It's interesting how we swing back and forth between RPGs and BGs, which only confirms how strong the pull of adventure is in both types of games. In 2024, I finally came to the conclusion that, as a solo player, neither type (in their purest form) fully satisfied me. So, as a hobbyist designer, I've set myself to the task of designing a new form of Tabletop Adventure that uses the best of both worlds without falling into the design paradigms of either. I'll likely reignite my YT channel Story Tiles to chronicle this design journey. Thanks for the inspired look at this year's indie RPGs, Daniel! Keep exploring!
So many awesome books - I think I have most of these! I am indeed working with the author of FORGE for the art for a new version - it's almost done! :D
@@TheDungeonDive Thank you for taking a look at FORGE - I hope to make the new PDF available in the next week or so! I will also think about how I can approach a reformat for A5 this time around :)
Thank you for the kind works about the Old School Revival Solo Role-playing Guide! I really appreciate it!!!! I hope you find it helpful in your solo sessions!
Lots of good stuff I haven't checked out. I've added Old School Revival Solo Role Playing Guide to my cart. I have Ruthless Heavens so this video is a good reminder to learn it. Between the Skies looks incredible. I have been eying that for awhile and it's a beautiful volume.
Love your video here! I have run Slate & Chalcedony solo and I am currently running the module as an open-table game in Tacoma. I am kind of obsessed with it and it is my favorite module in my current favorite TTRPG. Each of the locations on the map in the book are keyed to entries in the room, it's fixed rather than randomized, and an encounter die is rolled in the module every 10 minutes with a 1-in-6 chance of a random encounter on a table specific to each tower (this is an important mechanic!). When I ran it solo I rolled up 3 characters from the core backgrounds and made key notes on how those characters would be prone to act in situations based on the details of the background, which included motivations to enter a place as dangerous and horrible as those towers. Since each room has interactive elements it was usually pretty clear what a character would do in that situation (for example, read the Befouler of Ponds background and consider the implications of that personality in a place like Slate & Chalcedony). I kept a journal of everything that happened in each room the parties visited, and occasionally used a simple oracle to determine the direction the party moved. That's my short essay on how I ran S&C solo in Troika!
Maybe I'm weird, but I really like Dungeon Dive show and tell videos - it's always interesting to see what you have floating around that you want to get to or that interested you enough to pick up a copy. Also, maybe it makes me feel like I'm not the only one with piles of RPG books on my desk to read. :)
I really should get on reading my RPG to be read pile. I've had "Ruthless Heavens, Boundless Fate" since it came out. 😅 I just like structured RPGs more and more. I do think that is the type of solo RPG for me. That is, RPG closer to a board game experience. Or wargaming.
@@TheDungeonDive No, and I haven't really done a whole lot of 'true solo rpg playing' at all really. To me Mothership looks like one that's a little less accessible for a solo gamer compared to some and there isn't much coverage on YT as a result. (Having said that, I just did a search and Man Alone did a video a week ago. He's worth checking out, if you haven't spotted his channel.)
Thanks for the video! I want to start playing solo RPG’s using some of the adventures that I’ve accumulated over the years. I’m not sure how to go about it, to be honest. Seems like knowing the adventures will ruin a lot of the fun for me. And then i think about the hassle of setting up the table and I end up playing a video game instead. But watching your videos makes me want to try, because it all seems so interesting when I watch you talk about them
Always a good day for a Dungeon Dive! Daniel- would you consider to a a video on your favorite family games, favorite solo game, favorite game to gift to others? Favorite rules lite vs crunchy? Favorite game artwork and least favorite? Maybe a good 2024 recap video. Thanks!
Everything I cover is from the solo perspective. So my top 10 videos this year would cover my favorite solo games. I do my year end review videos every year in January. I have a playlist dedicated to effortlessly fun games. I don’t really play family games or play any games with kids so I can’t help there. I also just released a gift guide. So I get mostly got you covered!
@@TheDungeonDive For FORGE, the tables are great. But the most important aspect of it: it has a clear procedure to generate quest, hexcrawling, dungeon, city, npc, problems, oracle with plot twiste... it's among the best book to play an OSR game without a DM. Very useful and inspiring book.
I should stop buying all those rpgs... My this years acquisitions: Siege Perilous RPG Ker Nethalas RPG Across a Thousand Dead Worlds RPG Lex Arcana RPG Ruthless Heavens RPG Salvage & Sorcery RPG Ultraviolet Grasslands 2nd Edition Sacrifice PDF Warlord PDF Downcrawl RPG Iron Hive RPG PDF Monster Guts RPG PDF Worlds Without Number RPG Hardcover+PDF Mythic Rome RPG PDF The Atlas of the Latter Earth RPG Hardcover+PDF Yeah, I think this will suffice for the next 10 years... Oh, new video from Daniel.... Oh, what's that? And that? I can't buy books any more! Stop it mr D.!
