Month 3 of Solo: March '26
Apr. 3rd, 2026 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solo_knightThis is a monthly entry in the 12 Months of Solo RPGs Project.
State of the List:
Added July 2028. So much for ’12 months’. But this format works for me; I gain control rather than feeling overwhelmed by the sheer mountain of STUFF (most of which I cherish; and yes, I intend to support future charity bundles – there’s more overlap with games I already have, but I still get in new stuff with every bundle.)
It’s a great reduction in mental load to not look at hundreds of possible games and instead pick from a short list. It’s also fun to discover a specific topic; a bit like an advent calendar. Every month something exciting waits for me.
When I come across a game in the solo pile that would fit a particular month, and I want to play it, I can slot it in.
Did I do what I intended?
I read some of the Mythic materials, though not a huge amount.
I did not play by Mythic rules. (Read on to find out why).
Actual Focus:
Work, my freeform campaign, and, well, poking Mythic with a big stick.
Did I engage?
Not honestly for most of the month. I’ve been dancing around the topic, because much as I feel I’m learning about Solo gaming from the Mythic materials, the actually game loop does not excite me.
I’m not a plotter. These gameloops rely on deciding what you think will happen and who you think will be involved, and then finding out whether you were right and what actually happens.
Did I play my focused game(s)?
Short answer: No. Longer answer: I made an effort from March 29 onwards. I’m stubborn, I want to give every game a fair chance, and I hoped I’d find the time, but my motivation was nil. I have zero excitement for this method, and given that I’ve been happily engaging with other RPG content, I don’t think this is me.
Other solo-related things:
Looked at multiple games, rejected them for one reason or another, and wrote them up for the blog. Any random selection of games will contains games that are not for me, and especially now that I have a long-form game on top of the games of the month, I’m a bit more decisive in saying ‘this doesn’t appeal to me’ and able to articulate why.
That is definitely something that comes with practice.
Other Games/Campaigns:
I’m not moving the plot of my ongoing campaign forward a lot, but I’ve thought about it, and I am finding my feet in how I want to play this particular campaign. I’m still a bit reluctant to talk too much about it because I am still fumbling my way through it; picking what to roll on on a whim, picking how to roll equally without plan.
Most existing tables aren’t right for this character, this setting (I am still figuring out what the setting is). The real world is on fire and that stresses me out, I NEVER wanted people, myself included, to discover what they would have done after Hitler came to power, and a high degree of randomness does not meet my current needs.
I need my gameplay to have boundaries, where a ‘bad outcome’ still means my character lives and has a chance to succeed at his quest. These are boundaries I would set in writing and as a DM; solo play should not be operating differently. If you want to play a roguelike where character die easily, go ahead, no-one’s stopping you, but I am playing a character-focussed game and I have grown exceedingly fond of this character.
Summary:
I still love Mythic, it helped me a lot when I was starting out to get a feel for ‘how to play solo’; I’ve learnt a lot from the magazine article, and I intend to read every scrap I have from this creator because some of the mechanics are genius (how to create a somewhat weighted random table, for instance, where the most important things turn up slightly more frequently).
Next Focus:
Dungeoncrawling. Having a quick-and-dirty way to bash some orcs and gain some treasure, with less focus on roleplaying and more on random encounters would be a useful thing. I have – not unsurprisingly, given the history of the genre and the whole ‘Dungeons’ thing – dozens of games and tools that promise a good time; I’d like to find out whether any of them work for me.
(Originally this was supposed to be Vaesen month. I am fascinated with Vaesen, would love to explore it in depth, and I have two solo supplements for it, but Vaesen is a high mental load undertaking, and it can easily descend into horror, so I swapped the next two months and will have a fluffier task in April.
Next Game:
Scarlet Heroes has a ‘Dungeon’ module which I haven’t even read yet; that seems like a good place to start.
My goal is to play at least a couple of different solo games and to use two or more different procedural dungeons, just to see how they compare.
It's ok not to like things. Even if you wanted to like it. Even if lots of other people like it.
I think my main issue with Mythic and the Adventure Crafter (slightly different principles, similar game loops) is that you have to plan the story. I don't even do that when I'm DMing, I'm definitely not doing that when I'm writing, I start with a character in a situation and while I may have some idea where the story might go – The bard has lost his lute, he needs to get his lute back – I have no interest in making up a story (so-and-so stole it, he's hiding in this place, and the bard needs to do x, y, and z in order to get it back). The Mythic system then tests this – does it happen as envisioned? Is there something random coming into the mix? – but this level of brainstorming/plotting/casting ahead is an integral part of the system, and I want to be surprised.
