Going Solo
Making, Playing, and Celebrating Solo TTRPGs
This month Elliot and I have each been diving into solo TTRPGs. Elliot is finalizing the text for his upcoming solo game Project ECCO and I am playing Anamnesis for the latest season of My First Dungeon. This was my first time trying a solo TTRPG and it certainly won’t be my last. The next time your gaming group can’t get their schedules to align, consider picking up a solo game and giving it a whirl. They’re incredibly fun.
-Brian
What Makes a Game “Good?”
An Interview with Samantha Leigh
Anamnesis was a smash hit on Kickstarter and was even nominated for an ENnie Award for best electronic book in 2022.
In this newsletter-exclusive interview, Sam and I discuss:
What made Anamnesis so successful
Sam’s biggest tips for designers looking to publish their own indie game
The benefits of collaboration in game design
The metrics each of us use to determine when something we make is “good” (whatever the hell that means)
Follow My First Dungeon to hear more from me and Sam and tune in on Friday, March 24th to hear my first ever game of Anamnesis as an improvised radio play.
On Prompts
Lessons From My Most Loved Journaling Games
There will be over 150* prompts in the final text of Project ECCO.
I know, I know. Why so many?
The prompts in this game aim to elicit a variety of experiences that inform different narrative threads for a player. In a single playthrough, you are likely to encounter only a fraction of what’s presented. It is crucial that every player’s unique combination of prompts helps drive a complete and satisfying narrative experience.
A solo journaling game lives and dies by its prompts.
Project ECCO has a lot of influences: games I have played, games I have read, and games that I simply can not get out of my head. I believe one of the best things a designer can do is to read and re-read the games they love and learn from them. So, that’s exactly what I did.
The Power of Brevity in Anamnesis by Samantha Leigh
“You realize you are crying. Why?” - 10 of Wands
An absolute gut punch of a prompt. 6 words that say so much. Throughout Anamnesis, you will encounter Sam’s ability to elicit these big feelings from such tight and efficient language. Any time I feel like I might overwrite a prompt, I think about these 6 words.
Establishing Horror in The Portal At Hill House by Travis D. Hill & Lindi M. Farris-Hill
“Grim, Seething” - 7 of Hearts
Word-choice is at the heart of the horror in The Portal At Hill House. You’ll find this most acutely in the ambience-setting Hearts prompts. I struggle to find words good enough to convey the power of the vocabulary in these prompts. Each pair strikes a unique sense of dread while still feeling deeply tied to the central horror of the game.
Making it Personal in Tether by Adam Baffoni
“You learn that the terror knows more about you than you had thought. What information does it have? Is it watching you? How do you know” - 8 of Clubs
In a game that places an incomprehensible terror at its center, the prompts find a way to make it personal to your character. Reading the questions above—three in quick succession—immediately immerse you in the same paranoia your character is feeling. Observing horror is scary, experiencing it is terrifying.
When it’s complete, I hope you will feel the love for and influence of these three games (and many more) throughout Project ECCO.
For now, I have prompts to write.
-Elliot
*But I didn’t write them alone! Samantha Leigh, featured here, is responsible for a significant portion of prompts for their in-game device called “the Temporal Spread.”
Newsletter Recommendation - The Soloist
If all this talk of solo games is piquing your interest (or if you were an avid solo gamer before this email hit your inbox), Elliot and I highly recommend you check out The Soloist. It’s a free, bi-monthly newsletter by Patrick Buechner that is all about solo, co-op, and GM-less RPGs.
In each newsletter Patrick shares a mix of:
News, previews, and reviews of solo and co-op games
Tips to improve your game
Links to tools and resources
Interviews with designers
And recommendations for play reports and actual play podcasts
It is a FANTASTIC newsletter and has easily earned our highest recommendation. If you like The Twenty Sided Newsletter, I can guarantee you will enjoy The Soloist.
Upcoming Schedule
3/24 - My First Dungeon: Anamnesis (a Radio Play w/ Brian Flaherty & Abby Hepworth)
3/31 - My First Dungeon: Anamnesis (Talkback w/ designer Sam Leigh)
3/31 - Trailer Drop
4/7 - Multi-Episode Launch of our Biggest Season Yet!
That was a great interview! I can't wait to listen to the AP. And thanks for shouting out The Soloist!