Solo Journaling Rules 2.0

When I started writing Solo Journaling Rules (SJR), I wasn’t trying to make another game. I wanted to build a language—something simple, honest, and flexible enough to capture how a solo story actually feels when you play it.

It began as a handful of notes to help me organize my own journaling sessions. I kept refining, testing, and stripping away until only the essentials remained: a framework that could turn a few dice rolls into something real — tension, emotion, discovery.

Now, after listening to feedback on the first edition, Solo Journaling Rules 2.0 is here: a modular, genre-agnostic engine that gives you the tools to create stories that are truly yours. You can use it as a complete solo game, or as the foundation for your own zines, hacks, or personal journaling projects.

Why I Built It This Way

Journaling first
Every rule in SJR exists to serve your words, not the other way around. Dice and oracles are creative sparks that push your story forward and make you reflect on what happens next.

Quick to start, deep to explore
You can begin right now using the Quick Start and Universal Oracle, or dive deeper with expanded rules for stress, combat, and resource management. It grows with you, session by session.

Tone is in your hands
The oracles are fully customizable, so you decide the world’s rhythm and probability—from grim survival to cosmic horror, from quiet hope to neon despair.

Modular at its core
Take what you need, leave what you don’t. Every system can stand alone, because no two solo players tell stories the same way.

Open and shareable
SJR lives under a Creative Commons license. You’re free —even encouraged— to adapt, remix, and publish your own creations “Powered by Solo Journaling Rules.”

What You’ll Find Inside

• A simple, elegant d20 conflict system with clear Difficulty Ratings (DR).

• Four expressive core attributes — Grit, Cunning, Guts, and Nimble — that shape your playstyle and voice.

• A streamlined Stress system for tracking mental and emotional strain.

• Combat rules that stay fast and narrative-focused.

• Flexible resource and progression options using XP or milestones.

• Full sets of Oracles and Random Event tables (d20, d100, and Universal 1d6) ready to use.

• Genre-specific prompts for Dark Fantasy, Cyberpunk, Sci-Fi, and Post-Apocalypse.

• A complete example character (Sister Agnes) and Quick Start guide to help you jump right in.

• A new closing section, Using SJR for Your Own Creations, for those who want to expand or publish their own solo games.

Who This Book Is For

SJR is for writers, daydreamers, designers, and solo players who crave solitude but still want to tell stories that matter.
For newcomers, it offers a clear entry point into solo journaling.
For veterans, it’s a toolbox—light enough to bend, strong enough to build upon.
And for creators, it’s an invitation: take it, reshape it, and make it your own.

In the end, Solo Journaling Rules 2.0 is about what those dice mean when you start to write. It’s about giving structure to imagination, and permission to explore your inner worlds without limits.

That’s the spirit this book was born from—and the one I hope it inspires in you.