Writing Tools: The Publishing Goblin’s Oracle Dice
I’ve accumulated a large collection of card-based writing tools, each of which is useful to different parts of my writing process. So I’ve decided to do a series of posts about the various decks I own and how I use them in my writing. This time, it’s a combination of deck and dice in the Publishing Goblin’s Oracle Dice (2nd edition).
This is the first set I’ve gotten of dice-based writing tools, though the idea of such has existed in a lot of formats. For the Oracle Dice, there are 21 dice, each linked to a “Lord” of that die. I backed the Kickstarter at a level that got me the dice and a deck of cards that correspond to each of the Lords (and a dice mat, which I’ll talk about below). The set also has a substantial book that talks about each of the Lords, their specific dice, and how to read the cards or dice.
This set is very much meant to be more of a fortune-telling set, akin to a tarot, where you present a question and use the dice to divine your answer. The dice mat is an integral part of this. It’s two sided, with each side divided into quadrants and smaller segments that have specific associations. When you roll the dice on it, their placement on the mat and in conjunction with one another tell you how to read them. There are also some die rolls/placement that have you re-roll or change the way other dice have landed. It can be VERY complex if you’re using all 21 of the dice, so there are also recommendations for using smaller subsets of the dice, depending on the questions you’re asking.
For my writing purposes, I’ve thus far found the dice and dice mat a little bit cumbersome, but I like the cards and the book. Using the cards similar to a slim tarot deck, I can do a simple draw when I’m trying to figure out aspects of a character or themes for a story when I don’t have these already in place. The guide book helps me interpret the cards’ meanings, as they don’t have traditional tarot associations.
The dice are standard sized, generally six-sided dice, with one twelve-sided die in the mix. The cards are larger than playing cards but not unwieldly (and there are only 21 of them), and they fit nicely in their sturdy box.
In summary, use the Oracle Dice (and/or cards) when you’re looking for answers to a story-related question and want to inject an element of randomness. You can use the cards alone for character or story theme ideas, and you can always supplement the card draws with some dice rolls if you need more randomness injected!
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