Solo-RPG-mode for Emacs

For those who do not know Emacs is an extremely capable Open Source text editor (among a multitude of other things) which has endured over many decades while others have come and gone.

As we all know, roleplaying games are a bit of a niche. And within that niche, solo RPG play is an even smaller niche. In within that nice, I've created solo-rpg-mode for the even smaller niche of players who play such games within Emacs.

What does Solo-RPG-mode do?

It is important to realize that Solo-RPG-mode is not a game in and of itself. It is a system for supporting solo roleplaying games within the Emacs text editor. It is completely system-agnostic, meaning it knows nothing about the rules of the game you happen to be playing - but it can help you with rolling dice, answering questions, and generating content. Let's have a look at some of these things.

Rolling dice

From within the menu, you can access the Dice roller which lets you type standard dice notation like 2d6+3 and output the results.

Lonelog support

In recent days, the Lonelog notation for solo RPG notes by Loreseed Workshop has become an increasingly popular way of documenting your play sessions. Solo-RPG-mode supports this notation with color highlighting, and an optional tag window on the side which displays your tags. This is useful for keeping track of NPCs, quests, and hit points in combat.

Yes/No oracle

There is a Yes/No oracle for answering questions like "Is there a guard in this room?" which supports 13 levels of probabilities. It gives you answers like:

• No, and…
• No
• No, but…
• Yes, but
• Yes
• Yes, and

Additionally, there is a 1 in 10 chance that a positive or negative random event will be triggered, which can spice things up.

Action/Theme oracle

The Action/Theme oracle, invented by Tana Pigeon for the Mythic Game Master Emulator, is a way of combining two random words - and action and a theme - to spark your imagination forward when you get stuck as a player. Solo-RPG-mode has its own version of such an oracle.

Generators

There are a number of generators:

• NPC appearance and personality, based on the NPC Generator article.
• Simple dungeon rooms with descriptions, rough dimensions and shape. No map is generated though - just one room at a time.
• Events for dungeons, travel, cities, and narrative events in general for when you get stuck.
• A simple weather generator is also included.

Tarot cards

Some people use Tarot cards for inspiration, so that capability is included as well.

What Solo-RPG-mode doesn't do

Since Solo-RPG-mode is designed to be system-agnostic, it knowns nothing about the rules of the particular game you've chosen to play, and thus it can't help you with them. It cannot tell you if an attack roll hits or not, or what spells are available to a fifth level wizard in Dungeons & Dragons.

How to install Solo-RPG-mode in Emacs

If you're an Emacs user and you want to try this out, do the following from within Emacs to install solo-rpg-mode:

M-x package-refresh-contents RET
M-x package-install RET solo-rpg

Then add the following to your config:

(require 'solo-rpg)
(with-eval-after-load 'solo-rpg
  ;; Note - you can replace "C-c r" with another key if you prefer
  (define-key solo-rpg-mode-map (kbd "C-c r") 'solo-rpg-menu)

After that, you can launch solo-rpg-mode by typing:

M-x solo-rpg-mode RET

Once solo-rpg-mode is running, you can access its menu with C-c r or which ever key combination you chose above.