How to Play OSR Games Solo: Old-School Dungeon Crawling Without a Referee

Old-school games are some of the easiest to play solo, because so much of the referee's job is already a procedure: count the turns, check for wandering monsters, roll how strangers react, roll whether enemies run. Here is how to run that loop on your own, with the oracle filling the gaps.

What makes a game old-school

OSR stands for Old-School Renaissance (or Revival): games written in the spirit of the earliest fantasy roleplaying games, or restatements of them. They differ in detail, but most share a few habits that matter for solo play:

• Procedures over plot. Time is counted in turns, light burns out, food runs short, and the dungeon keeps moving whether or not you are ready.
• Rulings, not rules. When the book is silent, someone decides what is reasonable. Solo, that someone is you and the oracle.
• Danger is real. Characters are fragile, fights are risky, and running away is often the clever choice.
• Treasure drives the game. Getting gold out of the dungeon alive is the point, and in many of these games it is also how characters improve.
• Player skill. You win by asking questions, poking things with a pole and making good choices, not by rolling a skill check for everything.

Why it suits solo play

In most games the referee decides what happens next. In old-school games a lot of that is already handed to the dice: a wandering monster check every few turns, a reaction roll when you meet someone, a morale roll when a fight turns. Those procedures do the referee's job without anyone knowing the answer in advance, which is exactly what a solo player needs. What is left over, the details nobody wrote down, is what an oracle is for.

What you need

• An old-school ruleset. Any of them works. Popular choices include Old-School Essentials (a clear restatement of the classic Basic and Expert rules), Worlds Without Number (which has a free edition) and Scarlet Heroes (written so one hero can survive adventures meant for a party). Our popular solo RPGs guide lists more.
• A way to answer questions: the yes/no oracle, or a solo engine of your choice.
• A dungeon. A published module read one room at a time, a room generator, or Delve, which builds the map as you explore.
• Paper and dice, or the Campaign Notebook and dice roller on your phone.

The dungeon turn, played solo

Most old-school games count dungeon time in turns of about ten minutes. A turn is long enough to move carefully through a room or two, search one area, or rest. Solo, a simple loop keeps everything honest:

1. Say what your character does this turn. Move, search, listen at a door, rest. Be specific: "I tap the floor ahead with my pole" tells you far more than "I search".
2. Tick the turn. Mark it on your sheet. Light sources and rations are counted in turns and days, so the count is what makes them matter.
3. Check for wanderers. Many old-school games roll for a wandering monster every two turns or so, often a 1 in 6 chance, and more often when you are noisy. Use your ruleset's rule; if it has none, a d6 every second turn works well.
4. Resolve what you find. Roll the room or read it from the module, then ask the oracle about anything the text does not say: "Is the chest locked?" "Is the floor dry?"
5. Write one line. Where you are, what changed, what you took. The Turn Tracker or a notebook page keeps the count for you.

Meeting monsters: reaction, morale and tactics

Not every monster attacks. Old-school games usually roll a reaction when you meet someone: from hostile to helpful. If your ruleset has a reaction roll, use it. If not, ask the oracle "Is it hostile?" on Likely for a hungry beast and 50/50 for a band of strangers, and an "and..." answer tells you it is very hostile or very friendly.

When a fight starts, the hard part solo is playing the enemy fairly, because you know your own plan. Give each monster a fighting style and let the enemy tactics roller decide what it tries each round. Morale matters in these games: most monsters run or surrender long before they die, and a cowardly goblin left alone should usually break. Running away is also a perfectly good plan for your own character.

Surviving with one character

Old-school games were built for a party, and a single first-level character dies quickly. You have four good options, and you can mix them:

• Play a small party. Three or four characters is still easy to run alone, and it gives you a front line and someone to carry the torch.
• Hire help. Hirelings and torchbearers are an old-school tradition. Roll them with the companion generators and let the oracle decide whether they stay loyal when things go badly.
• Use a ruleset made for one hero, such as Scarlet Heroes, or adjust your own: more hit points, or one free reroll a session.
• Embrace the funnel. Keep a roster of characters. When one dies, the next comes looking for them, and the dungeon remembers what happened.

Whichever you choose, let death happen when the dice say so. The tension of a game where your character can die is the reason old-school play feels the way it does.

Treasure, town and the next trip

A delve ends when you choose to leave or have to. Getting the treasure home is half the adventure: count the turns back, check for wanderers, and decide what you drop if you have to run. In town, spend it: buy supplies at a shop, hear rumours at a tavern, hire someone new, and pick the next place to explore. Note what you left behind in the dungeon; the next trip can go back for it.

A quick example

My fighter and her torchbearer enter a flooded crypt. Turn 1: I tap the floor ahead with a pole and roll the first room in Delve: a narrow stair down, water at the bottom. Turn 2: I roll for wanderers and get a 1. Delve's Who is here? gives three skeletons. My ruleset's reaction roll says hostile, so I give them the mindless style and the tactics roller says they all press forward. We fight on the stair, where only one can reach us at a time, and win. Turn 3: I ask the oracle "Is there anything in the water?" on 50/50. Yes, and... a silver chalice, and something moving further down. Two torches left. I take the chalice and go home.

One-page solo procedure

1. Pick a place and a reason to go there. Pack light, food and a pole.
2. Each turn: say what you do, tick the turn, check for wanderers every second turn.
3. New room: roll or read it, ask the oracle about missing details.
4. Someone appears: roll reaction (or ask the oracle). Talk first if you can.
5. Fight: enemies act by their style; check morale when they are hurt or alone.
6. Light low, hurt, or loaded with treasure: head home, counting turns.
7. In town: sell, buy, hire, listen for rumours, write the session down.

Print it beside your map with the Print Sheet's reference cards for the oracle odds, turn order and marching order. For the general crawl without old-school procedures, read how to run a solo dungeon crawl.