Scott, I’ve always assumed those insisting “RPG communities” don’t exist are the same that say the entire concept not to mention “society” are also non-existent, because such atomisation of coexistence is essential to their ideology.
We’re getting old-school funky in 35 minutes here in Japan (plus UK & Aus) #AD&D
No, thank you. I first got into solo in the early/mid 80s with FF gamebooks. I still like multiple systems, but no one has time more than one or two campaigns at a time, so solo methods championed by people such as yourself allow me to explore different systems/types of play as the mood takes me!
2/The ruin is rumoured to be a goblin settlement. After 10 days, some foraging and occasional bad directions, he finally arrives! Will he find potential friends, or even greater danger?
I used a simple oracle, OSE travel and pursuit rules, and Outdoor Survival (1974 style). Short session, but fun!
1/Taking some advice from the @thegrouchcouch.bsky.social I decided to not worry about overthinking system and story and set a goal for my unlikely hero Smeg the goblin. Betrayed to the local town by his centaur neighbours, he flees into the wilderness searching for a ruin to the south…
Exciting times for Rolling in the Ruins 2026, our first ever Moorcockian RPG mini (micro?) con in Bradford in June. We so far have 10 games lined up for the 6th and 6 for the 20th, and plans for an evening or two in some of Bradford's quality ale and pie joints. Registrations are open now.
I’d heard rumblings - good luck!
My solo character died, so I’m taking a break from Sword World to do some mini painting. Finishing off (bases) of some I started a couple of years back (intervention of English Civil War army etc.). There’s a load more that have yet to be painted. Except for that gargoyle, they just a need varnish.
As you can see, I’ve been on a bit of a binge this month. My latest purchases are the solo innkeeper game The Broken Cask, Nobinobi TRPG: Magic (a card-based narrative RPG), and Ryugaikenjintan. The last is a Japanese-style fantasy supplement for Sword World 2.5 RPG.
I’ve prepped for scenario 2 of my Sword World 2.5 solo game, this time opting for a single character to speed up play (the adventures are scalable to party size). S2 is an urban investigation, and I hope to get fully into the action tomorrow or on Friday.
The Osaka Adventurers Union (online) have finished their first session of U3, and it ended on a real nautical cliffhanger. I can’t believe we started this group almost exactly 7 years ago, in Japan, and still have three of the founding members! And we keep coming back to AD&D…
2/I’m not a fan of the anime art, but production values are even higher than the usual high level. I’ve learnt a lot about the SW via these play throughs, but am getting a hankering for some real tailor-made solo RPG, so think I’ll run the 1st scenario then take a break!
1/After finishing the second Sword World starter set (the first is set in a dungeon, the second in a city), I’m about to begin the Adventurers Guild set: an intermediate level adventure that interestingly builds on the other box sets. None of these require the full rules and can be ran by novices.
Finished scenario 2 of the SW2.5 starter set (well one of the many…) A nice mystery and step up from scenario 1. Actually makes me want to run an urban adventure.
And this came: I backed it on Kickstarter 2 years back (so my name’s in it), but didn’t have a physical copy until now.
Sword World starter set solo play through session 2. Running all 4 pregens. Completed the first proper scenario. Simple & fairly linear, but a good tutorial, unusual in that it’s a city/mystery adventure.
I finished off the last of my English Civil War Roundheads (it’s only taken 2+ years!), so expect some wargaming posts in the coming months. Taking a break from painting, I cleaned up my work corner and set it up for a return to my Sword World starter set solo play through that’s been on hiatus.
Self-contained. You use it to develop and run “adventures”, pilot other “adventures”, etc, but also there seem to be genre specific modules and adventures available.
Lone roleplaying. It’s a solo system/emulator like Mythic. The back says this…
Odds and sods
Haha! I suppose so!
3/The very fact that nobody I know has more than passing interest in RM is reason enough to run it solo! Likewise Mythras and RQ - except in the case of the latter, it’s not for wont of a group, but rather time for a regular game.
2/A fumbled leather working roll leads to unforeseen complications - in my game, the attempt at curing a hide draws a griffin. The (lesser orc) character is able to hide in his lodge, fortunately, and the griffin flies away leaving a feather. What might that be used for? Decoration is a good start!
1/One PC is all I can handle! CharGen was a bit of a slog as I’ve forgotten a lot of the rules, but RM lends itself well to solo IMO, not least due to the action resolution and combat systems.
We enjoyed a fun game of Warhammer The Old World RPG session 2 yesterday. No dice were rolled, but we climbed into the skin our characters.
Meanwhile I’ve adopted Rolemaster classic for a solo game I’ve been playing - using Mythic, but temporarily Old-School Solo, plus various tables. Fun!
Perhaps it’s considered that the ideas rests in the palms and their being weighed against each other?
We don’t know yet! For me, it borrows a lot from pre-WFRP Warhammer, but uses modern mechanics and a simple skill system. Rules lite. Background and connections feel very nu OSR. It’s ticking all the boxes so far.
We’re rolling up characters for a new campaign using Warhammer: The Old World rules.
I know I said we’d finished U1 a while back, but everything moves in slow motion in old-man RPG time.
We’re about to begin the action of U2: Danger at Dunwater! The party are now levels 2-4. The fighters (and everyone else bar the cleric) have amusingly low hit points - the joyous old school!
Grappling - I do recall very odd unarmed combat rules for original D&D where forces rolled hit dice, combined and compared the results, and the loser was stunned for a number of rounds equal to the discrepancy. Crude but more effective than AD&D’s grappling etc rules.