# Loner tags: #game/rpg/loner ![[Loner - Omnibus (4e) (cover).jpg|600]] **Loner** is a solo, fiction-first RPG that hands you a pair of dice and a question and expects you to do the rest of the work yourself. Roberto Bisceglie's minimalist engine — published by Zotiquest Games — strips roleplaying down to an oracle and your own imagination: you ask yes/no questions, roll, and then make sense of the answers. It's built on the same bones as Nathan Russell's *Freeform Universal*, and it's the quiet little engine that spawned a whole line of supplements, plus the multiplayer spin-off **[[Ensemble]]**. If you've ever wanted to play a game where the only other person at the table is you, this is it. The whole line ships open: the core rules, every genre supplement, and the SRD are released under a **Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA 4.0)** license. ## Core Resolution Mechanics The heart of **Loner** is the Oracle. You need two pairs of differently-colored d6s — two Chance Dice and two Risk Dice. When you face uncertainty, you ask a yes/no question and roll one Chance die against one Risk die. If the Chance die is higher, the answer is Yes; if the Risk die is higher, it's No; if they tie, you get a "Yes, but…" and add a point to the Twist Counter. Modifiers add nuance. If both dice come up 3 or less, the result gains a "…but…"; if both are 4 or more, it gains an "…and…". That gives you the full Freeform Universal range, from "Yes, and…" (success with a bonus) to "No, and…" (failure with an extra kick). Character traits and situational factors grant Advantage (roll two Chance dice, take the highest) or Disadvantage (roll two Risk dice, take the highest); they don't stack, and having both cancels out to a plain roll. The Twist Counter is the spice: when it hits three, the story takes a major, unexpected turn. It's a simple system designed to get out of the way and let you tell a story to yourself — and only yourself. ## Editions **Loner** has gone through three editions. The first was a spartan ten-page document; the second expanded it with more examples and diagrams for beginners; the third refines the presentation and adds an optional diceless mode that resolves outcomes through a decision matrix instead of dice. The core mechanic has barely budged across all three, which is either elegant restraint or a stubborn refusal to change. You decide. **Loner 4e** swung the other way. An **open beta ran May–September 2026**, and the full edition **dropped September 25, 2026**. Where editions two and three thickened the book with examples and guidance, 4e loops back to the spartan roots: a lean build of the same Chance/Risk Oracle and tag-based, fiction-first engine, tight enough to live on a page or two. The line redraws as four volumes — **Core Rules**, **Companion**, **World Builder's Guide**, and **Character Builder's Guide** — sold separately or bundled as the **Loner Omnibus (4e)**. The genuinely new stuff is optional-module-shaped: **Challenge Tracks** (a four-box progress record for arcs too big for one oracle roll), **Leverage** (bank a *Yes, and…* to spend as an Advantage or soften a later *No*), a **Status Track** for lasting harm, and the **Living World** post-adventure procedure that keeps the world remembering what happened. It ships with a companion tool, **Loner Assistant** (Obsidian plugin / PWA, v2.1), which runs the Oracle, Twist Counter, scene transitions, conflict resolution, and inspiration tables with state kept in your notes. The **Omnibus (4e)** and **World Builder's Guide (4e)** are in the library. ## The Loner Line **Loner** has grown into a small empire of supplements, each a genre dial on the same core engine. The core rules come as **Loner**, collected in 4e as the **Loner Omnibus** (Core Rules, Companion, World Builder's Guide, Character Builder's Guide in one volume); the rest are standalone adventure packs that bolt a genre onto the Oracle. Each pack now has its own standing entry in this reference directory — see the full write-ups below. ![[Loner - Cinematic Action (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner Cthulhu (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - Dungeoneer (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - Galaxy Drifter (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - Kwaidan (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - Kwaidan Revised (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - Mech Requiem (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - Norse Saga (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - Paranormal Files (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - Rocketpunk (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - Spacer (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - Steel & Sorcery (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - The Path Not Taken (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - The Shattered Reach (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - Urban Fantasy (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - World Builder's Guide (4e) (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - Omnibus (4e) (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - Omnibus (3e) (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Loner - Concord Arcology (cover).jpg|300]] - **[[Loner]]** — the core rules (now 4th edition) and the **Loner Omnibus** compilation, which in 4e bundles all four volumes. - **[[Loner - Kwaidan|Loner: Kwaidan!]]