I wonder how many people mix and match their Oracles? It seems like a lot of people prefer a barebones system, and I certainly understand the appeal of that. I guess I'm not always as creative as I like, or I just really prefer the thrill of being surprised at like...EVERY turn.
For my current game, I'm using UNE and a custom table for NPC's. I'm using Mythic (with genre-Variation), Covetous Poet, and a derivative of Scarlet Heroes.
I use Scarlet for the "pacing"--using it's "Victory Point" system to keep the game going, setting a hard limit and the chance that my character can "fail" the story without necessarily dying.
Mythic handles the general Oracle duties.
Covetous Poet I use for scene setting. So, say I defeat a thug and interrogate him and succeed (both resolved with base rules), Mythic gives me limits to what the thug ACTUALLY knows, but I'm still left with the question of what the Thug actually tells me. CP steps to give me the next scene setup, which lets me know where I go next, and what kind of situation I'm expecting when I get there.
How many different solo systems do you use at a time? The fewest possible--including perhaps none? Just your favorite? Or do you through anything that strikes your fancy?
Your experience sounds very much like my own. In part It's the reason why my D&D campaign was so successful. SO MANY random tables for all occasions, & they always produced something interesting & unexpected.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I'm looking forward to your sessions. I'm keen to see how your various tools integrate, particularly CP, which I think is a great product, but I've always been at odds on how to use it effectively in solo.
I usually just use Miso to help me answer questions, along with various random tables (encounters, npcs, etc). I also will use story cubes or adventuresmith when I'm drawing a blank about something.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I mix different solo games but for testing them only, I think it's too chaotic and ineffective, I prefer one system at a time (if it's a good system it has everything that I need to play).
ReplyDeleteI try and test many systems then I make my own, so (sorry for this huge autoreference):
Solo engines: 1)Bivius 2)Zathrum 3)Tiny Solitary Soldiers
I use a house-ruled Mythic (MCSV) for the oracle and scene "structure", UNE for NPC conversations and sometimes for NPC personality (2 random rolls on a d1000 table of personality traits otherwise). These two are my mainstays, and I've pretty much stopped trying to replace them as they suit me best.
ReplyDeleteBeyond that, I often use BOLD to set up random encounters, and the d30 Sandbox Companion for all sorts fantasy/horror stuff, or Augmented Reality for sci-fi. Scarlet Heroes and Zozer's Solo are often pulled in for one thing or another, as are the tables in the back of the Labyrinth Lord AEC. I also like making up ad hoc tables when nothing published will do.
I'm too mercurial (nice word for "flaky") to use just one or even the same one consistently, though I do tend to stick to one oracle per session (or story arc, if it's working for me). Pythia makes it trivial to mix and match on the fly.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to pick just one I use the most, it's a modified FU. I like the "and/but" stuff too much to give it up. And I have a random event percentile roll built into the FU oracle routine. I'm torn between the "classic" oracle and one with negotiation/purchasing, though. I like looking at my dice and assigning them to my priorities too much.
For structure sometimes I use a framework with points like Free Will or SH. Sometimes I use a board game scene structure. Lately I've been playing around with a cyclic structure and an ebb-and-flow structure. It really depends on if I'm doing a sandbox thing -- just exploring to see what'll happen -- or a story thing -- following the fiction towards a recognizable narrative.
For random inspiration I sometimes use Mythic's event charts/complex answers/seeds, but I find I'm fairly bad at interpreting them. Lately I've been giving myself a few in advance and "playing" them like cards, so I can choose what goes where (inspired by Perilous Intersections) and that seems to work out better for me.
It's also helpful to have a "Moves" chart like AW; I decide on triggers and play a random Move against myself!
I like to play using different engines/solo systems, but not together...I prefer to play one session using Mythic, for exemple, and next session continue the story with another tool, lie 9Qs, Miso, Bivius....It is the mood off the adventure that makes me choose...but just one at a time.
ReplyDeleteLike Lucas I tend to stick with one at a time. But, I like throwing in inspirational stuff almost every scene such as story cubes, zero tarot, zero dice, or card draws ala Rewind/It's not my Future. The random prompts take the place of the random event charts because I can use them to fill in the blanks instead of a chart look up.
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