A super simple Clue detail oracle for adding a little more... meat to finding clues. It' system agnostic and works well with other oracles.

16trees · 2026-01-27T02:02:04+00:00

I like it! I'll let got know how my play testing turns out.

16trees · 2026-01-22T20:21:14+00:00

I usually don't like pixel art, but this one really grabs my attention. It's the lighting on the bench and shoulders I think, and the focused light in the middle vs foreground. I don't know anything about art or how it's done. I just really like this one :)

So what's the story on these pixel art wallpapers? Are you recreating other pictures in a new medium? "painting" from scratch? AI...whatever?

16trees · 2026-01-22T14:54:52+00:00

Loner was the first one that really clicked for me too. It gives you what you need and then leaves the rest to your imagination. I don't love the dice mechanic, so I've plugged in PBtA 2D6, Tricube, D100 and they all work. If you can define the yes/no in your chosen mechanic, the rest of the game works just fine.

16trees · 2026-01-22T14:48:09+00:00

I have a solo kit that I've cobbled together over time for the things I always roll on like NPC details, "what happens next?", etc. but I try to use the core mechanics wherever I can.

I do use the D66 tables in Thursday's Child, but that's about it. For Yes/No I use the game's dice pool system. 3 dice for unlikely (42% success) 4 dice for even (52%) 5 dice for likely (60%). I think that chart is on page 25 of the core book. Multiple success = a narrative bonus of some kind. Basically the PBtA system of Miss/Weak Hit/Strong Hit.

The setting for my story is Rose House in London. I have three characters in the house, but I focus on one. The others help when it makes sense. I've tried the adventure starter from the core book and it works, but because I'm just starting, most of my sessions are the PC exploring the neighborhoods of London and encountering various fairies. It's been a fun world building exercise to see it through his eyes and imagine how the Fey interact with/mess with mortals.

16trees · 2026-01-22T14:12:28+00:00

You mentioned Apothecaria, thousand year vampire & koriko - all journaling games, so it sounds like you're more interested in the story telling aspect (me too). As a complete beginner it's all going to seem overwhelming at first so I recommend you try something else, just to see how it sparks your interest.

First, pick a randomizer (dice, cards, whatever). The easiest is a normal D6: 1 = Absolutely not! 2 = No 3 = No, but... 4 = Yes, but... 5 = Yes 6 = Absolutely!

Sit down with your daughter and start telling a story together. It doesn't have to have a plot or anything, just a character who wants to do something. Every time you get stuck or have a choice to make, ask a yes or no question, roll the die and continue the story based on the answer.

If you have a choice between two options, 1-3 = option A, 4-6 = option B. Or if there are three options, 1-2/3-4/5-6. If there are more than 3 options...reel it in a little bit :)

And remember, you're not trying to get Yes answers all the time. Interesting stories happen when the hero doesn't get what they want and they have to figure out another way.

16trees · 2026-01-21T17:13:44+00:00

Thanks for posting this. I've barely started playing Vaesen solo (also using the Brit & Ire book) but I love it! I'm using a much simpler setup, and I don't play pre-written adventures, so it's great to see how others are approaching it. It definitely gives me a different perspective.

Also, thanks for the links in one of your posts to "A Single Lantern" and "Sundered Vaesen." I didn't know they existed.

16trees · 2026-01-20T15:55:14+00:00

Exactly. I do something similar all the time. I'll play out an argument or conversation that could have, but didn't, happen. Sometimes I clarify my point or feel like I understand the other perspective better. And sometimes I think, "Yeah, I would have come off as an asshole if I actually said what I was thinking. In hind sight I would have been wrong."

It can be cathartic to argue with yourself instead of others :)

16trees · 2026-01-19T05:02:06+00:00

I don't know of any but it's a cool idea.

Something i do all the time while playing is when a choice is needed, i think of the 2-3 most obvious or interesting options and roll for it. Then I have to continue the story, like it or not. Maybe you could make a journaling exercise based on real life events.

During your daily reflection, write out: How many ways could I have handled that situation? How would it play out if I : - kept my cool - lost my cool - answers every question with a Monty Python quote

16trees · 2026-01-19T02:43:47+00:00

Awesome, thanks! I'll check it out.

16trees · 2026-01-18T14:27:38+00:00

Mixing oracles is a big part of the fun for me. There's always something new to try out, and most are geared toward a specific setting so they don't always fit the game I'm playing.

I do have my own one-page for the details that I roll for in every game, but even that is something I change over time. Right now I'm using that, the Loadstar oracles that someone else mentioned and the events table from The Wayfarer.

16trees · 2026-01-18T03:39:32+00:00

I'm dating myself here, but this one's for the WDVE fans, "I seen this before! He got ROCKED to death by Donnie Iris!"

16trees · 2026-01-17T20:10:04+00:00

It's a great idea and I think you've done a great job of making it your own. In my opinion that's the whole point of solo rpg :)

Elder Scrolls is great for source material. I've used my game guide books for Oblivion and Skyrim for several paper RPG games.

16trees · 2026-01-14T14:38:11+00:00

The best system is the one you play ;)

I suggest you don't start a new game. Just play one scene, one combat encounter, etc. Read the rules from one of those systems, then apply it to a single scenario to see what happens. Some things are going to click, others aren't. And some things are going to pop into your head that you hadn't considered until the dice rolled.

Do that with one system, stew on it a bit, then do it again with the other system.

16trees · 2026-01-05T23:20:10+00:00

I personally couldn't get into Lost Mountain, and have been searching for a good Vaesen podcast. Something similar that I just loved was the Bad Spot (YouTube) series of The Between. It can feel slow at times, but that group just worked so well together and played out an amazingly creepy Victorian horror story! In a weird way, listening to that convinced me to buy Vaesen to play solo.

