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So you want to do some solo tabletop gaming? We went absolutely batty during the pandemic and starting to explore all sorts of ways to get the most out of our games. I started buying up half of Amazon trying to improve my games. Much of the lists on this page are things I would put in my backpack if I was going to a park or would generally just keep on my desk to help me out (see more of my kit in this article). Eventually I thought I would start asking others what they use to help their games and decided to share this list with you!
These are organized into the following sections:
This list will constantly be expanding any time I find or learn of something I think should be added. Have a suggestion? Reach out to @bugandclaw on Twitter. The main things that won't be on this list is gaming books. The best books of things like oracles, random tables, and so on, are such expansive topics that we'll get into that separately. There are also items on this list that may have you ask but why wouldn't I use my computer/phone/device for that? And the answer to that might be go ahead, but if you're feeling like a purest, don't want distractions, to get pulled out of the experience, or just want to avoid the glow of a screen, some of these options are for you. They're options, not prescriptions.
So, without further delay...
D6 | Item | General Use | Quick find |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Polyhedral dice | No tabletop gamer is without them | Dice Envy |
2 | A deck of cards | Many games use these as well as or instead of dice | Amazon Theory11 |
3 | Regular journal/diary | Where you take notes, track your journey, or play the game | Amazon |
4 | A coin | Quick yes/no decisions | |
5 | A big D100 | Rolling on giant tables, much more enjoyable than the two smaller polyhedrals | Amazon |
6 | Snacks & drink | Keep that energy up! |
If you aren't familiar with it, oracles are game mechanics that use randomness to answer questions or guide narration in an uncertain situation. They have evolved a lot over the last few years, especially during the pandemic when solo play gained major traction. There are entire books of self-contained oracles and artificial intelligence apps that play the role. As for me, I like dice, cards, simple game mechanics, prompts, and imagination before I head to a hefty book or table. If you get used to it, it can keep things moving faster, too. Try some of them out!
D23 | Item | General Use | Quick find |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Game Master's Apprentice Deck | Replaces many oracle systems on a deck of cards | DTRPG |
2 | Scrabble tiles | Writing prompts & inspiration, name & word generation, tokens. Read how I use them, here. | Amazon |
3 | Emotion, weather, direction dice | Randomly determine weather, NPC reactions, replace oracles | Amazon |
4 | Dungeon, wilderness, terrain dice | Randomly generate entire dungeons, terrain, treasure, more | Amazon |
5 | Blank D6 | Make your own simple random generators or oracles | Amazon |
6 | Blank polyhedral dice | Make your own complex random generators or oracles | Amazon |
7 | Interrogative dice | Replace oracle actions: who, what, why, when, how, where | Amazon |
9 | Decision dice | Replace oracle actions (yes, no, maybe) | Amazon |
10 | Being and helping verb dice | Replace oracle actions | Amazon |
11 | 3-sided dice | Stand-in for yes, no, maybe oracles | Amazon |
12 | Colour dice | Replaces colour-selecting oracles. Mostly adds flavour. | Amazon |
13 | Hit location dice | Automates where enemies attack you, afflictions, etc | Amazon |
14 | Time dice | Set a random deadline, timer, clock, etc | Amazon |
15 | Game spinners | Like blank dice, make your own oracles & randomizers | Amazon |
16 | Deck of Worlds | Prompts for lands, lore, and story-driven maps | Kickstarter |
17 | Tarot cards | Folks use these as story prompts, oracles, and adventure prompts | Amazon |
18 | Quest decks | Random quest, side quest, and adventure prompts | Dice Dungeons |
19 | Monster Cards | Track 5E monsters, organize by CR and draw for random | Monster Cards |
20 | Dictionary & thesaurus | For interpretting and playing off of oracles and prompts | Amazon |
21 | Rory's Story Cubes | So many prompts for writing, ideas, what's around, oracle replacement | Amazon |
22 | MtG Cards | Magic the Gathering cards as prompts, game gens, inspiration | |
23 | Other game decks | Use cards from other board/tabletop games as prompts or oracles for your current game |
If you're interested in adding more sketching and art to your gaming kit then, as a trained illustrator and professional product designer with a bachelor's degree in design, these are some of the starting bits I recommend. I will try to add to this over time as well. I can't speak enough about straps/pen loops and roll-ups for your pencils, though, so they don't bang against each other, causing the leads inside to break or for the tools to otherwise get messy.
