Solodark : Solo Rules for Shadowdark RPG by Kelsey Dionne

Seth Stauffer

Solo play is a natural evolution of tabletop role-playing games. Sometimes people can’t get together, and that’s OK. Solo rules exist for this, and Solodark from the Arcane Library is a free download for fans of the OSR game, Shadowdark.

The whole product, including all necessary rules, is 16 pages long, which makes this very easy to use. Solo games can be tricky because they can overwhelm players with all kinds of quirks to try and keep everything random, and this supplement isn’t overwhelming at all.

While solo gaming is inherently meta-gaming, this Shadowdark iteration introduces a mechanism that forces players to act, keeping the game moving. A Solodark player is limited in the number of questions they may ask. The player must act, regardless of circumstances. This creates real consequences if things go sideways.

My favourite part of this book is that it references material beyond The Arcane Library. There are indexed references indicating where, in which book, helpful information can be found, and yes, this includes other games. This is a phenomenal touch. While this may not be explicitly designed to be compatible with these other games, it clearly is, and the author is encouraging players to go further afield. I can only praise this kind of selflessness. There are so many people making great products, and it’s refreshing to see that codified into this text.

While this is for solo players, it’s troupe-style play; whoever is playing controls 2-4 PCs rather than just one. Why waste time being responsible for plunging one character into the jaws of doom when you take charge of a whole group of them?

My main complaint is that the book feels underdeveloped, especially in its use of tables for on-the-spot content generation. While including these tables is a good idea, their limited number undermines the goal of providing a diverse set of randomized results. Having more tables would have enhanced both utility and depth.

Solo gaming is clumsy, but it’s a great development in TTRPGs. It is becoming increasingly common for publishers to release solo-play rules, and this product is very accessible regardless of a person’s gaming experience. It could have been more robust, albeit longer, with added means of crafting material via tables, but at the low, low price of Free, it’s hard to beat. By embracing multiple in-game designs, it ensures that whoever takes on the game won’t be short of material. This is a nice product for players who want to trek through dangerous places but can’t share a gaming table. This isn’t enough to convince someone to buy the core game, but if they already have it, there’s no reason not to pick this up.