[Actual Play] Lovecraftian game w/ Human Oracle
Solo RPG Gamer
This is an old actual play of an experiment I was calling a “Human Oracle”.
If you’re familiar with Mythic GME, you know that it has a system where you roll two random keywords (action/subject) and interpret that into an answer. A “Human Oracle” would be one or more persons who would give you two keywords from the same list when you ask for it (or would answer YES/NO from a close ended question). No other input from the “Human Oracle” is permitted. Sometimes the keywords are randomly picked from the list and sometimes they are consciously chosen with the purpose of influencing the game in some way. The trick is that the player is not supposed to know whether the keywords are random or handpicked with purpose.
The reason I played this way is that I wanted to find out how it would feel to know that an actual person might be influencing your game in whatever small way a pair of keywords allows that to happen.
----------OLD Lone Wolf Roleplaying POST------------
I decided to use +Geoff Osterberg's Oculus oracle for this game:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByVeZxlFO74FWTZTQkJrUUNtZW8
It's free, and is attached to a very cool game. I'll only be using the Oracle part, though: yes/no questions with Odds, and complex questions that should be answered by picking a Focus word and Lens keyword (these are equivalent to Action and Subject keywords in Mythic). For yes/no questions, I will declare the odds, and GMs either roll for me, or they make a ruling based on their own judgement.
As per the rules of the group, keep your answers to the format of the oracle per the kind of question asked. In the case of complex questions, you can try to get your meaning accross in that limited format, which could be interesting as a GM, in case you decide not to roll randomly. Keep me in the dark as to how you pick an answer. :)
For the RPG part, I will be using a free and very simple nano-game called Mythos Tales:
http://atthetablegames.com/mythos-tales/
I don't think the GM duties can be distributed among people unless you all share some information, so I will bypass that for this game as a convenience. As such, I'll keep the system stuff having to do with the dice pool visible (see game text, it's pretty cool). All GMs have to worry about is answering my questions regarding the fiction, per my request above. You probably never had an easier time GM'ing! :).
[OOC stuff will be between brackets]
So, let's get this started!
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
My name is Camilo Fermaint. Remember my name, for the world will come to know it and respect it.
[*1d6: 6. I have to stop right there per the rules, since I described a man (in a very short way!) and got a 6 on my first roll. This is likely to be an extremely short game. I'll have to add more detail after the scenario starts, but it won't be of any mechanical benefit.
Complex Question: What is the starting scenario? Give me a Focus and a Lens keyword. :)*]
______________Human Oracle Turn___________
Chris Stieha
Focus: Reassure
Lens: Travel
[I saw you posted this earlier today and didn't want you to be held up in your experiment. If someone comes in and wants to be fulltime GM, that's fine. Also, if they want to collaborate via googledocs, I started one.]
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
My brother, Gabriel, had reassured me it was now safe to return to our country.
I had emigrated to Florida in my early twenties, in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Carlos Ballesteros' regime. My family was able to escape, with a good portion of the country's treasury, thanks to my father's friends in the CIA.
I never had a chance to come fully into the powerful position I was being groomed for. At first, I hated the revolutionaries with a passion so dark that I became sick. Now, fifteen years later, I thank them, for it was Destiny. I knew I would wield real power beyond what I had imagined as a foolish twenty-something.
[I will now try to speed play by scripting a few questions. Hope it works. If you see any errors, let me know and I'll fix.
I also have comments for Chris and potential GMs at the end. :)
1. Are the revolutionaries still in power? If yes, continue to #2. If no, skip to #6.
2. Are they a repressive regime as well? Continue to #3.
3. Are they well loved? If no, continue to #4. If yes, skip to #6.
4. Are they corrupt? If yes, continue to #5, else skip to #6.
5. Have my brother and I, through demagoguery, succeeded in casting ourselves as the antidote? Continue to #6 regardless of result.