Daniel making me spend more money. ;) Substratum Protocol sounds fun. I don't know of too many games that have you play as scientists. Gonna pick that one up for sure. Despite the upside down pages.
Both covers of ruthless heavens and Acid death Fantazy are inspired by Moebius. I can't wait to put my hands on the UVG french version, before February i hope. An other very "Moebius inspired" book.
Really interested in Valley of Flowers and odd, Acid King Arthur sort of thing. I own Stygian Library, This Ship is a Tomb. Although I mostly run fans tasty, I think I’m going to run Stygian Library for my Call Of Cthulhu players. They are always researching something!
Thank you for showcasing so many interesting rpgs! i'm hard pressed to choose the most interesting one! BUT I'm very grateful that you tell which ones have AI generated pictures instead of art, thank you!
What a time for solo RPGers. They're not really my vibe, however I love seeing all the efforts and graphic designs. Always enjoy your insightful and honest reviews of games, Daniel. Thanks.
Hello Daniel, how are you ? I am following you and really enjoy your reviews. It gives me a lot of good pointers for my games developments on what player may or may not appreciate in a game. I was wondering how to get in contact with you for sending you solo ttrpg book ( in the near futur ). Thank you and keep the good work coming :-)
Outcast silver raiders is awesome for solo play. However, it's something that you should definitely use for a long campaign. If you pick up the setting to play, you gotta commit.
Look at 'Ronin' solo rpg its very good with great charts its got a good following for good reason. Warlock! by Fire Ruby Design and a lot of the others in that stable (wetwired) are based on fighting fantasy framework so could be nice supplements to Troika - I prefer Warlock! as its less acid-laced which I don't really like. I really like Wetwired. Also look at "Running Out of time" by Old Skull Publishing is another worthy look in. Add Kal-Arath to you TBR along with Sherwood. Finally I'll recommend 'the legacy of Cthulhu rpg' as another solo tool kit worthy of investigation.
@@TheDungeonDive Awesome! It must have blurred with all the others sorry for that. Hope there are some others I spoke of that pique your interest. Love ya'work mate! Keep it up! Thanks for all the info and entertainment.
I really don’t “get” LitRPG. Do you have a video recommendation to watch understand it better? Every time I look into it - it seems like reading thru someone’s else’s game walkthrough? No dice rolling or choices like fighting fantasy game books.
Are you still previewing games from The Game Crafter? I’m curious about Grimm World. I just learned about it and there are no in-depth reviews for it. And it’s an expensive game.
They’re coming. The somewhat tepid response kind of killed my momentum. I expected better numbers for the amount of time I’m putting into them with the Appendix M stuff. But Dunwich is on deck.
Thanks for clue me into F.O.R.G.E. That is something I can use for my own style of dungeon crawl games. The other games you highlight to day are cool, but F.O.R.G.E. is the one I want.
@@TheDungeonDive Well, I downloaded the PDF version, printed and comb bound it. Not quite the perfect Dungeon Crawl system I'm looking for, but it's close. Definitely will -steal- borrow ideas for my own game.
Thanks for showcasing Ruthless Heavens, Boundless Fate! The game's with great company, I think I own every single book you showed here today, haha.
The cool games just keep on coming!
You're the best solo rpg creator out here! You got me into this hobby. Appreciate your videos and content :)
Thank you for the kind words! I really appreciate it.
It's interesting how we swing back and forth between RPGs and BGs, which only confirms how strong the pull of adventure is in both types of games. In 2024, I finally came to the conclusion that, as a solo player, neither type (in their purest form) fully satisfied me. So, as a hobbyist designer, I've set myself to the task of designing a new form of Tabletop Adventure that uses the best of both worlds without falling into the design paradigms of either. I'll likely reignite my YT channel Story Tiles to chronicle this design journey. Thanks for the inspired look at this year's indie RPGs, Daniel! Keep exploring!
So many awesome books - I think I have most of these! I am indeed working with the author of FORGE for the art for a new version - it's almost done! :D
Nice! Can’t wait to see that. :)
@@TheDungeonDive Thank you for taking a look at FORGE - I hope to make the new PDF available in the next week or so!
I will also think about how I can approach a reformat for A5 this time around :)
That would be awesome! I prefer that size, but I also know how hard it can be to reformat. :)
I really enjoyed the amazon dive you did. Plenty of those indie ttrpgs I see on amazon don't have reviews so bits like this are really helpful.
Love the library one at the end! Sounded so fun. Ty for making the video!
Yeah it's a good one!
Thank you for the kind works about the Old School Revival Solo Role-playing Guide! I really appreciate it!!!! I hope you find it helpful in your solo sessions!
