Solo gaming intrigues me, more so as a way to learn a new system - or learn a known system better. It also gives me ideas I can use in a traditional campaign, and the ideas are - somewhat - playtested.
The FlexTale Solo Image Oracle is an innovative creative tool for solo adventurers to generate dynamic, intriguing answers to questions about your campaign and the adventures that take place within it.
A simple roll of 3d6 is all you need to generate over 5,400 answers and pieces of creative content for any campaign setting, any situation, and any level of skill as a G/DM.
Omnibus
This book is the Omnibus edition of the Solo Image Oracle. It assembles the contents of the previously-published six individual volumes. Each of those Volumes contains 36 images; this Omnibus contains all 216 images.
Free Sample Edition
Unsure, but curious? Grab the FREE Sample Edition. It contains 16 images instead of 216, and lacks the section on rules system harmonization, but is otherwise exactly the same content and massive utility as this full version.
Digital Resource Companion
You also get a Microsoft Excel file containing all 5,400 creative elements for all 216 images. This is the same content that's presented in the book, just in a format that some might enjoy using more than a PDF. You are welcome to extend, amend, or otherwise use this tool for your own personal gaming experience.
Immediately Useful
Download this book, open it up to a random page, and pick any part of that page. This book was designed so that whatever you end up pointing at, you should be able to use it in your campaign, whether you're a veteran DM of 30+ years running a published campaign for a dozen players or a brand-new player giving solo play a try.
What is This Thing?
An Oracle is a tool to provide an answer. Usually, this is in the context of a solo adventure, where you as the adventurer need to rely upon some external source of truth to keep things unpredictable and interesting. Solo Oracle tools abound, and are quite popular--it's probably safe to say that nearly every single solo adventurer uses at least one Oracle tool.
The Solo Image Oracle takes this a step further. (It wouldn't be a FlexTale book if it didn't take things an order of magnitude further!)
Three dice is all it takes: Roll one six-sided die to pick which image palette you use. Then, roll 2d6, and pick an image randomly from that grid of 36 abstract icons. You can use that simple image as a point of inspiration on its own; this approach is very similar to Rory's Story Cubes, another popular resource for solo gamers.
A Step Further in Creative Inspiration
But the FlexTale difference amplifies the utility and power of this book as an Oracle: each of those images gets its own full page.
Each of those 216 images gets over 25 different elements: specific answers to questions, creative directions, entire quest snippets, magic items, random encounters, and much, much more.
All in all, two simple dice can drive over 5,400 dynamic and creative sources of inspiration for any campaign setting.
System-Neutral, Zero-Prep
This is a common objective in FlexTale books, and I'm thrilled to say that this book was designed from the start to satisfy these as requirements, even moreso than any other book before it in the FlexTale line.
The Solo Image Oracle provides visual and text inspiration. As a result, it's system neutral, and can be easily used in any tabletop roleplaying game, though the particular answers in many cases are fantasy-oriented. For those who use 5E, Pathfinder, Pathfinder Second Edition, OSR, or DCC systems, there is an extensive 9-page description of how to use specific rules language across those systems.
The whole point of this book is that it requires no preparation to use. You can, quite literally, flip to a page completely at random, point to a place on that page, and derive inspiration for your solo adventure content.
Any Gaming Table
Although the Solo Image Oracle was designed from the ground up to be a tool to empower solo gamers, it's also an immensely powerful tool for a traditional gaming table. A time-pressed or creatively stymied G/DM can use this book exactly like a solo gamer would, and find creative drivers just as naturally and quickly.
What's Included
The Solo Image Oracle features:
- 216 abstract image silhouettes
- 5,400 total creative elements
- 216 unique items and Rewards for PCs who complete quests
- 216 creative Penalties for PCs who fail quests :)
- 216 random encounters and drivers
- 216 interesting NPC behaviors, backgrounds, or characteristics
- 216 Quest snippets, ready to use immediately, or flesh out and make your own
- 216 twists and spins on enemy behavior to make every combat memorable and interesting
Full and easy integration with other FlexTale books, in particular the FlexAI Guidebook, the Solo Adventuring Toolkit, and the Hexcrawl Toolkit
And much, much more!
Creative Elements
Each of the 216 images gets a full page's worth of content, with 25 creative Elements to help drive game content and decisions. These include the following, color-coded for ease and speed of reference:
- General
- Noun
- Verb
- Adjective
- Adverb
- Question
- Detailed Answer
- Social
- NPC Description
- Role
- Context
- Choice
- Result
- Combat
- Combat Description
- Random Encounter
- Action Outcome
- Enemy Targeting
- Combat Role
- Combat Role Size
- Combat Stance
- Quest & Encounter
- New Quest Snippet
- Quest Development
- Reward
- Penalty
- Quest Archetype
- Quest Sub-Archetype
- Origins & Development
The author is a veteran DM who cut his teeth on the BECMI boxes back in middle school. The approach taken with this book was pretty simple, but drives from decades of experience and talent:
- Pick an image.
- Consider that image in the context of each of the 25 creative elements defined.
- Create adventure content inspired by that combination (of image + element) and write it down.
