The Wolves of Langston – Solo RPG Review

• Overview
• Gameplay
• What I Like
• What I Don’t Like
• Components
• Voice / Art / Music
• The Tales Told
• You Might Like This Game If…
• Score

Overview

Who ever said playing a solo RPG like D&D wasn’t possible? Alright, maybe it’s not the same, but The Wolves of Langston tries to bridge that gap. It’s a session (~4 hours) long, Choose Your Own Adventure style experience using 5e rules with your own character!

From publisher Obvious Mimic

Be the hero Langston needs.

Something is killing people in Langston.

You have arrived just in time to help this small town rid itself of a danger stalking the night. Investigate likely suspects and root out the unknown evil.

Meet unique characters in an original setting with a mix of mystery, action, and exploration. Go on a classic fantasy quest that will challenge you and your character. 

Embark on a DnD solo adventure that you play with any 5e character. Be the hero of a story where your choices have consequences.

Pick your own path. Play your own 5e character. No DM, maps, or minis required.
We are making this for you if you want more of your favorite TTRPG and would rather play than DM yourself in the downtime between sessions. The Wolves of Langston is designed for characters of levels 1 to 4. 

–  Make progress with loot and experience that you keep in a regular tabletop game.
– Play your own 5e character. Made however you usually make one. The story is crafted so that all characters can succeed – or fail. 
– Take your own path through an interactive story where your decisions have consequences.
– Fight monsters, cast spells, and find treasure within an original story.

Solo D&D

The Wolves of Langston is a kickstarter funded, solo RPG using D&D 5e rules in a Choose Your Own Adventure style module. Readily available through the publishers website in PDF or print, it does not have exclusives. While I’d imagine most players have probably seen this style of gamebook before, what they might not have is the thrusting of the 5e ruleset into the mix. I mentioned in another post that solo RPG’s generally use tables for random adventure generation. This is true, and I skipped the option of a pre-written narrative entirely. This was because one: I honestly didn’t think about it at the time, but two: because I don’t believe pre-written stories have the same impact on solo RPGs. That said, however, I do think The Wolves of Langston does a really good job of bringing its style to the table, and it surprised me.

Player count

Solo through and through, this is for the player that doesn’t have a group, doesn’t want a group, or just can’t get enough adventure in their downtime. Theoretically it might be possible to play The Wolves Langston with a full party, but the combat would need to be adjusted to match, and I don’t think reading aloud would have the same effect. The narrative is all pre-written, with no room for roleplay or improvisation, as opposed to a traditional module.

Play time

Coming in at the length an actual TTRPG session of about four hours, this can be enjoyed in an evening. I personally split it into three, but I was taking my time by playing with some of the dialogue options. While there is a little bit of replayability due to the options, I don’t think it’s enough to return often.

Gameplay

In The Wolves of Langston, players navigate a fairly traditional Choose Your Own Adventure style game, but D&D 5e rules will be used for skill checks and combat. I said all that already, but for those that might not know what any of it means, I’ll extrapolate:

Choose Your Own Adventure

This refers to a series of gamebooks that was popular in the 90’s. It introduced a lot of young readers to the idea that written narratives can have branching paths based on choice. This is done by asking the player to turn to a certain page or numbered entry, depending on their choice. These entries can even loop back around in such a way that a player can question an NPC several times or explore several rooms of a building before they’ve decided they’re done and move on. Some choices can have dire consequences, even death. This means there’s stakes to the decision making, and usually a little replayability should players come back in the future.

So The Wolves of Langston follows this formula perfectly. The end of each entry continues to the next based on what the player wants to do, and this loops, branches, or ends at a chapter break. Doing so lets the player feel like they have agency. They can explore, navigate, read, and reread entries at their leisure. While this doesn’t really capture the idea of roleplaying’s open improvisation, it’s the best between both worlds. This is about as close as anything pre-written could ever get.

D&D 5e Ruleset

Where does D&D fit into all of this? Well, besides the chosen entries, players might be forced to one based on the results of a skill check. This replicates the success or failure conditions of D&D and lets certain character traits shine. While I did not encounter any skill checks that massively influenced the outcome of the story, they add plenty of things to learn, or even ways to avoid combat.

