Radio for No One: A Review of Void 1680AM

Ken Lowery's Void 1680AM

I love a good playlist. Much like Rob from High Fidelity, I believe there are rules to making one. For me, it starts with a banger — something that hooks the listener right away and says, “Buddy, you’re in for a ride.” Then it’s a delicate dance of building up and cooling off, until finally the playlist lands with the kind of satisfying release that leaves you exhausted but grinning. If I’d figured all this out sooner, my attempt at being a college DJ might have been a lot more successful.

So imagine my delight when I discovered Ken Lowery’s Void 1680 AM: A Solo Playlist-Building Game. This masterpiece is a solo journaling RPG where you play a graveyard-shift DJ at a lonely AM radio station. Each night you broadcast into the darkness; spinning records, answering odd callers, and filling the dead air with your own words. It’s a game about transient connections, fragments of other people’s stories, and the eerie beauty of speaking into the void. Over the course of play, you build a twelve-song playlist that reflects your DJ’s world and have conversations with your listeners.  And once you’re done, you can share it with an audience beyond the table.

There are rules to your playlist and that may be the game’s most compelling feature. You’re not just grabbing random tracks; you’re responding to prompts from callers, the late-night mood, and your own memories. What’s the song you and a friend always sing together? What track answers a caller’s question better than words ever could? It’s your chance to, as Rob put it, “use someone else’s poetry to express how you feel.”

Void 1680 AM earns a place of honor on my shelf not just because it’s a hell of a game, but because it was my gateway into the wilderness of solo RPGs. It’s also the game I recommend first to anyone curious about this style of play. By taking classic oracle mechanics and weaving them into the language of radio, Lowrey has created something more than a clever novelty.  It offers real replayability and the chance to explore characters in depth, without demanding the heavy journaling of solo RPGS that can intimidate newcomers.

It’s strange, it’s beautiful, and like any great playlist, it lingers long after the last song fades.

Grab your own copy at https://bannerlessgames.itch.io/void-1680-am