The Librarian’s Apprentice Playthrough
You’ve probably heard of tabletop role playing games (TTRPGs), but how about solo RPGs? They come in lots of different forms and can be adapted by the player to be just about anything. As an avid player myself, sometimes I’m in the mood to sit down and have that collaborative narrative experience with just me and the author!
The Librarian’s Apprentice is a solo journaling / mapmaking game that takes place in an infinite library. You generate the rooms you encounter on your journey by drawing cards and rolling dice and seeing where those numbers fall on a series of prompt tables that help you populate your library with people, creatures, items, and events. Every playthrough will be different, and everyone who plays will have a different idea of what their library is like, the possibilities are endless! Apart from a few prompting questions, the worldbuilding of this story is entirely up to you.
A core tenet of the TTRPG space is “play to find out.” It’s why we roll the dice. Creating a story where you aren’t fully in charge is liberating, and I encourage all my author friends to give it a try. One little boundary can be infinitely more inspiring than the blank page.
My library ended up being a subterranean maze of crystal caves, traversed by the intrepid Phlox. Details and truths about her and this post-cataclysm world emerged as I played, and I really loved exploring what the game had to offer. The lists at the start of each section indicate the cards and dice generated descriptors I used to help define that room. Everything else was improv! Read the adventure below, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! And grab your own copy of The Librarian’s Apprentice today!
