttrpgs – Page 9 – PopCult Reviews

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Sundered Isles Part Three

You can purchase Sundered Isles here.
You can purchase Starforged here.
You can purchase Sea of Sands here.

Read our previous chapter where Jadyn began her journey.

Oracle: Pillaged Enclosure

Jadyn wakes up to find her hand and arms bound behind her. She’s sitting on the hard ground of a courtyard in the center of the Haqiq monastery, which sits on the top of the Great Burrow, looking out over all of Jahar and the ocean beyond. However, her view at this moment is just of monks scattered through the courtyard, preparing weapons and barricading the doors of their home. The other two members of the Erasmus crew are similarly tied up but unconscious.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – Mothership 1e Part Two

You can purchase the Mothership 1e Core Set here.

You can purchase Dead Planet here.

You can read the rules for solo and wardenless play in Mothership 1e here.

In our first part, I went over the basics of the system and chose Android as my class while also fleshing out the world’s backstory.

Each class in Mothership has different modifications in the character creation process. As an Android, I got to add an additional 20 to my Intellect, making it a total of 52. My Strength, Speed, and Combat scores are all in the low to mid-30s, so it may sound like Intellect will dominate. Remember, this is a d100 system, so while 52 is much larger, it doesn’t astronomically improve my chances of success. I also had to subtract 10 from another Stat of my choice, which I chose Combat for. Mothership is a game where Combat is typically deadly anyway, especially against the entities you’ll face, and I don’t see Jerome as someone programmed with combat in mind, more compliance to corporate policy.

Solo Tabletop Review & Actual Play – Sundered Isles Part Two

You can purchase Sundered Isles here.
You can purchase Starforged here.
You can purchase Sea of Sands here.

Read Part One here to see what we rolled up to begin our worldbuilding

Now that I have roughly sketched out my character through some rolls and the settlement I’ll be visiting first, it is time to fill in the details. Before I do, here are the islands I rolled to generate The Crimson Gulf, this opening region to the game.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – Mothership 1e Part One

You can purchase the Mothership 1e Core Set here.

You can purchase Dead Planet here.

You can read the rules for solo and wardenless play in Mothership 1e here.

With the release of the trailer for Alien: Romulus, a game like Mothership 1e will likely get a new wave of attention. Like the film that originated that franchise, Mothership is a science fiction horror system where players are a starship’s crew in a dystopic future. They encounter horrific supernatural phenomena that they cannot defeat, so escape and survival are the only options on the table. There are many warnings in the game materials that this is the type of game where extreme horror can happen, but that is fine-tuned based on the table you are playing at. This isn’t a game where you get attached to your character and get precious about them.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – CY_Borg Part Four

CY_Borg (Free League Publishing)
Written and designed by Christian Sahlén and Johan Nohr

You can purchase CY_Borg here

You can download the CY_litary De.file_ment solo rules here

Read how Zalec’s adventure began here

Before Zalec heads to The Fickle Fig, she doubles back to Blink the Tinkerer, tossing them the packet of Vurt. Blink grins from ear to ear and gestures that Zalec can take any item she likes. Among the shelves, the gearhead discovers a SmartMine. This object is just like a typical mine – triggered by pressure – but it has cloaking tech, so it blends into any surface you place it on. That could come in handy. The only problem is that Zalec can’t tell what the mine will do when set off.

(Because I double-backed, I’m making myself have to get through one more street before my destination.)

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Notorious: Outsiders Part Three

Notorious: Outsiders (Always Checkers Publishing)
Written and designed by Jason Price
Art by Torben Bokemeye

You can purchase Outsiders here

Read part two of Korris’s trilogy here

Korris Bek’s eyelids fluttered open as the stim moved through his system. He could see the blue skies of Talus overhead and feel the dread bore a pit through his stomach. Days earlier, the Nomad had been scanning what Guild contracts were available to him. Due to his first two missions, Korris has garnered a reputation for being a clumsy rookie who destabilizes the places he visits. The Guild had a reputation for handling things with finesse, but Korris contradicted that. The only open contract he could find that was available to him was issued by the Yonn Cartel. When he closed his eyes, Korris could still feel the ‘lectro-lashes’ of the guards in striking his back, singing his fur, leaving it a permanently blackened tone.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – CY_Borg Part Three

CY_Borg (Free League Publishing)
Written and designed by Christian Sahlén and Johan Nohr

You can purchase CY_Borg here

You can download the CY_litary De.file_ment solo rules here

Read how our last CY_Borg adventure ended here

For this playthrough of CY_Borg, I decided to go with one of the six classes in the core book. A d6 roll had me as an Orphaned Gearhead. Things are named very specifically in all the Borg games, but the text doesn’t define them. This evocative design makes it so that each player or group’s experience with CY_Borg will be very different while still following basic genre tropes. I interpreted “Orphaned” as someone who had been under the guardianship of a corporation and then dropped when that corp dissolved or was taken over.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Notorious: Outsiders Part Two

Notorious: Outsiders (Always Checkers Publishing)
Written and designed by Jason Price
Art by Torben Bokemeye

You can purchase Outsiders here

Read the first chapter in Korris’s trilogy here

The Nomads have let Korris know they are not happy with his performance on Oceron. Too much attention drawn to his activities makes the Guild vulnerable. As a result, Korris finds himself limited in contracts he can pick up, but he also gets a few more messages from other Nomads telling him they’re impressed he took down a Dreng warrior.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – CY_Borg Part Two

CY_Borg (Free League Publishing)
Written and designed by Christian Sahlén and Johan Nohr

You can purchase CY_Borg here

You can download the CY_litary De.file_ment solo rules here

Read Part One of Bell’s journey here

Bell descends the rickety metal stairs hidden inside the holobox and emerges into quite an impressive lair. The space has been fine-tuned to suit the needs of its single inhabitant. A chair swivels around, and there she sits, Wick. “Saw you on the CCTV,” she says. “You look like a desperate one. What is it you need?”

Solo Tabletop Review & Actual Play – Notorious: Outsiders Part One

Notorious: Outsiders (Always Checkers Publishing)
Written and designed by Jason Price
Art by Torben Bokemeye

You can purchase Outsiders here

Notorious was one of my first solo tabletop RPGs I played here on the blog in 2023, so when I saw the expansion sequel Outsiders had come out it seemed natural to play. For the unfamiliar, this solo game series takes place in a universe that doesn’t hide its Star Wars influences. You play a nomad, a bounty hunter, who picks up contracts and hunts down their targets on a variety of planets. Much of the gameplay is the same with Outsiders adding more Nomad classes, planets, species, encounters and a Trilogy Mode that incorporates both game’s materials.