INTRO

Introduction to Solo Old School D&D

This blog site hosts a system for playing simple solo D&D style dungeon crawl adventures. It can be played completely solo or as 'on the fly' un-preprepared adventure by a referee and one or more players.

Open each of the PAGES at the top into separate tabs on your browser - you will flip between them often. The site is printer friendly if you prefer to file it as a printout.

The system is simple - you roll two dice for the direction you choose to explore then you map it and resolve any situation you may find yourself in. The game is designed to be used with the Old School Essentials ( OSE ) rules system. A copy of the OSE rules pdf is available to download here. But this can easily be adapted for any D&D or fantasy system you have.

There are two main areas you dice for. The dungeon corridors, stairs and areas inbetween are all rolled with 2d6 on one table on the page ' PASSAGES' until you pass through a door. Passing through a door from the passages will prompt you to roll 2d6 on the 'ROOM' table. There are further tables for encounters and treasure among other things. There are numerous links between sections if you choose not to open all the sections in tabs ( recommended if playing on a mobile device).

You will need:

Something to map your progress and something to write down stats for player characters ( PCs or 'the party' ) and the non-player characters ( NPCs or 'monsters'). You will need a set of polyhedral dice or you can just type into Google 2d6, 1d20 etc to get digital dice rolls. If you have physical dice it would help to have at least two of each type in different colours.

The system uses the Tens and Units dice method a lot. One dice would be tens and the other units. For example a 2d6 roll of 4 and 3 would read as forty-three.

Play up to tenth level !

The system allows for greater challenges as you get higher level. Many lists are made with tiered difficulty levels built in. Starting with 1-2nd level parties up to parties of level 7+. If you have mixed PCs ion your party you will need to work out the 'party average' ( add up all levels and divide by number in party ).

Character Generation:

Use the OSE rules to make a party of 3-7 PCs. Generate ability stats 3d6 down the line for STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON and CHA. You get TWO CHANCES to alter results. You can either scrap one bad character or switch any two stat rolls around. When you use the second CHANCE you cannot create any more PCs for your party. This allows for possibly a large party with some or all mediocre characters or a smaller better party. Four is minimum and seven is maximum. There is the possibility in game to increase the party size. You can take maximum hit points starting at level one - thereafter you must roll hit dice for more. It is also possible to take on hirelings. There are example character sheet layouts in the bottom of the RULES page

Checklist:

Party of 3-7 max ( including hirelings ) noted down somewhere.
Mapping and notes device / pen and paper
digital / real dice

START HERE!

Come up with a dungeon name and and a bit of backstory if you like. Lay a downward staircase ( or any starting area that suits your story ). Put down your PCs in their marching order. You are ready to see what lays ahead. Go to the Passages page and roll 2d6. Your adventure begins !

Terms used for those not familiar with roleplaying games:

PCs player characters
NPCs - non player characters
d20 - a twenty sided dice - weird polyhedral gamers dice
d6 or 1d6 - a simple six sided dice
d8 - an eight sided one ! other common types are d4, d12, d10
3d6 - Three six sided dice need to be rolled
33% chance - a one in three chance - use 1d6 roll of 1-2 or 1d3 roll of 1 or d100 roll of 33 or less.
STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA, - short for strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity. constitution, charisma - the main PC attributes.
HP - hit points -how much damage you can take before you die
HD - hit dice - how many dice you have for HPs
AC - armour class - how much defence you have - this one is odd because the LOWER it is the better.

Update 28 Feb 2026

This system is still being refined. My first five or six crawls were particularly lethal and I am still balancing things. My parties have recently been 'quitting whilst ahead' and returning with new hirelings. I have not explored a dungeon to completion in one visit yet although I am sure it is possible now. Expect to lose half of the party at a minimum.

Solo Old School D&D