Seeking Inspiration

In Ironsworn, an oracle is anything which generates random results to help determine the outcome of a move, a detail in your world, an NPC action, or a narrative event. 

Among the choices provided in the Ask the Oracle move is “spark an idea” (page 108). You can use this option (instead of or in addition to the yes/no table) to answer open-ended questions or inspire new situations.

Rolling a match on a move (page 9) can also trigger opportunities to introduce narrative complications and surprises through random prompts.

This chapter includes a series of random prompts in the form of tables. You can use these oracle tables to answer questions about your world, drive the narrative, and inspire dramatic events and revelations. Some oracles are for specific, mundane questions to streamline play (“What is the healer’s name?”). Others provide more abstract results which you interpret based on the current situation (“What happens next?”).

Oracles in Solo and Co-Op Play

Ironsworn oracles don’t function as a GM simulator. Instead, they leverage the power of your creative interpretation. Ask your question, roll on a table, and consider the answer in the context of your current situation and story. What comes to mind first? Did you think of something which reinforces a dramatic narrative or takes things in an interesting and surprising direction? Does it feel right? If so, make it happen.

If you follow your instincts while staying open to twists and turns, you will find your game offering many of the same narrative rewards as if you were playing with a GM. In fact, you’ll be surprised how often a seemingly random result seems to feed directly into your character’s story and the world you’ve established through play. This is the power of creative interpretation at work.

You score a miss on your Undertake a Journey move, and roll “A new danger or foe is revealed” on the Pay the Price table (page 105). You’re not sure what this means in the context of your current journey, and decide to spark an idea to see what happens. You roll on the Action and Theme tables (page 174), and the oracle answers, “Bolster vengeance.” Playing off this prompt, you decide it would be interesting to bring back a particular enemy, one who holds a grudge against you. They’ve gathered allies and are tracking you on your journey.

Oracles in Guided Play

GMs can use oracles for support during play and to supplement their narrative decision-making. Mundane oracles, such as names (page 184), are helpful to quickly flesh out details. Interpretative oracles, such as the Action and Theme tables (page 174), can be used to spark new ideas.

When the characters Sojourn at a small settlement deep in the Flooded Lands, they roll a match. Everyone is interested in using that match to drive a new quest. The GM rolls on the Settlement Trouble table (page 181). The oracle answers, “Production halts.”

The GM interperts this result. “This settlement relies on a steady harvest of a rare medicinal plant found in the depths of the swamp”, she tells her players. “But, a huge basilisk they call ‘one-eye’ lurks there. A group of able hunters set out last week to kill the beast. They did not return.”

You can also use oracles as a prompt for sharing control of the narrative with your players. Not sure what happens next? Not sure how to answer a character’s question? Roll on an appropriate table, or have a player make the roll, and talk it out with everyone at the table.