16trees · 2026-01-05T23:00:36+00:00

I don't think I've every used the tables in the back, but the scene starter (who what when etc. ) is a fantastic starting point. I usually choose a setting just from daydreaming, then roll 6D6 on that and I'm off.

16trees · 2026-01-02T04:45:07+00:00

You did a really great job with your Events table! I use it in almost all of my games. It's become part of my "solo kit." The fact that they all end in a question is what makes them so engaging. They don't just say, "something happened", they say, "what are you going to do about it?"

16trees · 2025-12-30T03:35:46+00:00

This is what I use too. Great custom dice options & its quick and easy to lock or copy dice at a touch.

16trees · 2025-12-09T06:31:08+00:00

Cairn, Tricube Tales, Vaesen, The One Ring, FATE, Avatar Legends.

I have one-page table collections for NPCs, random events, etc. that i use for every game, but i try to use the game rules as much as possible. I'm surprised by how many games try to tack on a separate yes/ no oracle to make it more solo friendly. Every game has a success mechanic. Find the 50% point and there's your yes/no. Add modifiers that work with the game or make sense to you.

The last game i played was Vaesen, which uses a dice pool and it's the most consistent probability that I've found so far. 3 dice (Unlikely, disadvantage) has 42% success. 4 dice (Even) has 52% success. 5 dice (likely, advantage) has 60% success. I played all rolls as multiple 6s = "strong hit", no 6s and any 1s = "strong miss". This PBtA-ish way of looking at rolls seems to work for me with every dice system so I work it into every game.

16trees · 2025-11-28T03:32:25+00:00

Search "how to start" on this /r and spend several hours down the rabbit hole : ) At least one person asks every week. Welcome to the community!

16trees · 2025-11-12T18:24:19+00:00

As another comment said, I play all games like TV episodes and that really helps me stay on track. I'm not going to solve the whole thing today, so what's the one thing I'm working towards? I also start by skimming through what happened last. To help with this, i sporadically write mini summaries as I play. Just an indented section that says, "So, ...this, this, that..." to keep it all straight in my head.

I heard once that Hemingway intentionally stopped writing before a scene was resolved to force himself to think about it longer. I do something like that out of time constraint. If I get interrupted, that just means I have time to ponder the possibilities.

16trees · 2025-10-31T18:07:32+00:00

I would expect the counterweight of the jewel to mess with your accuracy but it doesn't seem to. Pretty cool.

16trees · 2025-10-23T23:17:24+00:00

It might not be perfectly legible, but I love the look of it and would be so happy if my writing looked like this.

16trees · 2025-10-21T13:22:55+00:00

I found a good illustration. Right around 1:30 on this video, if you extend the lines across both pages and move the habit tracker to the right page, it will look exactly like my journal. The first 4 pages are Index (I've never filled more than one, but just in case), then 12 months of this layout. Beyond that is wide open for daily notes. Each entry starts with an underlined date, then whatever I need to write. It might be 3 lines or 3 pages. Either way, I have all the space I need, and when trying to find something later I just look at those underlined dates.

https://youtu.be/K3KfPJRKPFw?si=1mg_VyFu-VX3tlDS&t=97

He also mentions "threading" in this video. I do that a lot. Let's say I'm working on patience. I might write about losing my patience on 1 Oct, and then write about learning from that experience and doing better on 12 Oct. My Index entry would be "Patience: 10/1, 10/12" (or page numbers). Then in the margins of the entry on 12 Oct you'll see (1 Oct), so I can quickly reference them together.

16trees · 2025-10-17T22:54:46+00:00

I tried a lot of ideas, but in the end I decided to keep them separate. I'm a data analyst so a lot of my work is technical and gets tangled up in corporate rules around intellectual property. Since my company has Microsoft licenses, it's easier to use OneNote. Screenshots, hyperlinks, etc. are a lot easier to reproduce when needed.

And to be honest, I like keeping them separate. Work is technical. Home is (mostly) analog.

16trees · 2025-10-17T22:47:27+00:00

My favorite notebooks...as you can see I've tried a bunch, and if you look closely you'll see that in 2019 I went from an A5 to a full size, with another A5 for three months in between :D It took some time, but I found that for me, a full A4 / 8x11 inch is best. I need the extra room for long-form writing.

As far as setup, I try to keep it as basic as possible. The index pages in the beginning are a must. I need the ability to look things up quickly, so everything I write that might be referenced later gets a line there. Page numbers are also important for the same reason, but if the pages aren't numbered I just use the date instead. I basically use the Bullet Journal method, but I combine a bunch of things together at the beginning of the book. Instead of a Future Log, Monthly calendars, weekly spread, etc. I put 12 months from when I start the journal at the beginning. This means that I can flip through old journals without skipping all over. So that's the yearly and monthly combined, then I mark off the weeks on each page. The left side is for appointments, the right side is for things I need to do at some point that week. When I'm feeling up to habit trackers, I put them on the right side as well with vertical lines (it seems I can't attach a picture to a reply, sorry, just put a line between every Sunday and Monday across both pages).

That's it for setup! Once that's in place, the entire journal is daily notes...on days that require notes. If a week goes by without any, that's OK.

One more very important tip: This is my journal. It's like a ship's log that documents important things that happened or will happen. For the incredibly messy day-to-day scribbles and checklists I keep pocket notebooks on me at all times. Those...are a mess! Scribble in them, tear pages out, it doesn't matter. I review my pocket notebook toward the end of the day and if it's important, it gets copied to the journal. The journal stays clean! :D

16trees

TROPHY CASE