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The Sparkwheel Oracle - print and play solo oracle for any system

A topic by 2BAD created 4 days ago Views: 304 Replies: 3

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The Sparkwheel Oracle is a solo and GMless oracle for any tabletop RPG. Two dice give the answer. The wheel turns that answer into a scene. Roll a Light d6 against a Dark d6. The higher die leads and the gap is the strength. Light 5 against Dark 3 is a plain Yes. Light 6 against Dark 1 is an absolute Yes. Equal dice are a Pivot and the premise turns instead of resolving. That is already a complete answer. Stop there when it is enough.

When you want more add a d20. It lands on one of twenty Anchors and hands you a Lens and an image. For a whole scene you walk your Light die clockwise from that Anchor for an Action. Reset and then walk your Dark die counter clockwise for a Theme. The walks never change the answer. You cannot walk your way out of a No.

Five ways to read a cast: Answer, Event, Detail, Clue and Reward. Clue and Reward work differently. Say you've found a bloodied ledger. The oracle can tell you what it concerns and what it implies but it won't hand you the confession you were hoping for. Reward works the same way and describes only the prize your fiction already earned.

You need one d6 for Light, one d6 for Dark and one d20. Two spare d6 if you want to weight the odds.

In the download:
A duplex A4 print master: cast side on the front, read side on the back, registered to line up when printed double sided.
A How to Use PDF.

haoyiming80097545-web2 days ago

I really like the constraint that you can't just take a detour to turn a "No" into a "Yes." It actually protects the consequences of the story.

When you hit a Pivot, do you prefer players to overturn the original question, or turn it into a whole new conflict for the scene?

I'm working on an interactive narrative right now, and I'm really drawn to design choices like this—ones that bring in genuine surprises without erasing the player's choices.

2BAD1 day ago

Thanks! That’s exactly what I’m aiming for: surprises that respect what’s already happened.

I’d usually keep the Pivot tied to the original question. In the Answer lane, it still gives you a Yes or No, and the Pivot changes what that answer reveals or sets in motion.

For example, “Will the guard let me through?” could give Yes + Revelation. He lets you through, but you discover he recognises you from somewhere you don’t remember. The Yes stands and now there’s something unexpected to explore.

That might grow into a new conflict but it doesn’t have to. Sometimes one changed relationship or a new piece of information is enough. I want the surprise to give the player another meaningful choice while keeping the consequences of their earlier choices intact.

ming1011 day ago

Still Yiming from ISECAI here, just following up from our team's ming101 account.

"Yes still stands, but the guard suddenly recognizes you"—that example makes it instantly clear haha. The twist sets up the next choice without invalidating the last one. We’re testing ISECAI, a free web AI anime academy RPG with free-text input, and we're hoping to get a creator's first impression on whether the consequences of choices actually hold up. Would you be down to try a little bit of the opening? If you're interested, I can drop the link and a unique code right here in the comments.