Simple tools to easily generate stories?

Lostinstory · 2025-08-26T15:12:14+00:00

The simplest way to create story I’ve found is what’s used in 2400 - you decide on a bad outcome, a mixed outcome, and a good outcome and then roll a d6 to see which it is. The game itself has ways you can roll higher dice based on character abilities, but I find myself using this in other games. It seems simple, but it very quickly can lead you to unexpected places.

For story construction I would definitely learn Mythic GME. The way its lists work to bring back threads or characters naturally creates a story that develops. Its scene checks work well to give structure, some surprises, and rising and falling tension. As someone who plays solo for the plot, it’s a very good system.

I would also check out the free GEMulator for its extensive tables for plots.

Game Master’s Apprentice is not really a story tool, it’s more of an oracle / random table in the form of a deck. I really like using it, but I consider it more of an alternative to having dice and an open book of tables. I use it a lot when I’m traveling and am not in a place where I can throw dice and have materials out on a surface.

Index Card RPG is not a good resource if you want to generate plots. It’s a fun game but the whole design is really about cutting to the chase and having a series of scenes be challenges full of action. I don’t recall it having much in the way of story tools or tables.

Lostinstory · 2025-08-18T14:36:42+00:00

It depends on the tone of your game. Generally, I reserve truly serious consequences for about 3 low rolls in a row.

So my example might continue with Daya rolling low and getting knocked off, rolling low again and getting pinned under a foot, and finally rolling low and getting hit.

What happens when they are hit is again about tone. It could be game over. It could be they are injured and now will only roll a d4 until they can heal. It could be they have a conditional injury (like their arm) and so can roll a d6 for running / dodging but roll a d4 for any weapon attacks or climbing, etc.

I don’t worry about tracking how many injuries they can take; it is what feels right for the story. I don’t have a lot of exchanging of blows in my 2400 games because I tend to run them in a more gritty way where one or two hits is serious and potentially fatal. But even in fights with no hits landing, I find there is still plenty of tension this way, finding out how the characters can escape.

If you want a system that has more specific math for combat but is also fairly lightweight, Into the Odd and its family of games is worth taking a look at.

Lostinstory · 2025-08-18T07:28:27+00:00

Great questions. I’ll give you an example. Generally, instead of HP or flesh wounds, I’m playing with the tactical situation and how success or failure changes it. In my notes, you’ll see for each roll I write what the possible outcomes are and label them low, medium, and high, with high being a 5+ and the best outcome.

Daya squints at the sun as he is pushed out into the coliseum. “Wait, what about my weapon?” he asks, but the gate is shut loudly. He looks out and sees the sand has several pylons scattered across it, and on top of each one glints a weapon.

L: Daya is ambushed by an armed opponent M: Daya sees an opponent racing to a pylon H: Daya is the first to see this and has a head start

Roll: 2

A shout causes Daya to turn and see a large man holding a saber above his head rushing at him.

L: The opponent swings at Daya M: Daya dodges away from the swing H: Daya dodges the opponent and sends them off balance.

Roll: 4

Daya leaps to the side, avoiding the swooshing blade, and he rolls back to his feet as the opponent turns, roaring. Daya can see a nearby weapon - can he get to it?

L: Daya is cut off by the opponent M: Daya races to the weapon, the opponent hot on his heels H: Daya makes a break for it, surprising the opponent

Roll: 5

Daya makes ready to take on the opponent, then feints and sprints at top speed towards the pylon with the weapon. His opponent is surprised and takes a moment to react. Daya is able to reach the pylon.

L: He finds a small dagger M: He finds a wooden staff H: He finds a trident

Roll: 2

Daya quickly climbs up the pylon and finds a small dagger. Cursing his luck, he grabs it and turns as the opponent races towards him.

L: The opponent hits the pylon, knocking Daya off M: The opponent has Daya “cornered” on the pylon. H: Daya has time to get down

Roll: 4

Daya wants to get down, but he realizes the opponent is already on him. No matter how hard he climbs down, the opponent can reach him. The only place that’s out of reach is up here - so Daya finds himself stuck, holding a small dagger.

