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The Solo Investigator's Handbook

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5e Solo Gamebooks presents The Solo Investigator's Handbook, a 95-page supplement for Call of Cthulhu. This product is the result of months of work and extensive playtesting, and contains a full system for generating on-the-fly, immersive adventures for your investigator(s). Using paper, pen, dice, this system, and your fevered imagination, you can generate full scenarios for yourself without the need for a Keeper. This is great if you cannot find a group, or for creating little scenarios for yourself in between your regular group games. 

It can also serve as a great source of adventure generation/inspiration for Keepers (possibly as they adventure through the scenario themselves - creating as they go). Even if you are not interested in the concept of solo scenarios within Call of Cthulhu, take a quick look below at the Mythos-related resources that this supplement offers. 

CONTAINS:

  • 50 quest hooks to get your investigator started on their dark adventures.
  • 50 rumors that you may hear in the course of your travels.
  • 50 clues that you might stumble upon in the course of your investigations.
  • 50 random events to drop into any adventure.
  • Tables of randomly generated spooky effects that an investigator might experience. 
  • Tables for randomly generating NPCs.
  • NPC stat blocks for commonly encountered characters such as beat cops, cultists, high priests, thugs and more.
  • A handy reference table listing the main characteristics of every Mythos creature from the Keeper's Rulebook.
  • A system of location tables that will randomly generate locations as you travel through just about any environment - Arctic, Jungle, Urban, you name it. 
  • A full system for generating solo adventures for your investigator(s).
  • A question/answer mechanic designed to answer questions that will guide your quest.
  • An escalating mechanic (Mythos Points) that increases the intensity of the action over time.
  • A list of 499 random verbs that can provide direction/suggestion for any aspect of the quest. 
  • Examples of solo gameplay using this system, so you can see it in action.


The Solo Investigator's Handbook for Call of Cthulhu is a great tool for self-guided play. It's the perfect way to play when you're looking to build your knowledge of the game, or when your group is too busy to meet up.

William Paprocki, Geeks-a-go-go

It's a great practice in the creative spirit. You will descend either into madness or death and no-one will be there to help you.

Jay Traub

A fantastic tool to experience the horrors of the Lovecraftian universe. This book is tailored for anyone wanting to play Call of Cthulhu, for soloists and Keepers alike, to learn the rules as you play and give you an idea of how an actual game would go.

Vicknesh Suppramaniam

This system is designed to sit underneath the CoC rules, and players are encouraged to add their own tables and other additional material as they see fit. The key here is adaptability, and The Solo Investigator's Handbook is designed to be flexible in that regard. 

So, if you are just dying to go insane uncovering eldritch mysteries, then pick up the Handbook now and get investigating!

