Tricube Tales: Solo Rules & Deck
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If you only want the Solo Rules (and not the Solo Deck)¸ you can download them by clicking the Publisher Preview !
Tricube Tales is a rules-lite tabletop roleplaying system capable of handling a wide range of different genres and settings. Its simplicity lends itself well to solo play¸ and it should work with most generic solo rules¸ but these guidelines are designed to complement the Tricube Tales one-page settings.
The Solo Rules can be printed double-sided on five sheets of paper: Page 1 explains how to get started and answer questions¸ and offers some general advice for running solo games¸ while page 2 explains how to structure the story. Pages 3-6 cover urban scenarios¸ wilderness adventures¸ dungeon crawls¸ and voyages. Page 7 covers social interaction¸ page 8 provides a name generator¸ page 9 contains rules for arcane items¸ and page 10 offers tag and twist tables. The PDF uses layers for ease of printing.
The Solo Deck is designed to complement the Solo Rules. It ' s similar to a standard deck of playing cards¸ except the scene tables are incorporated into the cards¸ so you don ' t need to look them up during play. Each card suit also has a different color¸ making it easier to track the scene progression at a glance¸ and there are 4 jokers in the deck. A preview of the cards is provided below (you can right-click on the image and open it in a new tab to see more detail). The Print-and-Play PDF version of the deck is intended for home printing and comes in both A4 and US Letter format¸ with a Virtual Tabletop version of the cards in a separate ZIP file.
Solo and GMless Gaming Roleplaying games are traditionally played with a Game Master¸ who runs the adventure and answers the players' questions. By contrast¸ these rules are designed for playing without a Game Master¸ using dice and random tables (usually called "oracle tables” in the solo gaming community) to provide interpretive answers-much like flipping a coin¸ using a Magic 8-Ball¸ or rolling Story Cubes.
So why play without a GM? Sometimes it may be difficult to find a group willing to play your favorite game¸ or prove impossible to schedule a time that suits everyone. Or perhaps you're in lockdown during the pandemic and have limited internet access¸ or simply don't like playing online. You might even have a regular group¸ but find that nobody wants to be the Game Master¸ so you'd like some way to play without one.
One-Page Settings Tricube Tales offers a selection of micro-settings that double up as standalone one-page RPGs¸ and once you've read a few it should be easy to create your own. You can also combine two or more to create your own mash-up scenarios-for example¸ Metahuman Uprising and Rotten Odds could make an interesting game about superheroes surviving a zombie apocalypse (perhaps that experimental super serum is tied to the zombie outbreak?)¸ while Interstellar Troopers could push Chrome Shells & Neon Streets into a distant future reminiscent of Altered Carbon. And of course¸ Interstellar Bounty Hunters fits very nicely with Interstellar Laser Knights !
Card-Based Story Structure One problem I ran into with my earlier solo games is that the story would sometimes start to drift aimlessly. I could use random events to keep the action flowing¸ but it didn't feel like the story was moving toward a decisive conclusion unless I actively pushed it. So I decided to introduce some rules to give the story a bit more structure.
I used playing cards for a few reasons. They create a psychological divide from the challenges (so it doesn't feel like you're just rolling dice over and over)¸ they provide a visual aid to track your progress through the scenes¸ and because you can never draw the same card twice it helps balance out the difficulty (e.g.¸ if you draw a hard challenge this scene¸ you're more likely to draw an easy or standard challenge next time-and the longer you go without a scene cha
If you only want the Solo Rules (and not the Solo Deck)¸ you can download them by clicking the Publisher Preview!
Tricube Tales is a rules-lite tabletop roleplaying system capable of handling a wide range of different genres and settings. Its simplicity lends itself well to solo play¸ and it should work with most generic solo rules¸ but these guidelines are designed to complement the Tricube Tales one-page settings.
The Solo Rules can be printed double-sided on five sheets of paper: Page 1 explains how to get started and answer questions¸ and offers some general advice for running solo games¸ while page 2 explains how to structure the story. Pages 3-6 cover urban scenarios¸ wilderness adventures¸ dungeon crawls¸ and voyages. Page 7 covers social interaction¸ page 8 provides a name generator¸ page 9 contains rules for arcane items¸ and page 10 offers tag and twist tables. The PDF uses layers for ease of printing.
The Solo Deck is designed to complement the Solo Rules. It's similar to a standard deck of playing cards¸ except the scene tables are incorporated into the cards¸ so you don't need to look them up during play. Each card suit also has a different color¸ making it easier to track the scene progression at a glance¸ and there are 4 jokers in the deck. A preview of the cards is provided below (you can right-click on the image and open it in a new tab to see more detail). The Print-and-Play PDF version of the deck is intended for home printing and comes in both A4 and US Letter format¸ with a Virtual Tabletop version of the cards in a separate ZIP file.
Solo and GMless Gaming Roleplaying games are traditionally played with a Game Master¸ who runs the adventure and answers the players' questions. By contrast¸ these rules are designed for playing without a Game Master¸ using dice and random tables (usually called "oracle tables” in the solo gaming community) to provide interpretive answers-much like flipping a coin¸ using a Magic 8-Ball¸ or rolling Story Cubes.
So why play without a GM? Sometimes it may be difficult to find a group willing to play your favorite game¸ or prove impossible to schedule a time that suits everyone. Or perhaps you're in lockdown during the pandemic and have limited internet access¸ or simply don't like playing online. You might even have a regular group¸ but find that nobody wants to be the Game Master¸ so you'd like some way to play without one.
One-Page Settings Tricube Tales offers a selection of micro-settings that double up as standalone one-page RPGs¸ and once you've read a few it should be easy to create your own. You can also combine two or more to create your own mash-up scenarios-for example¸ Metahuman Uprising and Rotten Odds could make an interesting game about superheroes surviving a zombie apocalypse (perhaps that experimental super serum is tied to the zombie outbreak?)¸ while Interstellar Troopers could push Chrome Shells & Neon Streets into a distant future reminiscent of Altered Carbon. And of course¸ Interstellar Bounty Hunters fits very nicely with Interstellar Laser Knights!
Card-Based Story Structure One problem I ran into with my earlier solo games is that the story would sometimes start to drift aimlessly. I could use random events to keep the action flowing¸ but it didn't feel like the story was moving toward a decisive conclusion unless I actively pushed it. So I decided to introduce some rules to give the story a bit more structure.
I used playing cards for a few reasons. They create a psychological divide from the challenges (so it doesn't feel like you're just rolling dice over and over)¸ they provide a visual aid to track your progress through the scenes¸ and because you can never draw the same card twice it helps balance out the difficulty (e.g.¸ if you draw a hard challenge this scene¸ you're more likely to draw an easy or standard challenge next time-and the longer you go without a scene change or plot advancement¸ the more likely you are to draw one in the future).
Many of my older adventures used a fixed five-scene structure which I've found works well¸ but for solo gaming¸ I wanted to make the adventure length less predictable¸ so I tied it to the card suits. Each adventure has at least 5 scenes¸ but can potentially stretch as far as 9¸ so you can't be sure exactly when the final scene will arrive (although you'll know when it's getting close).
Don't forget to pick up some micro-settings (one-page RPGs) to go with the Solo Rules!