6. Complex Question: who is behind the push to get me back into the country?
________________________________________________
Chris & the rest of our members:
The way I look at it, for this game at least, is that whoever gets to a question first gets to answer it regardless. I suppose Players can request only one GM if they both agree and that'd be an interesting setup as well.
For my part, don't worry about holding me up. I view this as a very leisurely game where I can answer on the train in the mornings, or whenever I have some free time. Don't worry at all!
Also, since I'll be taking care of tracking the RPG system's GM bits, all you need to focus on are my questions. You can keep some common document if you think that will be fruitful. The only thing I worry about is that since so much is in the control of the Player, the best a GM can do is try to nudge them when they ask binary questions, or direct them in very broad directions when answering complex ones. Still, feel free to experiment, that's what this is for!
Also, don't be afraid to start new games. I think GM'ing here is super easy, and I'll be happy to answer oracle questions whenever I see one (if I get to it first and the player hasn't requested a 1 GM maximum).
Cheers!]
______________Human Oracle Turn___________
Chris Stieha
[If you don't list the odds, do you want us to assume undetermined? You initially say you will declare the odds, so I didn't want to decide the odds for you.
I am using the google document to keep track of whether the GM's decision was random or not. As you asked, I'll keep the mechanism hidden from you.
I gotta get some ducks in a row, but I want to be a data point in your experiment.]
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
[Good catch. I totally forgot about that. If I leave them off, or forget them again in this game, assume it's "undetermined" (50/50). Sounds fair? I luckily did no harm, because I am really not sure of the odds.
I appreciate the time you're putting in!]
______________Human Oracle Turn___________
Chris Stieha
1. Are the revolutionaries still in power? If yes, continue to #2. If no, skip to #6.
No
6. Complex Question: who is behind the push to get me back into the country?
Focus: Defend
Lens: Task
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
When the June 3rd Revolutionary Army had no longer been an obstacle, Gabriel had volunteered to go ahead in order to pave the way for me. I never had a doubt that we would find capable people sympathetic to our cause, so I was not afraid to let him.
Now at last I was back in my old country. When I at last laid eyes on my motherland...
[ How I continue the yarn will depend partly on the answers to the following questions :)
1. Did the revolutionaries turn out to be detrimental to the country? Odds: Undetermined. Continue to next question.
2. Were they completely eradicated? If yes to Q #1, Odds: FAVORABLE. If no to Q #1, Odds: UNFAVORABLE. Continue to next question.
3. Are the people sympathetic to my cause old friends of my father? Odds: FAVORABLE. Continue to next question.
4. Are these people in powerful positions? Odds: Undetermined ]
______________Human Oracle Turn___________
Chris Stieha
1. Did the revolutionaries turn out to be detrimental to the country? Odds: Undetermined. Continue to next question. NO
2. Were they completely eradicated? If yes to Q #1, Odds: FAVORABLE. If no to Q #1, Odds: UNFAVORABLE. Continue to next question. YES
3. Are the people sympathetic to my cause old friends of my father? Odds: FAVORABLE. Continue to next question. YES
4. Are these people in powerful positions? Odds: Undetermined NO
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
When I, at last, laid eyes on my motherland, a fleeting but confusing sense of shame and doubt invaded me. The conditions were better than they had ever been during Ballesteros' time. The airport and the surrounding area were in better condition than they has ever been during our time as the ruling class under Ballesteros.
When Gabriel met me in his private Mercedes SUV, he must have understood what I felt.
"Wait until you see what that ragtag mob of dogs was able to do," he said with an ironic smile. "Well, they had some help, manito."
I knew what he meant. I still hated that they got any credit at all. Specially since the help was a secret and it involved neither the Americans nor the Russians.
As we drove through the town towards our destination in the countryside, I noticed the stark differences between the past and the present. The improvements in infrastructure were fantastic; almost first world. Yet, there was something unsettling about the vistas as if some dark, fearful secret were hiding behind the mask of propserity.