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Reviews (5)
Discussions (31)
Customer avatar
Doug P January 01, 2024 2:51 pm UTC
I am very interested to try this. As a newcomer to ttrpg games, I do have a question. With the Investigator and Keeper books, would I be able to take a published adventure and play through it using the material in this book?
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Customer avatar
Paul B January 04, 2024 9:30 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hi Doug
Total honesty, this book is more designed for freeform generation of an adventure... in other words, the scenario is created as you play through it. However, it is still possible to play through published scenarios using this resource. You would need to be ok with you (as player) knowing more than your investigator (your character). You would need to read ahead a bit to understand the lore and what's coming - but only as much as necessary. You can try to only read the bits relevant to the particular part of the scenario. In a way, you're kind of functioning as a Keeper, and then the interest comes from seeing how your investigator copes with various situations. So that becomes a large part of the element of surprise. I would advise picking up another book - DM Yourself by Tom Scutt. That has excellent information for running published scenarios solo.
Customer avatar
Thea Marie R July 25, 2023 7:36 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Customer avatar
Thea Marie R July 25, 2023 3:13 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I don’t understand why giving the character one extra occupation would give them extra personal interests skill points, wouldn’t it rather give them extra occupation skill points? Can’t find anything in the rulebooks about this.
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Customer avatar
Thea Marie R July 26, 2023 11:04 pm UTC
PURCHASER
It makes sense to make the solo character slightly stronger/more advanced, but I’m not sure how I’m meant to do that following the advice in this book. Is the extra occupation just “flavour”/justification for the advancement and then the actual mechanical adjustment is the added personal interest skill points, or are there mechanical consequences of adding the second occupation? As far as I can tell occupations and personal interest skill points are not linked in any way, so I’m confused.
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Customer avatar
Paul B January 04, 2024 9:33 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hi Thea
Basically it's a variation on the core rules. You just give them two occupations, along with the skills that come with those occupations. So you're making them a bit more powerful.
Alternately, you could create two or more investigators and manage them all.
Customer avatar
Glenn P January 05, 2023 6:57 am UTC
PURCHASER
The various editions of "Littlest Lovecraft" available here inspire me to ask: Would this handbook be useable if the "solo Investigator" happened to be a child? Yes, I'm quite sure "Call Of Cthulhu" wasn't written with that in mind; but the concept greatly intrigues me. Can this be adapted to it? Is such a thing possible/practical?
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Customer avatar
Paul B January 04, 2024 9:34 pm UTC
CREATOR
I don't see why not. The systems within this book are adaptable to many horror RPG systems.
Customer avatar
Tim K October 27, 2022 11:33 am UTC
PURCHASER
Will the starter set be OK to use this?
Thx
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul B October 30, 2022 10:00 pm UTC
CREATOR
Yes absolutely.
Customer avatar
Jon H October 08, 2021 5:48 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Will the quick-start rules suffice or is the keepers rulebook required for the Solo Investigator's Handbook?
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Customer avatar
Paul B October 10, 2021 8:06 pm UTC
CREATOR
Quick start rules will be absolutely fine.
Customer avatar
Lost K September 18, 2021 5:20 pm UTC
Can this be used to play existing scenarios or campaigns solo? Or it's just for creating your own scenarios.
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul B October 10, 2021 8:07 pm UTC
CREATOR
It's mainly for creating your own scenarios. However, if you're an experienced solo player, there are tools in here that could help you run published campaigns.
Reply
Customer avatar
Lost K October 10, 2021 8:36 pm UTC
Thanks!
Reply
Customer avatar
Philipp K October 31, 2021 12:59 pm UTC
PURCHASER
You might want to google RPG Tips (Youtube channel). He has developed a system called "WARP factor" that works with existing adventures. He demonstrates it with Warhammer Fantasy RPG and Mythic but the concept is generic so could be applied to this publication and your Ctulhu system of choice.
Customer avatar
Russell L September 09, 2021 4:13 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Can this be used out of the box with Pulp Call of Cthulhu?
Reply
Customer avatar
Rick M September 09, 2021 5:12 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
It can be used with Pulp Cthulhu, although it does not have extra info for Pulp Cthulhu.
Customer avatar
Corey W August 07, 2021 1:06 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I would really enjoy a more system agnostic version.
Reply
Customer avatar
Rick M September 09, 2021 5:13 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
All Miskatonic Repository material has to be for the current (7th) edition of Call of Cthulhu.
Reply
Customer avatar
Corey W September 12, 2021 7:04 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Well, to clarify what I meant, a similar system here (the question/answer mechanic and journalling) to generate mysteries and investigate them in a solo session, but one that isn't tied to the Cthulhu mythos setting, or any particular ruleset. In most mysteries, the GM has to know the solution before hand. A solo player can use mythic or a similar oracle to generate answers, but the final mystery might not all fit together well, or even rationally, when all is said and done. I think with some homebrew hacking I could use mechanics from this book with other systems and settings, but I'd really be interested in a product that did some of that work for me beforehand.
Customer avatar
Mark S August 06, 2021 3:19 am UTC
Any reason the PDF/Softcover isnt at the softcover price? Usually if you buy the physical most places provide the PDF aswell as a bonus.
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Customer avatar
Patrick V August 06, 2021 2:29 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I was a bit confused by this as well. I wanted the print version + PDF but I'm not paying an extra 10 bucks to essentially buy it twice.
Customer avatar
Eko T July 30, 2021 5:55 am UTC
Can this be used for 7th edition?
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul B July 30, 2021 12:02 pm UTC
CREATOR
It is indeed designed for that exact edition of the game
Reply
Customer avatar
Dean W September 12, 2023 8:05 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Why does it say 5E then?
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul B November 14, 2023 1:39 am UTC
CREATOR
Hey Dean. That's just my publisher name. I primarily create content for 5th Edition D&D.
Customer avatar
Jim M June 04, 2021 1:15 am UTC
PURCHASER
This is a wonderful resource to play Call of Cthulhu solo. Paul's other books are set up the same and are also wonderful
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul B July 05, 2021 5:43 am UTC
CREATOR
Thank you Jim!
Customer avatar
Andrew M May 06, 2021 5:37 pm UTC
Can this be used for 2 people without a Keeper/GM?
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul B May 06, 2021 8:09 pm UTC
CREATOR
Absolutely it can.
Customer avatar
Frederic M May 05, 2021 9:43 am UTC
PURCHASER
POD!! POD! POD!! for this awesome CoC solo engine!!! POD!! POD!! POD!!
Reply
Customer avatar
Frederic M July 29, 2021 2:29 pm UTC
PURCHASER
POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!! The Great Ancient Ones want POOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul B July 30, 2021 12:32 am UTC
CREATOR
I have heard the call of the Ancient Ones and bow to their will. POD NOW AVAILABLE
Reply
Customer avatar
Frederic M August 05, 2021 2:37 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Blessed Be Cthulhu!! Praised The Great Ancient Ones!! Thank you, Oh Divine Ordinator Of The Obscure!!
Customer avatar
Duncan B November 03, 2020 2:34 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Please could we have a 'Print On Demand' option?
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul B July 30, 2021 12:32 am UTC
CREATOR
Just set it up, POD now available
Customer avatar
Antonio W October 09, 2020 11:55 pm UTC
Hello, I understand this is a supplement for Call of Cthulhu. As an OSR, 5e player and fan of the author, I wonder what else do I need to play this? Sorry for the ignorance. Thanks
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul B October 22, 2020 2:35 am UTC
CREATOR
Just the Call of Cthulhu rulebook, and you're good to go!
Reply
Customer avatar
Corey W August 04, 2021 10:45 am UTC
PURCHASER
Is there a section on how to make it more system-neutral, or adapt it to OSR style systems?
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File Last Updated:
July 31, 2021
This title was added to our catalog on February 15, 2019.