Part III · The GM
The Oracle
The Oracle is three d20s. It’s how the world makes up its mind when nobody at the table wants to decide.
Anyone at the table can roll it. The GM rolls it for anything about the world she hasn’t decided yet. A player rolls it to ask about the world when nobody at the table knows the answer. You don’t have to be playing solo to use it. It’s never how you do things, though: actions are always rolled with steps.
The Three Dice
- Fate is the target: how hard the question is.
- Boon says whether the answer is yes.
- Bane says whether the answer comes with trouble.
Rule
Roll all three at once. If any two match, read Harmony. If they’re all different, read Boon and Bane against Fate. When a player rolls, every top face pays them 1 Aura.
How Likely Is It?
Before you roll, say how likely the answer is. If nobody can say, it’s even.
- Even. Roll the three dice as they are. A yes of any kind comes up about half the time.
- Likely. Roll two Boon dice and keep the higher. Yes comes up about two times in three.
- Unlikely. Roll two Boon dice and keep the lower. Yes comes up about one time in three.
Fate and Bane stay as they are, so Bane’s just as likely to bite either way. Read the dice you kept, Harmony and all.
ExampleIs the household asleep?
It’s two in the morning, so the GM says it’s likely. She rolls Fate 11 and Bane 6, and two Boon dice, 4 and 15. She keeps the 15. Boon beats Fate and Bane doesn’t, so it’s a yes: the house is dark and quiet.
The Four Readings
| Result | The dice | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | Boon beats Fate. Bane doesn’t. | It happens. Clean. |
| Yes, but | Boon beats Fate. Bane beats Fate. | It happens, and it costs something. Roll on the Twist table. |
| No | Neither beats Fate. | It doesn’t happen. Move on. |
| No, and | Bane beats Fate. Boon doesn’t. | It doesn’t happen, and something else goes wrong. Roll on the Twist table. |
Harmony
| Result | The dice | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Fate = Boon | The dice agree on difficulty and answer. | Great Boon. Roll on the Boon table. |
| Fate = Bane | The dice agree on difficulty and trouble. | Great Bane. Roll on the Twist table, and make it a big one. |
| Boon = Bane, both above Fate | Both dice agree the answer’s happening, and both agree it costs. | Great Boon with Great Bane. Roll on both tables. |
| Boon = Bane, both under Fate | Both dice agree the answer isn’t happening. | A definitive no. It’s flat, so play it as the world refusing to be dramatic. |
| All three match | Fate, Boon, and Bane all show the same number. | Scene-defining fact. Whoever asked introduces something true about the story. |
When to Roll the Oracle
The GM rolls it when she really doesn’t know the answer to a question about the world.
A player rolls it to ask a question about the world that nobody at the table can answer, like is there a way up this wall? Then, if there’s one, they roll their steps to climb it.
A solo player rolls it whenever they’d otherwise ask a GM a question.
When Not to Roll It
- A permission on the sheet plainly covers it, so the GM just tells you.
- The story’s already decided.
- The stakes are so high that a bad roll would break the scene.
- You’re trying to strip a tag, impose a condition, or do anything else another rule already handles.
The Twist: d12
- It takes longer than you thought.
- Someone notices.
- It costs you something you carry.
- A second problem attaches.
- It works, but not the way you meant.
- Someone else is already here.
- It leaves a trace.
- It draws attention from a direction you didn’t expect.
- It breaks something nearby.
- You owe someone now.
- It works one time only.
- It wakes something up.
The Boon: d12
- You find something extra.
- Someone owes you a favour.
- You gain a piece of information.
- A new path opens.
- You gain an ally, however temporary.
- It works again, later, when you need it.
- It earns you a reputation.
- You avoid a consequence you had coming.
- A complication you feared doesn’t happen.
- You gain a thread with someone.
- You recover something you thought you’d lost.
- You learn something about the situation that changes what you do next.
Six Worked Examples
Example
The question: Is the household asleep?
Fate rolls 11, Boon rolls 14 and Bane rolls 6.
Boon beats Fate and Bane doesn’t: Yes. The household’s asleep, so in you go.
Example
The question: Is the household asleep?
Fate rolls 11, Boon rolls 15 and Bane rolls 18.
Both beat Fate: Yes, but. They’re asleep, but one of them is dreaming about you. Roll the Twist and it’s a 7: it leaves a trace. Whoever’s asleep upstairs is going to wake up tomorrow knowing something was wrong.
Example
The question: Is the household asleep?
Fate rolls 18, Boon rolls 12 and Bane rolls 4.
Neither beats Fate: No. Someone’s awake inside, so move on.
Example
The question: Does he have a weapon?
Fate rolls 8, Boon rolls 8 and Bane rolls 14.
Fate and Boon match: Great Boon. Yes, and it went better than expected. Roll on the Boon table and it’s a 3: you gain a piece of information. He’s got a weapon, and now you know exactly what it is. You also know where he keeps it, and you know he doesn’t think anyone can take it.
Example
The question: Is there a way through the wall?
Fate rolls 15, Boon rolls 15 and Bane rolls 15.
All three match: Scene-defining fact. Whoever asked introduces something true about the story. She says: “There’s a hidden door in the far corner of the cellar. It was bricked over a hundred years ago to hide a passage, and it’s still there, still open on the other side.” It’s true, with no roll and no cost, and the scene has changed.
Example
The question: Is there a way up this wall?
Fate rolls 6, Boon rolls 9 and Bane rolls 9.
Boon and Bane match, and both are above Fate: Great Boon with Great Bane. Yes, there’s a way, and something happens while you take it. Roll on the Boon table and the Twist table. The Boon’s a 5: you gain an ally. The Twist is an 11: it works one time only. So you get up, you find someone on the other side who decides to help you, and this specific route will never work again.