When we had finally made it to the country side manor where we would meet my father's old associates from the Ballesteros military. I knew they did not hold the same powerful ruling positions, but they were still men of means and influence. As long as they fullfilled their duties, that would remain so. Something the ragtag rebel leaders seem to have forgotten.
[Questions:
1. Do the everyday people I saw from the SUV look fearful despite the signs of prosperity? Odds: FAVORABLE
2. Is there an ominous feeling about the country side manor? Odds: EXCELLENT
3. How are Gabriel and I greeted? COMPLEX QUESTION
I finally was able to directly include the "Defend, Task" answer from before. :)]
______________Human Oracle Turn___________
Chris Stieha
[1. Do the everyday people I saw from the SUV look fearful despite the signs of prosperity? YES
2. Is there an ominous feeling about the country side manor? YES
3. How are Gabriel and I greeted? COMPLEX QUESTION
Focus: Betrayal
Lens: Innocents
It's interesting to see how you interpret the Focus and Lens. I really enjoy your descriptions, even though I don't +1 everything (ok anything).]
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
The manor was menacingly quiet upon our arrival. Despite a distant feeling of trepidation, I followed Gabriel inside. My ambition has always been greater than my fear. Upon entering the place, I was greeted by Don Omar Sevilla, one of my father’s friends. He said they were waiting anxiously for me.
I was brought into a hall, in which a man and his family were surrounded. The man and women were roughly in their mid forties. The children could have been no more than eight years old. The man was a traitor. We all knew the penalty for betrayal: death to the traitor and his seed.
They were all waiting for my judgment. Don Omar looked at me meaningfully. I lowered my head slightly in assent. That's all it took. I never saw the terrified family again.
Alone in my room that night, I was wrestling with a sense of self judgement at the lack of remorse I felt. What was I becoming?
[
1. Does any ghostly visitations occur related to the atrocity I committed? ODDS: Undetermined. Continue if 'yes', jump to #5 if 'no'.
2. Can I tell if they were a dream, or a real apparition? ODDS: Undetermined. Continue if 'yes', jump to #4 if 'no'.
3. Was it a dream? Odds: precarious. Continue.
4. Complex Question: What was the purpose of their visit? Stop here. (Skip the rest of the questions)
5. Did anything else happen that night? Odds: excellent. Continue.
6. Complex question: What happened?
Thanks for the kind words! I +1d the comments to let you know I appreciate the participation. I'm actually enjoying this!
This Camilo guy is a total heel, btw. ]
______________Human Oracle Turn___________
Chris Stieha
[1. Does any ghostly visitations occur related to the atrocity I committed? YES
2. Can I tell if they were a dream, or a real apparition? NO
4. Complex Question: What was the purpose of their visit?
Focus: Conspire
Lens: Reward
I think I got your question progression right. If not, tell me and I will correct it.
I had to look up heel - thank you urban dictionary. Your initial thought experiment reminded me of a whole bunch of thought experiments in the Artificial Intelligence world, so I had to participate.]
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
That night as I was writing in my diary, I fell asleep. I became conscious of the room becoming cold like a Winter New England night. I told myself I must be dreaming as there is no Winter season this close to the Equator. Yet it felt all too real.
Finally I saw them, my victims from the evening. Their eyes empty and horrible. Yet the children beckoned me to follow. Somewhere a part of me understood they were messengers from the Power I had sought so much. My heart cowed and wondered at the same time with what had suddenly dawned on me: this Power had sovereignty over your existence beyond the grave as well.
That the parents had given over their children to It offended me. Wasn't being fated to be a slave in the afterlife worse than death? Yes, I was better than them, I reasoned. This is why this ancient Power would now conspire to reward me beyond what anyone at the manor expected.
I followed the ghosts of my victims to where I was being summoned.
[1. Do the spirits of the dead lead me outside the manor? Odds: undetermined? If yes, continue. Otherwise, jump to #3.