As the story goes on, I often do too little of this – I follow my main character, but often have no idea what the antagonists are doing, which makes for a poor story – but that is another problem I can try to solve another day.
For now I need to accept that I just do not feel inspired by this game loop and move on. I still want to try it out, so I should probably pick an easy quest starter and follow the instructions.
And then life happened and I did not get to play at all on the 31st of March, and tomorrow is another month.
I'm channelling my inner Marie Kondo and asking myself 'does this spark joy' and the answer is a very unambiguous 'no'.
There's much to love about Mythic. I've learnt a lot about solo roleplaying from Mythic and its various supplements; various elements of Mythic can be very useful when you get stuck and need something to happen, and yet, now that I'm actually playing and finding my feet and my play style, it turns out that Mythic is just not for me, and every time I try to pick it up, my heart sinks and I make excuses, whereas moving my freestyle story forward makes me excited, and even the project where I pick up a random game from my solo bundle (some of which are great, some of which are not, some of which are not even actual games) brings me more joy.
Part of the issue IS Mythic. You get a random event table which has items like involving PCs, NPCs, plot threads and more, which sounds like it could really shake things up… but which I don’t find inspiring.
I had a dilemma where there were two possible explanations for what happened to my character. I rolled on the Mythic Fate Chart - 25 or under for a ‘yes’, got a ‘yes’ and… just looked at it and felt uncomfortable with the result.
So I did some more thinking, and after some consideration, rolled again. This time instead of asking ‘did this thing happen’ and rolling a d100, I went ‘I’ll roll a d20, difficulty 15 to trap my character in Faerie’. And rolled a 17, which meant that yes, he had been trapped in Faerie.
It’s basically the same odds, just with different dice (and not exactly the same odds, but close enough). In the case of the Fate Chart, I asked ‘does this happen’. In the case of the d20, I asked ‘can I/the universe do this thing’
And somehow, that makes a tremendous difference to me.
Lesson learnt. If a relative small thing makes a big difference, it’s teaching me something about my preferences, about how I need to phrase my questions and set up my rolls.
I will definitely read the Mythic Magazines, and will probably read the other Mythic materials, by and by, but I will not make another attempt to play a game the Mythic way.
I know it’s highly beloved, it’s just not for me.
State of the List:
Added July 2028. So much for ’12 months’. But this format works for me; I gain control rather than feeling overwhelmed by the sheer mountain of STUFF (most of which I cherish; and yes, I intend to support future charity bundles – there’s more overlap with games I already have, but I still get in new stuff with every bundle.)
It’s a great reduction in mental load to not look at hundreds of possible games and instead pick from a short list. It’s also fun to discover a specific topic; a bit like an advent calendar. Every month something exciting waits for me.
When I come across a game in the solo pile that would fit a particular month, and I want to play it, I can slot it in.
Did I do what I intended?
I read some of the Mythic materials, though not a huge amount.
I did not play by Mythic rules. (Read on to find out why).
Actual Focus:
Work, my freeform campaign, and, well, poking Mythic with a big stick.
Did I engage?
Not honestly for most of the month. I’ve been dancing around the topic, because much as I feel I’m learning about Solo gaming from the Mythic materials, the actually game loop does not excite me.
I’m not a plotter. These gameloops rely on deciding what you think will happen and who you think will be involved, and then finding out whether you were right and what actually happens.
Did I play my focused game(s)?
Short answer: No. Longer answer: I made an effort from March 29 onwards. I’m stubborn, I want to give every game a fair chance, and I hoped I’d find the time, but my motivation was nil. I have zero excitement for this method, and given that I’ve been happily engaging with other RPG content, I don’t think this is me.
Other solo-related things:
Looked at multiple games, rejected them for one reason or another, and wrote them up for the blog. Any random selection of games will contains games that are not for me, and especially now that I have a long-form game on top of the games of the month, I’m a bit more decisive in saying ‘this doesn’t appeal to me’ and able to articulate why.
That is definitely something that comes with practice.
Other Games/Campaigns:
I’m not moving the plot of my ongoing campaign forward a lot, but I’ve thought about it, and I am finding my feet in how I want to play this particular campaign. I’m still a bit reluctant to talk too much about it because I am still fumbling my way through it; picking what to roll on on a whim, picking how to roll equally without plan.
Most existing tables aren’t right for this character, this setting (I am still figuring out what the setting is). The real world is on fire and that stresses me out, I NEVER wanted people, myself included, to discover what they would have done after Hitler came to power, and a high degree of randomness does not meet my current needs.
