My favorite currently is Basic Fantasy. But I don't know how well it is for solo play. One where the core rules are free and which has solo play is Ironsworn.
this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2023
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This is not for solo players, but Fiasco is amazing as an introduction to the idea of role-playing. Rules are incredibly light, once you understand them it takes like 10 minutes to explain it to new players, and a whole game start to end lasts maybe 1-2 hours.
It's basically babby's first RPG.
And in a lot of ways it's much more an RPG than D&D or Pathfinder because RPing is literally all you do. I've played 4 times now with different groups and it definitely makes a difference what people you play with but it hasn't been hard to convince them to try and most have enjoyed it.
I understand your situation, but my first recommendation would be to take another look at "that online stuff" - some groups are very supportive for beginners, some ways of playing (e.g. pbp) are easier if you are still learning and/or find playing over video/audio too stressful, or don't have much time, etc. The social element and collective creativity of playing in a group is part of what makes RPGs fun.
However, there are hacks for solo play for several great systems (although not free). For Blades in the Dark (the system I'm currently playing most) both Alone In The Dark (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/282013) and Omens in the Dark (https://guimonocores.itch.io/omens-in-the-dark) have been recommended to me, and the BitD Discord server is very friendly if you have any questions.
It depends on the amount of roleplay vs journaling you would like to try. My first try was with D100 and Four against the Darkness, but they were closer to a boardgame from my point of view. After that I tried Scarlet Heroes, one of the best solo rules and tables to play any classic DND game. Or anything, the tables and oracles can be used in a lot of different games. Now, the standard suggestion is Ironsworn because it's great and easy to play (although the book is big, everything is variations of one move). OH, did I mention it's free?
And then you can find Mythic GME 2ed, probably the best tool available to play any TTRPG solo. It's really worth it, but there are others easier to understand (I'd suggest One Page Solo Engine).
It depends on what you'd like to play: What setting? Where would you put the focus? More throwing dice? More journaling? Adventures? Epic fantasy? Sci-fi?
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