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16trees

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A member registered Jun 14, 2024

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There is  a Twist counter. When any doubles are rolled, the answer is "Yes, but" and you add a mark to the counter. On your third mark you reset the counter and roll on the Twist Table. This is a 2D6 roll that forms a random sentence like, "[An object] [appears]" or "[An ally] [helps the hero]." You can either alter the current scene to match this plot twist or generate a random scene that has nothing to do with the current scene, but will definitely alter the overall story in some way. 

I really like this idea a lot because it introduces a little bit of chaos and forces you to thing creatively about something you didn't expect to happen. It's also a nice tension builder when you're well into the story, but you have two marks and you start to worry about when that twist will happen. 

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I admit, this isn't the easiest oracle to get your head around but once you do, it's very easy to use. There are two dice of different colors. One represents the Chance of a good outcome, the other represents the Risk of a bad outcome. If Chance is greater than Risk, the answer is some kind of Yes or you succeed. If Risk is greater than Chance, the answer is some kind of No or you fail.   

Now for the tricky part. If both dice are 4, 5 or 6, the answer is Yes or No, and. The outcome is even better or worse than you expected.  If both dice are 1, 2 or 3, the answer is Yes or No, but. The outcome is not as good or bad as you expected. 

Hopefully this visual helps:


If you roll with advantage, you roll two Chance dice and one Risk, keeping the highest Chance. With disadvantage, you roll two Risk dice and one Chance, keeping the highest Risk. 

I've been playing solo games based on Core Rules and Cog & Compass for a while now and I wanted to share a couple of additions I've been using lately that fit well with this system. 

First, on your third double you roll on the twist table for a random event. Usually the flow of the story will suggest if that twist is a good thing or a bad thing, but it's really up to you. To give this a little more guidance, I've been drawing 3 boxes and writing the doubled number in them. 1-3 is negative, 4-6 is positive. When a twist occurs, it follows the majority of rolls that lead to it.

22 (-) 33 (-) 44 (+) negative twist
33 (-) 55 (+) 66 (+) positive twist

The other idea is something I took from "The Broken Cask" by Derek Kamal. Under specific conditions you can flip one die. 

(Side note: One of the things I love about Loner is that character creation feels a lot like FATE to me: Skills = Aspects, Frailty = Trouble, Gear = Stunts)

With that in mind, I've made sure that my main characters have Gear that allows this move. If you can justify it in the scene, flipping the Chance die can turn (2,4 No) into (5,4 Yes, and). The narrative effect can be fantastic if, for instance, your not doing well in a conflict and you're able to pull a fast one to defeat your opponent.