Solo Role Playing Tutorial - Oracles and Conjecture
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- Опубликовано: 24 дек 2024
- Today We discuss Oracles and Conjecture for first time solo role players and those struggling with those same concepts. We also talk about reasons to use oracles based on YOUR needs a long with common struggles and solutions using these resources.
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For a long time, similar to you, I had a hard time wrapping my head around "creation" in solo systems. I wanted something that GAVE ME the world, without me having to "make shit up". So I looked heavily into oracles that try to chisel out "what it is", rather than looking at my own creativity while using the Y/N process. I felt unsatisfied with how my own creativity steered the experience like you shine a torch around a room. I felt like I was too much in the drivers seat.
These days I like to think of soloing in terms of "lines of creation" and "points of RNG". The points of RNG are the dice rolls you make, no matter the tool you use you are introducing a point of RNG there, which in turn sends your creative thought down an unforeseen path. The world "external to your creative thought" comes from these points of RNG, but it is still you who have to create it. It is quite subtle, and you might feel like you are "just making it up", because you do not see the true weight that these points of RNG have.
Also, I like to use "tweaks" that I apply to my creations. For instance, if I get a strong oracle result (YES!) I have a list of ways that different things can be tweaked. If you are talking the physical world it is easy to apply factors such as quantity, quality/condition, dimensions, complexity/intricacy, size, value/worth/importance, Potency/strength/impact, rarity/oddness etc. For other questions regarding behavior, a situation, an action, an ongoing activity, you can use tweak words along the lines of Importance/gravity/impact, scope/reach/ breadth...I have many of these in my tweak lists.
Also, a tweak method you can use is to apply a new set of words to an existing creation, prompting you to flesh it out further using these.
Another tool I like is what I refer to as a "world roll" or "the DM says".
Here I roll every now and again on a list that directs me to create in a certain direction. So the roll might direct me to create "an ambient NPC acts toward the PC". This means a person approaches me on the street, like a paper boy, or someone bumping into me. An old friend? In a claustrophobic starship corridor this might mean that we hear a howling off in the distance. Or I might get the instruction to create a "new ambient activity" going on, or a "new area feature", or "a new detail to an area feature" (the soda machine that I previously created as an area feature in the cyberpunk bar now has an anime style cyber-pop idol on it, flashing in neon, doing a silly little dance). The purpose of it is to have a very strong "point of RNG" that sidelines my own creative flow and steers it in a new direction.
You can talk about this stuff for days on end. :D
Solo role play at its best is the mystery and challenge that role-playing games are meant to be complete with atmosphere and immersion, without someone at the table interrupting with a dumb joke at just the wrong moment, or doing something totally out of character and destroying immersion. Other than call of Cthulhu I've been able to solo pretty much any game I want, and I haven't given up completely on CoC yet. Keep up the good work and the cool content!
I can feel where you are coming from there. There is something to be gained from a social role playing session for sure, but the ability to have it YOUR way and just immerse yourself in that custom tailored experience is very hard to find or replicate anywhere else. Thank you so much for the support and the kind words, and thank you for taking the time to watch! :)
This is so genius dude. It clicked for me. Thank you, liked and subscribed
Lol, from your first set of words I immediately started thinking of the garbage compactor from A new hope, and the slinky creature living there, protecting its refuse, with the entering heroes as a new prize for it to claim. Then you roll: Untamed, subsurface...
Beautiful.
Excellent video! It's true that context is extremely important when interpreting oracle rolls.
In my personal experience, I initially would end off sessions after the first one because I was having a hard time interpreting oracle rolls, but I found that by pushing through, eventually there's enough linked information and contextual clues that interpreting oracle rolls becomes a lot easier, which makes the following sessions a lot more fun and fruitful.
For reference, look at any of the seasons of Me, Myself and Die - they would usually start off with seemingly random and unrelated events, but eventually when there are enough plot threads and characters to draw from a narrative can be more easily woven. I would recommend to people having a hard time interpreting oracle rolls to try to push past the initial first wall. Of course, like you said, this isn't for everyone, and some people actually prefer playing one-shots. Again, another great video!
How do you roll to develop any plot at all?
Hey Kosteri!, I am about to reply to one of your other comments addressing this concern. Your other comment hit me where I have lived before and I plan on doing a follow up video on how to deal with conjecture when you dont have the preexisting events, places, people ( or really world ) to work with. I have to get the D100 Space review out first but this video is a big deal for me as I agree that it really must be addressed.
