Finding a Burst of Solo RPG Creativity with Apothecaria

July 26, 2021 | Sessions | 12 comments

Take on the role of the new village witch who brews unusual potions with the solo potion-making RPG, Apothecaria.

It’s been a busy time these past few weeks! My desire to play board games and RPGs dwindled, though that’s a common enough occurrence with this hobby. A little break did me a world of good! What drew me back in? A little solo journaling RPG called Apothecaria. The roughly 60-page book was a fascinating journey itself, and I knew I had to jump right in!

Game Overview

Game Name: Apothecaria
Publication Year:
2021
Designer:
Anna Blackwell
Artist:
Shanice Fagan
Publisher: Blackwell Games
Solo Mode: Designed for Solo

With the help of random tables and information about the reagents in the world, a new village witch must treat a myriad of patients. It all boils down to crafting the entire experience by keeping a journal and using a standard deck of cards. So what makes this stand out? I’ll gladly tell you!

Preparing to Dive Into a Solo Journal Game with Apothecaria

An Air of Intrigue

Many RPGs are written in a way that lays out the rules in a somewhat mechanical way. Nothing wrong with that! It often helps set the stage and provides a quick reference.

In this case, the book itself is treated as the journal of the previous village witch. Missing or dead? Oh, my!

This introduction grabbed me immediately and drew me right into this world. Without a village witch, who would help these people with their very random ailments?

Notes of humor and fun permeate these pages in a way that feels natural. Part of the world. I simply loved it!

A Rather Unconventional and Fascinating Introduction to Apothecaria

Making Up the Rules

Don’t get me wrong: There is a definite structure to follow that’s simple and provides the foundation for gameplay.

Yet there are clear notes about how the game is meant to be customized. Want to break a rule for the narrative? Do it! See an opportunity to do it better your way? Go for it!

So I immediately broke the rule about the standard deck of cards and used a partial Tarot deck. This gave me actual portraits to use for most of the patients. So much fun!

This is the Victorian Fairy Tarot, which is sadly out of print. I absolutely adore all of the details and illustrations!

Writing Everything Down and Using Tarot Cards for Patients in Apothecaria

To the Journal

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons why I never start a new solo RPG is the thought that there is so much to do. Even when creating a journal, I would have to do a lot of work.

Completely wrong! I just started designing a little title bar. Immediately, I made a few tiny mistakes. Who cares?! The point here is that journaling should be fun, not perfect.

I started to write after generating the best witch name: Alfhilda Interfector. Unrelated to all infections, naturally.

And little by little, that first week started to take shape as I formulated a treatment for Fortune Wylcotes.

A Fancy Prologue for Alfhilda Interfector in Apothecaria

Notes on Songberries

The book includes everything needed to treat each randomly generated ailment, namely in terms of the reagents. A lot of the fun is in choosing ingredients!

Fortune was suffering from a very mild case of Toad Nose. In other words… She had a tiny wart. Ha ha! So I sifted through the lists of reagents to see what I needed.

Songberries from the forest were first on the list. Enjoy my amateur drawing skills. But what an absolute blast!

I’ll leave out the details of the location’s events, but suffice to say that this was an unusual journey.

Bringing the Game to Life with Amateur Illustrations for Apothecaria

Potion of Smooth Skin

With the collected ingredients sufficiently studied and tucked away, I set to work crafting the actual potion.

Each reagent includes information, including the way it must be prepared for certain ailment tags. For instance, I would have to crush the songberries with my tools.

Did I mention that there are other elements like upgrades, familiars, and purchasable tools? Even more to explore!

As I wrote out the directions for this potion, it was pure fun. Almost magical? It went in another direction and tied into my exploration of the forest and lake. So cool!

Crafting the Potion of Smooth Skin in Apothecaria

A Sample Set of Directions for a New Potion

I know it’s a little tricky to read with the way I took these photos, so I give you: Potion of Smooth Skin!

  1. Place the properly prepared Songberries in a mortar and crush whole, including the outer shells.
  2. Boil 2-3 ladles of water over a very hot cauldron, preferably heated with a bit of magic.
  3. Add all of the Smooth Croak Mucus to the boiling water and stir until dissolved.
  4. Slowly add the crushed Songberries, stirring vigorously to mix in completely.
  5. Simmer over a low fire (not magical this time) until sunrise or sunset, as desired.
  6. Spoon out the heavily expanded seeds that float and save to be ingested.
  7. Allow the remaining liquid to cool, but add water to keep it hydrated and liquid.
  8. Save the liquid in a glass flask to experiment with, for its use is rather unknown.

