Bard's Notes: October 2025

A monthly roundup of (mostly) solo RPG recommendations, discoveries, and inspirations

Hey, everyone! I’ve decided to collect all weekly recommendations and turn them into a monthly post called Bard’s Notes.

I love recommending stuff and sharing my findings, so I hope you’ll enjoy.

• Remember my playthrough of Warlord Ascendant? In a completely unexpected development, Alex T, the game creator, liked the write-up and it inspired him to update the game into a second edition! How cool is that? A Beta version has been released to Patrons, and it’s twice the size of the original. Looking awesome! Check all the details on the Blackoath site.

• Kerova published Tome of the Pyromancer, a Souls-like open world survival game where you play a fledgling pyromancer exploring and site-delving for knowledge and power. I had the honor to get an early access to read and it’s a beauty. Do yourself a favor and get it as soon as you can, not only to support an amazing creator but to experience this incredible solo game! I’ll obviously do a Let’s Play in the near future.

• The Lantern of Solitude, a very well done Dragonbane solo adventure, based on the Alone in Deepfall Breach format. It contains suggestions for all mission waypoints. It can help players that get stuck or aren’t feeling inspired. There are even examples on how to roll on random tables and use the results to create the unknown waypoints. I’m currently doing a playthrough of it.

  

• Ithaquas Bane latest video reviewing 5 cool and different solo tools. His channel is highly underrated and deserving of a lot more subs. Give Scott some love.

• Pocket Bard 3.0, a simple and awesome app (Android and iOS) to create immersive audio for playing RPGs. You choose a setting, like village or dungeon, pick the intensity and theme (explore or combat), then activate the related ambiences: rain, crowds, campfire, and so on. The audio quality is great, and the UI is beautiful.

• Solo TTRPG Notation by Loreseed Workshop, a basic and flexible note-taking system to help you record your solo sessions.

• The Solo RPG List, a directory dedicated to solo and duet TTRPGs, largely curated by the community. I’ve sent a few games to the collection already! If you like the idea, help them build the catalogue. The whole scene benefits from it.

• I backed Savage Hunter this week. It’s ticking all the right boxes for a promising Monster Hunter TTRPG adaptation. High hopes for it! Based on Savage Worlds, so not soloable without a GME. A free quickstart is available if you want to try it.

• Printable Heroes has some very cool designs for TTRPG minis. First Tier is always free. That includes black and white, which is what I used for a cheap solution for standees, then colored by hand (see pic). Froggies are from Artcher.

• Rotten Chronicles’ take on how to simplify solo RPGs to make them work for you, reshaping rules and using oracles to keep things fun and flexible.

Solo Simplicity: Making RPGs Work For You

• Castle Grief’s series on how to build a mini-setting for any game (and turning it into a zine if you want).

7 Hex Codex Pt. 1

• Adventure Coast’s second part on their favorite mechanics to adapt to different TTRPGs.

TTRPG Mechanics I Bring Everywhere (Almost) Part 2

• The Juice Oracle is quickly becoming one of my favorite solo tools. This GME/generator packs some serious punch for a double-pager. And it’s free! Check it out, it’s really good.

  

• Ronin (Mork Borg hack). Had tons of fun with my first venture into the Borg system. Love the setting and the Nioh vibes.

• Fabula Ultima kickstarter. It’s received over a million Pounds, and part of the stretch goals are a solo module and a duo module. The limited edition covers are made by the legendary Yoshitaka Amano, from Final Fantasy fame. Get in while you can! There’s also exclusive dice, and if that’s not enough I don’t know what is.