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Creating your Solo Journaling TTRPG Character

Apr 4, 2025

An open notebook journal on a wooden desk surrounded by tabletop RPG accessories. Playing cards are scattered on the right page along with dice. The left page contains polyhedral gaming dice, decorative coins, and a sketched flower. A pencil rests across the notebook, and the name 'Quinlan Monaghan' is written inside. A deck of cards with red backing sits in the upper right corner, and various dice containers and leather accessories are visible around the edges.

The Solitaire Scribe Solo TTRPG System

Level Zero's Solitaire Scribe is a Solo TTRPG Journaling system that creates a narrative framework for your character using just a notebook and a standard deck of playing cards. This guide assumes that you’re playing Arcana as a solo journaling TTRPG, but there’s no reason why this system can’t be adapted to run with any other TTRPG.

This article will guide you through creating a character that becomes a true protagonist in a story of their very own, which is surprisingly unique in most TTRPGs, where all players have to consider the group and the game master.

  1. Creating Your Protagonist

    1. Spellbook

    2. Goals

  2. Creating Your Fellow Cast

    1. Characters that Challenge You

    2. Characters that Fulfill You

    3. Characters with Emotional Ties

    4. Characters with Professional Ties

  3. Creating Your Story's Backdrop

    1. Kandelyss Calendar

    2. Protagonist's Agenda


Creating your Solo Journaling TTRPG character

Start by creating your Player Character the same way you do in any other TTRPG. Name, appearance, vibes, stats, and abilities. It’s recommended that you make choices on all of the optional character traits as well, just to bring as much dimension to your character as you can. Directions and details to create your character are found in the first chapter of Arcana.

Spellbook

As you create your Spellbook, feel free to write in as many Essences, Operations, Forms, Triggers, and Modifiers as you like. The Essence Catalog lists a ton of great examples, but don’t forget that every noun in the known universe can be an Essence, so think outside the book! The first ones you write (granted by the character creation process) will be the only ones you know at the very beginning of your story. The remaining Spell Components will become your “wishlist” of Spell Components, which you’ll endeavor to master during your story.

Create as many spells as you like from the Components you currently know! Imagine why your character created them and what spells they’ll develop next to help them in everyday life as well as their grand ambitions.

Goals

Speaking of grand ambitions: to be a protagonist, you’re going to need some goals! Write at least one answer (preferably more!) to the four following questions in your journal. Each day, you’ll have the chance to advance these goals. There are some examples listed to take inspiration from.

♠️⚔️
What are your ambitions?
How will you challenge yourself?

  • Master a difficult to study Essence like time, probability, or that of a rare or mysterious creature

  • Create an original spell that becomes my signature

  • Create a permanently enchanted artifact

  • Become recognized as a master in a specific school of magic

  • Reverse a curse or heal a magical wound

  • Advance the science of magical healing, exploration, or other field of expertise/industry

  • Navigate the political landscape in my city or arcane society to gain a high station

  • Discover lost magical knowledge from ancient texts

  • Explore distant parts of the world or planes of existence thought to be myth

  • Solve a local mystery that's plaguing my town

♣️🪄
What kind of fun and adventure do you want to experience?

  • Participate in a tournament or competition (magical or otherwise)

  • Tour the world as an artist or musician

  • Tame or befriend wild creatures or fey

  • Recreational sports (anything from rowing, hunting, or cricket to griffon riding, cloud surfing, or transfigurative dueling)

  • Find ways to use magic to help common people with everyday problems.

  • Attend parties and galas among high-society

  • Become a gambling shark feared in every tavern in the city

  • Attend seasonal festivals across different regions to learn their unique traditions.

  • Catalog magical flora and fauna in my region.

  • Develop a skill (sewing, smithing, cooking, etc.) and enhance it with magic

♥️🍷
What do you want in your relationships?

  • Find romance with someone.

  • Build a support network of fellow mages.

  • Reconcile with an estranged family member.

  • Rekindle a strong friendship that waned years ago.

  • Form a magical partnership with another practitioner.

  • Earn the trust of a suspicious community.

  • Find a mentor to advance my magical studies.

♦️🪙
What do you want in your career?

  • Establish my own magical business.

  • Become a teacher of the arcane arts.

  • Become somebody who knows everyone in my field of work.

