Fantasy Random Books and PDFs for Solo RPGs

Here we are looking at pdf and book titles for Solo RPGs for Fantasy on DriveThruRPG

Disclaimer: Rand Roll is an affiliate for DriveThru RPG and DM's Guild.

Starting Points

Fantasy is the most popular genre of roleplaying games. And there are many options for playing solo fantasy games! Where it is open adventure, hexcrawl, minatures or some other option.

This complements the main Solo Titles Guide.

Solo RPGs is the art of playing a tabletop roleplaying game on your own. You are player, gamesmaster, worldbuilder, narrator and audience.

Other guides with Solo sections include Fantasy Dungeon Solo Titles, Fantasy Wilderness and Hexcrawls and Fantasy Sea Solo PDFs.

Jun 2024: Guide Created.

Major Fantasy Solo Titles

Starting points for Fantasy Solo Gaming.

Ironsworn from Shawn Tomkin is one of the best known solo games (and free! in pdf form), where the narrative is pushed forward by powerful vows made by the protagonist(s).
For help with soloing D&D, Tim Scutt has DM Yourself - solo roleplay for 5e, D&D and OSR adventures with advice on prepping, reading and playing adventures.
From Larcenous Designs is the GM's Apprentice Decks: Fantasy (base deck linked). More specialised ones include GamesMaster's Apprentice: Age of Sail. Then there are other genres in the full GM's Apprentice Deck List, .
A place to start for solo with D&D 5E is Solo Adventurer's Toolbox from 5E Solo Gamebooks. Encounters for wilderness, urban and dungeon, random generation of dungeons, wilderness terrain, merchants and other scenarios for solo D&D. There is also The Solo Adventurer’s Toolbox Part Two: The Toolbox Expanded
From Wilona's Cave Games is Solo RPG GME - Fantasy, a straightforward emulator with lots of tables and guidance and a fantasy focus.

Free and PWyW Solo Tools & RPGs

If you like free (or pay-what-you-want) pdfs and random tables then there are some options. And where you find one you might find more...

Iron Valley from M.Kirin is a pay-what-you-want cozy conversion of Ironsworn, where you play someone moving into a small community and starting life anew.
Rocket Dungeons from LunchBox RPG is an ultra light dungeon crawler built for solo play.
The Encounter Building Oracle Deck is a pay-what-you-want option from Eric Bright, with each card (of a 100-card deck) containing dice-rolls, oracle answers, events, objects and other information. There is also Encounter Building Cards: Locations,
From Solo Tabletop is GEMulator, a game master emulator for solo roleplaying games. The emulation is split into three phases, the campaign, the adventure and the campaign turn, simulating more of a campaign than other emulators.
Worlds Without Number from Sine Nomine Publishing is a full rpg, but also has a free edition and many random tables to detail your world.

Solo Emulators and Aids

Solo tools that aren't fantasy but are excellent for solo and all genres.

Mythic Game Master Emulator Second Edition from Word Mill is the most the most recent version of the most known emulator. The Mythic GM Emulator 1st edition is also still available, but older, shorter and cheaper. There is also a One-Page Mythic Game Master Emulator, condensing the essentials on a one-page sheet, plus several pages of notes.
Motif Story Engine from Thought Punks is a modular solo oracle, toolkit and emulator.
The Solo Games Masters's Guide from Mophidius has advice on how to play RPGs solo, from reading oracle results to examples and random tables.
From Lame Mage Productions, Microscope by Ben Robbins lets you explore the history of a collapsed empire, a galactic civilisation or an ancient line of sorcerers. Or a backwater town!
Tilt: An oracle for solo roleplaying from Little Dreamer is a short (15-page) pdf using pieces of fiction for inspiration.
CRGE, Conjecture Roleplaying GM Emulator from Conjecture Games is an emulator with a few different modes / levels. Then, UNE, the Universal NPC Emulator also from Conjecture Games creates NPCs for you! There is also Bold, Universal PC Stories and Deeds Generator.

Cards

Decks of cards are useful for random choices and playing screenless or offline .

For maps of fantasy kingdoms there is Pocket Lands: Kingdom from Alexey Aparin, a 70-card deck of terrain maps (sea, mountain, forest, hills etc), each containing a 5x5 grid. There are also versions for High Seas and other terrains.
The Sidequest Decks from Inkwell Ideas provide quest ideas and a map. They cover a number of fantasy niches, including Fantasy Wilderness and Dungeons among many.
The Dungeon Builder's Deck from AAW Games is good for solo delves, giving geomorphic maps to explore and fill out.
For a deck of detailed hooks and adventure ideas, Philip Reed Games has Deck of Rumors: D100 City Hooks. And they are also available in table form as 1d100 City Hooks, Fantasy RPG Encounter Ideas.
From Axebane Games is Axebane's Deck of Many Dungeons, a deck of 54 cards, each with a part of a dungeon map and a random table containing treasure, quest ideas or something else.