** (2023) — feudal Japan steeped in Japanese folklore: ghosts, demons, and yokai haunting a world of warring clans. - **[[Loner - Mech Requiem|Loner: Mech Requiem]]** (2024) — a 2300s Earth fractured by proxy wars, fought through advanced mechs. - **[[Loner - Steel & Sorcery|Loner: Steel & Sorcery]]** (2025) — dark, gritty fantasy: ancient ruins, corrupt cities, and wild frontiers where magic is rare and dangerous. - **[[Loner - Dungeoneer|Loner: Dungeoneer]]** (2025) — solo dungeon crawling: delve into ruins and lairs, face traps and monsters, and haul out treasure. - **[[Loner - Spacer|Loner: Spacer]]** (2025) — a lone starfarer navigating the cosmos as trader, explorer, or outlaw. - **[[Loner - Paranormal Files|Loner: Paranormal Files]]** (2025) — paranormal investigation: conspiracies, classified incidents, and reality-warping anomalies. - **[[Loner - Concord Arcology|Loner: Concord Arcology]]** (2025) — an independent production by Dwarfmine Entertainment: the last bright city in a dead world, a sealed vertical metropolis where life is curated, monitored, and quietly timed out. - **[[Loner - Kwaidan Revised|Loner: Kwaidan Revised]]** (2025) — the revised edition of Kwaidan: wandering exorcists, cursed warriors, and lost souls in a realm of spirits, curses, and karmic fate. - **[[Loner - The Shattered Reach|Loner: The Shattered Reach]]** (2025) — a fractured sector of space where colonies struggle to survive political strife, environmental hazards, and an ancient alien presence. - **[[Loner - Galaxy Drifter|Loner: Galaxy Drifter]]** (2026) — far-future spacefaring: a lone wanderer crossing a galaxy of ancient ship routes, seeking passage to the next world. - **[[Loner - Urban Fantasy|Loner: Urban Fantasy]]** (2026) — contemporary cities where magic bleeds through the cracks of mundane reality. - **[[Loner - Norse Saga|Loner: Norse Saga]]** (2026) — the Viking Age: honor, blood feuds, raiding, settlement, and blood vengeance, reputation built through deeds. - **[[Loner - The Path Not Taken|Loner: The Path Not Taken]]** (2026) — adds Loop Mode (repeat a stretch of story for a better outcome) and Leap Mode (jump to an alternate timeline), tracked on a time-web. - **[[Loner - Cinematic Action|Loner: Cinematic Action]]** (2026) — action-movie heroics: Action Points, a stunt system, chases and pursuits, and momentum/pacing rules for physics-bending, over-the-top action. - **[[Loner - Cthulhu!|Loner: Cthulhu!]]** (2026) — cosmic horror; investigators who delve into mysteries that challenge their sanity and reveal humanity's place in an indifferent universe. - **[[Loner - Rocketpunk|Loner: Rocketpunk]]** (2026) — an alternate 2026 where the space race never ended; hard sci-fi with a retro aesthetic, the Cold War continuing in orbit. - **[[Loner - World Builder's Guide|Loner: World Builder's Guide]]** (2025–2026) — worldbuilding tools: settings, character archetypes, locations, and adapting existing worlds. > [!note] Editor's Note > > Other Loner packs exist outside this collection (e.g. **Pulp Heroes**, **Savage Blades of Xylandra**, **Loner Files: Signal Zero**); they aren't in the library, so they don't have notes here yet. # References - [Loner Official Website - Zotiquest Games](https://loner.zotiquestgames.com/) - [Loner SRD (free full text) - Zotiquest Games](https://lonersrd.zotiquestgames.com/) - [Loner - Core Rules (4th Edition) - DriveThruRPG](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/427674/loner-core-rules-4th-edition) - [Loner - All Products Bundle (Omnibus) - DriveThruRPG](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/495049/loner-all-products-bundle) - [Loner Assistant (web app) - Zotiquest Games](https://lonerassistant.zotiquestgames.com/) - [Loner Assistant - GitHub (loner-obsidian)](https://github.com/zotiquestgames/loner-obsidian) - [Zotiquest Games - itch.io](https://zeruhur.itch.io/) - [Zotiquest Games Newsletter - Substack](https://zotiquest.substack.com/) > [!note] Editor's Note > > **Loner** is based on the mechanics found in **[[FU RPG|Freeform Universal]]**, which is pretty fantastic and you should probably check it out too.