An introduction to this blog
I thought a lot of times about how I wanted to share at least some of my thoughts about stuff on the internet. But regular blogging always seemed like a lot of effort (because more often than not I became all perfectionist about it; my previous blogs were thus inevitably abandoned) and microblogging with its character limit felt rather constricting. Basically I wanted to be able to throw my words out in the internet void without combing my posts a gazillion times to make sure they're "perfect" or anything anymore (I still feel the urge to do so, but try to stomp it down, as I don't want to waste time like that). So this seemed like the perfect place for that.
Anyways, the main focus of my blog will be about posting my thoughts on my favorite atm hobby, solo roleplaying (for example impressions about the stuff I've played).
I might also occasionally post thoughts about stuff related to other pastimes of mine (e.g. anime and videogames), and I might also in general post about anything that pops in my head and I feel like sharing.
In regards to solo roleplaying in particular, as an introduction I'll salvage here some stuff from another, more detailed, blog about the subject that I was planning, that ended up not taking off due to wanting to make my first post "perfect". Here it is:
I like to define solo roleplaying as being like playing videogames, but everything happens in your own head instead of on a screen, and it's much more freeform, so you can do anything (within the rules of course; though then again since you're by yourself you can bend them at times as long as you're having fun imo ;-)). As a result, the playthrough of a solo game is much more personalized than that of a videogame, which is more or less the same for everyone. That's how this feels like to me in terms of interactivity.
As for how I got into solo rpgs, I first got into gamebooks. In my early teens, I found an edition of The Citadel of Chaos translated in my native language in a local bookstore, and absolutely adored both that book and the concept of playing an interactive story like that.
I wasn’t able to find any more books of that kind where I lived however, so, after I looked up that book and found out the term used for its genre ("gamebook"), I turned to the internet for more. I thus found and played more such books: e.g. Lone Wolf, Freeway Warrior, and, most notably, Fabled Lands. I liked the latter most of all as I saw it as like an open-world videogame, but analog.
But after playing these, I didn’t really delve further to branch into TTRPGs, as it didn't occur to me that I could play them without other people (I knew they existed, but nobody in my area was into them, and I felt kind of bitter about that, since the way I saw it, I'd never be able to play them then).
Fast forward a bunch of years. Near the summer of 2023, I had just played a videogame called Roadwarden, and I liked it quite a bit, so I searched around to see if there was anything else similar to it. In one of the threads in its subreddit iirc, somebody recommended Ironsworn, so I went to its site and was surprised to read that I could actually play a TTRPG by myself, without needing any other people.
I ultimately ended up bouncing off of that, as the rules didn't gel with me, but the big step of me discovering the hobby had been made, so I just went around looking for other systems, with which I'd gel more.
I ended up discovering, after a while of experimenting with various stuff, that I prefer rules-light stuff, as rules tend to get in the way of my enjoyment (even just using an oracle is enough for me), and I especially like journaling games that have a clear game loop with a specific endpoint, as well as games focused on exploration (hewcrawling, pointcrawling, you name it). (These preferences might seem antithetical, but the way I see it they're actually complimentary, since I choose which to play based on my mood). And since then, I've continued playing various stuff I enjoy. 😊
I can't guarantee a consistent publishing schedule, but, still, I'll do my best to post once in a while, and will let people know of any new posts through my socials.
Anyways, welcome to this blog, and hope you enjoy what I write. 😊