  • Serve as a magical consultant to nobility or government.

  • Create and sell magical items or potions.

  • Become the court mage for a powerful noble.

  • Publish research on new magical techniques and be cited by fellow arcanists.


NPCs for Solo Journaling TTRPGs

The Address Book is a record of the cast of characters that appear in your story. Each of these characters is assigned to a particular face card, and each suit categorizes those characters to a particular pillar of your lifestyle.

  • Jacks are usually peers that oppose you in some way.

  • Queens are usually friends or supporters.

  • Kings are authority figures who may or may not support you.

Don’t feel pressured to create an in-depth backstory for these characters. It’s best to begin each of these characters with a few basic details. For each character, write down a simple name and occupation. These basic details do a surprising amount to tell you who a character is, and the context of your story will multiply the details you’ll imagine for them.

If that process sounds tedious to you, try Arcana's NPC Roller. With one click you’ll be given a full name, fantasy race, and profession. The results come from a set of tables curated specifically for Arcana’s primary setting: Kandelyss’s city of Caslon.

NPC Roles

♠️⚔️Relationships of Challenge

Jack of Spades, the Enemy

Starting Relationship Level: Enemy (-3)

This person is a direct opponent to you in regards to your personal goals. If your goal is to master the violin, your adversary will complain of noise to the authorities and detune your instrument given the chance.

Queen of Spades, the Teammate

Starting Relationship Level: Companion (3)

This person works alongside you in pursuit of a goal. They challenge you to be better for your own sake as much as that of your partnership. This person might be a peer working with you as a team, or they might be your coach, tutor, or counsellor.

King of Spades, the Obstacle

Starting Relationship Level: Adversary (-2)

This person is above your station and has access to something you need. They care not for your requests, and until you convince them otherwise, they see you as too insignificant to be bothered with.

♣️🪄Relationships of Harmony

Jack of Clubs, the Rival

Starting Relationship Level: Adversary (-1)

This person shares a common goal with you and seems to be racing to get there first, taking every chance they get to one-up you. Few things in life feel better than one-upping them right back!

Queen of Clubs, the Best Friend

Starting Relationship Level: True Friend (5)

This is the person you can trust with anything. They’ll always offer to help you in times of need, no matter how large or small that need may be.

King of Clubs, the Overseer

Starting Relationship Level: Companion (3)

This person is in charge of the place you go most often to enjoy yourself. They may be the barkeep at your tavern of choice, they might run events you often attend, or they might own the music shop you frequent.

♥️🍷 Relationships of Emotion

Jack of Hearts, the Bully

Starting Relationship Level: Enemy (-3)

This person sees you as someone they can exploit, often to cover up some insecurity they have. Depending on your preferences as a player, the Bully might be an actual abuser or someone who just teases you often.

Queen of Hearts, the Love Interest

Starting Relationship Level: Associate (2)

You’re romantically attracted to this person, or vice versa. They seem to be exactly what you want in a partner… or maybe they’re outrageously hot. The two of you have some natural chemistry, but you’ll need to build a romantic relationship from the ground up if that’s what you want to experience.

Illustration Credit: François B on ArtStation

Credit: François B on ArtStation

King of Hearts, the Guardian

Starting Relationship Level: True Friend (5)

This is the person in your family who cares for you most deeply. Likely a parent or grandparent, but this could also be a sibling or even a child that will do anything to see you achieve your goals and thrive. Your guardian will always do what’s best for you, sometimes to their own detriment. Likewise, you may feel a certain obligation to do right by them, even if that means being uncomfortable for a time.

♦️🪙 Relationships of Profession

Jack of Diamonds, the Competitor

Starting Relationship Level: Adversary (-1)

This person’s place of work shares the same customer base as your own. They may act friendly enough to your face, but their kindness is only skin deep. 

Queen of Diamonds, the Colleague

Starting Relationship Level: Associate (1)

This person is your co-worker. At the start, their attitude toward you at the start is lukewarm at best. They might see you as “the new guy” or simply have a different way of doing things, for better or for worse.

King of Diamonds, the Supervisor

Starting Relationship Level: Associate (1)

This person is in charge of you at your place of work or study. They hope for you to do well, but they think that their career, business, or reputation will stay with them longer than you will.


