Oracles for solo play

"Ride together, don't try it, the power's in one."

Oracles should only be used to generate story information you would otherwise be getting from the DM in non-solo play. They shouldn't be used for things like skill checks, which can be resolved with your game system's rules.

Possibilities vs Reality: Known Unknowns

Use this procedure when your character comes to a decision about a possible truth, either through a skill check or some other type of indirect evidence which has the quality of either revealing an absolute "yes" or revealing nothing (as opposed to an absolute "no"), and then later, in the case of non-detection, your PC is in a situation situation to learn the objective reality behind the non-detection (either there was nothing to detect, or there was something to detect, but the PC failed to detect it), we roll to reveal the truth.

The "Potential" is what you have decided, as the DM, are the odds of the thing being objectively true. The "Detection" chance is the odds of the evidence (usually a skill check like "listen at doors") being-successful/indicate-an-absolute-"yes". If the Potential is true and the Detection is true, then the reality in the game world has been defined, and so the purpose of this procedure has been fulfilled, even if the PC has not yet directly encountered the subject of the test.

The loop which starts at "Fresh Potential Roll" is a virtual recreation of the original test. At this point, the original values of the Potential and Detection rolls are no longer relevant, but we do need to keep in mind that for the logic to work, we got to this point because of a non-detection, so when the recreation indicates a positive Detection, this is inconsistent with established reality, and so we go through another iteration of the loop. The first time the loop produces a result consistent with the reality of non-detection, then we take that as the result of this procedure. During this loop, the PC is not actually performing the skill check over and over. Think of it more as a rewinding of time to the point of the skill check, except this time, we are not hiding the truth from ourselves.

This procedure keeps the odds of the Potential consistent in the case of a non-detection, while still keeping the reality hidden from you. If this is what you want, then you can't let the fact of non-detection bias the odds of the reality. The alternative way of achieveing this (the exact procedure of which is not included here) is to do the math - when the time comes to learn the reality of non-detection, you can't can't just reroll the Potential. You would need to adjust the odds of the Potential to take into account that the Potential was already tested once, and that result was combined with a skill/detection test which produced a non-detection result. I find the procedure documented here to be much simpler than figuring out the correct odds for the Potential reroll.

D20 Yes/No Oracle

To use the yes/no oracle below:

1. Assign one of the likelihoods from the left-most column to your question.
2. Roll two twenty-sided dice. Before rolling, select one as the Yes/No answer, and the other for the And/But result.
3. Based on the answer of the Yes/No die, find the matching And/But subtable, and compare it to the result of the And/But die. If it falls within either the "and" range or the "but" range, then modify the "yes" or "no" answer accordingly. If the and/but d20 does not fall into either range, then the answer is a straight yes or no.

Scenes, Threads, and NPCs

Mythic/PUM Scenes
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NPCs could be introduced at scene setup, or may arrive in the middle of a scene. For this reason, I am placing the NPC-creation procedure here, outside of the scene procedure.

NPC Source
    [A] Random generation:
        Standard/Surface/Traits/Background:
            WWN: traits
            Quest: traits
            PUM: Who, Intent, Activity, Reason tables
            BOLD Connections (also deep)
            UNE: just the one page                    
            Character Webs: Backgrounds
            Ironsworn
            Pathfinder Deep Backgrounds
            Sandbox Companion: NPC Generation
            Maze Rats: NPC generation
            The Dungeon Dozen NPCs (before 1st level,...)
            Life Events: XGTE
            Life Events: Elric
        Gonzo
            Weird NPCs: Injecting The Weird
            Electric Bastionlands
        Deep/Extra/Finishing Touches:   
            BOLD Connections (also standard)
            WWN: depth             
            NPC Interrogation Questions (+ OEO)
            Questions Without Answers (+ OEO)
            Quest: depth
        Special:
            Solo Adventurer's Toolbox v2 BBEG generator 
            Vornhiem: City NPCs
            Vornheim: Aristocrats          
    [B] Codex:     
        Pathfinder NPC Codex
        Pathfinder Villain Codex
        Masks (fantasy)
        Black Pudding: Meatshields Of The Bleeding Ox
        GM's Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing: Travellers
        Warriors, Wizards, and Women
        DnD Speak: 100 annoying NPCs  
        The Dungeon Dozen NPCs  
Relationships:
    Entanglements
    Character Webs: Relationships
    WWN: relationships
Use your anchor list as you deem fitting to round out character creation    

Play The Scene
    Action
        Challenge(s)/Conflict/Point of the scene
            Social Conflict
                [A] Free-form: social skill checks, and possibly oracles
                [B] Dedicated social conflict system        
        Role-playing NPCs - reference NPC depth, relationships, and traits 
            Periodically check for revelation of hidden motives or backstory 

Scene Ends            
    Update Characters list (any entity capable of independent action)
        add, remove, and update at the end of each scene
    Update Threads list (storylines)
        add
            assign plot score of 3
        update
            adjust plot score
		    if plot score >= 10, wrap it up
            if plot score = 0, consider a critical scene
        remove
            either it's resolved or a dead end
    Update NPC sheets
    Update Entanglements        

Mythic Plot Unfolding Machine Adventure Crafter Plot Points Adventure Crafter Meta Plot Points subtable (96-100 on the main plot points table) One Page Solo Engine One Page Solo Engine

Open-Ended Oracles

Anchors

Anchors can be used with any oracle. I use them to ensure that the themes I'm interested in don't get over-looked, and that the flavor and history of my world stays consistent. Anchors consist of a list of heterogeneous items (they can be themes, inpsiration words, in-game objects like NPCs or historical events, etc...). Create an anchor list, and then every time you consult an oracle (or every other time, or when the mood suits you), roll on, or pick from, the anchor list, and tie it into your oracle's answer. The following is my WIP anchor list, which is also doubling as my world-building notes, for now.

