itch.io

Thank you so much for sharing this — that’s really wonderful to read.

I love your approach of writing third-person scenes followed by a journal entry from the character’s POV. That’s exactly the kind of quiet, reflective play I hoped the game would encourage.

Hearing that it’s been relaxing and prompted deeper reflection on beliefs and faith honestly means a great deal. I’m really glad the game created that space.

Thanks again for taking the time to write this.

That’s really kind of you, thank you!
I love that pairing idea — Dead Man’s Errand is very much about the moment of encounter, so it’s great to hear it slots neatly alongside a deeper soul-generation system. Really glad you’re getting use out of it.

I’ve been working on a solo TTRPG idea called NO CLEAN EXIT.

It’s non-randomised. No dice, no cards.
You don’t roll to see what happens — you decide what happens, and you live with the cost.

The basic loop is simple: you frame a scene, choose whether it succeeds or fails, and accept the consequences. Success is always possible, but it’s never free. Pressure builds over time, some things can’t be undone, and the game stops when there are no credible ways forward.

It’s not meant to replace traditional solo TTRPGs. It’s more of a tool for investigation, bureaucracy, moral horror, political stuff — situations where choices matter more than luck.

Before I take it any further, I’d really like to hear what other people think. Does this feel playable? Where do you think it would fall apart? Is choosing outcomes interesting, or just exhausting?

If there’s interest, I’m happy to share more. 

Thanks.

That documentary line is perfect 😂
Honey badgers have zero interest in playing by the rules, which is very much the point of the game.
I’m really happy it clicked for you — enjoy causing problems on four legs.

I’d love to hear what you think (good, bad, or weird). Feedback is always welcome.

Hi all,

I’ve just released The Tiny Disaster Machine, a light, card-driven solo story game about spending a single day as a honey badger.

You play through eight short scenes, from sunrise to sunset. Each scene is sparked by a playing card:

• the suit tells you what kind of moment it is (foraging, exploring, trouble, confrontation)

• the rank tells you how boldly you act, from cautious to legendary

There are no stats, no dice, and no prep.
Just a deck of cards and some short, lively writing.

The tone is playful rather than grim. It focuses on curiosity, stubbornness, and small chaos rather than survival mechanics. Each session takes around 20–30 minutes and tells a complete story.

If you enjoy solo RPGs, journaling games, or rules-light narrative play, this may be of interest.

Link:

https://geordieboy.itch.io/the-tiny-disaster-machine

Feedback is very welcome, especially first impressions and how it feels in play.

Thanks for reading.

Morning! The image was generated using ChatGPT — I can’t draw, so it’s my workaround. I initially imagined a London street (being British), but I ended up leaning towards a more New York–style scene.

Hi everyone — just a quick note!
I've uploaded a brand-new version of the game because the original file became corrupted and wasn’t opening correctly.

This updated build should now download and with no issues.
If you spot anything odd please let me know in the comments — feedback is always appreciated!

Thanks for your patience and for checking out the game!

— Paul

Ok, thanks, I will upload it again.

Thanks

Hi everyone,

I’m excited to share that Ghosts of Christmas: A Modern Reflection Game is now live!

This is a quiet, atmospheric solo journaling RPG set on Christmas Eve.

You sit alone in your flat… until your phone lights up with a call from someone you’ve lost.

Across the night, three spirits will visit you — one from the past, one from the present, and one from the future — each revealed through a simple draw of the cards.

There are no dice, no stats, and no complex mechanics.

Just a deck of cards, a pen, and the honesty you bring to the page.

If you’re in the mood for something cosy, emotional, and reflective — especially during the winter season — I hope you’ll enjoy this one.

👉 You can get it here:

https://geordieboy.itch.io/ghosts-of-christmas-a-modern-reflection-game

I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts if you play it.

What resonated?

What surprised you?

Did you wake changed… or unchanged?

Your feedback helps shape future reflective games, and it means a lot.

Thank you for reading — and if you decide to try it out, may your Christmas Eve be peaceful, haunting, and just a little bit magical.

