Reworked THW Yes/No Oracle

If you're unfamiliar with the term, in solo gaming circles an oracle is just a random method to generate an answer to a question. The simplest and most universal form is the yes/no oracle—exactly what it sounds like. You ask a question, and the oracle gives you a yes or no answer.

For example, if your character wakes up in an unfamiliar room, you might ask the oracle "Is the door locked?". Then you assess the odds based on context. If the previous encounter was a fight, it's likely your character is being held prisoner, but if it was just a night spent carousing... probably not.

Note that this is not new technology (just formalised terminology); GMs have been doing this in "regular" RPGs for a long time:

Player: "Is there a balcony close enough to jump to?
GM who hadn't prepped for this: "Hm, there probably is. Let's say, on a 3 or higher. (rolls a 3) Yep, but it'll be a tough jump."

Second thing, Two Hour Wargames. They're a small publisher most famous for their Chain Reaction system and the various wargames it powers. They have been doing solo and co-op miniature wargames and RPG-lite games (now sometimes termed adventure wargames) before it was cool. In fact, Ivan Sørensen was an avid 5150 player before he designed his own solo sci-fi games.

THW games often already straddle the line between RPG and miniature game, but with the inclusion of a universal oracle, it becomes even easier to play it like a "proper" solo RPG. Someone posted one on the THW forum, although I learnt of it in this actual play report (which you might prefer as PDFs can only be downloaded by members).

I figured I could restate it in a more concise way while putting my own spin on it, so here it goes. If you don't know any THW titles, keep in mind that "pass Xd6" means how many dice are lower than or equal to the target number.

Any time you have a yes/no question, you may ask the oracle. Figure out the odds, then roll 2d6 against the target number (4 for likely, 3 for 50/50, and 2 for unlikely).

• pass 2d6 with doubles: Extreme Yes!
• pass 2d6: Yes
• pass 1d6 with even: Yes, but...
• pass 1d6 with odd: No, but...
• pass 0d6: No
• pass 06 with doubles: Extreme No!

Okay, so I replaced "Yes, and..." and "No, and..." results with Extreme Yes and No. This is largely just a terminology thing; I am quite comfortable with the Mythic GM Emulator's Fate Chart, and it happens to use these words.

Second, I changed the pass 1d6 result so that no re-roll is necessary. Of course, now the chances of Yes, but and No, but results aren't equal, but I personally see no problem with it. For an unlikely yes answer, 1 is a "No, but" and a 2 is a "Yes, but". A 50/50 increases this with one possible "No, but" on a 3 (which is still an improvement as the "but" part offers a consolation, and likely adds yet another "Yes, but" on a 4.

You could add "extremely likely" odds with a target number of 5 and nigh impossible with 1, but they would almost never surprise you anyway. Of course, I almost included them above just because I like symmetry.