New to Solo Roleplaying?

You've played a roleplaying game before - it's really unlikely you'd be here if you hadn't. You make a character, you make a situation - maybe even a whole world for them (or a GM does) and then you tell a story. You find out through playing what happens to them. That's the key: you find out.

Most people play this type of game at a table with friends, and there's somebody who steps up to run it. The GM holds the surprises - they know where the traps are and what's behind the door. You don't. And that uncertainty - that not knowing, that surprise - is a big part of what makes it so fun.

So when we play this type of game alone - how do we keep that element of surprise - of finding out?

This question is part of what makes solo roleplaying a little harder, and it stops a lot of people from playing - maybe even trying it. If you know what's behind the door already you can just say what happens, and it happens. That's more like writing than playing a game.

Something has to be able to challenge you

You need something that can say no, something that can surprise you, and in this game it's the deck of cards.

I love oracles, and I love lists - it's fun to roll and find the inspiration in the words you get back. But they have their own unique challenge - there might be a lot of them, and I have to think about which one I want to use. So then I find it, and roll and get my answer back. But by the time I've done all that, I'm kind of out of the flow. So in this game, there's just one table, and it's based on the four suits in a deck of cards. When you're playing, you treat every card you turn over the same way - you get your answer and inspiration from reading the card against the table.

Stakes

The trick is that before you flip a card during your turn, you say what you're trying to do and what's at stake if it doesn't go your way. Then you flip the card and find out what happened. Did it go well? Was it a yes, but...? Did it fail spectacularly? The cards you flip will tell you.

That takes some discipline to define the stakes and stick to the results - but the reward is worth it.

Sometimes the right card is not the best card

You're usually turning over more than one card (your Stats tell you how many). The rule says keep one, your choice. Seems obvious - take the best one.

But that's not always right for the story you're telling.

The right card is the one that fits the story better - the one that complicates things if you're already in a tight spot - or the one that lets you tie up loose ends neatly - that's the right one for that moment. Winning is finding out what happens so keep the good one when you want things to go well. Keep the bad one when you want it to go somewhere.

It's ok to be out of inspiration

Sometimes you will turn a card and feel nothing at all. No idea what it means, no idea what comes next. Happens to the best of us. That's when you use a Spark draw - you draw two cards and keep the one that's most interesting - something unexpected - something that sparks a new thought, and you use that in your fiction. You also bank a Spark. That lets you spend it later to draw another card, or bump a result up or down a band, or overrule a suit. The Spark draw is where the name of the game came from.

Write a line

Keep it simple - and think of it like a log entry - that happened. It helps you remember everything in the campaign, and it's a fantastic aid if you want to go back and flesh it out later.

A lot of people try to write the beautiful prose while they're playing and run out of steam pretty quick. I know that's happened to me. Writing something as simple as "Tried to open the door - the bar snapped and the door didn't move" is enough. SAY what you're doing, FLIP the cards, and WRITE the line. Keeps it nice and simple, and you can always go back and write the beautiful narrative later.

Trying it out

It doesn't take long to set up and you can probably be up and running in less than twenty minutes. Create your character. Shuffle. Turn over the first three cards and let them tell you where you are. Then take a turn, and another, until you want to stop - and when you stop, you can leave the deck where it is. It'll keep your fate for another day.

That's it. Go and read the rules; they are designed to fit on one sheet (front and back), and hopefully this gives you what you need to have a great time using them!