The Oracle

original idea by ejh

The following is an alternative to Mythic RPG, which contained a section on how to

roleplay without a gamemaster.

The Oracle
To determine if something is true, one rolls 1d100, and checks this chart. This is
called "consulting the Oracle."

85-99 "No, And..." Not only is the answer "no," something else unexpected is
true that is an extension or exaggeration of the answer being "no."
65-84 "No." The answer is no.
50-64 "No, but...." The answer is no, but this "no" is ameliorated in some
way: there's something that makes it less than a simple, complete "no."
35-49 "Yes, but..." The answer is yes, but this "yes" is diminished in some
way: there is something that makes it less than a simple, complete "yes."
15-34 "Yes."
00-14
"Yes, and..." Not only is the answer "yes," it's somehow "extremely yes."

Likelihood

Before making an Oracle Roll,
the answer being "yes," based
is not explicitly codified as
guesstimate,
and all that matters is that
the players should agree on a base Likelihood of
on everything they know about the situation which
a Theme or Fact (see below). It's a big ol'
the players more or less agree on it.

+30 Almost certainly not, 6% chance.

+20 Very unlikely, 13% chance.
+10 Unlikely, 25% chance.
0 Might be, might not be. 50/50 chance, all other things being equal.
-10 Likely. 75% chance.
-20 Very likely, 88% chance.
-30 Nearly a sure thing, 94% chance.

And so on from there in either direction.

Base Likelihood is modified by Themes and Facts and their Relevance.

Facts

Not everything that is the case in the game world has to be written down
in so many words, but key facts should be. These key facts can include
the capabilities of the characters (see "attributes and skills" in traditional
RPGs), and anything in the character and nature of the world around them. Facts
are often established by means of Oracle rolls (which may be influenced by other
Facts...)

One may never contradict a Fact. If the answer to an Oracle question is already
implied by a Fact, that answer is an automatic "yes" or "no." No roll. However,
usually, facts do not imply other facts, they only suggest them. If someone is
rich, that doesn't imply they drive a nice car, it only suggests that they are
likely to.

Facts have a numeric value. The default value for a Fact is 1, but for facts
which represent something that is going to come up often and may vary
quantitatively, they may be assigned any low positive value (usually 1-3, but
possibly higher). For example, in a game with a lot of combat, the Fact that
someone has Fighting Ability may be indicated as having a value of 1, 2, 3, or
more, to indicate degrees of fighting ability along a scale. NOTE: In Risus terms,
the numeric value of a fact will be defined by the potency of a clich�.

Themes

Themes are basically Facts which never imply anything, they only suggest things.
They tend to concern intangible things about the story, not tangible facts in the
game world. For example, the Theme "Sword & Sorcery" might exist, describing the
world in general, making any event which is in keeping with the Sword & Sorcery
genre
(as understood by the players) more likely. Or more personally speaking, a
character
might have the Theme of "comic relief" attached to him, suggesting that he is
unlikely to either suffer great tragedy or achieve anything very heroic, and
influencing
Oracle rolls where either of those are about to happen. Facts are things that
objectively exist in the world; Themes are metagame -- about the story told in the
game.

To start with, each character can have at least one Theme for free, and players may

establish as many Themes at the outset that they like concerning the world. Any
non-player character or thing in the world which is important to the players can
have a Theme established concerning it, though probably not every one will.

Relevance

Relevance is the degree to which a given Theme or Fact matters for an Oracle roll.
It has to be guesstimated/eyeballed, just like Base Likelihood, for any given roll.

-3 nearly guarantees a yes

-2 strongly suggests a yes
-1 suggests a yes
+1 suggests a no
+2 strongly suggests a no
+3 nearly guarantees a no

If the Fact or Theme doesn't have a numeric value attached to it, just add its
Relevance
to the Base Likelihood. If it has a numeric value, multiply the Relevance by the
numeric
value. (i.e. if I have "Strong (2)" and I'm trying to open a stuck door, for which
the
Relevance of my strength is -10, I have a -20 to add to the base Likelihood of my
opening the door.)

Redundant Facts should not be included multiple times in the same Oracle roll.
If your character has a Strength fact and a Warrior fact and is trying to open a
stuck door, you couldn't use both of them because "well, warriors are strong."
That's already there
in the Strength fact.

The Roll

Once appropriate modifiers have been added to Base Likelihood, roll the dice.
After adding the modified Likelihood to the dice roll, read the result off the
Oracle table.

Starting The Game

To start the game, you should describe your character(s), using a paragraph, a list
of Facts and Themes,
or both. You should also describe the world, and the opening situation, using the
same
techniques: a paragraph or so, and Facts and Themes. (You can go into as much or as
little detail as you
like here.) To give the story some momentum, the opening situation should be a
"kicker" in Ron Edwards'
sense -- something which is going to change your character's life and to which he
or she must react somehow.

If multiple players are playing, they should include in the "world/opening

situation" part whatever they
can all agree on.

From then on, you tell the story.

You can make your character do, or attempt, anything you want. Whether your
character succeeds at what
they try depends on Oracle rolls. What happens outside your character's control
depends on Oracle rolls
too, but it requires you to initiate questions. If you never ask an interesting
question of the Oracle,
nothing interesting will ever happen. If you ask a lot of interesting questions, a
lot of interesting things
will happen.

Adding New Facts

You can ask a question about a new Fact or Theme to be added to the list -- after
all, facts and themes
are nothing but a formalized statement of important elements of the game world.
Assign that Fact or Theme
a likelihood of being present, and make the roll.

You can also use Oracle rolls to get rid of existing Facts.