When combat does occur, this is where the ruleset continues. Players are provided with a stat block for the enemy in just the same way as D&D. Then, they’ll square off with that foe until one of them is defeated. So combat is as structures as the tabletop game and does not differ in any way in this module, save to say there are some specific outcomes of the combats that may include special events.

What I Like

The Wolves of Langston’s pieces come together in a really fun and unique experience. I’ve played gamebooks before, and solo RPGs, but none using the 5e ruleset. I think it works, and I’ll touch on some of the reasons why:

Solo RPG Adventure

There isn’t a ton to say here other than as far as a Choose Your Own Adventure style games go, this one hits all the marks. It doesn’t re-invent the genre or anything, but offers plenty of options for players to look around, get immersed in the world, and solve the puzzle of Langston’s murder.

Due to the fact players will be low level, and solo, inspiration is liberally dished out like candy from an overzealous grandma. It first seemed like a little too much, but in the end, I ended up liking the balance because we all know how punishing dice can be.

I will also mention that I enjoyed the module’s theme. It slots in perfectly along side any other D&D adventure and would be instantly recognizable to fans of the genre. It’s not an over the top story, isn’t any more or less mature than D&D, and has plenty of fantasy flare.

Character Progression

While there isn’t any leveling up or actual character growth during gameplay, there are a lot of unique things to find in The Wolves of Langston. New, unique items to this module are sprinkled throughout, and as long as players write them down, they can take them to any other adventure module or beyond (with DM permission)!

I find this really cool, not that’s it’s a groundbreaking idea or anything. Building a character and taking them across multiple adventures will make them unique, and weaving in and out of home games or at conventions will let them show this off. It’s a blast to have such unique mementos and to be able to retell their history.

What I Don’t Like

While I applaud the work that’s went into this module and I had a great time with it, I also think there’s room for improvement. I know that this was Obvious Mimic’s first attempt at something like this, so I look forward to trying some of their other entries to see if they’re even better.

Mediocre Writing and Bad Grammar

The first couple chapters of The Wolves of Langston are pretty rough. While not unreadable by any means, the writing and grammar are just sub par. It’s like a first time novelist who couldn’t quite construct their sentences and paragraphs right. Thankfully, this gets better as the story goes on, but I still would not say there is elegant prose or even strong immersive language anywhere throughout. There are definitely attempts to set scenes, include sensory descriptions, and detail some of the areas, they’re just simplistic. This is by no means a dealbreaker, but it’s noticeable.

Railroaded Narrative

What I mean here is that there is nothing to see in The Wolves of Langston but its pre-written scenes. There are no random events, tables to roll on, or anything unexpected. It means the world felt a lot less alive. I can’t fault the module for this too much, but I do think there could have been more to do and see that would have pumped up the experience considerably.

One on One Combat

I think it’s a cool idea to use 5e rules for combat as it prevents the need for a completely new system. The problem I have with this is that D&D is built around a party of 4-6 battling it out on a map with an equal number of foes. Here, as a soloist, the beautifully illustrated maps are useless since it’s just a slugfest that comes down to dice rolls.

Combats are always one on one, even if the narrative includes more foes. Any beyond the player’s are handled by obfuscated allies. This detracts from the 5e system and doesn’t leave any breathing room for many of its unique systems to shine. There’s no need to move around, no opportunity to flank or use cover, and no possibility of say – charm person – to alter the outcome. While I realize The Wolves of Langston is meant for low level characters, meaning there is generally not a ton for them to do anyway, I still would have liked to have seen the module do a little more with its combat encounters.

Additionally, some of the encounters in the module are tough, especially if bad luck strikes. There’s no fail forward mechanic, so the narrative simply ends in a game over. I wasn’t the biggest fan of this approach since it means there really isn’t any choice except to win these battles. I wouldn’t feel bad just skipping over a failed one.