D10 | Item | General Use | Quick find |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Gridded journal | Aids drawing maps, tracking numbers, keeping alignment | Amazon |
2 | Specialized RPG journal | Has a mix of paper types for different tasks | Amazon |
3 | Sketchbook | Blank paper to sketch maps, creatures, characters | Amazon |
4 | Pencil/brush roll-up | For travelling with art/writing supplies so they don't break/get messy | Etsy |
5 | It measures things, draws straight lines, and helps draw maps, tables, and character sheets. | Great for quick sketches, maps, etc. Forced limit on palette. | Amazon |
6 | Water brushes | Fill with water for use with watercolours on the go | Amazon |
7 | Ruler | It measures things, draws straight lines, helps draw maps, tables, character sheets. | Amazon |
8 | Voice recorder | Used in some games, record your plays | |
9 | Flash/Index cards | Track things, make oracles, make NPCs, many uses | |
10 | Straps/Pen loops | Holds pencils and other tools safe from breaking leads or making a mess | Paperlote |
I've noticed a lot of folks trying to sell these big, expensive, specialized TTRPG bags with all of these neat compartments for dice, printouts, and things like that. I don't think we need things like that. A simple bag or backpack to put things in, and a few things to help you read, travel, and roll (or however you play), is all I think you need. I was hesitant to add point counters to this list but a lot of folks report them aiding memory and the tactile aspect aiding like a fidget spinner would with attention.
D9 | Item | General Use | Quick find |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 3-hole punch | Punching holes in print-outs to put into a binder/duo-tang | Amazon |
2 | Clipboard | For gaming on the go | Amazon |
3 | Pronged Duo-tangs | Hold your printed sheets that belong together, like adventures | Amazon |
4 | Binders | For items you'll add or remove occasionally | Amazon |
5 | File folders | Hold sheets you want to keep loose | Amazon |
6 | Dice tray | Keep dice in one place, stop rolling onto the floor, make any surface rollable | Etsy |
7 | Dice bag | Carry your dice wherever you want to go | Die Hard Dice |
8 | A printer | Print your adventures, character sheets, etc to help disconnect from tech | Amazon |
9 | Point counters | Track HP, XP, damage, and other "points" | Etsy |
There's no one item that can help you get into the zone. I've had some really interesting recommendations, though. For example, one person on reddit told me they would use spent bullet casings as their tokens in a game where their character had to shoot a gun to track ammunition. Many folks like to hold something (like a focus object), fondle or squeeze something (I sometimes wear mala prayer beads and flip them back and forth between fingers), or some other folks just like to have interesting objects nearby. I've read about a couple of players who like to try and eat what their character might eat while they play– though you may want to be careful with that!
You might even bleed this into your other equipment: playing a spy game that requires a deck of cards? Maybe you get a James Bond themed deck of cards. Whether it's a shiny stone, candle, or spent bullet casing, it's important to add items to your solo roleplaying equipment that help get you into "the zone".
D5 | Item | General Use | Quick find |
---|---|---|---|
1 | FM Radio | Limited controls for distractions, ambient noise | Amazon |
2 | Headphones | In case you need focus | |
3 | Sand timers | Force yourself to complete tasks in set amounts of time | Amazon |
4 | Candles | Atmosphere | |
5 | Shiny gems | Atmosphere |
D8 | Item | General Use | Quick find |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Dry erase gaming mat | For when you get tactical, want to plan, understand how something would work | Amazon |
2 | Dry erase markers | For use on the dry erase matt, mixed colours | Amazon |
3 | The Dungenerator | Generate random dungeon maps with cards | Kickstarter |
4 | Atmar's Cardography | Generate random dungeon maps with cards | Kickstarter |
5 | Black Fortress' RDGs | Black Fortress' Random Dungeon Generators do what you think they might! | DTRPG |
6 | Inked Adventures | Generate random maps (and dice) by drawing cards | Etsy |
7 | Old game maps | Print old video game stages as TTRPG maps | |
8 | City/trail/area maps | Print maps of the real world as TTRPG maps | Google Maps |