Some of my favorite resources and links below:
Websites:
donjon a site filled with random generators for gamers like me. Some are geared towards specific rule sets. Others are universal. I especially like the 5e Encounter generator, trinket generator, and the general FantasyInn generator, which includes rumors and a menu! It also has dungeon generators if you want a quick (or lengthy) dungeon crawl.
Fantasy Name Generator this site seems to have random name generators for every real world culture, imagined sci fi or fantasy race, and plenty of other generators as well. I refer to this site for character and settlement names more than any other.
Chaotic Shiny is another great random generator site. I like the crowd generator for quick character descriptions. The religion and pantheon generators are handy for world building and the NPC generators are good for character ideas.
Kassoon’s Backstory Generator is where most of my characters start to take form. Plus, rerolling till I find something that triggers my imagination is easy.
Perchance offers a nice dungeon room description generator. Far more than I typically need, but it’s real easy to pull a few elements to inspire a solid scene description.
Lordbyng offers some minor magic items for a bit of loot that isn’t too overpowered. Though I also like to pull a trait from one of these items and add it to a standard +1 weapon or piece of armor, for some unique flavor on an otherwise “forgettable” piece of equipment.
Purchased Products for General Gaming:
Worldographer is the tool I use to build campaign maps. It is great for world design, as you can build the map at three different levels , and the user defines at which scale these layers relate to each other. Changes made to one layer can impact the appearance of the others. I use a 25 mile hex for the world view, 5 mile hex for the nation level view, and 1 mile hexes for within a single fief.
Fantasy Grounds is the virtual tabletop I use for maps, combat and story tracking. Yes, it is expensive to add various rulesets to it but I find the built in calculators and combat tracking systems invaluable. Another VTT option for the cost conscious is Roll20, a platform on which I played many games, but when I was using it, you had to build your own macros for anything you wanted to automate. That may have changed.
Herolab is where I build characters for offline play, and where I used to track combats and characters during solo games before switching over to Fantasy Grounds. It is an outstanding tool for character construction and recordkeeping.
My Most Critical Tools for Solo Gaming
DM Yourself is a handy resource for advice on how to run a solo game with special focus on playing published modules designed for a party of characters. I’ve borrowed a number of ideas from it including more than half of my house rules, and the “Immersion” roles.
Mythic GM Emulator is my “oracle” of choice. This is the tool one uses to decide whether something happens or not in a game. Pose a yes/no question, decide a probability, roll the dice, and get your answer, plus some unexpected complications from time to time. DM Yourself also has an oracle, but I prefer this one…perhaps mostly because I found a flash based version the I can run as needed.
Universal NPC Emulator helps populate my world. It has a rather extensive set of rules on how characters interact and who they are, but the parts I use the most are the motivation and conversation topic tables. This is very useful for solo play where it can be used to breathe life into the world around your heroes. A web version of the character generator can be found here.
Cities by Midkemia Press helps with the urban adventures and between story downtime. The encounter tables that comprise much of that book are also very helpful, and apparently available as a separate product.
Token Stamp 2 on RollAdvantage is incredibly useful for turning images I find of characters into tokens for use in a virtual tabletop.
Other Useful Tools
Travel Montage by Jeff and Dawn Ibach. I use the “Common Annoyances” table on all of my overland travel encounter tables, because it livens things up without a fight. The document also includes a very interesting “Odd Find” table, but I haven’t transferred it into my VTT setup yet, though I understand there is now a version of this document for Fantasy Grounds.
GM Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing by Raging Swan Press, and also Urban Dressing, and Dungeon Dressing. I use Wilderness and Urban most often. Some of the Wilderness Dressing subtables are referenced in my regional encounter tables, and I enjoy the Urban Encounter tables sorted by community types as well.
Published Solo Adventures I’ve Played and Enjoyed:
Uncertain Life by David Bond, David Willamson. An exciting adventure where your character starts off as a prisoner. Escapes captivity, and pursues another couple of short adventures. You start at Level 0, pick a class after escaping to freedom, and end the story at Level 3 (if you survive). Your lone hero will meet a couple of allies along the way so you aren’t always going it alone. This is open to sequels that are not yet published.
The Executioner’s Daughter by Ashley Warren. A short adventure reminiscent of the movie Dragon Slayer. I loved this adventure for a single character teamed up with the titular character. This tale is standalone.
Dark Sorceries by Abel T Trotter. Another short adventure that prepares you for a longer story which is continued in Into Kryptgarden Forest,. You play a lone hero except in the final battle. Your allies provide interesting boosts to your character, rather than simply being additional combatants. This has a classic “retired gunslinger” type start where circumstances force you back into action.
The Death Knight’s Squire by 5e Solo Gamebooks. This is kind of a benchmark solo adventure. You play a lone hero on a rescue mission. I’m a sucker for the classics! Plus this leads to a series of additional solo adventures like the Tyrant of Zhentil Keep, Citadel of the Raven, The Tortured Land, and probably more to come. I’ve played Death Knight and Tyrant, and loved them both. I have not played the others yet, but I am confident they will be worthwhile when the mood strikes.
Shipwrecked Part 1 by Blaise Wigglesworth was a nicely balanced game for a 1st level solo hero and it leads to a series of additional adventures. I’ve not played other titles in the series.
Death Queen and the Life Stone by Rising Phoenix Games and its sequel the Forest of Secrets are a couple of short adventures for a lone1st (and 2nd) level character with a martial bent. I liked the second better than the first, as one is provided an ally whose safety is a concern, but both are a fun way to spend an afternoon.
Avalon Solo Adventure System by Avalon Game Company is a setting in which a solo player runs a party of four characters, starting at first level, through one of a series of branching adventure books. I enjoyed the one I played through and purchased others for when the mood strikes.
Player’s Journals I Enjoy Reading
James Aerykssen’s character, Mushman, has some exciting adventures posted on Solo Meta-nomy. Stranded in a foreign land and blundering around in the wilderness can make for an interesting tale.
Simon Stacey’s half orc barbarian, Gryth, trying to become a hero leads to some interesting adventures in DnD Solo. His journeys tie into some of the published adventures like Lost Mines of Phandelver.
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