For the longest time I did not understand solo RPGs.

From my conversations with others, I think this is a very common condition. The thought goes “I play RPGs to tell a story with my friends. If I wanted to tell a story to myself, I’d write a novel.” And for many solo games, the act of playing them can feel this way. I feel obligated to take a game’s prompt and, as instructed in a “typical” journaling solo game, write a proper and thorough response. Maybe I shouldn’t feel that way, but I do, and most of my friends who’ve tried the medium feel similarly.

But I wanted to understand them better, so I invited Seb Pines on the podcast to talk solo games, figuring it’d be a kick in the butt. I picked up a bunch of Seb’s recommendations, and then I discovered The Ink That Bleeds.