I have to admit, the old RUclips algorithm finally did me right by posting your video. This was an very well done video, everything about it from your content to explanation was totally pro. It was great to review not just how to use other oracles but why you might want to change it up. My friend, I've Subscribed, very much looking forward to seeing your future work!
Hey Mark, I wanted you to know that your comment made my day. I immediately showed this to my wife. Thank you so very much for the kind words and thoughts!
I just recently ran across your channel and am really enjoying your content! You have a great mix of game reviews/rules breakdowns as well as more broad discussions on the mechanics of solo rpgs (like this). I only recently got into soling TTRPGs and have been looking for resources like your channel to help me get the most out of it. Thank you! you've got a new subscriber for sure.
Hi JennerNuwen32, I am sorry it took so long to reply, for some reason my comments section did not show your comment as a new comment.
I am so glad yo have you on the channel and you are so VERY welcome. Thank you for taking your time to watch! :)
Oh this is killer good. Contextualize the answer as a part of the world, not an external description of the world. That's a take I've gotten in the first half, coming back for the second later!
Hey RT! I would love to know your thoughts if you find time to finish it up. I feel as if context is always key to most oracles that I use. The more that I include context, the more alive and real the world will seem to be. Thank you for the kind words :)
This is really good! I can create many different stories with words but pictures give me always the same results that’s why I use mostly words 🙂
Also my tips: don’t overthink and don’t be too hard on yourself 👍
This is master class level stuff.
Hey Chris, Thank you for that. I had to shout out your comment to my wife a few minutes ago. You put a smile on my face.....Thank you :)
The garbled static only works when you have a theme (medieval, low fantasy), a setting (at the entrance of a discovered ruin), and a context (you took up a job as a carpenter and were looking for a good tree).
Without these 3, you can’t work with garbled static.
Themes more than anything exclude rather than create, so in a desert setting you wouldn’t find radioactive waste vats.
Setting is about local topology, so if outside is it raining, where are you; think of it like a camera setting.
Context is what led you to be there and what do you want.
Conjectures won’t work without these. Anyway I laud attempts at soloing like you and gg but it never seems to pan out. Maybe the field is not yet mature enough, but I would take a pre written adventure book any day as my first choice.
Hey Kosteri, I just commented on another one of your posts to someone else. I really appreciate your take away. I do deal with this issues on my own but I left that out of my tutorial and examples. Sadly, its one of the first hurdles we face without prior info in world. I will be doing a video on that very soon. It will take a bit more prep, but I plan on showing a few different systems along with some common hang ups on getting a session up and started. Having meaningless oracle results due to lack of prior info is definitely an initial hang up. Thank you so VERY much for pointing that missing tidbit out. I really appreciate it!
@@adventuresinsolitaire
There are a few questions to bear in mind that will help create the logic of a situation, which then gives the framework for conjecture and general creativity.
Location, motivation & initial "threads": WHERE are we - WHEN are we- WHY are we
(Jungle planet landing zone / Midnight / Alarms going off so everyone is up and about)
Behaviors & actions taken: WHO does - WHAT is done - WHY is it done - HOW is it done
(The site commander / Shouts "form a perimeter!" / There's an unseen threat / Forcefully)
I like just having these words on a card so I remember what questions to ask.
In Roman times, some soothsayers predicted the future by turning to a random word in the sacred and much revered epic story The Aeneid, by Virgil. I’ve tried it with my Penguin copy, it’s fun! You could do the same with your copy of Lord of the Rings, if you were adventuring in Middle Earth, for example, or a Viking epic if your game was set in Viking times. Think of all the genre and setting appropriate words packed into those stories!!
Interesting take, thinking about it like a redacted document! I prefer words to pictures, but I use pictures now and then for variety. And I use books if I want to really “steal” a world or setting. So my current Lovecraftian mystery game uses the Mythic cards and the Necronomicon anthology of Lovecraft stories, and that’s it. Then I roll dice and take notes on my phone. And though I would prefer to use physical dice and pen and paper, ease and practicality wins out. And, like you said, it’s a really great experience once you get into it! So videos like this are great, I found solo RPGs through YT and it’s one of my favorite things these days. And I just wish everyone that would enjoy it, finds it, so they can try.
Hey there Grognard! Thank you for adding your voice to those, like ourselves, that have found our home with solo role playing. I am so glad you have found your place with resources. I see so many struggle trying to find that sweet spot for solo role playing. It seems far more common to be on a continual search for the right tools and concepts than to have found what works for you. I think others need to see that it can work if given the time and effort. Thank you for speaking out so others can see that from more than myself.
