The Lone Bard's Games Index
A table of contents with all games I've played
Things are organized in alphabetical order. If you’re on desktop, there’s a handy ToC on the left that you can click for easy navigation.
Articles
Unfolding the machines: giving complex tools a second chance in solo gaming - How pushing past the initial barrier of learning something new led me to my currently favorite tools: Obsidian and the Plot/Game/Scene Unfolding Machines GME.
Befallen
A story-driven game with satisfying mechanics for exploration and combat. It revolves around characters with an obsession that drives them as they unravel dangerous plots, fight monsters, and complete quests. They must also resist the Corrupting Powers—eldritch entities that offer abilities at a perilous cost—or be consumed by them.
Burning Fortress
A melancholic, character-driven epic fantasy game inspired by Sekiro, Blade of the Immortal, and chanbara (samurai cinema, sword-fighting Japanese films). We play as ronin cursed with immortality and loneliness, wandering the ruins of a once great empire in search of purpose.
Dark Covenant Invader
A one-page soulslike solo TTRPG where we play as a lowly dreg, serving the sinister patron of a dark Covenant, and invade other worlds to kill a target, harvesting trophies to rise in our Covenant rank. A simple and fun game with a fantastic Souls vibe.
Dead Man’s Promise: Bounty Hunter
A one-page RPG where we play as a bounty hunter tracking and hunting supernatural creatures like werewolves in the Feywild West. Full of flavor and charm. One of the first solo RPGs I’ve ever tried.
Dragonbane
A fast and flexible classic that blends sword and sorcery with a modern design. We explore ruins, face monsters, and chase treasure in a world full of humor, heart, and adventure. Its core system is a roll under d20 where even failure moves the story forward, with banes and boons for advantage and disadvantage, and the spirit of “mirth and mayhem” that encourages adventure and chaos.
Hollow Hike
A free one-page solo TTRPG. You play as a Hollow traversing a blighted land fighting bosses called Ashen Lords. It’s heavily inspired by Dark Souls. The game packs a punch for such a small size. There’s enough discovery to make an entire gaming session feel fresh and challenging, with an excellent Souls atmosphere.
Riftbreakers 2nd Edition
A TTRPG inspired by the structure and feel of MMOs, with quests, crafting, looting, and a classless progression system. It offers a solid system for storytelling, lots of combat, and, most of all, deep and satisfying character customization.
Part 1: Through Twisting Paths
Part 4: Kar Helos Under Siege, Act 1
Ronin (Mörk Borg)
A Mörk Borg hack of samurai and honor, set in Kage no Shima, the Land of Endless Night. It’s an island inspired by Edo-period Japan cursed by a supernatural eclipse, now overrun by yokai (demonic creatures from Japanese mythology) and people of dubious character.
Under the Fourth Kingdom
A mega-dungeon crawler set in the universe of Kerova’s other games, like Dark Covenant Invader, featuring tons of unique areas, NPCs, enemies, points of interest, and even different endings, illustrated by the creator’s own hand-drawn art.
Wanderer: The Shadowed Realm
A solo TTRPG where we play as a Wanderer, someone that has taken to adventuring across the lands helping those in need and looking to make a name for yourself. Whenever we retire a Wanderer, we can spend Reputation points to create Legacies in the world—an item, location, or even the character itself. The Legacy becomes a permanent item in a table for the next characters to roll.
Warlord Ascendant
Warlord Ascendant is a solo skirmish game of exploration, warband management, and lots of battles. We generate random locations and events on a hex map and enter combat in square grids with randomly generated features. If you’ve ever played Battle Brothers, imagine that in the TTRPG format.
Part 5: The Fearsome Possessed