CYOA: The Solo Choose Your Own Adventure RPG System
You’ve Never Seen an RPG This Way
The Solo Choose Your Own Adventure RPG System (CYOA, for short) is a unique blend of interactive storytelling and RPG mechanics, for solo players who want to enjoy an RPG narrative adventure in their own company. It’s like any other: dice rolling, character statistics, and encounter management, as you were playing a traditional tabletop RPG. But by yourself.
Some Historical Background
Choose Your Own Adventure is, in fact, a series of children’s game books, created by Edward Packard. The first book in the series, The Cave of Time, was published in 1979. In these books, the reader assumes the role of the protagonist and makes choices that determine the main character’s actions and the plot’s outcome.
Edward Packard’s books are not linear. For instance, after a few pages of reading, the reader faces two or three options, one choice leading to page 34, and another leading to page —I don’t know—77, and so on until they arrive at one of the many story endings. This non-linear style is so satisfying because it rewards your curiosity—or punishes your recklessness. It’s all about the weight of a decision; when you realize that opening the door on page 34 was a terrible idea, that’s where the real game begins.
When Does a Book Become a Game?
At some point, the line between “reading” and “roleplaying” starts to blur. The moment you stop asking, “What page do I turn to?” and start wondering, “What would my character actually do here?” something shifts. Maybe you grab a die to decide if that risky jump succeeds. Maybe you invent a consequence the book didn’t spell out. Suddenly, you’re not just following branching paragraphs—you’re making judgment calls, interpreting fallout, and adding your own rules. That’s when a simple CYOA stops being just a book and quietly turns into an RPG.
Where Have I Seen This Before…?
Video games! We’ve seen it in video games! I mean, some of them. Besides, Choose Your Own Adventure is a text-based system, whereas video games are visual… You get the idea.
Take Life Is Strange and Baldur’s Gate III, for example: they are categorized as solo role-playing games. You have your character, you make decisions, those decisions have consequences and then, you get to one of many endings. Yay! In a video game, you’re often pushing against “invisible walls” or trying to guess what the programmer wanted. In a CYOA book, you’re the one interpreting the fallout. It’s a bit more intimate because the “graphics card” is your own brain, and the consequences feel way more personal when you’re the only one responsible for the mess you’ve made.
Why Solo Choices Feel Different
There’s also something a little different about making choices when it’s just you and the page. At a table, a bold move usually earns a laugh, a gasp, or at least someone saying, “Are you sure?” When you’re playing solo, there’s no dramatic pause from the party—just you, staring at the consequences you willingly walked into. It’s quieter. A bit more introspective. You start noticing why your character keeps picking the risky option, or why they hesitate before opening that metaphorical (or very literal) door. And that self-awareness? It can turn a simple branching story into something surprisingly personal.
“I Work Alone, Kid”
Now that we’re familiar with CYOA RPG, let’s play! Honestly, you could find anything on Reddit, but here are some actual CYOA books::
To Be or Not To Be, by Ryan North
A retelling of Hamlet where you can choose to play as Hamlet, Ophelia, or King Hamlet’s ghost. It’s a masterclass in seeing how one tiny tweak can set a “classic” story on fire. Playing the King’s ghost must be hilarious.
My Lady’s Choosing, by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris
This is a romantic CYOA set in the Regency period, where you control the protagonist’s romantic choices. It proves that social stakes can be just as deadly as a dungeon trap. Shout out to the girlies!
Meanwhile, by Jason Shiga
A graphic novel that combines choice-making with puzzles and explores themes like time travel and mind-reading. It’s basically a lesson in how a million tiny choices lead to one big, messy conclusion.
Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography
Harris’s memoir lets readers decide how they navigate his life story. You can follow his career in Hollywood or explore his personal milestones. I’m buying this book.
How to Try Solo CYOA Tonight
You don’t need to be a veteran DM to start. Just pick a character concept—maybe a washed-up knight or a mage who’s terrible at math—and decide one thing they want right now. Grab a single d6. If you hit a risky choice, roll it. A 1 or 2 means things go sideways, and that’s okay! In solo play, failing isn’t Game Over; it’s just a new, more complicated problem for you to solve.
Even if you’re just flipping pages, having a miniature on your desk makes the experience feel surprisingly tangible. It’s hard to ignore the danger when a physical representation of your hero is staring back at you from the tabletop while you decide whether to enter that cave.
A Tiny Adventure to Get You Started
If you’re staring at the die like it’s judging you, here’s a quick spark: your character owes a dangerous favor to someone they absolutely do not trust. Tonight, that favor gets called in. Do they comply, refuse outright, or try to twist the deal into something safer? Whenever the situation feels uncertain—or delightfully chaotic—roll your d6 and let fate complicate things. Jot down what happens, even if it’s messy. Especially if it’s messy. You might be surprised how fast a single awkward obligation turns into a full-blown story.
In the End, Choose to Have Fun
Whether it’s a CYOA, all by yourself, or with your friends playing tabletop RPGs, the important thing is to have fun! And you can check out our text about RPG Campaigns if you want to know more about it. Until next adventure!
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Luiza Romagnoli is an autistic Brazilian woman, journalist, and obsessed with RPG. She has been writing since she can remember, but it was in 2017, posting texts on Instagram, that she began to take it seriously. She has a poetry book published by Patuá Publishing House: sirva o chá. Nowadays, Luiza is a multi-hyphenned professional: she’s a writer, translator, English and Spanish Teacher, and has an RPG stationery store: Papelaria do Aurel. Although having all these jobs almost leave no room for her D&D sessions, she still loves them.
