Solo Game Master's Guide (Modiphius)

Do you know the difference between a book written by someone reciting things off a checklist versus someone who has actually done something and mastered the field?

This book is the latter.

This is partially a solo play system and more a theory book about how you solo play, what you should not get hung up on, and how you can get better at the art of solo RPG play. These skills easily transfer over to being a referee; being able to improvise, come up with stories, and exercise your imagination are critical parts of becoming a great game master.

This is an excellent book; I had some of the bad solo play habits warned about in this book. Endlessly rolling dice. Frustrating myself with tables that did not tell me anything. Feeling the story should go one way, but the system never allowed it to. The overuse of story assistants, or picking card after card and expecting everything to work. The burnout. Stalled stories.

I put unreasonable expectations on a solo system and did not trust the storyteller inside myself.

There is a lot on telling stories, arcs, and how to keep momentum. There is a bit of excellent advice on skipping character creation as your "first step," - and I have had so many solo games end at character creation I would have to agree.

A character is not a story.

A character is not a game.

A character does not guarantee momentum.

There is also a concept of every oracle roll being a danger to your story. I find it fascinating to realize what you are doing to your game with an oracle roll and save them for the most critical questions. Your game will get better the fewer oracle rolls you use.

If you ever find yourself rolling an oracle too much - STOP. Figure out a way to move forward without a roll. What you are doing is destructive behavior to your story and game. No amount of rolling will give you an answer, and it is better to come up with the most exciting way forward by yourself instead of overreliance on the oracle.

Sometimes, no matter how much you roll, you will never get an answer.

So just make yourself happy, sad, or whatever. Go with a feeling and move on.

There is also a lot of inspiration on "interpretive sources" where the oracle you use does not give you a hard "yes-no" answer. Still, you grab a few random things, flip through a book and find items of inspiration, or use a table of descriptive words and imagine "what happens next" from these "imagine what they mean" sources.

I am lost in this book, and it is making me rethink solo play.

Highest recommendation for solo players.