snowynight

Recently I finally have time to delve into my massive backlog of solo ttrpg from the various huge itch.io bundles I bought. 

Superhero DIY Award:
 
See Issue X is a solo superhero RPG that emulate superhero comics. It uses playing cards to help generate characters and plot prompts. The mechanic is kind of complicated - I was confused how to deal with discarded cards at first. However, it provides a clear act structure and freedom for you to decide what prompts to use/ignore. I have generated my environmentalist Aquawoman superheroine who fights to protect the ocean and enjoyed the twists. 

One More Tea Award

Last Tea Shop Complete is a solo RPG that you run a tea shop on the border of the living and the dead. The recently deceased visit for one last hot drink before their long journey into the Great Beyond. It's very reflective and meditative. It's fun to generate the vistors, and decide what tea to serve them (with different story effects).

Genre Savvy Award

Reincarnated as the Unlovable Villainess?! is a solo RPG that you are isekaied as the doomed villain protagonist in an otome game. I really like it. It's short but has a good balance of strategy elements (to survive to the end) and journalling elements. It's both a love letter to the genre and an enjoyable game.

New Year Resolution

I have just bought For Small Creatures Such As We, a 256 page solo ttrpg about a space ship captain and their alien crews. It's more structured and detailed than the above titles, but I hope I can start a game soon.

Queer Games Bundle 2025 (with $10+ option!): Buy 616 items for $60 (includes 350 games & 169 trpg) to support over 300 queer developers and artists.. There's a Pay What You Can $10-$20+ version as well. Offer ends in 24 days. Interesting games I have noticed include: Elephantasy: Flipside (a charming Metroidvania puzzle platformer that you control a small elephant "Belle" to uncover the secrets between two worlds, collect gems, discover lost souls, and upgrade your abilities, $9.99), The girls of the Genziana Hotel (horror trpg that you play a hotel maid who are looking for your missing companion in an eerie hotel, $8), etc. There are so many games I'll need time to check through.

The Disaster Preparedness Bundle: Buy 25 trpg for $10 to support Distribute Aid's disaster preparedness initiative aimed at providing communities with the resources they need to survive and rebuild after disasters in the wake of FEMA cuts. Offer ends on 24 August. Includes Breakfast Cult & Game Over: A Breakfast Cult Expansion ($22.4 in total), Justice Sworn ($15) & more.

Sometimes I wish that there was less need for these charity bundles to be organized. However, if you can afford them, they are great deals for worthy causes. If you find the itch.io search function lackluster, you can check out the content of Amor per Valencia / Love for Valencia, and TTRPGs for Trans Rights - Ohio bundles on Random Bundle Browser with a much better interface.

Current charity itch.io bundles on sale:

Update: 

link from stepnix 

Every Party Needs a Healer bundle: (Buy 34 items for $10)

Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast is $25 alone. Spindlewheel is a tarot like storyi making game. It's funding Baltimore Street Medic Collective for a series of 20-hour street medic trainings. Offer ends in 22 days.

TTRPGs for Trans Rights - Ohio ($5 for 467 items: 19 video games & 420 tabletop RPG):

This year's Trans Rights Bundle is benefitting organizations in Ohio, a state which has 9 anti-trans bills currently in the legislative process, targeting healthcare, bathroom usage, schools, and more. All proceeds from this bundle will be split between two queer-focused charities in Ohio: TransOhio and the Kaleidoscope Youth Center. They provided housing, healthcare, legal advocacy, and other essential support to the LGBTQ+ community across Ohio. Paizo Inc., Renegade Game Studios  and Playground Adventures also offer extra items to buyers who fill in forms after purchase.

Some highlights of the bundle: The Mystery Business (Scooby Doo style mystery investigation RPG, $15), Rebels of the Outlaw Wastes (rock-n-roll retro-dystopian tabletop roleplaying game fueled by stickers, $9.99), Pathwarden (a Pathfinder 2e hack, $14.99).

Link from stepnix:
Amor per Valencia / Love for Valencia Bundle ($5 for 771 items: 179 video games & 493 tabletop RPG):

On October 29th, the Valencia region received a year's worth of rain in just eight hours, which devastated much of the towns in Valencia, Spain. It's the worst natural disaster to hit Spain this century. Over 230 people were killed. The donations will go to Projecte Butterfly, a project that seeks to help those affected to recover their homes. Offer ends in 24 days.

Solo But Not Alone 5! Solo Tabletop RPG Charity Bundle: 107 items for $10. Offer ends in 1 month, 14 days. I posted a signal boost post about the bundle.

I have bought the HRT Harm Reduction Toolkit Bundle and checked out two titles new to me first: Breakfast Cult and #iHunt: The RPG. Here are my first impression from reading about the books.

Breakfast Cult: "a Fate Accelerated TTRPG about cosmic horror mysteries and high school drama. " The art is colourful and cartoon style, which I think fit the game theme well. The book presents the setting and rules very clearly. Each character has a secret agenda so they may work at cross purpose amid cosmic horror investigation and teen drama. Depending on the game, the secret can range from more silly and high school drama trope (eg: Crush on X) to more serious (eg: Secret cultist). It provides pre-gen characters and scenarios so you can start a game easily. If you like Buffy, Harry Potter, or Soul Eaters, I think it'll serve well.


