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Not sure how many people have played The One Ring (pen & paper game, my guess is no one here, lol) - but, anyway - they have a mode called Strider Mode which allows you to play the game by yourself.

I am considering trying this out (never played any solo pen & paper) - but doing it a little different.

Strider mode is usually just a single character with bumped up stats (to allow surviving solo)... I did something a little different...

Here's my Session 0 to explain my idea and my characters...


Just one more thing I decided to try to keep my brain stimulated creatively...

Tawmis wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2026 11:40 pm ... (never played any solo pen & paper) ...

You mean, you've never played Fighting Fantasy? Or Choose Your Own Adventure? Or Lone Wolf?

And you call yourself a guru of classic roleplaying games.

(I kid! I kid! But ... never? Never ever? Wow).

Rath Darkblade wrote: ↑Thu Jun 25, 2026 5:20 am

Tawmis wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2026 11:40 pm ... (never played any solo pen & paper) ...

You mean, you've never played Fighting Fantasy? Or Choose Your Own Adventure? Or Lone Wolf?

And you call yourself a guru of classic roleplaying games.

(I kid! I kid! But ... never? Never ever? Wow).

I've read Choose Your Own Adventure (I even got the first four that they reprinted) for Father's Day. But the D&D version is called Endless Quest, which I have most of the books for still.

I've never tried Fighting Fantasy or Lone Wolf.

Do they use a character sheet and then an "oracle" if you will that you roll on to help decide things?

All right, after a week... I finally did the first session of the party Strider mode for the One Ring...
Made a few mistakes, but also realized it moments later... this was a very fun experiment....
And probably do more...

Tawmis wrote: ↑Thu Jun 25, 2026 12:43 pm

Rath Darkblade wrote: ↑Thu Jun 25, 2026 5:20 am

Tawmis wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2026 11:40 pm ... (never played any solo pen & paper) ...

You mean, you've never played Fighting Fantasy? Or Choose Your Own Adventure? Or Lone Wolf?

And you call yourself a guru of classic roleplaying games.

(I kid! I kid! But ... never? Never ever? Wow).

I've read Choose Your Own Adventure (I even got the first four that they reprinted) for Father's Day. But the D&D version is called Endless Quest, which I have most of the books for still.

I've never tried Fighting Fantasy or Lone Wolf.

Do they use a character sheet and then an "oracle" if you will that you roll on to help decide things?

I only touched on Lone Wolf briefly, but Fighting Fantasy definitely does use a character sheet. (It's a simplified form of D&D - you have SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK scores, to represent your fighting power, your HPs, and how lucky you are, respectively). Some FF books have other things too, like spells, scrolls, special abilities etc., or a FAITH score (if you're a crusader) or a FEAR score. Sometimes, the gamebooks let you play in outer space too.

It's available on Steam now (and free to play, and comes with a free adventure!) Take a look: https://store.steampowered.com/app/8568 ... _Classics/ . Tin Man Games did a great job in bringing these to life, and the books themselves are not expensive (and currently 50% off). So you can have old-style adventures all by yourself whenever you like.

A word of warning: some of the gamebooks are unfair, in that they have some passages that are "instant game over". You will die a lot, and in spectacular ways, especially if you do stupid things. But sometimes it's "game over" if you fail to find specific items. Sometimes you have to map a maze ... I've done it myself when I was younger. But it adds to the fun. It wouldn't be interesting if you win all the time, right?

I made an intro video for the Company of Heroes to give viewers a feel for the characters -




I put that intro at the start of Session 02 (session 2 has time stamps so ye can skip the intro) - a shorter intro with names and callings is already made for whenever I do session 3... in the meantime, Session 02 is right here...

Session 3 is done... and it starts off good for our heroes... but the dice begin to betray us...

Session 04 of my "Strider" (Solo) The One Ring campaign... and after how Session 03 went (and quite a few mistakes made by me - game mechanics wise! - which I call out in this Session and use it to enhance the story!)

This is probably one of my favorites I've done so far, because I did something that I thought was a cool, fun, surprise twist...

Did my next session of Strider Mode - Session 05 - wrapping up this leg of the adventure!
It's a fun and unique experience, controlling all the characters, learning from mistakes, and fleshing out these characters!