Welcome to Solipsist RPGs

First Version

The Solipsist RPG had it's origins in the 24 minute game design contest at Conpulsion 2006. In this contest, run by John Wilson (of Contested Ground Studios), entrants picked two words from a hat and then had 24 minutes (with 6 minutes thinking time) to design a game based on them.

Solipsist was my entry in that contest. It wasn't the winning game by any means, but there was something about it that caught my attention and made me write it up in more detail. When John and Gregor Hutton persuaded me to try my hand in the world of Indie publishing, it was Solipsist that I turned to for a game to develop.

Before the contest started John went around with a hat looking for words that would then be picked out for each contestant; I dropped in ‘Paramecium’ … wasn’t I clever. When my turn came to pick words back out of the hat to base my entry I got ‘Solipsistic’, and of course ‘Paramecium’ (and 'anna', but I ignored that one). Solipsistic gave me the core of the game, while Paramecium inspired the idea that the world was full of tiny invisible microscopic creatures with power over reality.

You can see that first version, all two pages of it, right here. (click the images to enlarge)

Further Versions

Initial versions of Solipsist (versions 1 to 3) were circulated amongst a small group of Playtesters (including my own friends) as word files, and discussed online at the Collective Endeavor and Story games forums. Version 4 was then released as a full-colour Aschan at Gencon 2007. (When I say released I mean taken in Gregor's suitcase and handed out to a few people, and when I say full colour Ashcan I mean something printed single sided and stuffed in a plastic wallet.)

Post Gencon further versions (5 and 6) were released in part online, featuring expansions to the Shadow rules and to the overall game structure chapter. This later chapter was heavily revised again in response to playtest feedback, and reading many other story games. Final versions (7 and 8) were playtested in Edinburgh, by some groups online, and publically discussed on the Collective Endeavor forum.