How to Play a Group TTRPG or Adventure Solo

Have you been itching to play that group TTRPG but your schedules just aren’t aligning? Maybe you want to test an adventure module before running it for your players, or perhaps you just like playing games on your own. Whatever your reason for playing solo, you’ll need a few things to get you started.

The Basics

So, what do you want to play? You have the chance to delve in dungeons, investigate eldritch mysteries or fight monsters in the streets. Pick a game that interests you and one you have (or can get) the rulebooks for.

Once you have everything you need to play the game (dice, character sheets, pen, paper, etc) you should consider which solo tools you want to use. The most popular tools to start out with are emulators, which include tips, oracles, roll tables, game loops, scenes, game play examples and much more. The two most common types of emulators are:

Game Master Emulators will take on the role of a GM, so you can focus more on playing.
Example: Mythic Game Master Emulator Second Edition or DM Yourself - solo roleplay for 5e, D&D and OSR adventures

Player Emulators take on the role of player characters so you can either play as the GM or focus on playing as one main character.
Example: Triple-O or pettish

If you decide not to use an emulator, you’ll definitely want an Oracle. It is used to answer yes/no questions. It can be as simple as rolling dice where a high result returns a yes/good, while a low result is a no/bad. Think of it like a magic-8 ball. You ask questions and let the dice (or other randomiser) determine the answer.

Example: Is the door locked? Oracle says: Yes

Or it can be much more complex with more variety of results across a spectrum that has a wider range of results, some of which you will need to fill in the gaps for.

yes but… / yes and… / yes / maybe / no / no and… / no but…

Example: Is the door trapped? Oracle says: Yes but…
You determine that the “but” in this instance means that while it is indeed trapped, no one is nearby to notice if it is triggered.

I also recommend roll tables, especially genre-specific ones. They are used to determine all sorts of things or even spark ideas, from fleshing out locations to picking NPC personalities, or determining the day’s weather to providing hooks.

Roll tables are easy to find online or you can make your own. I often make my own so I can tailor them to suit the type of game I want to play or if I want to set it in a unique setting. It can also be handy to keep a list of NPCs and roll to see which one might pop in at the tavern you’ve just entered or they’ve been NPC-napped and now need saving!

Tips for Playing Adventure Modules

If you want to play a published adventure module you will first have to accept you’ll encounter some spoilers. You don’t have to read the whole adventure through before playing but you will need to skim parts of it to see what you’ll need. Some adventures are written in a way that takes you from one location to another so you can skim bits at a time, while others aren’t as compartmentalised as that and will likely expose you to more spoilers.

Remember to keep your knowledge as the player separate from what your character knows. One way to help with that is to decide in advance some default behaviours for your character(s). What do they do when they enter a new room, do they always check for traps? What is their marching order? Do they have specific beliefs or superstitions? What kind of person are they? That way, even if you’ve accidentally seen that there is someone hiding in the next room, you can fall back on the character’s default behaviour.

While we’re on the topic of characters, you should decide whether you will focus on one main character or a number of them. If you decide to play one main character then consider either upping their level a bit or bring in some sidekicks/allies that are the same level as them. This is where a Player Emulator comes in handy as it will help with the roleplay aspect and you won’t have to decide everything for them. Make your character(s) as per the rule of the game you’re playing—some games will tell you how to make sidekicks.

Once you have your main character(s) you can decide if you need to rebalance the difficulty of the adventure. This is especially important if you’ve decided your character is a lone wolf. This could mean lowering any difficulty levels, rolling advantage if checks are meant to be easy, have monsters start with much less HP, your character has max HP for every level or you decide to be lenient with death. By that I mean instead of your character dying they narrowly survive but at a cost (captured, permanent injury, sidekick dies instead, framed, etc). Don’t think of this as cheating, it helps keep the story going and adds tension and also means you aren’t having to create new characters all the time!

Getting back to the adventure module… the information that a GM would usually read out is there to set the scene or location, so start with that. If there is a map you can see which location you can go to and find the corresponding info. Decide what action(s) your character(s) will do based on what has been provided. Make any rolls, checks or combat. Once done you can then move to the next location or scene. Be sure to skim the information to see if there are monsters, NPCs, items, etc. The adventure module will provide information on the monsters (or direct you to where you can find it) and you can use an Oracle or Player Emulator to help with any NPCs.

If you later learn that you missed a clue or something you did earlier shouldn’t have happened, that’s fine. No need to stress. For the former you can add in a little flashback to tidy up that detail (roll if necessary) and for the latter decide what a GM would do in that situation. Instead of scrapping it and going back and redoing it, you can accept it happened and find a way to make it narratively work. For example if your character Sparta-kicked an NPC off a building but that was the NPC who was supposed to reveal the secret password for the vault… Well, maybe you looted their body and it was written on a post-it note, or another NPC can reveal it later.

Sometimes you are going to go in directions the adventure writers didn’t expect, which is fine. The adventure module is only a guide. You don’t have to strictly follow it. You, your character(s) and the dice are in charge.

This is just a brief introduction to playing group games and adventure modules, solo. Take what you want from it and leave what doesn’t work for you. I really do recommend getting a GM Emulator as they go way more in depth on the topic and include roll tables and many other helpful tools.

Happy gaming!