2. Is the final destination in the jungle? If #1yes, Odds: Excellent, otherwise Odds: undetermined. Continue.
3. Is the path to wherever the destination lies nightmarish and twisted? Odds: favorable. Continue
4. is the destination the location of a culture dating to a time before man first made it to the New World? odds: favorable. Continue
5. What is the destination like? Complex question.
--------
Everything is going smoothly as far as the scripted questions. :) I'm just waiting for a logical moment to use the Mythos dice. I've been avoiding having to roll so we can get a bit of story before he dies or goes insane.]
______________Human Oracle Turn___________
Chris Stieha
[1. Do the spirits of the dead lead me outside the manor? YES
2. Is the final destination in the jungle? NO
3. Is the path to wherever the destination lies nightmarish and twisted? NO
4. is the destination the location of a culture dating to a time before man first made it to the New World? NO
5. What is the destination like?
Focus: Service
Lens: Obstacles
Yeah, Mythos Tales has an interesting mechanic. I had to visualize it to understand it. Thinking about mechanics made me realize I like the relationship between the mechanics, the style of the story, and the story, not just the story by itself.]
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
As I left the room, I saw myself sitting on the desk, scribbling furiously the document you're now reading. It was as if my spirit was detached from my physical self. I, again, could not tell if this was dream or reality, but I followed them.
The ghosts led me outside the manor out onto the nearby mountain. I should not have reached the top were it not for the aid of the servants who showed me the secret paths. What I first thought to be the mouth of a cave, turned out to have been a protusion; the work of something other than nature. There was fresh earth around it as if an earthquake had brought it to the surface.
Though I had not seen it yet, I felt like the place was a barrier to life; a Hades. I should not have been able to enter it alive without the service of the enslaved spirits.
[Complex question: What is the place like inside?
Yeah, I think that the Mythos Tales mechanic is ideal for a solo writing game. You just kinda let your imagination go, and when you happen to do something that requires a roll, then you consult the system. The only drawback is that the end can be quite abrupt if you hit a 6.
Since I'm writing in the first person, I've kinda painted myself into a corner, hence the avoidance of having to roll. :)]
______________Human Oracle Turn___________
Chris Stieha
[What is the place like inside?
Focus: Preserve
Lens: Tragedy
Yeah, and since you read the rules, you know what you have to avoid ;)
Mythos Tales would be fun without people knowing the triggers for the rolls having a list of triggers (either during background or during play, or both) that you roll for randomly.]
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
As I descended down ancient steps into the abyss below, I could hear the voices of the damned lamenting the tragedy of their choices in life.
[Since I descended down some steps, I had to roll. I got a 2, which indicates I see one of the Horror's "leavings". That deserves a complex question.
What is the horror's "leaving" that I see?
________
Yeah, I think that's one of the difficulties of solo gaming. It's hard to keep secrets like that from yourself, so your only seems to be separating PC from Player knowledge. You still have to use the Oracle, though, to set up situations in which those triggers might be fired. Like, I should have probably asked, "Are there descending stairs?", instead of assuming they were there (given the eldritch stuff, it does not logically follow that you would descend). Asking the Oracle would have made it more fun. ]
______________Human Oracle Turn___________
Chris Stieha
[Focus: Learn
Lens: Patron
What, you don't like fun?]
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
As I descended I noticed what looked like ancient runes etched on the walls. Runes that emanated with power from their creator. Somehow I felt I could understand them so I read as I continued downwards. As I read, I felt the fearsome master of this domain watch me.
[
1. Are there twisted passages I must descend through before I reach the final destination? Odds: favorable. Continue
2. Do I at any point need to make some light because it gets darker? Odds: favorable. Continue
3. If yes to either 2 or 3, what other things do I see? Continue.
4. Do I finally arrive whee I'm supposed to be? Odds: undetermined. Continue.
5. If yes to 4, does the summoner reveal itself to me? Odds: undetermined. Continue.
6. What happens next?
________
Sometimes it would seem like i don't, haha. I have this weird hangup about changing something I've committed to paper when gaming solo which I guess I carried here with me. I feel it's a bit like when you're playing chess and make a move: there's no undo!
