Setting the Stage

When I'm learning a new skill or hobby, I often come up with better ways to explain complex learnings - and I confidently assume that I will continue to have good explanations for the people like me that are curious about this new skill. Surely, if I am a good explainer-of-things at a beginner level, I'll be a masterful explainer-of-things at an advanced level! I think to myself... The beginner level comes and goes, the intermediate level progresses on, and soon enough I start trying to explain things to the curious and find that all my wise learnings have been lost. It's probably accurate to say I've incorporated the learnings into my mindset so fully that I'm now blind to the dissonance I used to feel as a beginner. 

So, I'm going to try something I've never done before and share my learnings at the beginner level. 

I've been getting into a new hobby (ah, such a timeless statement) called Solo Roleplaying. This happened because I'm a big fan of fantasy as a genre, and I want to be a writer of sorts, but I've lost the patience for reading and writing fiction. Assuming you're on this page because you also have an interest in solo roleplaying, you may have your own reasons very different than mine. There are plenty of articles and videos about finding your reason for soloing, so I'll leave that topic be for now. 

I want to talk specifically about the act of getting started. 

You've already passed Challenge 1: Knowing What You Want to Do (which is solo roleplaying). And if you've seen any of those articles and videos about finding your reason, you've also passed Challenge 2: Knowing What You Want Out of It. 

You might be stuck at Challenge 3: Knowing What To Do to Get Started. At this step, you basically want to find a system or rulebook that guides you through playing sessions and full campaigns. And if you're looking for an easy answer, you're more than welcome to skip my winding path and download Ironsworn which is the system I'll be using for my first few campaigns. (If you want to follow my path exactly, I suggest you also buy a couple solo journaling books from a local game store that you end up not enjoying very much - results may vary). 

This isn't to say that Ironsworn is guaranteed to be the game that you enjoy the most, but it does come highly recommended by many people for beginners. Since I'm also a beginner, there's not much else I know about the landscape! But here's a table of random systems I've seen recommended for newbies that you can roll on with a d6 die (in order by price): 

1. Ironsworn (free): https://tomkinpress.com/collections/all-products/products/ironsworn-digital-edition
2. Shadowdark (free): https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/collections/all/products/solodark-solo-rules-for-shadowdark-rpg-pdf
3. Basic Fantasy RPG (free): https://www.basicfantasy.org/downloads.html
4. Mythic GME ($15): https://www.wordmillgames.com/page/mythic-gme.html
5. Ironsworn: Starforged ($20): https://tomkinpress.com/products/ironsworn-starforged-digital-edition
6. Mork Borg ($45 + shipping): https://freeleaguepublishing.com/games/mork-borg/

I was lucky enough to fly through Challenge 4: Collect Your Tools. Since I've played some group TTRPGs before, I already had a set of dice - if you don't have a set, they're sold in every game local store or online and for a free option you can use a search engine or any number of cool websites. 

Despite the intimidating cost of printer ink, I was willing to use the printer to get physical copies of Ironsworn character sheets, Asset cards, and the Moves list. I also have copious amounts of unused notebooks and an endless supply of cool pens, so after not very long I was able to bring together a small stash of supplies. 

This challenge is a bit deceptive because it can go on forever and ever. Depending on the system you're playing, you might also want a deck of tarot cards, deck of playing cards, random tokens, coins, etc. And if you're a goblin person who loves to collect stuff, you can also find yourself discovering and decorating a box or tray for all your supplies, getting together your special soloing wizard outfit and choosing what scents of candles fit the mood best, deciding to purchase a set of 100d6, and so on and so on - all before your first session. 

Here's my advice: if you're already a crafty or witchy person with all these vibe and flavor items easily accessible in your home, go for it. If you would have to go out of your way to purchase something or bring things together, save it for a later day when you're a few sessions in. It would be better to think of this as Collect the Minimum Tools Required to Start (Plus Extra for Vibes and Flavor If Easily Accessible). 

And now for the one I have the most to say about. Challenge 5: Get Through the Rulebook Without Quitting. Your first-ever half-baked session is surely going to be mostly reading the rulebook or listening to other people explain it to you online. Put another way, your first-ever session is likely going to be you attempting to dive in head-first with character creation and setting creation and getting really confused by new concepts and going back and forth in the PDF. 

Option A has a 95% likelihood of boredom, and Option B has a 95% likelihood of utter confusion. Is there a better way? 

Yes there is, if you embrace the challenge to dive in head-first. I think you will benefit from learning the rules by doing them, but - and here's the catch - it is far easier to do that without strings attached. Your most epic story you want to tell is probably not going to start in your first session. I had a really hard time with this when I created the character I wanted, with the story I wanted, and started rolling dice to begin playing. The results of the dice didn't line up with the tone I was imagining. Things became a lot easier the next time I sat down when I just decided I wanted to understand how <insert mechanic here> works so I rolled up a random character and had them do that mechanic. 

My first test character was randomly rolled down to his gender. I put him in a combat encounter with a formidable foe to see what the combat mechanics were like - and I am so glad I didn't care about him! Because my imagination led to the encounter becoming the deadliest experience of this man's life. I learned a lot about using my imagination in combination with the mechanics from that, and the best thing was that I didn't have to learn it using my precious self-insert character that I first tried to start with. If that one had been left bleeding out on the dirt path, I quite possibly would have packed my metaphorical bags and given up soloing from a mix of disappointment and shame. 

Coincidentally, I did still feel bad for fucking up this random dude's peaceful walk down the path so I had one of my later test characters walk down the same path. She came across him in time to heal him and get him to safety. However, I also rolled a few times on the relationship between them and found out she's a badass warrior woman who was romantically rejected by this guy and then he went on to propose to her BFF (come on, man). So now it pains me much less now to think of his outcome in the combat testing, since he was a rude dude to begin with and ended up surviving with some knarly scars (that I just know he'll be boasting about for years to come). 

I actually haven't fully read the Ironsworn rulebook yet, so how about I test out this advice in more detail in a future post by going through the rulebook with random test characters? Sounds good! See you there.