1. Dogs are the best!
2. I got half a pair of shoes and no time to lose
   • Now I'm sittin' all alone at a table for two, she must've gone via Miami
3. Fortune favors the bold.
   • Look before you leap has never been the way we keep our road is free
   • Rush headlong into any dare
4. The Sodality
   • The Shadow Sodality
5. The Pit
   • Pit opening under buried bodies creates certain undead
6. Credulity - it's easier to lie in a world of miracles
7. Teina kinship, spans races
8. The Wahine Kule (Sleepless)
9. Anti-authoritarian / Anti-state
10. Fear of the Straw Death
11. Virtual citizenship
12. Opportunistic farming
13. The Great Halls Of Terr'Akkas
14. Cults
15. Demonology
16. The Named Generations:
    • Adomi - The 1st generation - analgous to the Titans: seemingly secretive and aloof to (the rest of) humanity. Very long-lived. None have yet died from natural causes. Preternatuarrly imaginative and engineering-minded
    • Zuir - The 2nd generation - The Greek gods to the Adomi's Titans. Hypocritically emotional. Born around year ~50. Long-lived, but some started dying of old age at age ~200, which would be year ~250.
    • Hieli - the 3rd generation - The demi-gods and folk heroes to the Zuir's Olympians. Semi-long-lived. Born around year ~80. Start dying around year ~230.
    • The 4th generation and beyond have normal human lifespan. The 1st 4th-gen were born ~100. Started dying of old age at ~70 years old, so first deaths were at year ~170. These were the first people in the world to die of old age.
17. The origin of vampirism - attempt to gain immortality through drinking dad's blood - it worked, but at a price
18. year 250: The era of peak jealousy and curses: The Zuir see their cousins and children die while all the Adomi remain young.
19. You're wearing that?
20. The evil of morally-lazy centrism and "both sides!"
21. We're all purposeless bags of meat. This does not make morality or joy any less real.
22. We're up to the witch. We may never ever ever come home. But the magic that we'll feel is worth a lifetime.
23. Honesty can be hard and put you at a disadvantage. Be honest anyway.
24. When was the last time a non-trivial NPC was a kid? Kids can participate in stories, too
25. The Truth
    • It's all a big nothing. What makes you think you're so special? (the trick is that this shouldn't be rhetorical)
    • O'er his white banes, when they are bare,
      The wind sall blaw for evermair.
26. Bimmi
27. Don't let the savages of HB World be too noble. They're just as crappy as real people; the difference is that they have strong social pressures keeping them in check.
28. Flower Wars
29. Xenni shells Become faded and brittle, and sprout tiny thorns, as they near a Pit.
30. Challenge token (e.g predator teeth, awsome symbolic gift, well-crafted item) - TODO: what's the game? Not beer!
    • Nobody wants to die without at least one neaningful token/fetish to be buried with
    • Buried with a fetish allows spirit to linger longer with clan
    • Proper burial ensures fetishes remain with the corpse
31. Ancestor worship
32. Walking to other planes
33. The Impossible Borders: Mountains, Mistlands, Ocean, Cliff (leads to the Pit?), Sky, Desert. All have a class of giant and a class of dragon inhabiting them.
34. Story-telling traps to avoid: Don't let these savages be too noble or simple, and don't let the bad guys be too one-dimensional.
35. Pissed-off earth elementals. Who shoved all of these fiends into out heart? I bet it was the Titans.
36. Spirits. The spirit realm is of this world, and not separate from it. The spirit realm is an inaccessible to humans like the ocean depths are an inaccessible to humans.
    • Kami: Spirits of non-living things. Definitely sentient, though, but of limited intelligence. No possession capability. Cannot abide Outsiders.
    • Totems: Spirits of types of living things. A totem is the sum of the spritedness of all living and dead specimens of the type of thing. May take material form as a normal or unusual specimen of the creature. Limited posession capability.
    • Jak: No attachments to the material aspect of the world, but may take material form (so to be fair, material entities should be able to take spirit form?). Trickster spirits come from this group
    • Spirits of the human dead:
37. Humanize non-human races / common cause / carving out a place
38. The seeds of legends
39. Magic is still... working its magic
    • Thin No line between outstanding skill and magic
40. Communal tools, and other communal stuff
41. Opposite Day / Roasting of heroes
42. Childhood
43. Symboitic menagerie
44. Taena & Lan: The titans who burned the sky - the stars are the remaining embers
45. The Wizard Who Shook The World in 68
46. Leadership Is Stewardship
47. "A Xenni to bury the wren, Mrs. Clancy?""
48. The First Torona (thrones)
49. (humanoid TBD) Armada wreckage * 2. And then they just kept running.
50. All the fools sailed anyway
    • The miracle-bringers managed to land safely, unlike certain giants I could name
    • Promising the life of the Adomi. We're your one great chance for a miracle.
    • One of the Adomi is helping evangelize
51. Trickster spirits
52. Extinction
    • One humanoid species already extinct
    • One humanoid species going extinct
    • One humanoid species recently appeared
53. Long-term plan to thwart the flood-bringer

GMA Cards