Btw, I counted the rune reading as reading a letter in order to engage the system, and I rolled a 5, hence me being watched. A bit of a stretch the rune reading as letter reading but it kinda fits that lovecraftian theme, I think.]
______________Human Oracle Turn___________
Chris Stieha
[1. Are there twisted passages I must descend through before I reach the final destination? YES
2. Do I at any point need to make some light because it gets darker? YES
3. If yes to either 2 or 3, what other things do I see?
Focus: Assistance
Lens: Task
4. Do I finally arrive whee I'm supposed to be? NO
5. If yes to 4, does the summoner reveal itself to me? YES
6. What happens next?
Focus: Doubt
Lens: Exchange
I like your interpretation to get the runes. I think rune reading as letter reading fits the intent of the system.]
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
As I descended further, the halls became more twisted and confusing as if there was an otherworldly geometry at work*. It also looked darker ahead so I took one of the torches lighting up the previous passages. There were more etchings on the wall the deeper I went, but the change I saw startled me: I could see representations of previous people, and Ballesteros was one of them. These were all the ambitious men and women who had sought out this entity and received something in return. It was evident from the etchings that these people went back to Spanish colonial times, and beyond into the time of the Amerindian empires of this region.
My human instincts seemed to warn me of its malicious, maybe even hostile nature. I now wondered what price would this being exact in any bargain and doubted whether I wanted to proceed.
Yet I moved on. When the ghosts finally stopped, they pointed me into an open court. I stepped in trembling; knowing there was no turning back.
[I skipped #5 based on the NO to #4.
1. Do I directly see the summoner? Odds: Undetermined
2. If yes to #1, is it incomprehensible to the human mind? Odds: Excellent
3. Complex question: What does it demand as part of the bargain?
4.
*Stealing directly from The Lovecraft. I also got a 2 and a 1, so I combined them into more etchings on the wall (breaking my own self-imposed rule of not changing stuff written down, haha)]
______________Human Oracle Turn___________
Chris Stieha
[1. Do I directly see the summoner? NO
3. Complex question: What does it demand as part of the bargain?
Focus: Solve
Lens: Exchange
4. YES
Completely missed that question 5 was dependent on question 4 in the previous set of questions. Are the "ghosts [that] finally stop" the etchings on the wall? ]
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
I could feel the presence of this entity all around me, but I could not see it. When it spoke it was like no earthly sound I had ever heard. It offered me everything I ever wanted and even desires that I wasn't conscious of.
My fear changed back into lust for that power. I would have given my very soul for it...and that is exactly what it wanted. It said I could still refuse, but by doing so I would be choosing oblivion as there was no life after death despite what our ignorant religions said. I could have eternal life by serving him.
Decades later, near the twilight of my life and at the height of my earthly power, I found myself filled with dread of the afterlife that awaited me. At that moment, however, I accepted the bargain, blinded by my lust to the suffering souls I saw in this realm. How could I not? It was everything I wanted on Earth.
Immediately after accepting the bargain, I found myself passed out on the room's desk, with my diary full of the strange etchings I had seen as if I had been in a trance for a time. The clock had only advanced minutes. Later in the early twilight I went through the 'magical' ceremony that the so called sorcerers that had planned my arrival here had prepared along with my brother. {*} I thought I saw something indescribable, like the depiction I’d seen in my dream like trek. Perhaps it was mocking these people, or maybe it was mocking me.
Decades passed, and I enjoyed absolute power over that land. Not even the most powerful countries dared to try and meddle in my country’s affairs. I truly savored all that was in my hands, until I felt the end creeping ever closer. Then my outlook changed.
I desperately sought a way to break this Faustian pact. I earnestly sought forbidden knowledge in secret though I knew not if the secrecy was in vain.
