Solo D&D 5e Play
Play D&D 5e on your own. Ask the oracle, roll 5e situation tables, and keep a journal of your story. Saved locally in your browser.
Solo Play workspace
New to solo play? How it works: what each section is for and how to use it.
What you get
- A yes or no oracle with seven likelihood steps, from an 8% to a 92% chance of yes.
- A scene loop: say what you expect, then check whether the scene runs as expected, altered, or interrupted.
- 5e situation tables for NPC reactions, dungeon rooms, wilderness, towns, combat twists, and loot hooks.
- Generator hooks that drop an NPC, encounter, scene, travel event, or loot roll into your story.
- Threads and characters lists that random events can land on.
- A journal that records every question, roll, scene, and note.
- Multiple campaigns, saved in your browser with no account.
Solo Play for D&D 5e
Solo Play is a free toolkit for playing D&D 5e without a Dungeon Master. You ask yes or no questions of an oracle, roll on plot tables when the story needs a nudge, and keep a journal of what happens, all in one workspace. It needs no account and no other players.
In solo play you are both the player and the storyteller. The oracle (a table that answers yes, no, or something stranger) gives you a neutral voice to settle what the world does, so you are not just deciding everything yourself. The plot tables supply surprises, so scenes do not always go the way you expected.
It works with any character you already have, from a fresh level one adventurer to a veteran, and with either the 2014 or 2024 rules. Your campaign is saved locally in your browser.
How the Workspace Works
Each panel in the workspace has one job. Here is what every section is for and how to use it, in the order they appear on the page.
Campaign
Goal: Keep each solo story separate, saved, and portable.
- Start a campaign and give it a name. Everything else unlocks once one exists.
- Switch between campaigns from the Campaign menu, or rename and delete them.
- Export a campaign to a file to back it up or move it to another device, and import it there.
Ask the oracle
Goal: Settle what is true in the world when you do not want to decide it yourself.
- Type a yes or no question, such as "Is the gate guarded?"
- Pick a likelihood from Nearly impossible (8% yes) to Nearly certain (92% yes) based on what makes sense in the fiction.
- Roll and read the answer. Plain yes and no are most common; qualified answers ("yes, but") and exceptional answers add color, and sometimes a random event fires too.
Tension
Goal: Track how chaotic the story is, from 1 (calm) to 9 (everything is going wrong).
- Every campaign starts at 5. Raise or lower it with the buttons, or type a number.
- Higher tension makes oracle answers swing harder, random events more frequent, and scenes more likely to change.
- You rarely need to touch it by hand: closing a scene moves it for you.
Scene
Goal: Run the story one scene at a time, with a check that can surprise you.
- Write what you expect to happen next, then start the scene with a check (or skip the check if you want it to play out as planned).
- The check says the scene runs as expected, is altered, or is interrupted by something else. Play it out using the result.
- When it ends, mark it Favorable (tension drops), Unfavorable (tension rises), or Neutral, update any threads or characters, and close the scene.
Threads and characters
Goal: Remember the open plot lines and the people who matter to your story.
- Add a thread for every goal or mystery your character is chasing, and a character for every notable NPC.
- Random events can land on these lists, so the story pulls back to things you already care about.
- Mark a thread resolved or a character inactive when they leave the story, or remove them.
Plot tables
Goal: Get a prompt when a scene needs a twist, a detail, or a new direction.
- Pick a table (NPC reactions, dungeon rooms, wilderness, towns, combat twists, loot hooks) and roll it.
- Roll an action pair or a description pair for two open words to interpret when no table fits.
- Read the result through the lens of the current scene; the first idea it sparks is usually the right one.
Generators
Goal: Drop a fully detailed piece of content into your story on demand.
- Roll an NPC, encounter, scene, travel event, or loot when the story introduces one.
- The result goes straight into the journal with a link to the full generator result.
Journal
Goal: Keep the record of your campaign so you can pick it up next session.
- Every oracle answer, scene, table roll, and generator result is added automatically.
- Add your own notes to describe what your character did and how it turned out.
- Remove the latest entry if you made a mistake; you can restore it right after.
What You Can Do Here
The workspace brings together the pieces most solo players otherwise juggle on scraps of paper.
- Pick how likely the answer is, then roll for yes, no, or a twist.
- Use it to decide whether a door is locked, a guard is bribable, or a stranger is honest.
- Roll for an event when a scene feels flat.
- Combine a roll with the oracle to find out what the surprise means.
- Track scenes, people, and open threads in one place.
- Come back next session and pick up where you stopped.
How a Solo Scene Works
A simple loop is enough to start. Repeat it as long as the story is fun.
The basic loop
- Set the scene: Decide where your character is and what they want right now.
- Ask the oracle: When you are unsure what is true or what happens, ask a yes or no question and roll.
- Play it out: Describe your action, make the usual D&D rolls, and apply the results.
- Write it down: Add a line to the journal so you can pick the thread up later.
Tips for Solo Players
- Ask open, honest questions. Phrase them so a yes and a no would both be interesting.
- Let the dice win. If the oracle surprises you, follow the surprise instead of rerolling.
- Start small. One character, one town, and one problem is plenty for a first evening.
- Keep notes short. A line per scene is easier to maintain than a long diary.
New to running a game of any kind? The basics of pacing and rulings carry over, and are covered in How to Run Your First D&D Session.
Common Questions
- Is Solo Play free?
- Yes. Every tool on Tools and Taverns is free, with no account, signup, or limit.
- Do I need a Dungeon Master or other players?
- No. That is the point of solo play. You play your character and use the oracle and tables to stand in for a Dungeon Master.
- Where is my campaign saved?
- Locally in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server, so your story stays on the device where you wrote it.
- Does it work with 2014 and 2024 D&D?
- Yes. The oracle and plot tables are system-neutral, so they work with a character built under either edition.