I want to play Shadowdark entirely in my head, without physical dice or a phone. But simply imagining a dice roll feels meaningless because I'm also choosing the outcome.

I came up with a workaround: generate a random-looking math expression first, without calculating it, then solve it and reduce the result to a single digit.

Example:
7 × 5 + 3 − 2 = 36 → 3 + 6 = 9

So I get a 1–9 result that I can use as a mental die. (1d9 Oracle)

The idea is that I can't consciously know the result when generating the expression, so the outcome is unpredictable to me.

Would this work as a meaningful randomizer for solo RPGs, or am I fooling myself?

But this raises the philosophical question: Can I actually generate true randomness using only my mind, or am I just creating something that is unpredictable to myself?

My first full body character art after approximately a month learning how to draw. I want to thank this community for being supportive and nice with my first drawings.

My first randomly rolled character and my second finished character art drawing

Den of the Necroshaman is a gauntlet dungeon I’m mostly finished with and looking for feedback. I would love to hear what you think!

Hiya! Back again looking for some feedback on some potential rule changes I'm thinking about implementing. These ones are much more impactful — they change what happens when one's death timer hits 0, and allows for "prestige levels" past LV 10.

I wanted to include retirement as an alternative to death, and I wanted to include the potential for leveling past LV 10. I like B/X D&D's static HP increase at higher levels, and I dig the idea of raising the stat cap.

My campaign will be real-time, so I thought it would be neat to include the possibility of a retired adventurer returning to the depths after a long time as a retired lord/lady. Importantly, it should not be a given to be able to level past LV 10! It should imo be earned through luck. And that luck should be rewarded.

For the nerds, the odds of getting to LV 15 without having to wait at least a year are nearly 1 in 60 (0.945%, expected wait time of ~8 years); similarly, the odds of getting to LV 20 without a wait are nearly 1 in 3,000,000 (0.00004%, expected wait time of ~49 years). I'm no statistician so the expected wait times might be way wrong lol.

On Borrowed Time

Once your death timer runs out, flip a coin. If it's tails, you die.

If it's heads, you lose a limb depending on your raw death timer roll (1. leg 2. arm 3. hand 4. foot) and remain unconscious.

Losing a limb is a grim fate — you should be dead! Knowing this makes you panic. Make a stress check (flat roll, DC 10). This roll cannot be modified.

• Failure. You retire from adventuring after this dungeon.
• Success. Henceforth, each time you drop to 0 HP, increase the DC by one and repeat this check.

Prestige Levels

Starting at LV 10, make a prestige check upon leveling up (flat roll, DC equal to your next target level). This roll can't be modified, but it may be retried 1x/year.

• Failure. You are gifted a tract of land and retire as a noble lord or lady. You can no longer gain XP.
• Success. You continue to gain XP (see table). At each level, casters learn any spell from their class spell list. Starting at LV 15, this can be from any spell list.