[
1. Do I find a specially promising esoteric book? Odds: undetermined .
2. If no to #1, what is the most promising solution?
3. Where is it? Complex question applying to either #1 or #2
* I rolled a 4 when the "sorcerers" were conducting the "magic" ritual. That meant I saw the horror.
The ghosts you asked about were actually the souls if the family the PC had executed. They were still guiding him through the entity's domain. :)
]
______________Human Oracle Turn___________
Chris Stieha
[1. Do I find a specially promising esoteric book? YES
3. Where is it?
Focus: Service
Lens: Travel
Oh, I forgot about those souls. You're getting a lot of rolls out of your 1d6 of 6 that you got at the beginning.
Your comment about "something indescribable" reminded me about this article talking about how Lovecraft had so many ways to say he couldn't describe something: https://medium.com/message/i-cant-even-33ac06fe8ddf
]
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
one day in December my brother told me of a powerful tome said to reside deep under a tell in Iraq supposed to be the site of a pre-Mohammedan city state.
I sent a team of the most capable scholars and soldiers I could find. One of the scholars was an American named George Smith, from a university in some northeastern town named Arkham.
[
1. Is the team able to find the book and bring it back by the expected time? Odds: undetermined
2. If no to #1, do I receive any communication from them? Odds: undetermined
3. If yes to #2, did some disaster occur? Odds: undetermined
4. If yes to #2, what happened?
Nice link; very funny lol.
Yeah, survivability has been higher than expected. I wonder if that's anomalous.]
______________Human Oracle Turn___________
Chris Stieha
[1. Is the team able to find the book and bring it back by the expected time? No
2. If no to #1, do I receive any communication from them? No]
[Hmm, did the math. I counted three dice rolls and got a probability around 0.5 that you would roll three dice and not have a single 6. So not so anomalous. I guess I fell victim to that whole perceived versus actual risk discrepancy.]
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
Weeks went by without further communication after I sent the team to the mound in the outback area of Fallujah. Had I not been aware of the doom that awaited me, I should have forgotten about the old tome, given that the silence could only be a bad portent.
I decided there was no choice but to go to Fallujah myself. I picked the best soldiers from those left. As far as they knew, we were after a valuable treasure most of which would go to our treasury, but of which they would receive a substantive reward.
[1. Do we arrive without incident to the mound? Odds Undetermined
2. If no to #1, what happens? Complex question
3. If yes to #1, are there signs if an excavation? Odds favorable
4. Do I find a reason to creep, do some magic, or grab a weapon? Odds undetermined
5. If yes to #4, what reason is that? Complex question
Sorry I was absent for a while. I had to take a bit of a break from RPG stuff before I burned out. You can blame my attempt at building a solo game :)
Thanks for looking up those probabilities.
I decided to go a bit more meta with the last questions. Dunno if that would help engage the system more or whether it would come at the cost of story arc. :) ]
______________Human Oracle Turn___________
Chris Stieha
[1. Do we arrive without incident to the mound? YES
3. If yes to #1, are there signs if an excavation? YES
4. Do I find a reason to creep, do some magic, or grab a weapon? YES (I assume you just need one Yes/No… but if not: YES you need to creep, NO you don't find a reason to do some magic, YES you better grab a weapon)
5. If yes to #4, what reason is that? Complex question
Focus: Service
Lens: Patron
I understand the needing a break sometimes, but man, that was a long break. That solo game better be good ;)
That's an interesting thought for questions. I've been trying hard to phrase questions such that the Yes answer and the No answer both push the story forward, as opposed to the next action after No is to immediately ask another question.
]
__________Player Turn_______
Alex Yari
[shoot, just what I feared as I was getting into it again. :) I rolled a six for the creeping check so that means I go insane or die. Time to write an epilogue.]
We arrived without incident at the mound. I saw signs of recent excavation and assumed my men must have been here.
I heard chanting noises as I approached the gaping mouth of the earth and thought that maybe the locals had come here to worship Allah. Or perhaps some rebel sect had kept alive a cult from their long gone pagan past. Why would they be here?
