L. M. Orchard had an intriguing reference to a narrative table top role playing (TTRP) game, entitled Last Tea Shop Complete
Last Tea Shop Complete is a revised and expanded version of a one-page solo game about tea and conversation. Set up your stall and wait for visitors to emerge out of the mist. Over a cup of tea, chat to the visitor about their life and help prepare them for their trip into the Lands of the Dead. Record their thoughts, fears, dreams and hopes in your journal for posterity.
Orchard put this in a category of solo journaling games. Considering myself a connoisseur of good narrative and a halfway decent writer, this might be a way to cut down on screen time and exercise the creative muscles.
Here’s a quick Kagi search discovery for a definition from Tina Alberion
Solo journaling games are incredibly diverse, but their unifying elements are prompts and recording/documenting. Many solo journaling games allow the player to determine their journaling method. Some strongly recommend a specific method for thematic purposes (like voice recordings for Call Your Exes), but for the most part, players may use a journal, voice or video recordings, or even just their imagination to play.
And a deeper dive from Jordan Rocke
What is a Solo Journaling TTRPG?
OK, so what are they? Basically, it’s a sub-genre of TableTop Role Playing Games (like Dungeons & Dragons, etc). TTRPGs are games where you tell a story with some friends, using some external element to determine how successful you are at doing what your character wants to do. That’s normally dice, but coins, playing cards, tarot cards and other elements are slowly entering the field.
The issue with games like Dungeons & Dragons, and basically all the other big name RPG systems, is that they only function as multiplayer games. Clearly, as being an adult is scheduling hell, a lot of people hit the point where they wanted to try playing games that weren’t reliant on a group of busy people finding time and energy to play. Enter solo TTRPGs! …
Instead, let me try to sell you specifically on solo journaling RPGs! The premise is simple: you are writing an account of your experiences from the perspective of a fictional character. The normal format is that you are given a prompt, and have to write a short (or sometimes long) passage to respond to it. The line between TTRPG and creative writing exercise is a little murky, but it’s fun all the same. The specific ways these games work varies A LOT, and it’s a little difficult to actually summarise in any way that covers all solo journaling RPGs. So, let me take you through some of the games I’ve tried, and maybe you’ll see something interesting!
I think I’ve found a new rabbit hole to fall into.
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