Oh yeah! You did great work. Very useful tool.
I love learning about new systems and adventures! Thank you!
My pleasure! I've been enjoying your videos focusing on the game you made!
Thank you! I'm having so much fun making them!
Great video! Thanks for hipping me to some stuff I hadn't seen before but now will check out. Subbed.
Glad you liked it!
Lots of good stuff I haven't checked out. I've added Old School Revival Solo Role Playing Guide to my cart. I have Ruthless Heavens so this video is a good reminder to learn it. Between the Skies looks incredible. I have been eying that for awhile and it's a beautiful volume.
These are some really nice pickups, thank you for sharing. 😊
Love your video here! I have run Slate & Chalcedony solo and I am currently running the module as an open-table game in Tacoma. I am kind of obsessed with it and it is my favorite module in my current favorite TTRPG. Each of the locations on the map in the book are keyed to entries in the room, it's fixed rather than randomized, and an encounter die is rolled in the module every 10 minutes with a 1-in-6 chance of a random encounter on a table specific to each tower (this is an important mechanic!). When I ran it solo I rolled up 3 characters from the core backgrounds and made key notes on how those characters would be prone to act in situations based on the details of the background, which included motivations to enter a place as dangerous and horrible as those towers. Since each room has interactive elements it was usually pretty clear what a character would do in that situation (for example, read the Befouler of Ponds background and consider the implications of that personality in a place like Slate & Chalcedony). I kept a journal of everything that happened in each room the parties visited, and occasionally used a simple oracle to determine the direction the party moved. That's my short essay on how I ran S&C solo in Troika!
That sounds great!
Maybe I'm weird, but I really like Dungeon Dive show and tell videos - it's always interesting to see what you have floating around that you want to get to or that interested you enough to pick up a copy. Also, maybe it makes me feel like I'm not the only one with piles of RPG books on my desk to read. :)
Thanks! Glad you enjoy them. :). They’re low effort for me, but they’re fun to do!
Great overview. I agree, "I can't have enough fantasy games".
Thanks! And yeah - can never have too many. :)
Ruthless Heavens def has a moebius look
Very cool
I really should get on reading my RPG to be read pile. I've had "Ruthless Heavens, Boundless Fate" since it came out. 😅 I just like structured RPGs more and more. I do think that is the type of solo RPG for me. That is, RPG closer to a board game experience. Or wargaming.
Some super cool stuff here. It would be good to see some solo coverage for mothership from you!
Have you played Mothership solo on your channel?
@@TheDungeonDive No, and I haven't really done a whole lot of 'true solo rpg playing' at all really. To me Mothership looks like one that's a little less accessible for a solo gamer compared to some and there isn't much coverage on YT as a result.
(Having said that, I just did a search and Man Alone did a video a week ago. He's worth checking out, if you haven't spotted his channel.)
Thanks for the video! I want to start playing solo RPG’s using some of the adventures that I’ve accumulated over the years. I’m not sure how to go about it, to be honest. Seems like knowing the adventures will ruin a lot of the fun for me. And then i think about the hassle of setting up the table and I end up playing a video game instead. But watching your videos makes me want to try, because it all seems so interesting when I watch you talk about them
A lot of video games these days can totally scratch those same itches.
Always a good day for a Dungeon Dive! Daniel- would you consider to a a video on your favorite family games, favorite solo game, favorite game to gift to others? Favorite rules lite vs crunchy? Favorite game artwork and least favorite? Maybe a good 2024 recap video. Thanks!
Everything I cover is from the solo perspective. So my top 10 videos this year would cover my favorite solo games. I do my year end review videos every year in January. I have a playlist dedicated to effortlessly fun games. I don’t really play family games or play any games with kids so I can’t help there. I also just released a gift guide. So I get mostly got you covered!
“Look at all those charts, that’s super cool!”. That’s a solo role player talkin 🙂.
Haha! Truth! We love our tables!
Love that Kim Diaz Holm art!!
Great videos! In this video, you have enough game books to play for a life time!
Oh god. Tell me about it! Thats why I believe that collecting, reading, and playing are three completely different and valuable hobbies.
@@TheDungeonDive For FORGE, the tables are great. But the most important aspect of it: it has a clear procedure to generate quest, hexcrawling, dungeon, city, npc, problems, oracle with plot twiste... it's among the best book to play an OSR game without a DM. Very useful and inspiring book.
I should stop buying all those rpgs... My this years acquisitions:
Siege Perilous RPG
Ker Nethalas RPG
Across a Thousand Dead Worlds RPG
Lex Arcana RPG
Ruthless Heavens RPG
Salvage & Sorcery RPG
Ultraviolet Grasslands 2nd Edition
Sacrifice PDF
Warlord PDF
Downcrawl RPG
Iron Hive RPG PDF
Monster Guts RPG PDF
Worlds Without Number RPG Hardcover+PDF
Mythic Rome RPG PDF
The Atlas of the Latter Earth RPG Hardcover+PDF
Yeah, I think this will suffice for the next 10 years...
