Ep01-An introduction to solo RPGs- The Oracle

Solo RPG. I discuss how I use my oracle to help me run my solo games.
#solorpg #whitebox
Blog: msjx.org
Itch: mattjackson.itch.io

[@BanditsKeep]

Ok, I love this, I have purchased a few oracles and always forget to grab them when I’m playing - this is solution will be my go to now!

[@GrayArmyGaming]

Thanks for posting! I would love to see some gameplay to see this oracle in action! Kindest regards!

[@mattjackson]

I have posted an example play through on the channel now, Doom Comes to Willowford!

[@GrayArmyGaming]

@@mattjackson Cool! Thanks!

[@preacherjohn]

Nice! A really minimalist oracle! :) .. I did laugh tho' when you said "Obviously it never f'kin rains in the desert" - many years ago, I once had to rent a seat in a chopper to get out of a desert canyon in Arizona: because I'd set off (solo) hiking down it in bright summer morning's sunshine, only for the weather to flip and start pouring rain.. Within an hour or two what had been a path was a waist-deep flash-flood stream! :D

[@mattjackson]

Agreed! I’ve been in Iraq during a freak rain storm. I make loads of stupid comments in videos…I need a better editor! Thanks for watching!

[@MrSteveK1138]

Desert Storm vet myself, and it rained before the ground assault

[@patkelley8293]

Great ideas! I just picked up White Box. It really is everything you need in one book.

[@solod2087]

This is a really interesting idea! As you were going over it I was thinking, what if 2d10 was the base, one red & one blue (no & yes). Then you could introduce odds by swapping the dice, if a yes is more likely change it to a blue d12 and a red d10. There are all sort of likelyhoods you could come up with by using larger and smaller dice. Like if yes was SUPER unlikely it could be a blue d4 and a red d20. And then I started thinking about "yes and" & "no but" and what if the difference between the results determine how emphatic the yes or no is? Like, a difference of say 8 or more is "yes and/no and" And if they're only 1 or two apart it's a "yes but" for blue being just a bit higher and vise versa. Anyway, you've inspired me! Thanks for such a cool oracle!

[@kullenanderson7559]

i love this idea. im going to use my DCC funky dice! (includes d3, d5, d7, d14, d16, d24, d30)

[@richardlaino1079]

Thanks…been playing my own dice games since 1960,s…..all sports…plus 2 seasons of strat-o-matic baseball…..8 teams over 600 games..did all the stats..about 1 year to complete a season…..a lot of rolling dice to pass the time…..

[@kylegraywolf]

I love how simple this is. I think I saw this over on Bandit's Keep, without the slider, and believe he referenced you. Also, I love your super legible dice.

[@mattjackson]

Cool, thanks! I watch his videos but I did not see that. Very cool

[@kylegraywolf]

@@mattjackson I think it was on one of his solo OD&D videos, but I can't quite remember unfortunately 😬

[@konatelassina5301]

I like your content. I like your sensibilities. I like your “take”. I like your ideas. Subscribed. Looking forward to your content.

[@mattjackson]

Awesome, thank you!

[@Kosake82]

I think you can even eliminate the white die and just use the difference of blue and red to gauge how strong the response is. For instance: If blue is 6 and red 1 it's a very strong response for "yes", because 5 is the biggest difference there can be between 2 D6. If blue is 2 and red 5 the difference is 3 and is a moderate response for "no". Of course you could always roll a pair which means that something unexpected happens or just reroll.

[@mattjackson]

True, but I also use the white die to skew the likelihood of a particular result.

[@BlackOrc1988]

​@@mattjacksonMatt, what if you determined the likelihood, for example for a strong YES, and then you roll, and it shows NO and the white Die is let's say 5. In that case you just ignore the white Die?

[@mattjackson]

@@BlackOrc1988 In my process if the likelihood is a strong “es” you,will see me move or slide the white die to the blue die. When I then roll the dice, the “yes” side is compared to the “no” side. In a case where the probability is likely, the white and blue die are on the yes side. So in this case, the white and blue die would be compared to the red die, if either the blue or white beat the red die, the answer is yes. If I am also interested in the degree of success, I will also compare the successful roll (blue or white die) to the no die(red). Maybe I need to explain my oracle again in a video…

[@BlackOrc1988]

@@mattjackson ahhh now I get it, you compare blue and white Die together with red, and even if blue one is lower than red, then you + white to the result and if they are greater than red it is YES :)) sorry for my English:))

[@mattjackson]

@@BlackOrc1988 You do not add the dice together though. I am working on a video as I type this!

[@ToddMauldin]

glad to find you on youtube, matt. good vid, i like the refined solo oracle you've developed. im still digging so1um, i still use it all the time.

[@mattjackson]

Thank you Todd, I truly appreciate that. It really is great to hear people still find it useful.

[@TiredandGrouchy]

Awesome!

[@CavernadoLekkis]

I like it. There is an Oracle called Recluse that is almost this.

