In this podcast episode, we look at Oracles for role-playing games. Oracles are a kind of random generator popularized by solo RPGs like Ironsworn and the Mythic Game Master Simulator. However the idea of oracles – in which you role some dice to determine a course of action or inspire some aspect of your game – have been around since the hobby’s earliest days. We talk about those early inspirations, how you can leverage oracles in your own game, and how to create your own campaign-specific random tables.
We’re joined on this podcast by Chris Miller, Former Overlord of the Secret Lair, coding guru, and man least likely to be eaten by a grue. Before talking Oracles, we discuss the various video and role-playing games we’re playing.
The Game Room
- Back to Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is out. Ken’s still catching up on the last one.
- Starting Shadows of Doubt
- Created by British developer Colepowered Games
- Savage Amber and Savage Dresden
- Chris created Savage Worlds versions of Amber and the Dresden Files.
- Not licensed; these are fan creations for your geeky enjoyment
- Godsend Agenda 3rd edition
- David got his copy of Godsend Agenda 3rd Edition
- It’s not your typical mythology. Learn more by checking out S2E7 Godsend Agenda
- Guardians of the Galaxy video game
- David finished the game … and enjoyed it quite a lot.
The Library
- Cory Doctorow Novel-o-Rama
- Chris talks about his recent Doctorow readings.
Main Topic: Oracles for Role-Playing Games
- What is an Oracle?
- “In Ironsworn, an oracle is anything which generates random results to help determine the outcome of a move, a detail in your world, and NPC action, or a narrative event.” – Ironsworn, p. 165.
- Dictionary.com: “(especially in ancient Greece) an utterance, often ambiguous or obscure, given by a priest or priestess at a shrine as the response of a god to an inquiry, also the agency or medium giving such responses.”
- In this case, the agent is the dice, and the deity is … well…you decide. Let’s call it Fate.
- The use of an oracle implies predestination, something is “supposed” to happen.
- Interesting, then, that consulting an oracle in RPGs is exactly the opposite, a specific decision of “random” chance so that the player need not decide.
Oracles in Different Game Types
- Why use Oracles?
- Drawing inspiration from randomness
- Oracles in Solo games
- Solves for the blank page problem.
- Gives a channel for creativity to flow into. “Your ship has a critical issue,” causes the creative mind to try to solve the issue, or at least define it.
- Game specific mechanisms
- Thousand Year Vampire – using playing cards and dice
- Be Like a Crow – playing cards
- Ironsworn – all dice
- Converted games, MythicRPG, OracleRPG – oracles, tech tools, AI
- Oracles in Co-op games
- Oracles in Traditional, Game Master-driven games
- You cannot plan everything
- Two ways to use in GM games
- Spur of the moment in game – implied common usage
- Supplement planning, even wandering monsters. – This gives the GM’s brain a break, since wandering and random encounters are a staple of some games’ module writing.
- Specifics
- Oldest oracle we could find: D&D White Box Monsters and Treasures
- DMs screens
- Player-generated Tables! So many! The internet is amazing!
- Oracles in Solo games
Random Generators
- Random Tools we Have Known
- Dungeons & Dragons Monster & Treasure Assortment
- Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide
- Specifically, the random dungeon generator in the first edition
- There have been oracles for D&D as long as there has been an internet. See textfiles.com/rpg/
- Many online resources
- Perchance – create your own oracles
- Katans and Trenchcoats – old school World of Darkness
Creating an Oracle
- How to create your own oracles and not feel like you are cheating/lazy
- ChaptGPT is helpful, but terrible at math
- Understanding the Bell Curve and Probability – a deep rabbit hole indeed
- Straight numbers lead to very random things
- More dice can mean more of a theme
- Oracles that remember
- Weather Oracles
- Wilderness Survival Guide. pp. 108-109
- Weather Oracles
- Winging it
- Other Ideas
- Bluebooking and Oracles
- Combining oracles from different games
Oracle Resources
- Resources
Feedback
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