Why The Witcher Works Alone
The Witcher's stories are built for one person on the road. A witcher arrives in a village, reads the notice board, asks around, prepares, hunts, and then has to decide what the job was really about. That loop of contract, investigation, preparation, hunt and choice works just as well at a kitchen table with one player as it does with five.
The rules help too. Every check is a d10 plus numbers you can read off your sheet against a number you set, so you always know how risky a choice is. With exploding dice and lethal combat, you also never know quite how it will go.
The Continent Is Your GM
In solo play you do two jobs. You play your character, choosing what they do and say. And whenever you'd normally ask the GM something ("Is the alderman lying?", "Is the cave empty?"), you ask an oracle instead: a quick roll that answers yes or no, with a twist now and then. This part gives you an oracle built from the game's own exploding d10, plus scene checks, sparks for inspiration and NPC attitudes.
What You'll Find in This Part
- What you need to play, and who to bring
- How to roll for monsters and enemies honestly
- The exploding-d10 oracle, with exact odds
- Scene checks, sparks and NPC attitudes, with a dice tool you can use right here
- Running a contract alone, a first-session walkthrough and an example of play
Your Solo Kit
- The Witcher TRPG core rulebook for professions, skills, spells, the bestiary and the critical wound tables. Witcher Easy Mode works for a lighter start.
- Some ten-sided dice, or the Dice Roller & Toolkit, which also tracks HP and Stamina.
- A character, made as in Character Creation. The lifepath gives you friends, enemies and old debts, which are perfect hooks for solo play.
- A journal: a notebook or a text file. In solo play the journal is the table talk.
- The tools on this page for the oracle, scene checks, sparks and NPC attitudes.
A Party of One (or Two)
Combat is lethal, and a single character has nobody to pull them out of a drowner nest. You have three good options:
- Play a witcher. The game's signature profession is built to work alone: tough, trained, and carrying Signs and potions. It's the natural fit for contract-by-contract play.
- Play two characters. A witcher and a bard, a doctor and a man-at-arms: two professions cover each other's weak spots and give you someone to argue with.
- One character and a companion. Run a companion NPC with the oracle: a horse, a hireling, an old friend from your lifepath.
Whatever you choose, use your Luck. It's a pool you can spend before any roll, +1 per point, and in solo play it's your safety net. Spend it on the rolls that matter.
Rolling for Monsters
When monsters and enemies act, you roll for them, and you roll honestly. Two habits keep it fair:
- Decide the stakes and the DC before you roll. Say (or write) what happens on a success and a failure first.
- Let monsters be monsters. Use the bestiary's statistics, and ask what the creature wants: drowners swarm, wraiths haunt a place for a reason, a wyvern defends its nest. Fight it the way it would fight you.
Preparation is how a lone hunter survives. Research the beast (Monster Lore), prepare the right oils, bombs and potions (Alchemy & Crafting), and pick the ground. If a fight is going badly, retreat and come back ready: that's what professionals do. See Combat and Monster Hunting.
The Exploding-d10 Oracle
Ask a yes-or-no question and decide how likely a "yes" is. Roll a d10, add the modifier, and try to beat 5. As with every check in this game, a tie isn't enough.
| How likely is "yes"? | Modifier |
|---|---|
| Very likely | +4 |
| Likely | +2 |
| Toss-up | +0 |
| Unlikely | −2 |
| Very unlikely | −4 |
Then read the roll, checking these in order:
- A natural 10 explodes, just like a critical: "Yes, and…"
- A natural 1 is a fumble: "No, and…"
- Beat 5 by exactly one (a total of 6): "Yes, but…"
- A tie (a total of exactly 5): ties fail, so "No, but…"
- Anything else is a plain "Yes" (6 or more is beaten) or "No".
The Odds
Every face of the d10 counted for each likelihood:
| Likelihood | Yes, and | Yes | Yes, but | No, but | No | No, and | Any yes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very likely (+4) | 10% | 70% | 10% | 0% | 0% | 10% | 90% |
| Likely (+2) | 10% | 50% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 70% |
| Toss-up (+0) | 10% | 30% | 10% | 10% | 30% | 10% | 50% |
| Unlikely (−2) | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 50% | 10% | 30% |
| Very unlikely (−4) | 10% | 0% | 0% | 10% | 70% | 10% | 10% |
The twists always come up one time in ten, because they ride on the natural 10 and the natural 1, whatever the likelihood. A very likely answer can still come with a disaster, and a very unlikely one can still surprise you.
Tip: when your character could find out for themselves, make a check instead of asking the oracle. "Is something following me?" is Awareness; "What bit this corpse?" is Monster Lore. Save the oracle for things your character can't control.
Running Scenes Solo
Play in scenes: arriving in a village, questioning a witness, tracking, the fight, collecting the fee. Before each one, say what you expect to happen, then make a scene check to see whether the Continent plays along.