[@mattjackson]

Hey that’s pretty cool, not seen this one before. Thanks!

[@setheon1972]

Nice job.

[@thewise3551]

Your neutral slider die should have been green so as to be consistent with NATO symbology. Interesting idea, like it.

[@mattjackson]

Really? Interesting. In our software in the US Army it was blue = friendly and red = enemy.

[@jamessral-subclassact]

Mmmm. Those monomakes dice!!!

[@mattjackson]

They are gorgeous, aren’t they? I just received the Monomakes dice for the Oracle. Future videos will have those instead of the dice in these videos.

[@MrDowntemp0]

I don't understand the slider die. Do you add its value to the die it slides next to? Making it 2d6 vs 1d6? Or do you pick the higher value of the 2 die? So if you slide it to the red side and the red die is 3 the white die 4 and the blue 5, is it a 7 vs 5 (Negative wins) or 4 vs 5 (Positive wins)?

[@mattjackson]

No, blue is "Yes", red is "No". I use the white die as a second die to make the results lean a particular way. Think of it like this: If the answer to a question is more likely to be a "Yes", then I slide the white die to the yes side (essentially rolling yes with advantage). If the answer is more likely to be a "No", then the white die slides to the no side. The side that is a more likely outcome rolls the check with advantage. Hope that makes sense!

[@Kanakadea]

Interesting. An Opposed 1D6 check with a variable 1D6 favorability modifier. It’s a bit adversarial versus the the usual 1D6 or (my preference) 2D6 Yes/No Oracle. But I can see the appeal for more oppressive type games like Morg Borg. Have you tried switching up the dice? Maybe Opposed 1D10 rolls with a 1D4 “slider”?

[@mattjackson]

I have not as I prefer the d6 to all other die types for whatever reason.

[@FitzLoric]

Great vid! Are those MonoMake Dice?

[@mattjackson]

Yes! Great dice!

[@Joethelawyer]

Does your oracle bake cookies like the oracle in the matrix?

[@mattjackson]

Yes. Only oatmeal raisin though, because those are my favorite. The choc chip she burns on purpose. Plus, she bakes in the nude. #myoraclemyrules

[@robchristensen9678]

Been thinking about trying some solo games lately, so thanks for this Matt. This is pretty much my first dive into an Oracle concept, so please forgive my ignorance. Would you ever change the die type if one outcome seemed to be more likely? For instance, rain in the desert. Would the No die be a d12 while the Yes is a d4? Looking forward to watching more in the series. 👍

[@mattjackson]

You could do that and I think it would work perfectly fine. I just like to keep things as simple as possible and moving. Adding more thought process (which die, how much larger die, etc) would slow me down just enough to kill the pacing in my games, so I would stick with the d6s. That said, play your game how you want! I only posted this because I have had loads of questions about how I use my oracle for solo gaming (I have actually used at the table with a group game as well).

[@robchristensen9678]

Totally get that. Thanks.

[@aspektx]

Short sweet and to the point. My only question is I really don't understand how the slider die is being used. It's the first I've heard of them.

[@mattjackson]

The slider is a method to control the likelihood of a particular outcome. If I feel the answer to a question is more likely to be a “Yes” (blue die), the slider moves to the blue side. Then, if the blue OR white die beat the red die the answer is yes. If the red die still rolls higher - despite the likelihood being a “Yes” - then the oracle answers with a “No”. I hope that explains it a little better.

[@aspektx]

@@mattjackson thank you.

[@greghartung2016]

@@mattjackson This is a good explanation!

[@BrentARJ]

@@mattjackson ah! Thanks for this explanation. Maybe I missed it in the video but I couldn't figure out how the slider die worked.

[@Mind_of_MATT]

Do you find any need for a random event trigger (double 1s or double 6s = RE for example) to add more randomness?

[@mattjackson]

Good question. Not typically, I tend to have good levels of action and story building. In my experience my oracle often throws me enough curveballs to keep it interesting and exciting. I’m hoping to get a few sessions of game play on the channel soon, hopefully that will help further explain how it works. Thanks for watching!

[@retrodmray]

Really great! Thank you for this, sir! I'm looking forward to much more!! 👍

[@Number01]

Where did you get the Red dice to the right? Great video.

[@mattjackson]

Look up Monomakes Craft on Etsy. They aren’t cheap but they are oh so nice! I have a set of the red, white, and blue to match these on the way!

[@Number01]

@@mattjackson That's awesome. Thank you. I think that's the brand runehammer uses too. I'd love to see your Oracle rolls with those. I'm catching up on your actual play episodes now and quite enjoying them. Trolls are the worst. Lol. Keep up the good work!

[@Number01]

@@mattjackson Are the Dice a larger size than normal polyhedrals?

[@mattjackson]

@@Number01 yes, same brand!

[@mattjackson]

@@Number01 yes, about 18-20mm I think.