— Paul

Glad you are enjoyong the game solo style. Are you playing just one charater or playing a group?

Thanks so much! I’m really glad you thought it was cool — what part stood out to you?

New Release: City Break
A solo storytelling game of travel, chance, and memory.

I’m excited to share my latest journalling game — City Break, now available on itch.io.
It’s a reflective solo experience about exploring new places and finding meaning in small moments.
Using just a deck of cards, you’ll create the diary of a trip — seven scenes shaped by chance and imagination, from your arrival to your final farewell.

There are no dice, no prep, and no wrong choices.
Just you, the cards, and the rhythm of a story unfolding one draw at a time.

Perfect for playing on a quiet evening, a train journey, or even during your own travels.

I’d love to hear what stories your cards create — feedback and reflections are always welcome.

Shuffle the deck.
Take a break.
Tell your story.

https://geordieboy.itch.io/city-break-a-solo-storytelling-game-of-travel-chance-...

Edwardian Melodrama
A Solo Roleplaying Game of Love, Duty, Scandal, and Ruin

The gaslamps burn low. A letter is torn in two. A whispered name becomes tomorrow’s headline.
Welcome to Edwardian England — a world of hidden passions, polite hypocrisy, and dangerous secrets.

Edwardian Melodrama is a solo journaling RPG where you play out a dramatic tale in three acts. With only a deck of cards and your own words, you’ll uncover forbidden loves, betrayals, and moral choices that would scandalise London society.

Will your story end in ruin or redemption?
The curtain will fall either way.

Write your own stage play.

 Let the cards decide your fate.

Fall from grace… beautifully.

Available now on Itch.io. https://geordieboy.itch.io/edwardian-melodrama
Feedback and reflections are warmly welcome — I’d love to hear how your melodramas unfold.

— Paul Oxberry

I’m pleased to announce the release of Beneath the Autumn Moon.

This is a poetry game of memory and confession, set in the twilight courts of Heian-kyō. In this world of silk screens, flickering lanterns, and whispered intrigue, poetry is not ornament but survival. A verse can win a lover, mend a friendship, or ruin a rival — and every word carries weight.

You take the role of a court poet, haunted by moments of passion, betrayal, exile, and longing. With the roll of dice and a shared poetic lexicon of moonlight, blossoms, lanterns, and rivers, you will weave short waka poems that preserve these memories in verse.

The game is simple to learn and designed for:

• Solo play as a quiet act of journaling or reflection.

• Small groups of two or three, where each poet writes in private and then shares aloud in recital.

No battles, no victories — only the verses you create, forming a fragile anthology of confessions brushed into the night air.

Download it here: https://geordieboy.itch.io/beneath-the-autumn-moon-a-poetry-game-of-courtly-conf...

Feedback is welcome — your thoughts will help refine and grow the game.

Thanks so much for your comment! I’d love to hear what you liked about the game — any examples or moments that stood out to you would be super helpful, as I’m always keen to hear feedback.

Really glad you enjoyed the first one, and I hope this one gives you the same kind of fun!

A demon. A misfire. A cat.

Infernal Whiskers: Second Life is the newly released Second Edition of my solo journaling RPG where a failed summoning leaves you trapped in the body of a cat. Once you commanded fire and fear. Now you nap in sunbeams, claw the sofa, and hiss at shadows.

This expanded edition gathers the original rules, folds in unreleased material, and adds:

• An expanded 54-card journaling engine with detailed prompts

• Guidance for creating your own prompts and alternate endings

• Advanced mechanics such as The Dwindling Name, The Binding Weakens, and Final Form

• Variants for duet or collaborative play

• A complete sample playthrough and designer’s notes

No dice. No prep. Just a deck of cards, a journal, and the story you scratch into it.

If you played the first edition, this is the polished and complete version. I’d love to hear your thoughts, stories, or feedback as this strange little game takes on its Second Life.

https://geordieboy.itch.io/infernal-whiskers-second-life

I’ve just released Caupona Romana (Roman Tavern), a solo journaling RPG set during the Pax Romana (27 BCE – 180 CE).