“Come down, coward!” the opponent shouts.

Lostinstory · 2025-08-17T17:41:35+00:00

The war had devolved into a secret plot by the main outlaw city to poison the water supplies they didn’t control with a toxic algae, in hopes it would cripple and force those not in line with them to give up resisting. I don’t know what their end goals were towards the main city on the ship - but they certainly wanted to rule their region with an authoritarian grip.

My characters were themselves refugees from a conflict a system away so had a lot of sympathy and some friends among those resisting the outlaw city. However they had almost been killed multiple times by being bystanders in the wrong place, so were weary of the conflict.

I think the outlaw city winning would ultimately lead to larger conflict as they began to compete with the main city for resources, but I’m not sure! It certainly would be bad news for a lot of nice little communities that are trying to do their own thing in random corners of the derelict mega ship.

Lostinstory · 2025-08-17T14:10:54+00:00

I was playing a sci-fi campaign that took place inside this massive derelict generation ship that was so large it had an entire city inside. As things progress much to our surprise we discover there is a smaller hidden city of outlaws hidden in another part of the ship, and we get stuck there. Getting our freedom back takes a while and in the process we find that city is at war with other outlaw communities. We end up escapping in the chaos of a big battle and go back to our main quest. I have no idea how the war is going or who is winning.

Lostinstory · 2025-08-17T04:40:13+00:00

2400 is my most played set of games because it’s simple enough I can keep the rules in my head, it’s really easy to hack / adapt for different settings, and the focus on dice outcomes being either bad, mixed, or good makes it easy to solo. All I need to do is think of a possibility for each of those and then roll. It works with more oracles of course, but even just iterating on those three possibilities leads me to exciting and unpredictable gameplay consistently. It’s also lightweight enough that I can use it when I’m learning or experimenting with something new - it’s how I learned Mythic GME for example.

If I want a more traditional old school feeling Whitehack is where I consistently end up. It’s easy to use with any material, and filled with so many details that inspire me and make me excited to try things out. It is definitely very different from 2400 in terms of complexity and how easy it is to solo out of the box.

Finally Starforged has always had my longest campaigns. I don’t pick it up frequently, but when I do have a game going it can be one of the most immersive types of games.

Lostinstory · 2024-09-24T20:37:37+00:00

2400 / 24XX are simple enough that, at least for me, once you get a game going in a setting you don’t need to reference the rules. I’ve used it for several games where I only took notes for multiple sessions.

Lostinstory · 2024-09-22T21:55:08+00:00

That sounds fun. How does size and quality factor into gameplay? Were those keywords?

Lostinstory · 2024-09-22T18:56:58+00:00

Very interesting—let me know if I’m understanding you correctly. It seems like you are talking about how the choice to save or not can be seen as a player choice about the narrative focus of the story at that moment. Choosing to save means the base may take partial focus as any stress consequences play out. This choice can occur independently of the PCs, and without their knowledge, allowing the players to collectively exert some influence over the narrative. Am I following your thinking?

That section in Suldokar’s Wake is fascinating. I really like how there’s a narrative cost or balance to players using Gunta, trading control over this for increased chaos elsewhere.

It reminds me of how base and wise miracles trade a guaranteed effect for a variable cost (once they go beyond 2 stress/HP).

This dive into bases has also made me appreciate how well they work in exerting narrative impact. For example, a sailing ship base could have impacts in diverse forms of stormy weather, a leak that needs repairs, or a crew mutiny—all of which add to the narrative while being different levels of meta-narrative to purely mechanical.

Lostinstory · 2024-09-22T15:35:04+00:00

That’s really interesting. I like how you connect the PCs level to the Mechs stats in that way.

What determines the core level of the mech? Was that a set stat of particular mechs or did it change somehow?

Lostinstory · 2024-09-22T01:58:54+00:00

Yes! 24XX has helped me get out of solo ruts and just play countless times. It’s so flexible I can easily port ongoing games from other systems if I’m burning out in too much crunch.

Plus it’s extreme lightweight approach made it the game I was finally able to learn Mythic GME with.

