Solo roleplay finally clicked for me!
I've tried solo roleplaying a couple of years back and couldn't sustain interest. For context, I've been GMing for 21 years and prefer narrative systems that I write myself, but was always fascinated by OSR.
I am happy to say that after four sessions I have enjoyed every single one and can't wait to go back in!
I will list what helped me enjoy it at the bottom of the post, maybe it will help someone else, and please, share your own hints!
Playing Scarlet Heroes. My character is Kueh of clan Samaki with a single goal - to rid his clan of Hell King worshippers at all cost. So far he has tracked down a man that knows the location of a dissident base on the Isle of White Teeth (but his uncle's men managed to poison the contact, so only a vague location is known), unsuccessfully raided his clan manor, entangled with a secret sect of worshippers of Kusha and convinced a corrupt Magistrate to issue him a permit to leave Kitaminato on ship (white pitting two clans smuggling pre-shou artifacts against each other).
What really did it for me:
1) Dedicating time. I am a very rushy person. Here, I block out the whole evening as "me time". Going slow really helped, as did having no time limit.
2) Setting the mood. I bought red candles, scented sticks, a dip pen, marker pens, red dice and put on some creepy japanese kato music. It really transports me, like in a ritual of sorts.
3) Drawing everything by hand. Here's the thing - , I can't draw. Yet, when I look at old-school rpg's, they have this certain naivete around them. So my crappy lack of skills just fits the vibe! I also drew the character sheet by hand, scanned it, overlayed with red in photoshop and printed out. The DIY aspect of producing artefacts of play is enjoyable to me.
4) Kindle Scribe. I do my journaling on the scribe. Being able to erase things and rearrange things is a godsend. Not using a keyboard to me, I feel, is essential - I use it all day long. Physically writing changes the tone and not stressing about re-writes alleviates the pressure.
5) Using LLMs for dialogue. Sometimes I ask the questions from chatgpt to flesh out things and randomize there. I use KoboldCCP for dialogue - I feed in the scene and any adjustments and can have a conversation with an NPC. I must say, the oracles coupled with LLMs introduced several great twists! (Side note: silytavern always narrates my character that's why I don't use it. If anyone knows a fix, please let me know).
6) Piecing it all together. Sometimes the output of LLMs or Oracles doesn't immediately make sense. Asking more questions usually helps tie it together. I actually find that puzzle-solving enjoyable. When I can't, i feed the data to LLMs and ask to provide several possible explanations. Even if I don't use them, the process nudges me in some direction.
7) Lastly, choices. A good RPG, in my opiniom, is more about choice than dice rolls. Many times I ended up in situations where I actually have to make a decision! Do I try to get the Kusha cultists on my side so that they help me against my clan, or do I kill them as I promised the blacksmith that they enslaved and have someone make me weapons for the upcoming fight? (I lied to the blacksmith that I will lead them into a trap in an attack on the manor, so everyone gets what they want).
Thanks for looking through my experience! Please share your tips of enjoying solo games more!