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Solo Gaming on Rolegate

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This is the blog of Larcenous Designs, LLC, through which I (Nathan Rockwood) will be publishing thoughts and ramblings related to my business' projects, which may include anything related to games, game design, and the use of gaming in education. 

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Solo Gaming on Rolegate

Nathan Rockwood

I’ve been experimenting with a website called Rolegate for my solo gaming, recently, and I have to say it’s working out pretty well! I actually heard about the site a while ago, but didn’t take a look at it until I noticed a bunch of their users were also fans of the GMA decks, and their developer asked me some questions about the cards and spreadsheeting the contents for web access—and now I am a pretty big fan of theirs, too!

I’m currently using it for both private games that are hidden from the general public, and also for a public tutorial on ALONe and the GMA. You can check that out here (and via the image below), but you’ll be taken to the most recent post, so remember to scroll all the way up to read it all!

A screenshot from my solo-gaming tutorial.

A screenshot from my solo-gaming tutorial.

The site is essentially designed to let play-by-post games happen in a space that looks like text messaging, and which can be done from mobile devices as easily as desktops. Their features are still in development, but include things like mapping, character sheets, rolling dice of various kinds, and (most importantly for me) letting the GM post as themselves, or as any of their NPCs, each with a unique icon and optional mood/attitude markers.

I cannot emphasize enough what a huge difference that makes to solo gaming (or even just PbP gaming)! Being able to type out a conversation and include visual distinctions AND automated rolling makes solo gaming feel so much closer to a full-on RPG session.

The site is free, but includes paid options to unlock additional avatars and set-dressing images—all cosmetic, not functional—and to let give you more ‘coins’ to gift to others as rewards for cool posts (again, just for kicks and site rankings, not for content functionality). I definitely recommend checking them out!