It’s all over the place, silly, nonsensical, and perfect for a new village witch. I think I have an idea for that liquid…

Looking from Afar

Voila! The gigantic notebook I have for RPGs may seem a bit sterile at a glance, yet what a lovely pair of pages I ended up with. And not even the full first week, I’ll add!

There are still downtime activities to take part in. I might explore the village, chat with Fortune to learn about her, or try to summon a familiar. Oh, and plant the garden.

I can’t express how much I love this idea and the world, which is only partially built out. The rest is all my own.

Right down to my questionable artistic skills, it really is all mine! Sometimes, things just click together perfectly.

A Very Verbose and Interesting Way to Begin Apothecaria

More to Discover

Several gorgeous illustrations outside of the rulebook show the special areas not accessible from the start. I’ll need to save up my silver to find my way forward.

I think that’s what excites me the most: That sense of discovery and the encouragement to try anything.

Maybe the open-ended format might not work for all. Yet we all have our preferences, and me stumbling across this ignited all sorts of ideas and plans to keep playing.

For a seemingly simple concept, this is the sort of RPG journal I can see myself sinking many hours into!

An Assortment of Other Locales to Uncover in Apothecaria

More Apothecaria

Explore related posts about Apothecaria!

Continue the Conversation

Have you read through or played Apothecaria? It isn’t every RPG that grips me this much, yet I have all sorts of plans and ideas to get into character as young Alfhilda. What will happen next? I have no idea! This only represents part of a week of in-game time. There are seasons, festivals, and even an underlying mystery to solve. So happy I found this!

12 Comments

  1. That certainly is a beautiful presentation and introduction. And… that’s dot-grid paper? Never tried it myself. Have you used disc binding (Atoma etc.)? A friend got me into it a couple of years ago and I like it for its flexibility.

    Reply
    • I’ve been through lots of notebooks and paper, and dot-grid is definitely my favorite. I have a tendency to slope downward with my writing, so this keeps me organized without being intrusive. Keeping things vertically aligned is also easy, and drawing simple shapes can be quite nice! This is a Leuchtturm 1917 notebook and I love it!

      Never heard of disc binding before but I am now very intrigued! Might need to try it out at some point because that is a really clever way to stay organized and file away paper. Thanks for the recommendation!

      Reply
  2. Your notebook log is stunningly clean and beautiful to look at. Certainly an inspiration to get closer to that level of immersion in a game. Maybe I don’t allow myself enough time to do half as good (even though I know I could).

    Reply
    • Thank you! It does take a lot of time, though, so it’s really up to you to figure out how much immersion you want. I always like to think I give myself enough time to slow down and enjoy game experiences when I want to, yet time is a limited commodity and it’s always hard to find enough of it!

      Reply
  3. Now. I got myself a brand new notebook. Not as big as yours, I could not find one. I wasn’t aware these bullet notebooks existed with enough structure to write and draw neatly but not enough to get in the way.

    Reply
    • Have a great time! The dot grid structure can be very helpful in keeping things organized without being as distracting as lines. I hope it all works out well for you and good luck!

      Reply
  4. Thank you for this! Just got the book. and needed some examples to help me figure out my journal ser up. I love this book!

    Reply
    • You’re very welcome! So glad to hear this helped you out. It’s really a wonderful sort of writing exercise that totally immersed me in the world. I haven’t gotten back to it for a bit, but it’s simply wonderful and charming. Have a great time playing!

      Reply
  5. Your journal looks awesome! I’ve been trying to figure out whether to go for the physical copy or the itch.lo copy and the hard copy looks so tempting. I’ve been looking for solo journaling rpg today and also came upon one called The Broken Cask.

    Reply
    • Thank you very much, Marita! I hadn’t heard of the one you mentioned, but I am now fascinated by it. I’ve taken a little break from solo journaling RPGs, yet look forward to diving back in. There are so many facets to this hobby of solo board games and RPGs. Always something new to discover!

      I usually prefer physical copies of games and this one doesn’t disappoint. It’s pretty compact, too, if space is a concern. All depends on what you want, though: PDF versions are also excellent!

      Reply
  6. Where did you come up with that glorious witch name?! My PDF doesn’t have any names in it!

    Reply
    • I used this fantastic name generator: Fantasy Name Generators – Witch Names

      So many excellent possibilities! I use the site a lot for randomizing names for all sorts of things. Always fun! Good luck finding a fantastic witch name!

      Reply

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