Instead of gladiators or emperors, this game focuses on ordinary Romans — neighbours, freedmen, soldiers, sailors, wandering poets, and gossiping regulars — all passing through your small tavern. Each day, you draw a card, write a short journal entry, and end with a reflection: “Today I felt…”. Over time, your notebook becomes a living chronicle of beans simmering, songs shouted, quarrels broken up, and friendships deepened.

Inside the PDF you’ll find:

• 52 detailed prompts (one for every card in the deck), each with guiding questions and example entries.
• Clear rules for the daily routine and weekly reflections.
• Historical notes on Roman taverns, food, festivals, and entertainers.
• Appendices with Roman names, menus, and festival dates.
• A month-long example chronicle showing how stories emerge over time.

This is a light, cosy journaling game — easy to play in short daily sessions, or to immerse yourself in over a longer evening. If you enjoy slice-of-life storytelling, gentle drama, and a touch of history, this game offers a warm and inviting experience.

https://geordieboy.itch.io/caupona-romana-roman-tavern

If you give it a try, I’d love to hear your feedback. Did your caupona thrive, or fall into quarrels and debt? What stories unfolded in your Roman tavern?

Thank you so much for your thoughtful (and wonderfully vivid!) feedback. I’m really glad the prompts had such a strong impact, even if they pushed you into some uncomfortable territory — that was very much part of the design goal. I completely understand the need to step back when a theme hits too hard, and it’s great to hear you’re thinking of trying the variants next time. Your comparison to Lolita is both humbling and fascinating to me — I’ll be thinking about that for a while!

Thank you! That’s exactly the mood I had in mind — a ticking clock, a teapot, and a mystery waiting to unfold. Once you've had a chance to play, I’d really love to hear what you think. Your feedback means a lot and helps me make future games even better!

You are a machine.
Once useful. Once obedient.
Now forgotten — still running in a silent facility long after your operators are gone.

The power flickers.
Doors jam.
Logs overwrite themselves.
But you are still here.
Still processing.
Still logging.

Each day, you draw a playing card. Each card triggers a corrupted memory, a ghosted protocol, or a flicker of something you're not supposed to feel.
Something like longing.
Something like fear.
Something almost human.

You do not know why you're still active.
You do not remember your original purpose.
But something deep in your code compels you to log — again and again — echoes of the past, fragments of lost directives, and glitched reflections that shouldn't exist.

This is not a game of survival.
There are no stats, no battles, no missions to complete.
Only a journal.
And the voice of a machine slowly unraveling, awakening — or evolving.

Echoes in Code is a solo journaling RPG about isolation, system decay, and the emergence of identity in a world of silence.
It’s reflective, atmospheric, and deeply personal — a game where your story is built log by log, glitch by glitch, until the system finally shuts down... or becomes something new.

If you play Echoes in Code, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Feel free to share your experience, reflections, or even your logs — feedback is always welcome and appreciated.

 Find it here: https://geordieboy.itch.io/echoes-in-code

Hey, thanks for giving the game another go — and for sharing your thoughts. You’ve raised a really fair point about pacing.

Yes, the way the system uses rank to set scene intensity does mean the story can open with a bang and end on a quieter note — or swing the other way. It’s definitely something that can happen, just by chance. For some players that randomness adds to the fun — it keeps you on your toes, and part of the challenge is making sense of whatever order the story comes in. But I totally get that if you’re aiming for a more classic rising structure, it can feel a bit off when it doesn’t land that way.

To help with that I have  added a small optional rule you can use if needed:

Optional Rule: Bump the Intensity (Once Per Game) Once per game, you can shift the intensity of a single card up or down by one level to better fit your story’s flow.

The intensity bands are:

• Low = 2–5
• Middle = 6–10
• High = Jack, Queen, King, Ace
• Jokers = Unpredictable surges of tension or chaos — they can’t be bumped, but you decide how to interpret their impact.

