Mythic Game Master Emulator

Mythic has always been one of my go-to tools for solo roleplaying, and the new edition is very nice. I get the feeling that at 200+ pages, the book has gotten big for the goal of fast-and-easy solo RP, but this book has a lot of value in charts and summaries of the systems Mythic uses.

If you are playing solo, this is a must-have book! The Oracle is one the best, and it really gets you into the methodology and structure of solo play and how things work in this world. You will get used to "asking questions to yourself" and learning how things work. Once you train your inner "Magic 8-Ball, " you are set for a lifetime of solo gaming, and these procedures are also valuable for playing with groups. As a referee, I often don't have a good answer for players, so using a quick oracle roll is a helpful way to answer questions and keep the game moving.

But there is a warning - do not over-rely on oracles and charts too much! If you ever find yourself stuck, rolling on a chart again, or rerolling Oracle dice to get a better result, STOP!

You need to stop.

Come up with the most logical thing that would happen next in your head, and go with that. This is one of those moments in solo play when your brain has a "runtime error" and blue screens. Whenever you feel unsatisfied, confused, stuck, or frustrated with the charts, it is time to put yourself into "recovery mode" and find the most logical way forward. Refrain from asking why; this happens all the time!

One of the worst things you can do when solo playing is feel a chart result sucked, and you begin to roll repeatedly. Never do that; give yourself ONE roll only. If you can't do anything with it, make something up and move on; maybe the next roll will be better.

Momentum is more important than having charts create a random adventure.

In fact, a genuinely random adventure is an uninteresting and bland thing.

There will always be chances for the charts to surprise you later, but the most important thing is to avoid that "writer's block" that can happen at any time when playing solo and realize the charts are a tool for storytelling - not a narrator.

The story comes from you, and the charts add unpredictable fun.

Another highest recommendation for me and make sure to get the latest edition for the best experience.

Solo Game Master's Guide

The Geek Gamers book Solo Game Master's Guide is the one to get. They sell this over on the Modiphius store, and it is well worth the investment. This is an inspirational book that lays out the best habits for solo roleplaying, and it includes the wonderful gem:

Everything is playing.

Too often, I had given up before I started, stopped playing, or felt I didn't have enough time, so I just gave up altogether. If everything is playing, even picking up a book and thinking about what game you want to run is playing. That bar is set very low and keeps you from giving up.

All the other parts of this book give you the "how" and "why" of the solo gaming experience. How you deal with character creation, large sets of rules, motivation, oracles, random tables, and what to do if you get stuck. Too often, we put too much trust in a system of random tables and think it will give us an instant game.

The game comes from us.

Refrain from sitting there and rolling dice aimlessly. Decide something, base it on emotion and feeling, and move on. You can start playing before you create a character. There is just so much wisdom in here it is hard to explain, just get this book, and it will unlock so much potential in your mind.

This book is an essential guide to success at Solo Roleplaying, and this has my highest recommendation.

Oracle Dice

https://www.amazon.com/White-Black-Squared-Corners-Wondertrail/dp/B08MQH4QQD/

These are handy oracle dice. I roll these when I don't want to mess with charts or chaos factors and just want a simple answer from an oracle.

Three sides are YES, and three others are NO, so this is a 50/50 chance of just rolling one die.

If I want an "unlikely" chance of 25%, then both need to come up YES for a positive result.

If I want a "likely" chance of 75%, then if one of them shows YES, that is a positive result.

Do I need more than 25%, 50%, and 75%? 

For solo play? Probably not.

I could also use these to generate a YES-NO result with AND or BUT results (taking into account the left-to-right positioning of the die roll):

• YES-YES: Strong yes
• YES-NO: Yes, and/but...
• NO-YES: No, and/but...
• NO-NO: Strong no

The and/but result can be determined by the situation, or just roll one of the dice again, YES = and, NO = but. Alternatively, if the first die is farther away from you, that is an and; if the second is farther away, that is a but. We got six results with two dice!

With two sets, you could get into three (12.5%) and four dice (6.25%) percentage combinations, but that feels like a bit much, and then you would need a chart. With just two dice and a little creativity, you can make these two simple dice do a lot of cool oracle tricks.

Welcome!

Hello there!