Some thoughts on solo party play mechanisms

1. Either skills or classes are needed for characters in a solo game. As you are both the GM and player, skills or classes will help define the capabilities and limitations of the character on the sheet. Without the type of guidance either of those two mechanisms provide, there will be a tendency for PCs to become homogonized into reflections of  your knowledge pool of the game. 

If the 3 PCs you are soloing with are capable of performing all tasks based only on the roll of a die to check for success, then all 3 can gain equally from your play knowledge and you are playing with 3 interchangeable PCs. This interchangeablitiy degrades the importance of tactics that test the solo players mettle. 

2. Movement, time, and turn add consequence to the solo game by placing limits on the flow of the game. Normally done by the GM in group play, if these items are not adhered to the solo game can begin to flow past a manageable speed. 

Party character sheet design

 This is an updated variation of a party character sheet I used for in my solo RPG core rules set. 

It is designed with a limited inventory per character concept found in games like Maze Rats, Cairn and Fallen. In those rules light OSR games trying to solo with one character is challenging at best, and I have more fun with 3 to 4 characters in a party. With the 10 item inventory slots it makes it important what each character brings and keeps with them. 

It also designates what items are where. One item each on the arm for hand held items, 2 items on the belt area, and six lines for knapsack items. I usually place the 3 to 4 ability numbers or modifiers in the four spaces along each drawings collar piece and level or HP  in the belt buckle or in the outside squares, two lines for name and class if needed. Pencil in if they have an item, erase it if they lose it or replace it. 

 If only one character has a torch written in arm space and it goes out then the party is in the dark. If the guy with a rope fell down the 30ft hole then the rest of the members don't have rope to get across the chasm. 

I have a total of 12 different types of drawings, both male and female that I switch out. I also made a 4 character variant to use