Oracle System

Solo Pen-and-Paper RPGing: the "Oracle System" solo gaming sans GM

RULES

First, choose a hero. Someone motivated. Someone about which you care. Make him interesting. Make him awesome. Select your favorite RPG system. Something rules-light works best. Whatever it is, making NPCs quickly on the fly will be important. The object will be to keep the action moving.

1. Start a scene. If the character has a motivation, this should be easy. Make him go directly toward that goal. Strongly! If its the first scene, it begins the way you imagine it to begin. Jot down the goal of the scene so that you know when to conclude it. If you can't think of a good, concise scene goal, it's not worth devoting a scene to it. Mundane stuff is for between scene time.
2. Play the scene. Bolt on your RPG of choice and use it to handle the particulars. Ask questions. The dice will determine how the environment responds to the character's actions. First and foremost, the world is an aggressive place, and she almost always reacts AGGRESSIVELY! There's usually at least some adversity in every scene. Roll the dice when there's an unknown. This is called "Ask the Oracle". Ask a question in a Yes/No format. Pick the likelihood of a yes or no answer on a scale from 1 (50/50 or unknown) to 4 (very likely/unlikely). The rating equals the number of dice to roll. Include one extra die of a different color, the "Wild Die". Roll the dice, taking the highest or lowest die, relevant to the chosen odds (for example, the most negative result if the odds of a negative result were given), and determine the results. Set aside the Wild Die.
   1. No, and...
   2. Yes, but...
   3. No...
   4. Yes...
   5. No, but...
   6. Yes, and...
3. Interpret the Wild Die. If the Wild Die matches the numeric outcome of the Ask the Oracle result, a twist is produced immediately in the scene, or as soon as possible thereafter. It's intensity is equal to the result determined by Ask the Oracle (a 2 or 5 is always lesser, a 4 or 3 is medium, a 1 or 6 is severe, and any escalation can increase this to world-shaking, revelatory proportions). If more Ask the Oracle questions produce more wild results, that severity is increased. The twist's effect on the character is always counter to the scene's outcome thus far. For example, if the scene is turning out well for the character, the twist is something that has an ill effect, and vice versa. Interpretations can be anything. But since they are twists, they should not be the first or most obvious thing that pops to mind, unless the proposed twist is an obvious inconvenient one. ("Wouldn't it be something if right now, all the king's guards were waiting around the corner?"). You can always roll more Ask the Oracle rolls to clarify, but beware! This may escalate the twist's intensity. You can also draw inspiration from a random idea generator (story dice, deck of tarot cards, etc.). Each scene may have a maximum of one twist, but the interpretation of it may mutate over the course of playing out that scene due to escalation.
4. Close the Scene. When the protagonist achieves or fails the scene goal as defined in step 1, above, close the scene. Rate the effect of the scene's conclusion on the game world on a scale from 0 to 4 (a zero means that it was relatively trivial and shouldn't have much effect whatsoever). This is called the scene's "Closing Rating".
5. Set a New Scene. Repeat the steps, above. However, if there was a rating greater than zero in step 4, above, then make an Ask the Oracle roll, using a number of dice equal to the last scene's Closing Rating. This always answers the question, "Is my intended scene interrupted by a twist?" The Wild Die may escalate the answer.

Continue repeating these steps until all conflict is resolved or the demise of the protagonist.