I need my gameplay to have boundaries, where a ‘bad outcome’ still means my character lives and has a chance to succeed at his quest. These are boundaries I would set in writing and as a DM; solo play should not be operating differently. If you want to play a roguelike where character die easily, go ahead, no-one’s stopping you, but I am playing a character-focussed game and I have grown exceedingly fond of this character.
Summary:
I still love Mythic, it helped me a lot when I was starting out to get a feel for ‘how to play solo’; I’ve learnt a lot from the magazine article, and I intend to read every scrap I have from this creator because some of the mechanics are genius (how to create a somewhat weighted random table, for instance, where the most important things turn up slightly more frequently).
Next Focus:
Dungeoncrawling. Having a quick-and-dirty way to bash some orcs and gain some treasure, with less focus on roleplaying and more on random encounters would be a useful thing. I have – not unsurprisingly, given the history of the genre and the whole ‘Dungeons’ thing – dozens of games and tools that promise a good time; I’d like to find out whether any of them work for me.
(Originally this was supposed to be Vaesen month. I am fascinated with Vaesen, would love to explore it in depth, and I have two solo supplements for it, but Vaesen is a high mental load undertaking, and it can easily descend into horror, so I swapped the next two months and will have a fluffier task in April.
Next Game:
Scarlet Heroes has a ‘Dungeon’ module which I haven’t even read yet; that seems like a good place to start.
My goal is to play at least a couple of different solo games and to use two or more different procedural dungeons, just to see how they compare.
It's ok not to like things. Even if you wanted to like it. Even if lots of other people like it.
I think my main issue with Mythic and the Adventure Crafter (slightly different principles, similar game loops) is that you have to plan the story. I don't even do that when I'm DMing, I'm definitely not doing that when I'm writing, I start with a character in a situation and while I may have some idea where the story might go – The bard has lost his lute, he needs to get his lute back – I have no interest in making up a story (so-and-so stole it, he's hiding in this place, and the bard needs to do x, y, and z in order to get it back). The Mythic system then tests this – does it happen as envisioned? Is there something random coming into the mix? – but this level of brainstorming/plotting/casting ahead is an integral part of the system, and I want to be surprised.
As the story goes on, I often do too little of this – I follow my main character, but often have no idea what the antagonists are doing, which makes for a poor story – but that is another problem I can try to solve another day.
For now I need to accept that I just do not feel inspired by this game loop and move on. I still want to try it out, so I should probably pick an easy quest starter and follow the instructions.
And then life happened and I did not get to play at all on the 31st of March, and tomorrow is another month.
I'm channelling my inner Marie Kondo and asking myself 'does this spark joy' and the answer is a very unambiguous 'no'.
There's much to love about Mythic. I've learnt a lot about solo roleplaying from Mythic and its various supplements; various elements of Mythic can be very useful when you get stuck and need something to happen, and yet, now that I'm actually playing and finding my feet and my play style, it turns out that Mythic is just not for me, and every time I try to pick it up, my heart sinks and I make excuses, whereas moving my freestyle story forward makes me excited, and even the project where I pick up a random game from my solo bundle (some of which are great, some of which are not, some of which are not even actual games) brings me more joy.
Part of the issue IS Mythic. You get a random event table which has items like involving PCs, NPCs, plot threads and more, which sounds like it could really shake things up… but which I don’t find inspiring.
I had a dilemma where there were two possible explanations for what happened to my character. I rolled on the Mythic Fate Chart - 25 or under for a ‘yes’, got a ‘yes’ and… just looked at it and felt uncomfortable with the result.
So I did some more thinking, and after some consideration, rolled again. This time instead of asking ‘did this thing happen’ and rolling a d100, I went ‘I’ll roll a d20, difficulty 15 to trap my character in Faerie’. And rolled a 17, which meant that yes, he had been trapped in Faerie.
It’s basically the same odds, just with different dice (and not exactly the same odds, but close enough). In the case of the Fate Chart, I asked ‘does this happen’. In the case of the d20, I asked ‘can I/the universe do this thing’
And somehow, that makes a tremendous difference to me.
Lesson learnt. If a relative small thing makes a big difference, it’s teaching me something about my preferences, about how I need to phrase my questions and set up my rolls.
I will definitely read the Mythic Magazines, and will probably read the other Mythic materials, by and by, but I will not make another attempt to play a game the Mythic way.
I know it’s highly beloved, it’s just not for me.
