Hello book lover!! Today we are going to be talking about Solo TTRPGs and how to use them to not just increase your writing productivity and word count, but also how to make your story better and fuller. We’ll also be covering how TTRPGs can help us address some common writing blocks.
This is going to be a whole series where we talk about TTRPGs, what they are, and how to use them as a writer, as a storyteller, and as an artist, to create art that is both fun to make and fun to read.
If you already know what TTRPGs are, you’ve played DnD before, or you’ve played solo games before, you might want to skip ahead to the why section or to other posts in the series. If they’re not there yet, make sure to subscribe to my email newsletter or to the blog so that you’ll know when the new segments come out, but for now, in this article we will be addressing the what and the why. What TTRPGS are, how to play them, what solo play is, and why they matter to you as a creator.
First things first, what is a TTRPG?
TTRPGs Simplefied
This acronym stands for a tabletop role playing game, and you’ve probably heard the acronym before from somebody you know. If you’ve heard about DnD (or dungeons and dragons for the uninitiated) then you have definitely heard of one of the most popular TTRPGs in the world
More importantly, not a lot of people who aren’t avid players know that there are many different systems to play and some of them are much better for solo play or for writing in particular, compared to DnD.
So what is a tabletop role playing game?
Well, it is essentially a system of rules for gameplay that allows for collaborative storytelling. Most of these systems are meant to be played in groups of two or more people, sitting down, creating characters, world building, and telling a story together.
Sound familiar?
It’s basically like writing a book out loud with friends. And if you haven’t played yet, I recommend you try it out. You can find a group online or in person. The easiest way to find a group online is to go to the subreddit thread Looking for a Game: r/LFG .
One of the biggest elements of a TTRPG is the randomization system that is usually created by the use of dice. Players and the person who leads the game (called the GM or the DM for dungeon or game master, depending on which system you’re playing) roll dice in order to decide the outcome of certain actions that the players or PC’s (Player Characters) are taking.
These rolls essentially decide the direction that the story line goes in in many ways. Many people who love and play TTRPGs will often say “The dice tell the story”.
Now there are other randomization systems in other games. There are games that use tarot cards instead, for example. Essentially this is a method to add an element of chaos to the game that cannot be predicted or controlled by any one of the players or the person leading the game.
(And here you might be thinking to yourself, “Why would I do that? Especially since you always emphasize the importance of plotting. Milena, why are you recommending something that can completely derail the plotline that I have already decided for the story in my mind?”
Well, we’ll get to that in our why section, but for now stick with me as we explain further.)
Going Solo
Now this is great and all, but I mentioned solo TTRPGs earlier. For those who wish to play solo style, or more importantly in this case, for those of us who wish to tell a story and write it down because we’re authors, what interests us most is solo style play.
So how can you play a game that’s meant to be played in groups on your own?
And here’s where I would like to introduce you to the Oracle. There are many different types of oracle systems.
Normally, the person leading the game has the answers to the questions the players are asking, as well as all of the world building and lore.
So for example, if a player goes to speak to a nonplayer character (or an NPC), the GM will fill the role of the nonplayer character and they’ll have a conversation in real time. But how do you run a conversation if you’re the only one in the room?
The oracle system is, generally speaking, a system of dice rolls where the dice will give you an answer to a yes or no question, à la flipping a coin style. Instead of running a conversation with your DM, you might instead ask questions like: Is this character hostile? or Will they agree to work with us?
You’ll roll a set of dice and the dice will say yes or no.
In addition, most oracle systems have some sort of method to introduce new events or plot lines through the rolls. So, say if you hit a certain number, that’ll mean that a random event occurs.
In a nutshell that is what an oracle system is. It essentially replaces the GM during gameplay. This is useful if you have a group of players, but no one wants to lead the game, which will happen most of the time.
So as a writer, you can use an oracle system and a TTRPG rule system in order to lead yourself on an adventure that you can write down as you go, making the process of writing a story more fun and more intuitive.
But what about story structure?
“Milena, you said that writing structure is important. How can I stick to a plotline if the dice are deciding everything?”
Well, the dice aren’t deciding everything wholesale. Always remember that you as the artist are the final say, and if you disagree with the dice, you can always say no (taking into account that the more you say no to the dice, the more you are invalidating the entire purpose of the dice).
Another important thing to remember is that as you go you will find yourself sticking to a storyline that will usually match the three act structure organically. This is because we naturally have an instinct to tell good stories because all of our lives we have been consuming good stories.
So don’t worry, you will find yourself writing in a way that adheres to some sort of writing structure or character arc, because that’s what’s interesting, and most of these TTRPG rule systems are built for character growth and for following plotlines.
And always remember that in post during editing, you can always adjust your writing structure later (You will probably have to do this no matter what).
Okay, so now you know what a TTRPG system is and you know how to play solo, or rather you have some sort of concept of both of those things.
Now you must be asking yourself, but why?
Milena, Whyyy?
Yes, I’ve mentioned it’s more fun, but is there another reason for adding a solo TTRPG style to your writing?
Well, there is. You see, using a TTRPG system within your writing practice allows you to address several common problems that a lot of authors run into, especially in the beginning of their path, as a new writer. We’ll address some of these here.
1) You are protecting your precious smols too much
The first issue is plot armor.
If you’ve never heard what this is, it’s the concept that a character in your story is invulnerable to harm, essentially they have plot armor because they are being protected by the plot (because you love them, how could you hurt them?).
This happens whenever there aren’t any real stakes or the character isn’t facing any real consequences for their actions. Essentially, this is when the writer is a little too nice to their characters, and it leaves the reader feeling bored.
That’s because the reader knows that nothing bad will ever happen to the character, invalidating the conflict that you set up in your book. Stakes and conflict make 95% of any story.