#iHunt: The RPG. "Killing monsters in the gig economy": It's a much darker game than Breakfast Cult. You play monster hunters who are also gig workers barely surviving on what they earn, dealing with sales tax and banking trouble. The book is thick - ~329 pages. The starting fiction set the setting's grim and depressing mood. The text (including the rules) is written in a more angry conversational tone, which YMMV whether you like it or not. There are robust advice about creating monsters, setting and the game rules. I think it does its focus very well.

Overall it's a worthwhile purchase for a good cause.


Current charity bundle bundles on sale:

HRT Harm Reduction Toolkit Bundle (30 items for $25): "100% of the proceeds of this bundle go directly toward Distribute Aid's efforts to supply kits of 1 year's necessary medical equipment into the hands of trans people in needs for free." #iHunt and Breakfast Cult are among the offers. Offer ends in 9 days, 21 hours.

Link from stepnix. Thank you!

California Fire Relief Bundle (Buy 422 items for $10) All proceeds, minus processing fees, go to CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort), a Los Angeles-based organization which offers direct monetary support to survivors of the fires, and supports projects for fire resilience in affected areas (and potential disaster zones). Offer ends in 11 days 23 hours.

You can check out this Reddit comment to see highlighted video game offers with good review on Steam.


RPGs for Accessible Gaming (247 items for $10): "Money raised from this charity bundle will help fund production for sets of d4s, d6s, d8s, and d10s of DOTS RPG Project's Signature Braille Dice." If you haven't already got the games, Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast, Neon Nights and Glitter Heart are among the bigger titles. Offer ends in 20 days, 23 hours.

Also Link from stepnix:
Amor per Valencia / Love for Valencia Bundle ($5 for 771 items: 179 video games & 493 tabletop RPG):

On October 29th, the Valencia region received a year's worth of rain in just eight hours, which devastated much of the towns in Valencia, Spain. It's the worst natural disaster to hit Spain this century. Over 230 people were killed. The donations will go to Projecte Butterfly, a project that seeks to help those affected to recover their homes. Offer ends in 1 month, 29 days.

Solo But Not Alone 5! Solo Tabletop RPG Charity Bundle: 107 items for $10. Offer ends in 2 months, 19 days. I posted a signal boost post about the bundle.

Solo But Not Alone 5 is a bundle of over 100 single player TTRPGs for $10 to suuport Take This, a charity working to support mental health in the gaming community and industry by decreasing stigma and making supports available to people who need them. It's on sale until 16 May. There's a helpful spreadsheet that list the summary and formats of the games. You can play alone, or use them to inspire your creative projects. Lots of games are not included in previous bundles.
Highlight of the bundle to me:

Tangled Blessings: a solo journaling or two-player RPG inspired by dark academia media, ghost stories, and graduate school. ($18.99)

Village Emporium: a solo roll and write game that you are aiming to develop your store in a fantasy kingdom and serve various customers. ($2, on sale for $1.7 now)

Cartograph: a solo / multiplayer map-making RPG about journaling, exploration, worldbuilding, and resource management. You are tasked to produce a map of an unknown world, complete with a journal that details those places. ($12)

The Librarian's Apprentice: a solo journalling game that you travelled in the corridors of an infinite library. 2024 CRIT Awards Winner for Best Solo TTRPG. ($5)

Flying Courier: "You are a courier, ̏flying across the continent to deliver mail. Your particular mode of transportation provides a speed and discretion that traditional means of shipping cannot o̍ffer. Because of that unique ability, you are trusted with the most important sorts of messages and packages. This is true of all couriers, but for you especially, it is vital that the mail arrive safely." ($3)

Cthulhu Dark is a horror tabletop RPG of cosmic horror, You can't fight monster. You can only watch, run, hide and fear. There are no combat rules. If you fight, you die. It has been expanded into a 200 page book with 4 adventures and GM advice.

The original free version
Expanded version

My character:
Name: Ashley Lee
Occupation: Painter
Insanity dice: 1

The Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game is a free rules-light fantasy game system modeled on the classic RPG rules of the early 1980's. It has a robust fan community and numerous free content: monster bestiary, adventures, new class options, new rules, etc. It's an open source system and has just released the 4th edition.

( My character: Aimon the elf magic user )

FIST: Ultra Edition is a tabletop roleplaying game about paranormal mercenaries doing the tough jobs no one else can. In the game, you belong to a legendary rogue mercenary unit called FIST. You are a soldier of fortune who doesn’t fit into modern society. You are a disposable gun for hire, caught up in the death and destruction of pointless proxy wars and oppressive establishments. You may also be someone who can turn into a ghost or control bees with your mind.

My Character:

( Read more... )

Apocalypse Frame is a postapocalyptic mecha tabletop RPG that you play a skilled mecha pilot carving through armies of enemies to fight for the your people's freedom.

It's now included along with 642 items for $10 in the TTRPGs for Palestine bundle

My character:

( Read more... )

Cairn is an adventure game about exploring a dark & mysterious Wood filled with strange folk, hidden treasure, and unspeakable monstrosities. Character generation is quick and random, classless, and relies on fictional advancement rather than through XP or level mechanics.
The full text is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0.

My character:

( Read more... )