Hi folks!  Another chat with a solo content creator. This time, it's with Jon, the host of the Tale of the Manticore podcast.  This show is a hybrid solo RPG playthrough/ dark fiction podcast. The podcast is a serial story in which "the dice determine" the fate of the characters.  A story is being told and crafted by playing a solo game of Dungeons and Dragons.
Jon does an amazing job of producing a high quality show.  This is an excellent example of what can be accomplished by playing an RPG solo.  It's done without an emulator and Jon takes the role of both character and DM, though primarily DM.  It's an excellent show worth listening to and easy to binge and catch up!
 
Tale of the Manticore (website)
One Shot in the Dark (Drive Thru RPG)

1P 232 - Tale of the Manticore

A podcast dedicated to solitaire board gaming.

Games

Leisure

I accidentally used Podbeans AI processing.  Let's see how it sounds.. the description below is from their's.
Welcome to Episode 334 of the One Player Podcast, where we dive headfirst into the unique game systems of '20 Strong' and 'Solar Sentinels'. Join our host Albert as he navigates through the intriguing mechanics, quality of components, and player strategies of these engaging board games.
First, Albert explores '20 Strong', a solo game based on dice allocation and stat-tracking. Understand the game's high-quality components, unique mechanics, and criticism about the glittery dice. Despite being light on theme, Albert describes '20 Strong' as strategically captivating and provides an in-depth review of its gameplay.
In the second part of this episode, Albert shifts focus to the cosmos with the game, 'Solar Sentinels'. Our hosts shed light on their firsthand experiences of this complex game. Though the game's theme elicits differing reactions, the hosts agree on the game's strategic challenge that revolves around managing three different character card attributes.
The final segment invites you into the captivating world of dungeon crawlers. The episode provides intriguing discussions about the play dynamics, balance within games, and the aesthetic aspects of the game.
Deftly uncovering the intricacies of '20 Strong', 'Solar Sentinels', and dungeon crawlers, the One Player Podcast caters to both beginners and seasoned players looking to up their game.

1P 334 - Unpacking '20 Strong' and 'Solar Sentinels'

This week's game is Dungeon Pages, a roll and write by Jasons Greeno & Tagmire.  It's a roll and write dungeon crawl game.  It was initially released once over the course of a year.  Each week you would get a new dungeon page.  Effectively a hero with their set of five dungeons to explore.  Each of those pages is a quick campaign game that can be played in under 30 minutes!

1P 333 - Dungeon Pages

This week Julius and I talk about Bullet ♥︎ and, really, Bullet ★. These games are in the style of Bullet Hell video games were bullets are flying all over the place in overwhelming quantities.  It's a really fast playing simultaneous play game with a timer.  Julius find the timer optional and I appreciate that because it makes the game sound more fun to me.
 
Bullet ♥︎ (BGG)
Bullet ★ (BGG)
Bullet series (Level 99)

1P 332 - Bullet ♥︎

This week's episode I tell Julius all about the game Red Cathedral, in which you are tasked with helping to build St. Basil's Cathedral in Russia.  It's an interesting game with beautiful artwork and a very simple AI for the solo gamer.  Fortunately, I did most of the talking this week.  Julius's audio was a bit garbled and I was unable to clean it up.

1P 331 - Red Cathedral

This week Julius and I look at Mathy and try to figure out if the subject adds up for us.  We had some conversations I thought were interesting in what makes or doesn't make a mathy game while presenting six different examples.
 
07:00 Sprawopolis (BGG)
08:50  Castles of Burgundy (BGG)
15:20 Friday (BGG)
17:15 Cartographers (BGG)
19:45 Search for Planet X (BGG)
21:30 Racetrack (mistakenly called Vector Racing) (BGG, Wikipedia)

1P 232 - Tale of the Manticore

Download our free app to listen on your phone