This was a really unique way to describe solo roleplaying. I'd love to see a series of videos about focusing on a single type of tool exemplifying the various ways to generate story elements. This could be micro videos (playlist), but altogether I believe they would be very beneficial to your audience in discovering what works for them.
Is that d100 space behind your solo hostile book? I'll have to check your channel to see if you have a video on that one. If not, I'd love to see your take on it.
Thank you for another great video. :)
Thank you for that #1. I agree that individual tool usage would be beneficial. Your comment came at a good time as I was trying to figure out what to do videos on in regards to solo and helping new comers or those who are struggling with one thing or another.
It is indeed d100 space. I have about an hour left on the editing work for the script and then I need to do the recording. So I will likely have the recording wrapped in the next few days, then begins the lengthy process of editing. That should be my next video I put out. I hope I can do it justice.
You are so very welcome for the video, I am just glad it was enjoyed and appreciated. I know that it wont be for everyone ( really any of my videos for that matter ;) ).
@@adventuresinsolitaire Looking forward to seeing more content from the channel! Glad I could provide some video suggestions for you. :)
You never told me what that core oracle book was named, I do not know how to find one if I do not know what title to google.
Phenomenal! As a follow up, how do you handle random events? I'm a fan of Mythic, and starting scenes with the potential of a random event, or rolling a match and making one is one of the something I find it very hard to move away from. Any thoughts?
Hi Jonathan, thank you for the kind comment. In regards to random events and how to handle them I think that might be best answered by a video. There are different ways, times, and types of random events or random event mechanisms. Thats a long conversation for sure. Personally...I think by their nature they need to be flexible in their nature ( a structure is encountered instead of an animal or person ). In that same mindset of flexibility, we need to be prepared to allow them to happen ( in reasonable and/or meaningful ) ways at ANY point of our adventure.
To your point, Mythic really does a good job of this, but it is NOT the only system which does. Iron Sworn and Starforged are great with this type of flexibility. But mythic is completely system neutral and you seem to be asking about moving out past some of the structure, or ways/mechanisms, that Mythic is offering. I will say that if I get the feeling that....something feels like it could/should happen I do a yes/no or a variable yes/no roll and see if it ends up in my favor.
Mythic kind of handles this with the chaos system but again...you are following a system...a mechanism. Are you wanting to step away from Mythic or add to it with more encounters, or maybe more timing flexible encounters?
Also, you helped to give me direction on another video, so I will aim to do a random event/encounter video soon. I am wanting to do more of these types of videos and that raised a lot of really good questions and points to bring up. Thank you again.
@@adventuresinsolitairewow, such a detailed and helpful reply
What book are you using with the “Core Oracles”
Hi Edward! I was using the Ironsworn:Starforged reference guide. It is "one of" my favorite resources for oracles and conjecture. Thank you for the question. :)
@@adventuresinsolitaire Thank you for your response. I agree with the others here. This video was very helpful. I am subscriber because of this video!
I am very glad to have you. It has been a bit since I have posted a video but my channel is not going anywhere. Lots of life stuff lately.
This is a great video for helping others. I have been trying out systems and looking at oracles for solo role-playing and something more open ended than D 100 dungeon. Learning to read an oracle and use it without getting bored down in rules and possibilities should be the focus. I want to play the game and sometimes solo role-playing can turn into being the GM and observing the game instead.
What are your thoughts on using the basic fantasy RPG system for solo role-playing?
Hi Philip, Thank you for the complement.
In regards to the being the GM, I think it is important that we find ways to have the oracles and, if possible, the game system, play us a bit. It can certainly go the route of the GM but the oracles are supposed to take that away from us as much as possible. In my current setup I really dont feel like the GM at all. But that is because I have the right set of tools, concepts, ideas and game system that take the GMing away from me. I despise having to be the GM in my solo play, so I definitely feel you to some level there for sure.
In regards to basic fantasy. I think basic fantasy is a great system. It's a D20 system and is much closer to the old school DnD that I grew up with. My issue with most of the D20 systems isn't the bulk of the system, but it is mainly the combat system. Different Solo Role Players are comfortable with various levels of complexity. I personally prefer to go no more complicated than range bands with my combat. Using miniatures and measuring placement etc can be a bit too time consuming. But that is ME. I love combat, I love choices, but I prefer to use systems that have more flexibility and less fiddling to get to the same results. I didn't like giving up DnD as a Solo option but its combat system for me just wasn't there. That is not to say that I couldn't modify it, or that someone else couldn't if it was too much for them. I still enjoy the D20 systems for group play or on PC games like Baldur's gate 3.
