I wish I had more time for games, but as a parent, my kids take priority.

I love the idea of pen & paper role-playing games, but I’m more of a quiet introvert.

I used to play regularly with my mates, but now I’m too busy with work.

 

Do any of those sound like you? I can certainly identify with all three, and that’s why I created this website. We all know that moments are precious and time is fleeting. The responsibilities, passions, and mishaps of life are constantly vying for our attention. If you’re a working professional, perhaps your free time is limited by your schedule. If you’re a parent, too, then you may laugh at the idea of having time for yourself, but you wouldn’t wish away one second of quality time with your children. If you love tabletop games, but struggle with the social aspects, will you ever find a means to play?

More often than not, time is the limiting factor that keeps us from our gaming hobby, but there are tactics we can employ — such as solo play, or solitaire — to make a place for games in our lives. Many of these ideas can also be implemented and enjoyed by anyone, even people who have plenty of free time to game with their friends (*shakes fist at you*).

This website is dedicated to those of us who have a passion for tabletop games — but can never seem to find the time or the means to play — by recognizing, stealing back, sharing, and cherishing those fleeting Wisps of Time.

How I Format Actual Plays (and How You Can, Too)

Spencer 2017-10-10 1007 Comments Off on How I Format Actual Plays (and How You Can, Too)
Community

Not much to see here, I just wanted to point you to my latest community contribution: ap_shortcodes.js. It is a drop-in JavaScript solution for easily formatting your actual play reports with custom BBCode/WordPress-style “shortcodes”, such as [story] to wrap your narrative elements, that get replaced out with HTML+CSS to consistently style them across your site. Check it out at the link, and also check out the GitHub project, where you can contribute code or to the Wiki (or, dare I say, report bugs). I don’t actually use it to format my posts here, but I do basically the same thing with…

Rolling Solo – Chapter 6, Part III: Vincent Versus the Volcano

Vincent Versus the Volcano
Spencer 2017-10-08 2094 3 Comments
Rolling Solo

  Firstly, apologies for the title — when I sense and alliteration, I always go for it. It’s automatic. Nextly, I’ll reprise what’s happened before this post, as usual: For this final installment in the series, I’ll be using an old-school-inspired “sword & sorcery” game called Sharp Swords and Sinister Spells (Pay What You Want) alongside the Mythic Game Master Emulator — the “gold standard” of solo engines. Chapter 6 has been broken up into 3 parts: Mythic GME overview, SS&SS overview, and this, the Actual Play example putting the two together. If you’re only interested in the action, you’ve…

The Wheel of Fate: a Mythic Fate Chart Alternative

Spencer 2017-09-28 1979 Comments Off on The Wheel of Fate: a Mythic Fate Chart Alternative
Resources

The Wheel of Fate is a volvelle representation of the Mythic: Game Master Emulator’s “Fate Chart”. A volvelle is also known by other names: wheel chart, “dial-o-matic”, info chart, dial chart, calculator, and more. While the term originally referred to such tools created for astronomy (and became rather popular in the Middle Ages up through the twentieth century), volvelle seems to be the universal term for them now. You’ll find them employed for everything from baseball stats to oil filter selectors. To use the Wheel of Fate, one simply turns the “dial” to indicate the current Chaos Rank, and then…

Rolling Solo – Chapter 6, Part II: Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells

Spencer 2017-09-26 2524 1 Comment
Rolling Solo

  I’ll be using an old-school-inspired “sword & sorcery” game called Sharp Swords and Sinister Spells (Pay What You Want) for my final solo play in this series. As talked about last time, we’ll also be stepping up to the Mythic Game Master Emulator — the “gold standard” of solo engines. Chapter 6 will be broken up into 3 parts: Mythic GME overview, SS&SS overview, and an Actual Play example putting the two together. If you’re only interested in the action, you can jump over to the actual play. If you don’t know what solo role-playing is, you may want…

Rolling Solo – Chapter 6, Part I: Mythic Game Master Emulator

Spencer 2017-09-22 2187 Comments Off on Rolling Solo – Chapter 6, Part I: Mythic Game Master Emulator
Rolling Solo

  Here’s our first step into the big leagues with the Mythic Game Master Emulator — the “gold standard” of solo engines — which I’ll be using alongside an old-school-inspired “sword & sorcery” game called Sharp Swords and Sinister Spells (Pay What You Want). Chapter 6 will be broken up into 3 parts: Mythic GME overview, SS&SS overview, and an Actual Play example putting the two together. If you’re only interested in the action, you can jump over to the actual play. If you don’t know what solo role-playing is, you may want to start with Chapter 1, which gives…

Rolling Solo – Chapters 4 & 5: Still Learning & Aeryn Reborn

Spencer 2017-09-14 2001 2 Comments
Rolling Solo

  Once again I’ll be combining two “chapters” from my notes, Chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 4 is a bit of me just rambling on, so if you’re interested in the Actual Play portion, jump down to Chapter 5. If you don’t know what solo role-playing is, or aren’t familiar with the Hero Kids game, you may want to check those out first. (Yes, I did use a kids’ RPG for my re-introduction to tabletop games and as my launch pad for solitaire play.) Chapter 4: Still Learning Time for Round 2! I’m going “off-module” this time and I’ll be…

Rolling Solo – Chapters 2 & 3: “Tutorial Mode” and First Solo

Spencer 2017-09-09 2364 1 Comment
Rolling Solo

  Welcome back! If you didn’t read Chapter 1: Beginnings or aren’t familiar with solo roleplaying tactics, you may wish to check that out first, as it will give you some startup information on what follows below: my first solo “actual play” report on this site, which also happens to be of my first ever solo play session! I’d done my research and knew roughly what to do, but it was my first attempt, so I’m sure I made plenty of mistakes and could’ve done things differently or better in more places than one. None of that changed the fact…

Rolling Solo – Chapter 1: Beginnings

Spencer 2017-09-01 10889 2 Comments
Resources

  So, I’m going to try playing a pen & paper role-playing game by myself. Crazy, right? You need a Game Master (GM) and at least one player — probably more, to make it interesting — don’t you? Otherwise, it’s silly talk?! Apparently not! What is Solo Role-playing? With a little help, one person can fulfill both the player(s)’s and GM’s roles for most any role-playing game! How is this possible?!, you ask. Some of your duties as GM simply get outsourced — to chance. You relinquish control of certain outcomes and the answers to certain questions, just as you would…

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