Adding the randomness of dice, as well as a system that allows for things like injuries, or hit point damage, or harm, as well as the opposite: recovery and healing, in addition to character systems like leveling up, and tracking threads or enemies, all allow for you to write a story where your character is facing ups and downs, which makes for a more interesting story.
Sometimes as writers, we protect our characters too much, and the dice in contrast, will hit them hard when we least expect it.
Watch out for the Plot Piñata!
(PS: The opposite extreme, or as I like to call it: the plot piñata, gives us the same result, as readers will know that there will never be any true rewards for your character, which will leave some of them wondering what the point of it all is.)
2) Worldbuilding Woes
The next reason is for world building reasons. World building, character creation, and plot creation are some of the aspects of storytelling that can be awesome and wonderful and fun.
But it can also take an incredible amount of time, not in the least of which is because of all the decisions we have to make (We’ll get to that next).
Coming up with every single aspect of a town, or a country, or a nation, or a culture, or a religion, or indeed, coming up with character archetypes and personality types can take a lot of effort. Even if it’s something that you enjoy, always remember that world building is not writing.
You can spend your entire life building a world, and at that point you’ve gone into the area of trying to be a god instead of trying to be a writer.
At some point you have to tell the story.
I think TTRPG systems, especially world building rolling tables, are great for helping you create just enough world building to get you started.
It gives you what you need so that you can focus on telling your story instead of spending thousands of hours coming up with the color scheme of a particular holiday on a particular day of one nation in your entire world.
More importantly for character creation, TTRPG systems are great for characters (some more than others) and they can really help you build a well rounded 3D character who has virtues, and flaws, and a real personality, that your readers will love and want to stick with. And again, most TTRPG systems are naturally built for character growth (leveling up).
3) You can’t make up your mind, so instead you do anything but write
The next point and this is one of the most important ones is indecisiveness. Should my character do this or should my character do that?
I couldn’t tell you how many times I paused my writing for days, trying to decide what my characters were going to do next, or how my characters were going to respond to something.
Or maybe I was stuck on some other aspect of the story, like whether my characters were going to be able to find what they were looking for, or how a non-main character was going to react to what the characters are doing and saying.
Rolling dice, especially with an oracle system, allows you to cut through these questions quickly, in seconds, so you don’t have to spend your time thinking yourself into paralysis.
Instead, you make a decision, you stick to it, you move on. And if you roll the dice and you disagree with the answer, well, then you know that the answer is the opposite of what the dice gave you. (This helps with real world decision making too, by the way)
It’s a great way to make sure that you don’t get stuck, especially when you are facing the blank page.
(PS: Whenever I start with a blank page and a new story, generally speaking one of the first questions I ask is: Are the characters outside or are they inside? And that will immediately get me started.)
Of course, the most important thing to remember here is that you should always be asking questions. Questions, questions and more questions are what allow you to build the story out with an oracle system.
4) The dreaded “YAWN!”
The next point we already mentioned a little bit with plot armor, but it deserves some attention too, and that is predictability and being boring.
Sometimes in our minds we create the perfect story. We go from point A, to point B, to point C because it’s logical, and the story follows this neat little perfect arc. What happens?
It’s predictable as hell.
Your reader probably knows where you’re going already.
Now, I believe that the mark of a truly great story is one that is enjoyable, no matter if the reader knows what is going to happen at the end or not (Romeo and Julliet, anybody?), but still, especially with stories like mysteries or crime detective novels, you’re going to want to have a story that is a little unpredictable to the reader, and you might want to have things like plot twists or cliffhangers in your work.
Adding in the element of the dice (i.e. an element of randomness) to your work allows you to build stories that are unpredictable, interesting, and exciting. Trust me, even you will be surprised at some of the rolls that the dice will give you, which brings us to our last point for today: having fun.
5) I command you to have some FUN!
You might be rolling your eyes at this one and saying “Goodness, Milena, I’m trying to work over here.”
Well, who said work can’t be fun?
In fact, I would posit that it should be fun, and here’s why. When you’re having fun, you write more often, and when you write more often, you put more words on the page.
It’s as simple as that.
The more you enjoy doing what you do, the more you do it, and then the better you get at it. Having fun as you write will allow you to build a regular writing habit, and in doing so, it will send your word count, and your productivity, through the roof, allowing you to tell better stories, quicker, and more efficiently.
(I also think that having fun is a necessary element to being a healthy adult, but that’s the conversation for a different time)
Okay, what now?
With all of that being said, I hope that I have convinced you to take another look at TTRPGs if you’ve waved them off before and to keep an eye out on how you can use them as a writer.
Now, if this interests you, again make sure to subscribe to the blog or to my newsletter, so that you will continue to get articles just like this one. In the next few, we are going to be talking about all sorts of things TTRPGs, focused on using them to write books.
We’re going to go over popular oracle systems, as well as popular TTRPG systems. We’re also going to be going over (in depth) a TTRPG system that I think is perfect for writing. And it’s not one that you might know of if you haven’t been in the TTRPG world for a long time.
(Sneak peek: It’s actually not DnD)
We’re going to be going over character creation, world building, and plotlines, as well as tips and tricks for solo play, and for writing and editing in general.
So if all of that is your vibe, then stick around! And if you want to support the blog, and me, the best way to do that is to pick up a copy of my book: Phoenix Knights: Journey to Safehold, which is an epic Arthurian fantasy, with a focus on Celtic folklore, reincarnation, and portals to other worlds.
You can check out my books up at the top in the Books section. It’s available on all major retailers, and right here I will put the link to the book on Amazon.
Grab your copy today for just 4.99$.
All right, that’s all for today folks. I will see you next time!