Solo Story Deck SRD
A downloadable game
A Lightweight Framework for Solo Storytelling Games
A single deck of cards.
A spark of imagination.
A journey only you can take.
The Solo Story Deck SRD gives you the tools to create and explore your own solo storytelling experiences — no dice, no stats, no complicated setup. Just a standard deck of playing cards and the stories waiting to unfold.
Perfect for mysteries, quests, reflections, dreams, and emotional journeys, this lightweight system invites you to shuffle the deck, follow the suits, and shape your own unique narrative.
Inside, you’ll find:
-
A complete framework for solo journaling or storytelling games
-
Rules for interpreting suits and ranks to guide your story’s events and tone
-
Threshold Moments and Joker events to create powerful turning points
-
Optional tools like emotional tags, scene limits, and dialogue-only scenes
-
A Creator’s Toolkit to help you design your own games using the system
-
Example story types supported: mysteries, emotional journeys, dreamlike quests, and more
Whether you want to play a one-shot story, a long personal odyssey, or create an entirely new game of your own, the Solo Story Deck SRD is designed to be simple, flexible, and inspiring.
License:
You are free to create, modify, and publish your own games based on this SRD.
Please include the credit:
"Based on the Solo Story Deck SRD."
Where the cards fall, the story follows.
Download
Development log
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Do tens count as threshold moment triggers? I ask that because you specify that threshold moments are activated by face cards and aces, however in the previous table you place tens as being equal to jacks queens and kings.
Great question — and thank you for taking the time to dig into the details!
You're absolutely right that there’s a small mismatch between the chart and the text. To clarify: only Face Cards (Jack, Queen, King) and Aces trigger Threshold Moments.
The 10s sit just below that — they're important, high-stakes cards, but they don’t activate Threshold Moments. I’ll make sure the next PDF update clears that up more explicitly. Really appreciate you pointing it out!
I've now uploaded a corrected version of the PDF