Solo Play
It is good to face challenges in your youth. He who has never suffered will not sufficiently temper his character. - Yamamoto Tsunetomo
- Going Alone
- Yes/No Oracle (D6)
- Yes/No Oracle Variations
- Random Event Generator
- Help, I’m Stuck! (D12)
Going Alone
Ikezu-ishi can also be played solo, with one person acting as both Guide and Player.
The role of the Guide is replicated by the use of tables to assist during moments of choice or help provide descriptions and ideas for open-ended questions.
Ikezu-ishi includes Yes/No oracles, tables to help generate random events, get Players out of an impasse, and flesh out NPCs. Players may also use any of the tables in this book or elsewhere to help generate their adventure.
Yes/No Oracle (D6)
If you face a question that is not associated with any character attribute, you can use a Luck Roll as a Yes/No Oracle with 1d6.
| D6 | RESULT |
|---|---|
| 1 | Yes, and… (a boon for the PC) |
| 2 | Yes |
| 3 | Yes, but… (a toned-down outcome or another event) |
| 4 | No, but… (a toned-down outcome, may not be negative) |
| 5 | No |
| 6 | No, and… (consequences for the PC) |
Yes/No Oracle Variations
Did the player dodge?
| D6 | Did the player dodge? |
|---|---|
| 1 | Yes, and it caught the NPC off guard, giving them +1 damage to their next attack. |
| 2 | Yes. |
| 3 | Yes, but they hurt themselves in the process and take 1 HP damage. |
| 4 | No, but they avoided the worst of it and take -1 damage from the attack. |
| 5 | No. |
| 6 | No, and they stumbled, fell, etc. and take +1 damage from the attack. |
Did the player find the thing?
“Did the player find the thing?” Inspired by: Tiago Junges “Searching for Something,” Ronin, 2019, 8.
| D6 | Did the player find the thing? |
|---|---|
| 1 | Yes, but first they have to face an enemy. |
| 2 | Yes, but they drew a lot of attention. |
| 3 | Yes, but it’s not quite what they expected. |
| 4 | They don’t find it. |
| 5 | They don’t find it and draw a lot of attention. |
| 6 | They don’t find it and have to face an enemy. |
Random Event Generator
After rolling, describe the nature of the event and the choices your make to determine the outcome.
| D6 | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Choice: You face a critical decision. |
| 2 | Opportunity: You stumble upon a valuable resource, ally, or advantageous situation. |
| 3 | Discovery: You make an unexpected discovery. |
| 4 | Challenge: You face a personal challenge or obstacle. |
| 5 | Twist: A sudden plot twist occurs. |
| 6 | Conflict: You encounter a hostile force, enemy, or obstacle. May or may not result in combat. |
Help, I’m Stuck! (D12)
Used with permission from: Alea_iactanda_est, “I’m stuck,” r/Solo_Roleplaying, March 13, 2024. https://www.reddit.com/r/Solo_Roleplaying/comments/1bdro05/im_stuck/
If you’ve arrived at an impasse in your adventure, simply roll 1d12 and apply the results to get things moving again.
| D12 | “HELP, I’M STUCK!” |
|---|---|
| 1 | The “Raymond Chandler” solution: Raymond Chandler famously wrote, “When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.” In many cases this is just a combat encounter, but social “combat” is often more fitting. Or you could keep it literal: someone challenges your PC to a duel. Or they challenge an ally, in which case your PC is the second, or must try to stop the madness! The ‘duel’ need not be pistols at dawn; it could be a high-stakes game of cards, a speeder race, a bake-off… |
| 2 | Villain thought defeated reappears: This can either be from the campaign or your PC’s backstory. If you don’t have a convenient villain, it’s time to roll one up, and decide how they were defeated. The more melodramatic the proceedings, the more likely it is that they were (presumed) dead. |
| 3 | Environmental catastrophe: Fire, flood, earthquake, locusts, a rain of frogs… make it big. Or don’t: heavy rains make the country roads into a mire, and father can’t return home before the christening! Perhaps it’s very localized: someone spills a drink / throws paint/ splashes mud down the front of your new gown! |
| 4 | Betrayal: Someone you thought an ally stabs you in the back, literally or otherwise. Why? How? Are they working with the villain now, or this a separate issue? How will you succeed without their support? How will you take revenge? |
| 5 | Ally comes to character for help: Someone close to you needs help badly. It may or not have any relation to the main plot. Who is it? How do they get the message to you (in person, telepathically, a thug delivering a ransom note…)? What do they need? Can you afford to drop everything to help them right now? What are the consequences if you don’t, or can’t, or refuse? |
| 6 | Villain comes to character for help: In addition to the questions of the entry above, you also need to figure out what could possibly motivate them to ask you for help. Does this mean you’re friends now, or will things go back to normal once the crisis is over? The problem should be dire enough that not helping would cause more, perhaps even worse, problems for your PC and/or the world. |
| 7 | New faction arises, shifting balance of power: Who are they? What do they want? Why are they opposed to you and the villain? Could either of you court their favor? |
| 8 | Find a mysterious item: It could be anything: an ancient and indecipherable scroll, a locket with pictures inside, an abandoned ship, an obelisk in the midst of a field, a shoe… Where did it come from? Whose is it? How did it get there? What does it do? Is it dangerous? Is it intrinsically mysterious, or only mysterious because of where it was found? |
| 9 | Important item is lost/missing/stolen: Yours or an ally’s. It could be your +5 sword or your secret diary, all your iron rations, the emperor’s signet ring, your favorite hat… Is it bad that it’s missing because you can’t succeed without it, or is it just dangerous in the wrong hands? Where did you see it last? Can you even remember? Did someone else want it? Is it incriminating if you left it in the wrong place? |
| 10 | A sudden death: This actually is meant to be literal. Kill off a random NPC, important or otherwise -- maybe even a generic one. Was it natural causes? murder? the start of a plague? Don’t kill off the main villain unless the power vacuum created by their demise gives you more to do. |
| 11 | Affairs of the heart: Someone declares their undying love for the PC or an ally – or an ally for the villain! Maybe an ally needs your help. |
| 12 | Roll twice and combine the results: It may or may not all happen at exactly the same time. It’s possible that one result will preclude or forestall the other. Just keep the unused one as a new plot thread to introduce as soon as it becomes convenient. And the results may or may not be connected. Maybe being caught in the hyperspace flux is the reason the villain needs your aid… or declares their undying love for you! |