Mythic Game Master Emulator Second Edition

by Tana Pigeon

Play any role-playing game solo or without a Game Master! Mythic's oracle-style question resolution system revolutionized solo role-playing. The Second Edition of the Mythic Game Master Emulator updates the ground-breaking 2003 ruleset with essential new additions, a wide range of options to customize your adventures, and numerous refinements. Mythic Game Master Emulator Second Edition can be used with any role-playing system to replace the Game Master, or played on its own without another RPG.
This new edition The book is designed to be accessible to new players while also offering current players an updated and richer Mythic experience.
How does it work?
Mythic emulates a Game Master by using a few key Everything is guided by your expectations and interpretations based on the ongoing Context. This makes sure the adventure continues in a coherent fashion while still allowing for twists and subversions that keep things exciting. What's changed in this edition?
While the rules have been completely rewritten most of the core concepts of Mythic remain while much has been added or refined. Here is a summary of the biggest

Genres: Role Playing Games, Games, Nonfiction, Reference

228 pages, Hardcover

Published March 13, 2023

Reviews

[Ramón Nogueras Pérez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un manual sencillamente imprescindible, tanto si quieres jugar a rol en solitario como para usarlo de apoyo al árbitro en las partidas, que es como lo uso yo.

[Hess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mythic is very powerful system for running solo games. The community loves it, but if you are a new player, this book can be really overwhelming.

I have stopped/started this book about 5 times now, trying to nail down where I am getting lost, and I think it's the layout that's tripping me up - rather than the information itself. Essentially, this book is laid out like a glossary, where you - the player - dip in and out to find the bit of information you need while you're playing. This is great if you already know what information you will need and when to look it up, but it creates challenges when everything is new and you don't have an intuitive sense of how all these blocks of text are supposed to chunk together.

I suspect that (ironically) this book is therefore great as a play companion, and poor as a play-onboarding experience (which is what I need right now).

Advice to those feeling the same way
Skip to page 177 and start with the Big Example. It's still hard to follow because Tana mixes in director's commentary with actual solo play (I would have preferred something like the Adventures of Temian Fell , but I'm splitting hairs here) and bullet point what's happening in your own notes. Yes, it feels like studying.

I've included some of my notes below in case they are helpful. I am literally writing this as I read, putting comments behind (brackets) or [interpretation]:


RPG rules system:Superbreakers! (I have no idea what this is - TODO research)
character: Rapid Red (not clear how this was created, assume via the pre-existing system?)
power: super sonic speed
assets: Adventure Journal, Adventure Lists (not hyperlinked)

Getting started:
(I have not found much on Superbreakers! except this? Will assume that Superbreakers! is meant to be a fictional game.)

[Chaos has overrun the City. Rapid has been having a pretty normal day until..]

setting up the Scene: Chaos Factor:= 5. Random Event: = "New NPC". Actions Meaning Table: "Triumph" and "Cooperation". The Player interprets this as:

a team of superheroes are called in to solve a problem.

The Player wants to know what kind of problem the team is taking on. Whatever it is, it’s probably what attracts Rapid Red as well. They could frame this as a Fate Question and guess at the problem directly, or instead use the Meaning Table for inspiration.

what is the problem that needs to be solved?: Action Meaning Table: "Strange" and "Outside". The player interprets this as:

a strange disturbance in the centre of the city. Some kind of rip in the reality of space has opened, letting energies from outside our world in that are wreaking havoc

Fate question: does Rapid know what's going on? odds: Likely. Answer Yes.

When not saving people and fighting villains, Rapid Red is Rick Burgundy, a reporter for the internet news site The Blurb. He’s working at their downtown offices when news of the disturbances start getting called in.

Looking out the window, Rick can see weird strands of blue energy snaking between buildings. Everything the strands touch wavers and warps, as if reality itself were uncertain what it should be. Sirens, car horns, and people screaming can be heard.

The Player’s expectation is that Rick has exited work many times before in order to act as Rapid Red, so there is no need to ask a Question to see if he has any trouble getting away.