The characters we create here are by no means the full cast of your story. If you feel you’ve outgrown or completed the story a particular character was meant to help your character experience; they can be replaced or simply removed.

Likewise, if you discover you want to explore a story featuring a character trope not listed in the standard address book template, you can assign that character to the Ace of whatever suit you think is appropriate.


Your Story Backdrop

Now that we’ve established our protagonist (you!) and the primary cast of characters, we need to develop the setting that they’ll inhabit. When you write out your Agenda on a Calendar, you won’t have to ask yourself, “What am I supposed to be doing?” every time you start a new day. 

Do you imagine your character as a student of the arcane at a place like Acanthus Multiversity? Maybe you had a more adventurous theme in mind, such as being part of an adventurer’s league like The Red Scarf Faction or the Black Diamond Legion? Or perhaps you want to live the simple life of a local hedge witch or the friendly neighborhood apothecary? You can choose any kind of background for your story, but you’ll want to ensure that it includes plenty of people for your character to bounce off of and a structured schedule of some sort. Sure, you can choose to be a wandering vagabond or a listless youth if you want, but structure and constraints often improve creativity.

Pick an occupation and keep it in mind as we establish your character’s routine.

The Calendar

It’s not recommended to use our world’s calendar, especially if you’re planning on creating a daily journal—it’s simply too long of a year! If you want time to pass at a more satisfying rate for a long career, use the Kandelyss Calendar.

This calendar is designed to give your game an illusion of an extended journey and make a multi-year adventure much more feasible to achieve. With this calendar system, you’ll experience the joy of the seasons, see pets and children grow, and celebrate holidays. If you want, you can even celebrate your birthday—bet you’ve never done that in an RPG before! 😏

You can learn all about the Kandelyss Calendar if you want, but for now, all you need is this table to set your average routine. Download the blank template here! Imagine forgetting your own character’s birthday… for shame!

Time's Name

New Moon🌑

🌒Crescents🌘

🌓Quarters🌗

🌔Gibbous🌖

🌕Full Moon

Dawn






Early Morn






Morning






Noon






Day






Afternoon






Dusk






Evening






Night






Midnight






Late Night






Dawn’s Eve







Setting your schedule

Sleep

Everybody needs to sleep at some point! On average, humanoids sleep for 8 hours each night, so go ahead and fill in 4 sections with sleep for each day

Work

If you live in the city of Caslon, you’re probably dealing with some expenses. Rent, meals, possibly tuition, it all adds up doesn’t it?! Unless you have a generous benefactor (which you can if you simply decide to!), you need to work to get that money. Luckily, the Department of Hearth and Home balances against the Department of Commerce to keep wages and living expenses well balanced.

You’ll be able to afford a place to live and to put food on the table if you work 6 hours a day, 3 days a week. At a fairly common or low-level position, it might not be a very nice place to live, or very tasty food on the table, but it’ll get you by. You’ll likely afford better living arrangements as a craftsperson or skilled salesperson. As a mage, you’ll probably make even more, and—if you craft a good set of spells—you might even shorten your work day, leaving more time for study or play.

This is your fantasy story, so if you want to start the game as a lord of a noble household, then you can just do that! But if the idea of a rags to riches story sounds appealing, then a starting job as a chimney sweep might be more satisfying.

School

If you see your character as a person that attends schooling of some kind, probably an institution of arcane sciences, you’ll want to make time for classes. Classes last 2 - 4 hours, and the time and money you spend on these classes count toward the cost of resources required to learn new spell components. 

For a guide on what kinds of classes you might take or the people you might encounter, see Acanthus Multiversity (work in progress! Let me know if you're eager to get your hands on this!).

Everything Else!

Whatever else you want your character to experience fills in the rest of your time! Set aside time for your hobbies, your personal goals, your friends and family. You should try to leave a few gaps of completely free time, but there’s no harm in designating time for your leisure activities.

  • Socializing

  • Music practice and performances

  • Independent study

  • Travel and adventuring

  • Meals with family

  • Crafting and constructing

Start your Solo Journal TTRPG adventure!

With your character, their goals, contacts, and agenda complete, you’re ready to start Solo Journalling! 

Click here for rules on the standard gameplay loop of TTRPG solo journaling using the Solitaire Scribe System. (Coming Soon!)