Hexcrawling

For solo games, wilderness can give you hexcrawls and sprawling adventures.

Hex Dek from Philip Reed Games has Hex Dek, Systemless Fantasy RPG Hexcrawl Cards with a deck of 50 double-sided cards, containing hexes, short description, extra info and random encounter table.
Atelier Clandestin has a Sandbox Generator with hex maps and tables for filling them with settlements, npcs, dungeons and other pieces of interest.
The Old Commander goes to Hexcrawl from Doppelganger Publishing is a fantasy mini-setting with tables for hexes in a hexcrawl wilderness setting.
Inifininm Game Studios has FlexTale Hexcrawl Atlas: Western Realm of Aquilae, with many hexmaps for wilderness terrains.
From Shielddice Studio is Hex-Worlds & The Domain Cartographer, a grid and system for creating hex-icon worlds.

Fantasy Gamebooks

Gamebooks are a way to play solo. These are in addition to classics such as Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf.

The Valley of Bones from Spidermind Games is the first in Legendary Kingdoms, an open-world gamebook series where you play a group of up to 4 adventurers.
With an Asian feel, Jungle Quest from Penguin Comics is a gamebooks where every playthrough is different.

Journaling

Journaling games are more like writing your story, often in response to prompts in the game.

For a pay-what-you-want option, Quill from Trollish Delver Games is "A Letter-Writing Roleplaying Game for a Single Player", exploring an rpg world through writing.
In Fox Curio's Floating Bookshop from LostWaysClub you are journalling as a bookseller traveling up and down the river, dealing with customers, leaks and insects, going fishing, exploring and having fun.
In Fox Curio's Floating Bookshop from LostWaysClub you are journalling as a bookseller traveling up and down the river, dealing with customers, leaks and insects, going fishing, exploring and having fun.

Alternative Solo Games

Some solo games that aren't rpgs or just have some rpg elements.

Five Leagues from the Borderlands from Mophidius is a solo miniatures game where your warband explores a fantasy world.
Delve: A Solo Map Drawing Game from Blackwell Games takes you on a journey below ground, drawing the horrors that a dwarven hold unearths in the depths.
Four Against Darkness from Ganesha Games is a solitaire dungeon-delving game where you control a party of four adventurers. Related titles include Four Against the Abyss (higher level) and Alone Against Fear (horror)
By Graycastle Press, Journey is a solo worldbuilding game where you explore the elements of your game setting.
Pendulum: A World-building Assistant from Tale of the Manticore is a world-building tool for a city or other entity. You follow the story from the beginning, with each event prompt defined by a "Chaos" or "Law" outcome and the context of what has come before.
Rangers of Shadow Deep from Mophidius is a solo (or co-op) game playing a group of rangers holding back the darkness of Shadow Deep.

Solo Dungeons and Dragons Titles

There are a couple of D&D solo titles in the major titles section, as well as these

From Sine Nomine Publishing is Scarlet Heroes, an old-school rpg for solo, either as a standalone rpg or as an overlay for another game. From the same publisher is Black Streams: Solo Heroes, a lightweight solo rpg written for running classic D&D adventures for a single character.
From Guilherme Bento is the Solo Adventurer's Guide - D&D Solo Engine, a guide on how to play solo but in less than 25 pages.
Avalon's Solo Adventure System from Avalon Game Company is a system for playing a party of adventurers solo using 5e.
D&D Solo Adventure: Tables Of Doom also from 5E Solo Gamebooks has random tables to generate monsters, traps, clues, loot and other elements for solo adventures.
For something different, First Blush from Jonathan Ball and Beth Ball offers a pay-what-you-want one-on-one adventure, also suitable for solo play
Four Against Dungeons and Dragons from The Gamebook Adventurer is a free title which provides tools for converting D&D modules into Four Against Darkness adventures.

Other Solo Titles

Then there are a few other titles for solo that don't fit in other categories

For an in-depth solo dungeon RPG try D100 Dungeon by Martin Knight, with rules for chargen, combat, quests, downtime and dungeon tables to populate everything.
The Last Fighter#1 - The Tomb of Radus from Doppelganger Publishing is a complete solo game with map, monsters and treasures. They also have a whole category for Dungeons Solo titles.
For a nautical solo rpg, Doppelganger Publishing have Daydreamer solo RPG: Pirates of Low Waters. (it's a 29 page pdf / softcover, the Full-size preview seems to be best way to see what's inside)
Ironsworn: Delve from Shawn Tomkin is an expansion for Ironsworn (popular RPG for solo, built for solo). Dungeons and other dangerous adventure locations.
The Portal Tarot: The Apprentice from Larcenous Designs is a set of tarot cards with advice on how to read them for your solo games.