
Exploration Oracle Arrays
On Quisicosas since 14 February 2023
Featured in the newsletter of
14 February 2023 (on Substack)
What it is about
Random tables named Oracles are the heart of Ironsworn: Starforged. In solo and co-op mode, they replace the Game Master and in guided play they are very useful tool for Game Master. There are a lot of them – about 90 pages of them in the Rulebook and much more in fan-made materials. Such abundance allows for introducing a lot of interesting and unique elements to play, but also can lead to decision paralysis (“which Oracle should I roll in now?”). Luckily, Shawn Tomkin designed a useful tool to prevent such paralysis: oracle array. However, the Rulebook only contains two short examples of oracle arrays. Because I didn’t find more of them, I decided to make them myself. I focused on creating oracle arrays useful during exploration of various locations – space, worlds (planets and moons), settlements, derelicts and Precursor vaults. In every case, I covered three main aspects of such exploration: Features, Perils and Opportunities. This work is based on Ironsworn (found at www.ironswornrpg.com ), created by Shawn Tomkin, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license ( creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ ). Made for the Starforged 2023 Jam , hosted by Kerys and Margot Hutton