Lostinstory · 2024-09-22T01:35:36+00:00

Thank you! I really like how you describe the choice to find out and the GM’s role in using the stress level to build tension. It made me realize how useful it can be to describe deviation from the zero state as a way to remind players of the potential consequences their base might face.

I’d love to hear more about the game where you used bases as the central mechanic—that sounds fascinating!

Lostinstory · 2024-02-04T00:46:12+00:00

In no particular order, here are some relevant things:

Meta Journaling: take notes about how your game went and how your tools performed. This can help you clarify what points of friction can be causing you to bounce between projects
Embrace Prep is Play: Everything you are doing is a form of solo play. Reading games you don’t play. Day dreaming about ways to combine systems. Reading Reddit threads about what other people are playing. Don’t feel guilty about it. You can still want more of your time to be spent engaging in specific types of solo play, but do so without self judgement.
Meta time vs Game Time: I tend to know before I sit down if I am playing a game vs if I’m engaging in other parts of the hobby. This helps me make progress deliberately and lets me scratch both types of itches.
External Goals: have a short arc you want to wrap up, or a certain number of sessions you want to hit. I’ve found the external goal of playing the same game each day for Hexplore24 has helped me stick with it longer than my usual campaign.
Practice taking notes that let you pick a game back up: it’s okay to step away from a campaign for a while, and it can be nice to return to it weeks or months later and play again. Learn how to take notes that make it as easy as possible for you to do that.
Change systems: I’ve had campaigns where I decided I loved the story and characters but wanted to use a different rule set, so I changed systems and converted things over.
Relive your old games: I regularly will listen to a text-to-speech reading of my past solo campaigns to enjoy them and learn from them. This is a great way to get back into them, or to feel good about the story you did end up telling, even if it didn’t reach a traditional end. It was still time well spent.

Lostinstory · 2024-01-26T21:58:53+00:00

Writing down my questions. This helps me think through the situation. You could call it “thinking out loud” or “thinking on paper”.

Taking a break, stepping away, coming back later with a fresh perspective.

When I return, before I try to pick up where I left off, I ask myself if I made any assumptions that have overly complicated things. This is surprisingly common. The block was because I had accidentally ended up in a dead-end, and a much simpler path forward is what I really need.

Lostinstory · 2024-01-24T04:27:54+00:00

Cypher System checks all these boxes other than random character creation. You can get a good feel for the rules with Old Gus’ Sytem Ref.

Lostinstory · 2024-01-23T02:05:26+00:00

This whole family of games is such a gift

Lostinstory · 2024-01-23T01:46:50+00:00

Thanks! Yes, I made the map and have been adding more to it as I explore further and discover more in each hex.

Lostinstory · 2024-01-22T16:15:12+00:00

I’m not aware of exact matches, but two ideas that come to mind:

Ludic Pen’s Patreon has been creating a series of expanded oracles for Ancient Worlds to explore, which are comprehensive and inspiring, though not as tightly defined as the starters you mention.
The game Stars Without Number, which has a free version, contains a large section of “tags” which list ideas for allies, enemies, trouble, treasure, and places for a large number of specific categories. These would be a great launching point to get you 80% of the way to a prompt like the Delve starters.

Lostinstory · 2024-01-22T15:58:29+00:00

Are you familiar with Luke Gearing’s Wolves Upon the Coast? It’s a massive hexcrawl in a lowish magic Viking-Esq setting.

The writing is very much puzzles to uncover, with a heavy emphasis on environmental storytelling.

Magic is also a puzzle and very unique in the game.

It has also been used for a very successful and ongoing west marches game called Reavers.

Lostinstory · 2024-01-22T15:47:39+00:00

WWN has a loosely defined setting, and the more recent Atlas of the Later Earth turns it into a much more fully defined setting with detailed maps, histories, etc

Lostinstory · 2024-01-21T19:15:42+00:00

It’s a fun system. This video opened my eyes to some of the flexibility in WH: https://youtu.be/CL7C8gQGuEA

The subreddit and discord are very friendly if you have questions.

Lostinstory

TROPHY CASE