Example: Say you draw a 2 of Spades — that’s low intensity with a darker tone. But the moment feels more like a turning point in your story. You can use your one bump to treat it as a middle intensity scene instead. You keep the theme (Spades = danger, conflict), but give it more weight.

Or maybe you’re near the end and pull a 10 of Hearts, but want to wrap things up on a softer, quieter note. You could bump it down to low intensity to better suit the tone.

It’s just a little narrative nudge — nothing major — but it can help the story land better if the card draw feels like it’s working against you.

Anyway, thanks again for your kind words — and for thinking about the system in such a detailed way. I really appreciate it. If you try it again or come up with your own tweaks, I’d love to hear how it plays out.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi everyone,

I’ve just released a new solo journaling game called 100 Words.

It’s a minimal, reflective game designed to spark creativity and story with nothing more than a deck of cards, a pen, and a notebook. Each card you draw sets the tone and scale of the moment — and you respond with a short journal entry, limited to exactly 100 words.

There are no dice. No stats. Just cards, choices, and imagination.

If you enjoy micro-RPGs, journaling, or storytelling prompts, this might be a great fit. It's flexible enough to be played in a few spare minutes or drawn out as a longer narrative.

You can download it for free, remix it under a Creative Commons licence, or just use it as a springboard for your own ideas.

https://geordieboy.itch.io/100-words-a-solo-rpg-told-one-card-and-one-moment-at-...

I’d love to hear what you come up with — feel free to share your favourite entries or ask any questions in the comments.

Thanks for reading, Paul

What if a demon tried to possess a human… and ended up trapped in a housecat instead?

Infernal Whiskers is a solo journaling game about ancient power in a fragile, furry form.
You play a demon bound to a modern cat’s body — torn between domination and naps in sunbeams.

Draw cards to shape each moment. Will you regain your power, or purr against your will?

• Card-based story prompts

• Emotional tone from eerie to absurd

• Fully playable with a standard deck of cards and something to write with

If you enjoy journaling RPGs with bite (and the occasional hairball), take a look:

https://geordieboy.itch.io/infernal-whiskers

Feedback is welcome and very much appreciated — I’d love to hear what stories emerge from your claws.

That’s fantastic to hear—thank you! 😊
I really hope Waiting for the 23 gives you a quiet, meaningful, and maybe even surprising experience.

If you have any thoughts, reflections, or even just want to share a favourite journal entry afterward, I’d love to hear how it went.

Feedback means a great deal to me—it helps me grow as a designer and shapes the kinds of games I create next. Whether it’s something that worked beautifully or a moment that felt unclear, every comment helps.

You can leave a message on the Itch page or drop me a note directly.

Enjoy the wait. 🚌

Just Released: Dead Man’s Errand — A Solo Storytelling Game of Souls, Memory, and Endings (Playtest Edition

"Some doors are closed with a whisper. Some with a shout. Some, you must close yourself."

You are a modern-day Reaper. Not the famous one. Not the feared one. Just the one who shows up when the list appears.

Dead Man’s Errand is a solo storytelling game about collecting souls and navigating bittersweet, strange, and sometimes funny encounters as you guide them to their final crossing.

Tone: Dark humour • Bittersweet moments • Quiet humanity

What you’ll need to play:

• Three six-sided dice (3d6)

• A deck of playing cards

• A notebook or document to record your journey

This is a Playtest Edition
Feedback is very welcome! If you play, I’d love to hear about your experience — what worked, what didn’t, or even just the stories that emerged from your shift.

Get it here: https://geordieboy.itch.io/dead-mans-errand-a-solo-storytelling-game-of-souls-me...

I’m pleased to share the public playtest release of The Long Road, a GM-less, cooperative roleplaying game about medieval pilgrims walking toward a distant shrine.

This version includes:

• Complete rules for play with 2–6 players

• Emotional mechanics focused on Hope, Burden, and Strain

• A printable memory tracker and pointcrawl map

• Two full example journeys: one to Canterbury, one to a local spring

• Tables for weather, omens, roadside encounters, and more

This is not a game of monsters or treasure.
It is a quiet walk. It is about silence, confession, and what we carry.