Oh, new video from Daniel.... Oh, what's that? And that? I can't buy books any more! Stop it mr D.!
Daniel making me spend more money. ;) Substratum Protocol sounds fun. I don't know of too many games that have you play as scientists. Gonna pick that one up for sure. Despite the upside down pages.
The theme / setting is super interesting!
Both covers of ruthless heavens and Acid death Fantazy are inspired by Moebius. I can't wait to put my hands on the UVG french version, before February i hope. An other very "Moebius inspired" book.
Moebius inspired so many things we all love!
Really interested in Valley of Flowers and odd, Acid King Arthur sort of thing. I own Stygian Library, This Ship is a Tomb. Although I mostly run fans tasty, I think I’m going to run Stygian Library for my Call Of Cthulhu players. They are always researching something!
Thank you for showcasing so many interesting rpgs! i'm hard pressed to choose the most interesting one! BUT I'm very grateful that you tell which ones have AI generated pictures instead of art, thank you!
I only mention AI art when I know for sure, and will never guess or speculate or participate in AI Witch hunting.
@@TheDungeonDive Even better!
So many great games on the market and it’s hard to keep up. When I retire I will so many games to play and keep me busy.
You and me both!
What a time for solo RPGers. They're not really my vibe, however I love seeing all the efforts and graphic designs. Always enjoy your insightful and honest reviews of games, Daniel. Thanks.
Hello Daniel, how are you ? I am following you and really enjoy your reviews. It gives me a lot of good pointers for my games developments on what player may or may not appreciate in a game. I was wondering how to get in contact with you for sending you solo ttrpg book ( in the near futur ). Thank you and keep the good work coming :-)
My email is listed if you click the more section on the channel's front page.
Outcast silver raiders is awesome for solo play. However, it's something that you should definitely use for a long campaign. If you pick up the setting to play, you gotta commit.
Good advice!
What are some of the best automated monsters/creature and what systems/resources they are in?
Not sure. That's something I don't look into much at all.
Look at 'Ronin' solo rpg its very good with great charts its got a good following for good reason. Warlock! by Fire Ruby Design and a lot of the others in that stable (wetwired) are based on fighting fantasy framework so could be nice supplements to Troika - I prefer Warlock! as its less acid-laced which I don't really like. I really like Wetwired. Also look at "Running Out of time" by Old Skull Publishing is another worthy look in. Add Kal-Arath to you TBR along with Sherwood. Finally I'll recommend 'the legacy of Cthulhu rpg' as another solo tool kit worthy of investigation.
I’ve reviewed Ronin and featured Legacy of Cthulhu in my guide to solo horror RPGs. :)
@@TheDungeonDive Awesome! It must have blurred with all the others sorry for that. Hope there are some others I spoke of that pique your interest. Love ya'work mate! Keep it up! Thanks for all the info and entertainment.
Thanks! More stuff to add to the potentials list. :)
I really don’t “get” LitRPG. Do you have a video recommendation to watch understand it better? Every time I look into it - it seems like reading thru someone’s else’s game walkthrough? No dice rolling or choices like fighting fantasy game books.
It’s fiction that included elements of gaming in the world. So characters level up. They get +2 swords. They get fetch quests.
Have you played or covered Shadowdark or Knave 2E?
I covered Knave 2e already, and I never picked up Shadowdark.
@@TheDungeonDive Thank you. Shadowdark looks cool, I might buy it.
I’ve heard it’s good, I just have a lot of games in that space already.
Are you still previewing games from The Game Crafter? I’m curious about Grimm World. I just learned about it and there are no in-depth reviews for it. And it’s an expensive game.
Yes! I’ve request a copy but haven’t heard back yet. Looks interesting.
We need more arkham videos
They’re coming. The somewhat tepid response kind of killed my momentum. I expected better numbers for the amount of time I’m putting into them with the Appendix M stuff. But Dunwich is on deck.
Ugh. Ai art on loner. There are even free assets online.
Yep. As I said in the video. Just don’t buy it if it bothers you. Simple solution to that “problem.”
Thanks for clue me into F.O.R.G.E. That is something I can use for my own style of dungeon crawl games. The other games you highlight to day are cool, but F.O.R.G.E. is the one I want.
It's very useful.
@@TheDungeonDive Well, I downloaded the PDF version, printed and comb bound it. Not quite the perfect Dungeon Crawl system I'm looking for, but it's close. Definitely will -steal- borrow ideas for my own game.