# Solo Journaling Games In Which You May Be Evil tags: #thoughts ![[Wicked Ones Warlock.jpg]] You know, I really enjoy finding the rare question on social media that actually spurs me to think about an answer and put together something that I feel is complete. That's great — I've moved well beyond believing anyone will actually read and appreciate any of it, much like this site — but I will continue trying no matter what, because I'm just that kind of self-destructive. Today's shocking discovery was actually on Reddit, of all places. > [!quote] [Live_Ad9430](https://www.reddit.com/user/Live_Ad9430/) on [Reddit r/Solo_Roleplaying](https://www.reddit.com/r/Solo_Roleplaying/comments/1eflztz/solo_games_to_explore_the_evil_side/) > > Please suggest any solo journaling games to explore evil roles, experience violence, hatred, villainy > > I think journaling games are great ways to explore different emotions and i'd like to express these wild things, but most of the Time you are the good guy, the hero in these games > > Some good suggestions here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Solo_Roleplaying/s/ckeRmmFcOC > > So I'm looking for other games :) Well, if ever there was something I am personally qualified to answer, it's that question. And I did at great length. --- One of the *wonderful* things about tabletop RPGs is that no one is going to bust in your door and hold a gun in your face while screaming, "You're playing it wrong!" It's never going to happen. There are people online who will *pretend* that it will happen. They will act like that's going to happen if you play in any way different than what they say, but I have yet to have it actually occur in a documented way. Which brings us to the fact that it doesn't matter what the author intends for you. You can play any game with whatever attitude and experiencing whatever emotions you so desire. It's rather wonderful, actually. You can indulge whatever twisted fantasy you like and if you're of a certain bent, flying in the face of what is reasonably considered the right way to do things is just that little bit extra exciting. So let's take a look at a few of the places that I would actually gaze: --- You've seen them suggested several times, but considering that I consider them to be one of the best game design architectures of the last several years, I'm going to throw in another vote for **[[Ironsworn]]** and **[[Ironsworn - Starforged|Starforged]]**. Both are written with a bit of a heroic bent, but you are certainly not bound to it. Given the fact that necromancy is pretty well accessible and the kinds of emotional bonds that you put together are very much not colored by a particular morality, you can be pretty evil and progress your plans and desires. The recent **[[Ironsworn - Starforged|Sundered Isles]]** expansion for **Starforged** brings us to some 18th century sailing context, if you want to bring things down from the stars, though you don't have to. And being a pirate captain is explicitly one of the assets you can take. If you can't see the fun potential of Sailing the Seven Seas of Blood, I'm not sure I can help you. --- If you enjoy those mechanics, but Space Adventure, Low Fantasy, or being the Iron Fist of an 18th Century Merchant Company doesn't excite you, but you still want to wallow in blood, you have an excellent option: **[[Elegy]]**. It's inspired by **Vampire the Masquerade** and **Vampire the Requiem**, but gives you the mechanics and flexibility to play a blood-drinking bastard of the night. It does carry a little bit of the assumption that you might feel a little bit bad about it, but nothing says that you have to. In fact, reveling in your inhumanity can certainly be an experience in its own special way. I say give it a try at least once. --- Others have also suggested taking a look at **[[Wicked Ones]]**, and I completely endorse doing that. It is playable solo, is derived mechanically from the *[Forged in the Dark](https://bladesinthedark.com/forged-dark)* lineage, and is particularly geared toward playing the active members of the Guardians of an ancient (or possibly quite recent) dungeon. Protecting it, expanding it, and having a great old time because of some of the shenanigans with the original publisher, it ended up being put entirely in the public domain and free to download from Google Drive. Good times were had by all. --- Let's get back around to a little more journaling and maybe a little less traditional RPG furniture, even if the method of play is not so traditional. One of my favorite solo journaling games is **[[Like I Give a BLEEP (The Life and Times of a Mad Scientist)]]** by Peter Casey. Not particularly surprisingly, you are a mad scientist out there doing mad scientist stuff. Trying to get your mad scientist on while vaguely hoping that someone will be able to make an emotional connection with you, but really, there's death rays to build and nations to corrupt. So maybe that's not your most important concern. I love it. It has a particularly pointed style, and that speaks directly to me. If you want to be evil, here you go. This is one of the quintessential narrative evils ready to rock and roll. --- While we're out here being evil, there's no reason that we can't mix in other emotions, of course. Loneliness, despair, the subtle horror of wondering if we've made the right decision or knowing that we haven't, and still knowing that we would do it again, exactly the same way. I'm down for all of that. That brings us right to **[[Letters to the Stars - An Epistolary RPG|Letters to the Stars: An Epistolary RPG]]**. Like a lot of the other games on not only my list but others, you aren't required to play it alone. It is perfectly playable with other people. But LOTS has a certain weird resonance when you play it alone, because of the architecture of play. You literally have to wait a certain amount of time between active posts or letters intended to be seen by other people (within the context of the game). This represents the time lag as you travel at a good portion of lightspeed to someplace very far away. You would think this wouldn't make much sense for playing alone, but forcing yourself to pause, to think about things, to really internalize them, and not just crank things out as quickly as you can. That makes a big difference. It's an experience you might not find in another game. --- One last suggestion, as if this wasn't long enough so far, is for **[[Entity|ENTITY]]**. This is a strange one. It's not quite a journaling game, but it's not quite the same as a traditionally architected RPG. It's solo only, no co-op or guided play of any sort. It's so entirely disconnected from humanity in general that it's difficult to suggest that *"being evil"* is a thing you can even do in it. Not because you are trapped in a heroic role being the good guy, doing good things for good people. You are something far beyond humanity in a place far beyond humanity and in a time far beyond humanity. Traditional concepts of good and evil no longer truly apply to you or anything around you. You may find living things. You may dissect them to understand better how they work. You may find new civilizations and destroy because they're in your way. Or enslave them. Or watch them from afar as they destroy themselves. In a place and a time beyond morality and beyond anything human, what does it mean to be evil? Can you attempt it? Do you want to? Does it matter? --- Well, that's my list of interesting solo RPG and journaling games which allow for evil of one sort or another. I believe I've put in enough links so that you can pick them up if you're interested; several of them are free, like **Ironsworn** and **Wicked Ones**, which make it extremely easy to get into either one. Hopefully you find this interesting and useful enough to enjoy.