Itch.io One Page RPG Jam 2026 Recap

The 2026 One Page RPG Jam at Itch.io has ended. I finally sat down and perused the many (over 650!!) wonderful submissions in search of games to try. It's always amazing to see what RPG creators are able to fit on one sheet of printable paper. There was a good mix of journaling games, dice-crawlers, and quirky side quests, and many were solo-play oriented.

Here are a few of my favorites from this year's Jam. These four are solo-play RPGs and print out as double-sided tri-fold brochures. 

#1: Rikishi Rising by Edward Rathke, a dice fighting game

Play as a sumo rikishi, working your way up the ranks to Yokozuna. Requires dice to play. It's a neat concept, and the creator offers multiple versions, from complex ruleset to a simplified version. As a sumo fan (Ura, Tamawashi, and Takayasu are three of my faves) I was elated to see a sumo-based game.

The World We Left Behind, a Solo TTRPG First Playthrough

After my unfortunately underwhelming first paythrough of Cartograph, I have begun writing up my own ruleset and tables for the game, which I may publish publicly at some point. For now, I have decided to move on while I work on it in the background, and wanted to try the other physical book I purchased from Tabletop Bookshelf.

The World We Left Behind is another journaling-style game about exploration. You will journal as a member of a crew of space explorers, cargo haulers, planetary scientists, space pirates, or whatever tickles your space fantasy fancy. It's entirely up to you - what planet you are exploring and why you are there. As you explore, you will use provided prompts to unravel a mystery, solve a puzzle, get what you came for, or leave empty handed. But, leaving the planet behind doesn't have to be forever, and your crew can go on new missions through new or continued playthrough sessions.

Conflicted About Cartograph, a Solo TTRPG First Playthrough Experience

After immensely enjoying my first foray into solo TTRPGs with Delve, I jumped into another map-making style game called Cartograph by Brandon Lee. The game had such great reviews, I purchased a physical copy at a pretty hefty price. The book itself is beautiful and well laid out. There are good explanations, easy to understand dice/card oracle tables, and even a sample walkthrough scenario to help explain things further. Unfortunately, my first playthrough wasn't exactly an enjoyable experience.

Cartograph is primarily a journaling game. You roll dice, draw points on a map where the dice land, decide where to go, draw poker cards that will tell you about your journey there and what you find when you arrive, then journal about the experience. I greatly enjoyed the concept and the journaling, and quickly developed a story for my cartographer -- why he was in these new lands, what he hoped to find, and the things he found along the way. The execution of the journey, however, proved cumbersome and not exactly a good time.

Delving into Delve, a Solo Map Making TTRPG

In an update to my last post about tumbling into the rabbit hole of solo TTRPGs, I did end up buying a printer. I went with a simple Brother hl-l2420dw monochrome laser printer that does duplex printing (auto reverse side printing). It was surprisingly cheap, and the toner ink doesn't go bad like with inkjet printers when you don't use it for months at a time. No color, but *shrug*. So, printer acquired, I proceeded to go on the hunt for solo TTRPGs. To my joy, I realized I already owned several on Itch.io, thanks to a few charity bundles I purchased over the years.

The first game I printed and played was DELVE, by Anna Blackwell. With the printer and some tests, and several wasted pages, I figured out how to print booklets*. I bought a big roll of clear contact paper (usually found with shelf liners in your local box store) to laminate the cover (much cheaper than using an actual lamination machine), and sewed the binding watching a saddle stitch video from Sea Lemon. Booklet done, I dove into playing my first game.

Delve has you commanding a group of fantasy dwarves as they dig down into the earth in search of treasures. Along the way, you build rooms like barracks, a forge, a kitchen, shrines, and kennels. The game uses a deck of standard poker cards, a coin for 1d2 rolls, and a 1d4 dice. You can also just draw a card for the dice rolls/coin flips. The booklet gives you scenarios, roll tables to discover what you find in the room you bravely venture into, and to gather resources to hire more soldiers and build more rooms. As you play, you can sketch out your hold, room by room, or just track things on notebook paper. I found drawing out my hold super fun, including laughing at my own terrible little sketches.

First Steps Into The Worlds of Solo TTRPGs

Originally posted on my PillowFort blog on 8/4/2026

During my writing brain vacation, I tumbled into the realm of Solo TTRPGs (table top role playing games). I used to play group TTRPGs, including Changeling The Dreaming & VtM (during the height of MUDs & mIRC), and Pathfinder more recently via Discord. I've been wanting to get back into it, but with less of the social aspect because I've become a bit of a hermit and scheduling a weekly play session became tedious. I began thinking if there was a way to play those games without a game master, and was amazed to learn about the amazing world of solo ttrpgs. (Yes, I often live under rocks)

While you can use 'oracles' (GM stand-in tools) and guide books to play many group TTRGs (like Pathfinder and D&D) with modified solo rules, there are also dedicated, mostly small press, creators who make, play, and share RPGs specifically designed to be enjoyed solo. They offer unique experiences outside the mainstream realm of big label TTRPGs, shorter gameplay sessions, more freedom, customization, and a chance to dig deep into the character(s) you create instead of spending half a session listening to the GM and your party's wizard debate about spell interpretation, or dealing with the overstimulating chaos that can come from five voices during a heated dungeon crawl.

(my artwork, from an FF14-based Inktober prompt list I made in 2020)