Making a few quick excuses at the office, Rapid zooms down the stairwell, changing into his superhero uniform before he reaches the street. Moving in the blink of an eye he runs to the centre of the ruckus.

This seems like a logical time to encounter the team. This is a well grounded expectation so the Player doesn’t feel a need to ask a Fate Question for it.

Fate question: does Rapid know these people? odds: Likely. Answer: Exceptional Yes.

..not only does Rapid recognise them but they are a famous group of superheroes.

What are they called? Names Elements Table returns "Fah", "Oh", "N", "R"(sounds fun).

This kind of sounds like “Founder”, so the Player goes with a team name of “The Founders”.

Arriving in the midst of downtown, Rapid sees the arcing blue energy up close tearing apart buildings and roads. However, people are already being rescued by a group of superheroes: the world famous Founders.

Rapid gets in on the action and uses his super speed to help rescue people threatened by the anomaly.

How can Rapid help? the Action Meaning Tables return "release" and "vehicle".

The Player interprets this to mean that a car has been knocked to the edge of a freeway overpass.

...when the road got warped by the wild energies. Someone is trapped in the car, which teeters on the brink of plummeting to the concrete below. Rapid moves quickly, in a blur zooming along the road to the overpass.

Fate question: Does the car start to fall before Rapid gets there? odds: Nearly Impossible. Why: Rapid has super-human speed. Mythic returns: No.

Rapid arrives at the car, pulls the driver out of it, and deposits them safely a block away before they are even aware of what is going on.

The Player doesn’t want to role-play every save in this crisis, just the one to set some flavour for the Scene. They wonder though if the rip in reality closes up, or if this is going to be an ongoing situation.

Fate question: Does the rift close? odds: Very Likely. Mythic returns: Yes. Roll: 22 = Random Event, because double digits were rolled and the single digit value (2) is less than or equal to the Chaos Factor (5)

What kind of event? Random Event Focus Table: "current context". Actions Meaning Table: "Imprison" and "Representative".

The Player interprets this to mean that the enormous rift in space closes as mysteriously as it appeared, but The Founders captured someone, or something, associated with it.

Fate question: Do I find out what’s going on? odds: Nearly Certain. Why: Rapid helped in the crisis. Mythic returns: Yes.

What does the captive look like? Character Appearance Elements Table: returns “Strange” and “Colourful”.

The leader of The Founders beckons Rick to join the team as they gather around something. Laying on the ground is a strange creature. It looks like an enormous flying eye, with bright red, leathery skin. “It came through the rift,” a member of The Founders said. “We subdued it right away.”

(Tana notes that the Player could have asked Fate Questions or rolled Discover Meaning here, but that the person has enough of a grasp of the story to not need that step. They are going with intuition.)

The Player had earlier established that The Founders was a superhero team, but now wants to give them a little more detail by coming up with some facts about a few of the members. The Player doesn’t want to take the time to detail every NPC on the team, but two sounds good.

Starting with the leader of The Founders, the Player figures it would be good to know their main power and their name.

Powers: Power Elements Table "Others" and "Emission"

The Player interprets this to mean that the ability is a powerful eye beam blast.

Name: Names Elements Table returns "R" and "Wah"

The Player interprets this into the name Ra, the hero maintains an Egyptian sun god motif to accompany his fiery eye blasts. For the second member of the team the Player rolls again:

Powers: Power Elements Table "Damage" and "Emotion"

The Player interprets this as a mental power, the ability to control others’ emotions to make them run out of control.

Name: Names Elements Table returns "Fi", "Ar", "Oh", and "Ah"

The Player makes multiple rolls until the sounds make sense together. They decide this second person is called Fear Aura.

This seems like a good place to wrap up the first Scene. The Player writes a summary on the Adventure Journal, marking down Scene 1. While there are a lot of unknowns right now, such as where the rift came from and will it return, Rapid Red and The Founders succeeded in minimizing the crisis. The Player is going to count this as the PC mostly being in control of the Scene, giving the Chaos Factor a -1 modifier down to 4.