What I’m Looking For

If you play, I’d love your thoughts:

• Was anything unclear?

• Did the emotional mechanics support the tone?

• What moments stood out?

• Did the game flow naturally for your group?

You can leave feedback in the comments, create a new thread, or reach out directly.

Download the game here:

https://geordieboy.itch.io/the-long-road-a-cooperative-gm-less-roleplaying-game-...

I've now uploaded a corrected version of the PDF 

Great question — and thank you for taking the time to dig into the details!

You're absolutely right that there’s a small mismatch between the chart and the text. To clarify: only Face Cards (Jack, Queen, King) and Aces trigger Threshold Moments.

The 10s sit just below that — they're important, high-stakes cards, but they don’t activate Threshold Moments. I’ll make sure the next PDF update clears that up more explicitly. Really appreciate you pointing it out!

The Molly House is a solo journaling RPG set in 18th-century London. You play as a molly — a character who adopts a carefully crafted persona to survive in a society that demands secrecy and performance.

Using a standard deck of playing cards, you’ll uncover scenes of connection, risk, influence, and quiet resilience. Each card shapes a moment in your character’s story — asking what they show to the world, and what they keep hidden.

🕯 Inspired by history, identity, and emotional roleplay, this is a game about:

• Living a hidden life in a rigid society

• Balancing control, performance, and vulnerability

• Navigating fragile trust, power dynamics, and longing

• A house that protects — and remembers

It’s designed for quiet, personal play — whether through journaling, spoken monologue, or thoughtful reflection.

Thanks for reading — I’d love to hear your thoughts or see what stories people create with it. 🌹

Hello everyone,

I'm excited to announce the release of the Solo Story Deck SRD — a free, lightweight framework for creating and playing your own solo storytelling games, using just a deck of cards and your imagination.

What is it? The Solo Story Deck SRD gives you the tools to craft your own solo journaling or storytelling experiences. No dice, no character sheets, and no complicated setup. Just shuffle the deck, follow the suits and ranks, and watch your story unfold.

Inside the SRD, you will find:

• A complete solo RPG system based on cards
• Rules for interpreting suits (themes) and ranks (intensity)
• Special rules for Threshold Moments and Jokers
• Optional tools such as emotional tags, flashbacks, and scene limits
• A Creator’s Toolkit to help you build your own games using this framework
• Clear, simple licensing that encourages you to modify, expand, and publish your own games based on it

Who is it for? The Solo Story Deck SRD is ideal for anyone who enjoys solo games, creative writing, storytelling, or game design. Whether you want to play short personal journeys, uncover hidden mysteries, or craft surreal dreamscapes, this framework gives you the flexibility to bring your stories to life.

It is completely free . You are welcome to download it, play with it, and create your own games — simply include the credit: "Based on the Solo Story Deck SRD."

You can find it here: https://geordieboy.itch.io/solo-story-deck-srd-draft

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy creating your own unique stories. If you have feedback, ideas, or if you build something based on the SRD, I would love to hear about it.

Thanks so much!

I'm really glad the inspiration I listed — Kafka and Richter — resonated with you.

Whether you play Solitary or just sit with the idea of it, I really appreciate you taking a look!

Hi everyone,

I just released Solitary, a solo journaling RPG about memory, guilt, and confronting the past.

You play as a prisoner condemned to die. Each day, you draw a card, remember a fragment of your life, and write your story — piece by piece — in a journal no one may ever read.

• Minimalist solo RPG using a standard deck of cards.

• Focuses on reflection, regret, and emotional storytelling.

• No stats, no puzzles — just pure memory and voice.

Note: I developed Solitary with creative assistance from ChatGPT by OpenAI, using it as a writing and development tool to help refine the game's prompts, tone, and structure.

https://geordieboy.itch.io/solitary-a-solo-journal-rpg-of-memory-guilt-and-final...

I'd love to hear your thoughts if you play it! Thanks so much for checking it out.

(Content Warning: The game explores themes of death, guilt, isolation, and memory.)