A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement The Importer – A Solo Journal TTRPG

The Importer – A Solo Journal TTRPG by Eric Gutierrez Jr. is a solo role playing game published by Helix Corporation.

The supplement is available as a 14 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG.

The opening paragraph explains that this game is about running a smuggling operation on the US-Mexico border. It requires a d6, d10, d12, journal or notebook and a pen; entries are supposed to be written by hand.

Part One is Setting Up Your Operation which determines the operator, starting location, first contact and starting resources.

Part Two covers playing a cycle, one operational cycle that is in five phases. The feed, which is the current status, source, which is what goods are available, warehouse, which is stored cargo, and hiring a runner can be done in this phase, the run itself, which is moving cargo that has a buyer, and then ending the cycle.

Part Three is factions and contacts and the relationship with them.

Part Four is heat and consequences, which is the law enforcement level and how to cool it down, and consequences of a higher heat level.

Part Five is establishing and upgrading an HQ.

Part Six is going dark, the reset when the operation goes quiet. It looks at when an operator can go dark and what resets when they do.

Appendix has journal entry templates, factions and key members and runner names.

The Importer – A Solo Journal TTRPG in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation is okay. The text maintains a single column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are no illustrations. Presentation is adequate.

It’s stated that there is no winning the game, which basically means that it’s one of those journalling games where you play until you’ve had enough; some games have potential, albeit very difficult to achieve, victory conditions.

For a journalling game, this also has an unusually large amount of dice rolling, with dice being used to determine many different things. The journalling part is dependent on your interpretation or description of these, which isn’t unusual, but most games aren’t quite so dependent on the dice. As with all journalling games, this won’t be to everyone’s taste. The Importer – A Solo Journal TTRPG can be found by clicking here.