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!

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

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.

I have to admit, the old KZfaq 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!

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.

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!

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!

This is master class level stuff.

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!!

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.

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 👍

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.

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. :)

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?

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?

Great video, I use MUNE as my oracle, I like how simple it is but always gives a follow up to my question and random tables for specific questions and generating things. My only on going problem is recording information as I go, when I generate a dungeon room I need to come up with better ways of recording the layout of the room and the things that change when my PC explores that don't involve rewriting the whole room description. Like what happens if I return a week later in game and 2 months later in real life. I won't remember every detail but that sort of thing is important to meas a player. I like the idea of returning back to the local village selling treasures and returning back to the dungeon to carry on my delve

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.

Thanks for the video. What are your top 5 solo rpgs?

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.

The droid app could be "AI Dungeon." Great video! 👍 📹 Thank you!

What book are you using with the “Core Oracles”

Volume

What is that little spiral-bound oracle book on the right?