The Scene Check
Roll a d10 at the start of each scene (this guide's house rule):
| d10 | The scene is… | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Interrupted: something else entirely happens. Roll a spark. | 10% |
| 2–3 | Altered: roughly as expected, with a change (fog, a witness gone, soldiers on the road). | 20% |
| 4–10 | As expected: play it out. | 70% |
Sparks
When you need an idea (an interrupted scene, a "Yes, and…", a noise in the dark), roll two d10s and read an action and a subject. Interpret them for the moment you're in.
| d10 | Action | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Curse | a mage |
| 2 | Hunt | Scoia'tael |
| 3 | Betray | a contract |
| 4 | Hide | Nilfgaardian soldiers |
| 5 | Bargain | a monster |
| 6 | Accuse | a priest of the Eternal Fire |
| 7 | Burn | a village |
| 8 | Steal | a noble |
| 9 | Protect | a child |
| 10 | Remember | an old debt |
NPCs and Attitudes
When you meet someone new, roll a d10 for how they feel about you at first (this guide's house rule). Witchers and non-humans start with one strike against them in most of the North, so lean toward the low end if that fits. After that, your Persuasion, Charisma, Intimidation or Deceit checks can move them.
| d10 | First attitude | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Hostile: wants you gone, or worse | 20% |
| 3–6 | Wary: answers questions, trusts nothing | 40% |
| 7–9 | Friendly: will help if it costs them little | 30% |
| 10 | Helpful: has a reason to want you to succeed | 10% |
🎲 Try the Solo Tools
Session Log
- Your rolls will appear here.
Running a Contract Alone
- The notice. Roll a contract with the Contract Generator, or a spark, and decide who posted it.
- The haggle. Agree a fee with the client. Ask the oracle whether they'll pay more, and whether they're telling you everything.
- The investigation. Talk to witnesses, examine the victims, follow tracks. Each clue is a check; the oracle fills in what the clue means.
- The preparation. Once you know (or guess) the monster, prepare oils, bombs and potions, and choose where to fight.
- The hunt. Play the fight with full rules, rolling honestly for the monster.
- The choice. Most good contracts end with a question that isn't about swords: Was the client the real monster? Do you take the money? Write down what your character decides and why.
For more on contracts, see Monster Hunting. For moral choices that don't have clean answers, see Game Mastery.
🛠️ How To: Your First Solo Session
- Make a character and pick one lifepath entry (an enemy, a debt, a lost love) that might show up later.
- Roll a contract and decide where your character is when they hear about it.
- Frame the first scene: where are you, and what do you expect to happen? Make a scene check.
- Play it out: make checks for what your character tries, and ask the oracle what you can't decide.
- Write as you go: a few lines per scene, including the rolls that mattered.
- Stop on a question: end the session with something unresolved, so you want to come back.
Example of Play
Vesna, a witcher, has taken a contract from a miller near Vizima: something is drowning people at the mill race. In this example her REF is 8 and her Swordsmanship 6.
Scene check: the d10 shows 2, so the scene is altered. A thick fog has come off the river.
Oracle: "Is the miller telling me everything?" It's a toss-up (+0). The die shows 5: a tie with 5, and ties fail, so "No, but…". He's hiding something (his son owes money to the wrong people), but the drowners are real.
Oracle: "Is there more than one?" Drowners rarely hunt alone, so it's Likely (+2). The die shows 10, so "Yes, and…". It's a nest, and the spark (Bargain / a monster) suggests something smarter is keeping them fed.
The fight: the first drowner lunges out of the fog. Vesna attacks: she rolls 7, plus REF 8 and Swordsmanship 6, for 21. The drowner defends with a dodge; in this example its defence bonus is +10, and it rolls 4, for 14. Vesna beats the defence by 7: a hit, and a simple critical wound. You look up the effect on the critical wound table and roll her damage.
Oracle: "Do the others flee?" Unlikely (−2): drowners are bold in numbers. The die shows 6, for a total of 4. That doesn't beat 5, so it's a plain "No". Two more pale shapes rise from the water. Vesna drinks a potion and backs onto the mill bridge, where only one of them can reach her at a time. That's a good place to end the session.
Common Questions
Doesn't knowing the monster ruin the mystery?
Pick the contract with the generator or a spark, but don't decide what the monster is until the clues make you. Ask the oracle about each clue ("Is it something that drowns people?") and let the answers narrow it down.
Should I use published adventures?
You can. Read only the scene you're about to play, and use the oracle wherever the text expects a GM's judgement. Open-ended contracts work better than tightly plotted mysteries.
What if a "Yes, and…" or "No, and…" doesn't make sense?
Roll a spark and read it as the extra. If that still doesn't fit, take the first idea that makes the situation more interesting.
My character died. Now what?
Write down how. Then make someone who would come looking: an apprentice, a sibling, a creditor. The Continent never runs out of unfinished business.
Key Takeaways
- Play a witcher, two characters, or one character and a companion, and spend your Luck.
- Set the stakes and the DC before you roll, for you and for the monsters.
- The oracle is an exploding d10 that must beat 5: a natural 10 is "and", a natural 1 is "and" the other way, and the edges of the roll add "but".
- Contracts give solo play its structure; the choice at the end gives it meaning.
📓 Journal Prompts
- What did your character want from this contract, besides the money?
- Which oracle answer surprised you most, and what did it change?
- Who was the real monster this time?
Where to Go Next
Use the Dice Roller & Toolkit for checks and attacks with exact odds, HP and Stamina, and new contracts. For places, factions and politics to wander into, revisit Campaign & World Building.