At the end of the day I would say play it ( if you have it, if not try the free version on Drive through RPG ). Especially if you really want to play the system solo. See what you like and dont. Dont give up if it doesn't work right away. Keep whittling at it. Reach out and ask questions to help if needed. If you have tried various ways to use it solo and its just not clicking, it may be time to move on and look for another system. Just dont give up if it doesn't feel right out the gate.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you have further thoughts or questions and I will do my best to help or give my thoughts.
Thanks for the video. What are your top 5 solo rpgs?
Hey L D, Hostile Solo and the Ironsworn system are tied for first for different reasons, though that may change over time. After that Mythic is pretty rock solid. Aside from that I dont have any more in my collection that I sought after to own in physical format for play. I am sure that will change over time. I have held off of top lists as I want to get more content before I get to that point. I do plan on doing some in the future, I just dont have a time-frame nailed down for it. Thank you for the great question and you are so very welcome for the video.
@@adventuresinsolitaire my system of choice is Starforged. Before that I played Ironsworn, but the rules of Starforged are - for me - much better and elegant. Thank you for the channel and have a good Christmas time!
To you and yours as well L D :) You are very welcome and I am grateful to have you watching and lending your thoughts as well. I agree completely with your Ironsworn/Starforged comparison. I am planning on doing a video talking about how I have brought ironsworn more into focus to what starforged is now. It still isn't the same as what it looks like when you have a polished product that has learned from the past like starforged. But it definitely helps you return to it when you have things that help bridge that gap. I just shot an email to a gentleman whose content I used to make that work more too my liking to let him know I would be running that video. I am looking forward to talking about that. Good timing there :)
Again, thank you and happy holidays to you and yours. Take care and be safe, THANK YOU! :)
I didn’t see this discussed in the video or the comments, but which book do you show in the video with the “Core Oracles” page? Great video, btw.
Hardest for my solo games is comming to a city/town. Think is getting to big for me (npc, what next) you got som pointers for me? Love you channel and the way you tell.
HI Mikkel, I think I understand where you are coming from. I had intended to a video on just that, but have not gotten to it. T
he biggest issue there, I think, is not having the town setup when you get there. When you would walk to the outskirts of a town in real life you would be able to know some things pretty quickly just with your eyes. So getting some basic info randomly rolled about the town can help. I also assume that my character has asked one or two of the town folk some basic info. If I don't assume that my character does this, then I have them do so through conversation with a random npc in the fields, or at a pub, or in the streets.
So make sure you roll info on some random tables/oracles about your town. If you have some of this info then it can help with your conjecture rolls later when you are rolling on info that may be related to the town. This can also affect your interactions with the NPCs in the town as they live there and will be effected by the "goings on" in town.
In regards to NPCs, you can treat them just as you did the town. Make some random rolls on the oracles that you have to help flesh them out. Then you will have something to work with. When you then take that information and compare it to what you know about the town you have even more info.
There is also something to be said about learning info in increments, as you may not know EVERYTHING about a town or an npc. So only roll for those things that you think you would know without much effort at all for your character. As you learn more or get more information about the town or NPCs you can make more rolls. You can also make your character make skill checks to see if they learn more than what is just on the surface.
Some of this may not make sense without a protracted conversation on the topic, but I really would like to cover this topic in a video. Thank you for reaching out and letting me know that this was a need. And thank you so much for supporting me and for your kind words :)
Thanks so much for you time to answer me. Relly nice of you. Keep up you great work on you chanel you no 1 fan from denmark😀👍❤️
Hey Mikkel! You made my night. Thank you. I cannot wait to share that with my wife. Glad to know I have a fan over there. :)
The droid app could be "AI Dungeon."
Great video! 👍 📹
Thank you!
Hey vinimagus, you nailed it...I did a quick look up when I saw your message and that was it indeed. Good call out! Thank you for the kind words and you are so very welcome. I will do my best to keep them coming.
@adventuresinsolitaire thank you for that. I look forward to more videos of yours. I've been really enjoying them. There's so much for me to learn when it comes to Solo RPGs, and your content is truly helpful.
Best wishes!
What is that little spiral-bound oracle book on the right?
Hey there FaeKitty! That is one of the BEST oracles I own for science fiction role playing. It is for the IronSworn: Starforged role playing system. It is pretty system neutral, so if you wanted to use it with another pen and paper role playing system you can. I definitely recommend it if that sort of thing interests you, especially the pdf version as you can print the tables you want and leave the rest that you dont. Thank you for the question. :)
What's the name of that oracle?
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