11 Comments
User's avatar
Shon Richards's avatar

Thank you for this. I’ve run into some walls lately in my solo play and this is what my brain needed.

Expand full comment
Kate Korsaro's avatar

You’re welcome! I hit the same wall too many times, really. And it felt… well empty and exhausting

Expand full comment
Ivo Ziskra's avatar

This is a great article. Thank you.

Expand full comment
Kate Korsaro's avatar

Awww, thank you!

Expand full comment
Ivo Ziskra's avatar

You're welcome.

Expand full comment
Alone in the Realm's avatar

I love the Yes/No + And/But Modifier in the One Page Solo engine. I sometimes will add a d6 modifier when I'm using Mythic GME as well to give me that additional narrative push.

Expand full comment
Kate Korsaro's avatar

I’m curious about the d6 modifier you mentioned, how does it work?

Expand full comment
Alone in the Realm's avatar

In the One Page Solo Engine, you roll two d6. The first d6 determines the Y/N.

Even odds, 4+ is a Yes

Likely odds, 3+ is a Yes

Unlikely odds, 5+ is a Yes

The second d6 is the And/But modifier.

1 is a But

2-5 is flat, no modifier

6 is a Yes

That way you get a mixture of yes, but ; yes, and; no, but; no, and.

You can of course skew the modifier roll to higher percentages if you want more modifiers, but that is how it works as written. You can check it out for free here: https://inflatablestudios.itch.io/one-page-solo-engine

Expand full comment
Chris's avatar

Great advice

Expand full comment
zeruhur's avatar

Excellent reflection! The other side of this is learning to ask the interesting questions, avoid cul-de-sacs. Ask if a room is empty is uninteresting.

Also a question should be ask in a way that "yes, and..." is the most positive outcome.

I learned this from experience

Expand full comment
SOLOtude's avatar

Did I enjoy this article? Yes And... I'm going to comment! 😛

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, it sums up my experiences exactly! The little twist that the And/But modifier has on oracle rolls just sparks ideas in my brain in a way that a plain old Yes/No result never does.

The Ironsworn oracle chart is a plain old Yes/No so I've modified it to have the result of And on evens and But on odds. I've made a similar tweak in my recent Eco Mofos solo sessions with the Rolling the World mechanic, the odds of getting a standard unmodified Yes/No are quite low, so when I roll Yes/No I also throw in a random event to keep the momentum flowing.

Expand full comment