My imagination immediately presented me with scenarios of violence. Among the men I sent were many capable soldiers. Had they been overpowered?
The men I brought with me hesitated at the entrance. As I walked on forward through the tunnel their irrational dread was palpable; one by one they began to desert me. I pressed on cautiously, even as the last man fled in fear. He pleaded with me to follow him out of the evil place, but I dreaded my fate more than the dark of this place. The book I sought was my only chance at salvation.
Slowly, I crept on forward with my latern, alone. The light showed me no no signs of the men who had disappeared. I lost any sense of time as I winded my way deeper into the mound, and a notion that the chanting was surrounding me began to take root in my mind. It kept me company until I reached an empty wall.
I sat down before the wall for I know not how long. I was waiting for something and it eventually arrived. I understood the chants as if a power decided to open my mind. All human meaning and purpose left me at that moment for it was a terrible truth; alien and terrifying. No human point of reference or thought structure that can hope to embody this aberration.
I now find myself alone in this empty tomb alone with my regret and these unhinged notes I've written. My final minutes tick away in wait of my eternal and terrible master.
[Thanks a lot for your participation and your patience, +Chris Stieha
Would love to see the notes you were keeping at some point. :)]
______________GAME ENDS___________
______________Chris Stieha___________
[+Alex Yari Great write-up!
I don't promise anything profound or coherent, but here are my notes:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OVH0ZUvdvoHgwvWCtIgXM41lUbAUnNdfjZkMfoUcw6I/edit?usp=sharing ]
__________Alex Yari_______
[+Chris Stieha
Thanks man! Your doc is actually helpful. The only part where I seemed to have guessed right about you taking control was during the ghostly visitation. Most of the time, I just couldn't tell. You actually kept it very balanced as far as when you took control and when you delegated to Oculus.
I think that the Chinese Box experiment comment provides some insight as to how it may feel. I suppose that delegating to an oracle wasn't that much fun. Maybe taking control with limited tools is only marginally more fun.
How did you actually feel as far as like fun level? Is this way of "GM"ing something that you would enjoy doing at all, even if you didn't have to delegate to an oracle at all?
See, I'm envisioning a web or network program where you have an oracle built in, and also people dropping in to GM in the way you did. Maybe when you log in to GM, you're presented with a queue of questions from one or many games (something you could adjust), and then you are given a time limit (set by the player) to answer. If no one answers, then the Oracle randomly does so.
The benefit is mainly there for the player side. She has to believe that there may be someone directing the answers and reacting to the fiction he creates in that limited way. The hard thing would be convincing enough people to participate in GM'ing, and letting the players know that there are people GM'ing, to maintain the illusion.
Still, in a way, on the player side, I didn't often feel very differently from when I was playing by myself because I couldn't really tell when you were giving guidance. I'm not sure if I can generalize that to everyone, though.
My takeaway was ultimately, before we even finished the game, that solo gaming is truly more like GM prep-- which is a lot like writing. The stuff I've been tinkering with for 3+ years is almost useless, haha, but I think I learned lessons that I might apply to what I'm attempting now.
I think I will run some stuff by you later on if you don't mind. It'd be nice to get an outside perspective as I think the system/guidelines I'm putting together now are very idiosyncratic to what I want. :) ]
______________Chris Stieha___________
[I definitely responded in ways to keep you guessing as to whether it was me or the oracle. At some level, that was fun for me, but it wouldn't be (wasn't) my main reason for participating. There were times when I really wanted to push the story, but I felt like that wasn't part of the experiment.
What was really fun was seeing how you interpreted the results. When I read solo actual plays, I am always amazed by everyone's interpretations.
Feel free to run any ideas by me; email works best. I'd like to see some of your three years of thoughts.]
__________Alex Yari_______
Oh, man, I could have used this for this game, lol: http://www.wyrmworld.com/interactive/lovecraft/lovecraft.html