Turk's Top Five
These are the games, books, and tools that I personally recommend, enjoy, or think do something particularly well. Some are beginner-friendly, some are weird, and some just live on my table way more than everything else.
This list will change as I play more stuff. That's half the fun.
Navagating this page:
Click the Titles of the games to go where to get them. Click the photos for the video coverage.
Emulators & Oracles
Books and tools I use to answer questions, generate adventures, and keep a solo game moving.
My own collection of rules, tools, charts, and advice for running solo RPGs.
My go-to GM emulator for turning almost any TTRPG into a solo game.
A really interesting tool that can emulate the player instead of the GM. Great for weird solo experiments and trying games from a different angle.
A small GM emulator with a surprising amount of useful stuff packed inside.
Tiny, fast, and perfect when you just need answers without adding another giant book to the table. and its free!
Non-Solo That Are Great Solo
Games that aren't built specifically for solo play, but work great when paired with Mythic or another GM emulator.
(My favorites basically XD)
Fast, flexible, and probably one of my favorite systems to pair with Mythic. Because of its Target numbers and timers.
Fast, weird, and easy to run solo without having a mountain of rules to manage. Perfect for Dungeon Crawling.
Rules-light pirate adventures with tons of flavor and plenty of random tables to keep solo play moving. Its the Borg system so all rolls are player forward. Perfect for solo.
Fantastic for hexploration, strange NPCs, and big whimsical adventures that can go anywhere.
My favorite setting right now. Full of crazy and whimsical art work and ideas.
Dungeon Crawlers
For when I want less “What does my character feel about this?” and more “Kick the door open and see what horrible thing lives inside.”
A cheap and easy solo dungeon crawl zine.
Half Board game half rpg that uses cards to generate dungeons.
You explore randomly generated dungeon rooms, fight creatures, and collect treasure as you gain experience and levels and strive to become a legendary adventurer.
An awesome dungeon crawler with lots of books and expansions.
Journaling Rpgs
These are games where writing, recording, drawing, or otherwise documenting your character's story is a major part of play.
My favorite Solo Journaling game. A time-travel RPG played inside an actual year planner where you physically mess with the timeline.
A solo mapmaking RPG where you build a world and discover its story as you draw. All RavensRidge Games are fire tbh.
A dark magical-school game about rivalry, relationships, and letting Tarot cards shape the story. Can be played in Duet! All Cassi Mothwin Journal games are pretty good Tbh.
Set inside a castle so massive it contains entire oceans, mountains, and cities. You explore using a deck of cards, discover strange places, battle giant walking Rooks, and journal the story as you go.
A cozy journaling RPG where you play a village witch gathering ingredients and brewing potions for strange ailments.
Hexcrawls & Exploration
Games for when the map itself is part of the adventure. Pick a direction, travel into the unknown, and find out what's waiting for you.
A space hexcrawl about exploring a galaxy, building a crew, and discovering things across the galaxy.
A post-apocalyptic hexcrawl where simply trying to deliver something across the wasteland becomes the adventure.
A beautiful game where you escort one of the last giants across a broken kingdom. It mixes exploration and survival with the relationship you build with the giant.
A brutal dark-fantasy solo hexcrawl where you explore the Umbral Highlands, hunt massive Wyverns, and fight using cards instead of dice.
Other Tools
The little things that keep me from staring at a blank page when my brain decides it has absolutely no ideas.
A deck packed with random prompts, names, directions, sensory details, and tons of other useful solo information.
A pile of visual prompts and ideas that are great when you have no clue what should happen next.
A giant toolbox for quickly creating settlements, wilderness, encounters, NPCs, and adventure locations.
One of my favorite books for quickly generating wilderness, discoveries, dangers, and locations. and perilous void is the same but space!
lists of magical items, fantastical weapons, dubious potions and fascinating books
Solo Board Games
For when I want the solo experience but with more pieces, cards, boards, and tactical gameplay.
A beautifully illustrated card-driven adventure where every choice pushes you deeper into the story.
A small solo adventure with tactical decisions, exploration, and a lot packed into a compact game.
A tense solo experience built around venturing into a dangerous place where you never quite know what is coming next.
A compact solo battle game built around one final desperate fight.