Easy To Guess Ending

While most of The Wolves of Langston remains a mystery, and players really can’t guess the murderer’s identity throughout, this changes by the second to last chapter. So long as time is taken to explore and gather clues, everything is wide in the open and practically spoon fed, so the ending doesn’t offer any additional twists or mystery. I think this is a bit weak, though it didn’t ruin the fun I had with the rest of the module.

Components

I wanted to include this section primarily to point out the wonderful extras that Obvious Mimic provides. I’ll start by saying the PDF is appropriately sized and works well on all devices I tested it on, and the printed softcover looks wonderful and holds up to wear as well as expected. Now for the extras.

Dubbed the Self-DM Resources, a free download contains:

• 7 maps, each with options for grid, griddless, light and dark colors
• Tokens to use on the maps when fighting
• Images of all the unique items found within the adventure
• A PDF providing further information

How cool! Theoretically these could all be used to alter the adventure into a GM run one, used in VTT digital software solution, or printed out and used elsewhere.

Voice / Art / Music

Voice

Not voice acted at all, I think this would be a prime candidate for such a thing. I can definitely see the entire module converted to an app that players can enjoy from anywhere.

Art

The Wolves of Langston does a fantastic job with its visual design. The art is right in line with the official D&D style. While maybe not quite as highly detailed as some of Wizards Of The Coast’s work, it still helps recognizably set itself in line with other D&D modules. It’s a neat touch and throughline with what players will recognize, so I think it goes a long way.

Music

There is an official soundtrack for The Wolves of Langston! Well… there are two tracks, one for adventuring and one for combat, but they’re really well done! Unfortunately they’re not on YouTube. I have no way to embed them here, but they’re available for free from the publishers website.

The Tales Told

There’s spoilers ahead, beware!

Taking place over six chapters and an epilogue, The Wolves of Langston is a murder mystery. Starting with the arrival in Langston, players are immediately thrust into a funeral service. This is an introduction to both the setting and most characters they’ll encounter. While some strange character actions are immediately obvious, it doesn’t clue anything to the adventure yet.

From there, players will spend the next several chapters visiting these characters, questioning them, and looking for clues about the murderer. While not much is revealed, a few things can happen, from finding unique items, to combat.

Once these characters are interviewed, and clues gathered, players are asked to draw a conclusion by making an accusation and presenting evidence. The outcome of the trial never changes no matter who is accused, though. After a chase ensues, players engage in one more, tougher combat with the big bad, and the story ends.

The epilogue actually surprised me most. It has players going back to the deceased’s family and realizing there was more to the story all along. This doesn’t change much, but it deepens the motives and reasoning for the NPC’s actions by quite a lot. It’s a nice inclusion when I truly expected the epilogue to just be a boring wrap up. It also opens the ending up a bit, with the big bad escaping and the story continuing… another time.

You Might Like This Game If…

Fans of both Choose Your Own Adventure style games and D&D will probably enjoy The Wolves of Langston most. Familiar, yet different enough, engaging, yet satisfyingly easy to play, there’s plenty to enjoy. Anyone who loves a night alone in their favorite chair, maybe by the fire, or outside with a beer can enjoy this adventure in an evening of 5e fun. I wouldn’t come to it looking for Game of Thrones style writing or anything, and I’ve already voiced my few negatives, but anyone who loves this style of gamebook and TTRPG should feel right at home.

Score

While I like what this solo RPG module does, I was a little put off by the mediocre writing and limited options to interact with the town and its people, or influence the outcome. I also wasn’t enthralled by the combat and found the one-on-one slugfests to be bland. Finally, I would have liked to have seen some flavorful spice by way of random tables or unexpected events.

That said, the adventure is still a lot of fun and I had a great time seeing it all the way through (especially the epilogue that wraps up a few things in an unexpected way). I loved that I got to create a 5e character and take away unique rewards to use in future quests.

I know Obvious Mimic has done well with this series, and they’ve made many more adventures since. I’m looking forward to giving those a shot too. I’d love to see if they resolved or mitigated any of my issues, and if that creates an even better overall experience.

The Wolves of Langston gets an enthusiastic 3/5.