---
Adventure Journal Elements
title: Rapid Red's Grand Adventure
summary: A rift in reality causes chaos
scene number: 1
current chaos factor: 5 4

Adventure Lists
Threads List
[table section 1-2]
1-2 - Why the rift?
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10

Character List
[table section 1-2]
1-2 - The Founders (whole group)
3-4 - Ra (leader)
5-6 - Fear Aura (2nd person)
7-8 - Captured Alien
9-10 - City

[table section 3-4]
1-2 - The Blurb
3-4 -
5-6 -
7-8 -
9-10 -

It's time for a New Scene. The Player expects The Founders will take their prisoner back to HQ for questioning and that Rapid/Rick will go with them. The Chaos Factor is currently at 4.

Does what happens next match the Player's expectations? rolls on Expected Scene Idea: Interrupt.
What is the interruption? rolls on Random Event -> Random Events Focus Table returns "NPC action".
Who is involved? the Player rolls on Character List from the Adventure List. There are 6 entries on the List, just barely breaking into the second section. This means the Player has to roll two dice, a d4 to determine which section of the List to roll in and a d10 to determine which element in that section is selected. The Player rolls a 3 and a 6. This leads us to the second section of the Characters List and a blank line. When getting a blank line on a List we get the option to choose an element on the List or to roll again.

The Player thinks it would make the most sense if the captured alien did something.

What does the alien do? Player has the option to roll from the Actions Meaning Table (because the alien is doing something) or the Character Table, because it's a character doing the action. Player decides the latter and gets “Friend” and “Unexpected”.

Back at The Founders headquarters, the alien is kept in a containment force field. The creature wakes and, communicating telepathically, tells them it has come as a friend to help

(And the story continues..)


Final thoughts
Mythic is packed with contents. If the extent of your board game experience is playing Jenga and Uno, then it is also a lot to take in. Reading through the "Big Play" highlights how powerful the system can be when used properly, but also that there's a bit of fluency required to get there. If you are new to TTRPGs (like I am), new to solo gaming (like I am) and new to more advanced rules in general (like I am) then Mythic is a lot to take in all at once. For example, the playthrough above doesn't really clarify how combat might work - does this come from the other system Tana mentions? I am guessing it does?

Should beginner players like me be the ones reading Mythic? Experienced TTRPG players and fans might comment on this review and say, "well, you just aren't ready yet" - and I think that's a valid viewpoint. Heck, I don't think I am ready yet!

But Mythic is often recommended to new players, especially those who are transitioning from a GM-ed group experience to solo. Will this work for them?

I am not entirely sure.

From what I've grokked so far, Mythic solves the mechanic of generating surprise and an engaging set of story scenes. If you've got a system that you know and love in-hand, then I think it's brilliant as a tool for adapting that system to solo play. What Mythic doesn't really seem to go into is adapting that system to a role-play narrative, i.e. "what did Rapid feel when he first met the alien?" or "how was his conversation with the other super heroes?" - you're still expected to contribute these elements yourself.

Reflecting on my limited solo play so far, I think it's in the latter that journaling games really shine. They abstract back the rules in favour of storytelling prompts that get you into that "storytelling" mode. To what extent this works depends on the player. Man Alone (YT solo player coming from traditional TTRPGs) has some really good criticisms and reflections here: Cartograph: Solo Map-Making RPG - Can this break the Man Alone "Journaling RPG" Curse?!.

I think the thing to add here is that there's nothing to stop you - the player - from adding or subtracting "crunch" from a game. I have recently started a journaling game and added the Fate System from Scarlet Heroes midway through to make it more dynamic. The story went off the rails immediately and now I am really looking forward to playing more! You could do the same with a traditional OSR / RPG of your choice and add journaling elements to it.

If you're interested, I got the idea to try this from the Solo Game Master's Guide which (it turns out) is more at my level right now.

Tana Pigeon has written another book called the Adventure Crafter which I am reading next. Review to come!

[Nida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank the heavens that I’m not the only niche-brained, extremely special interests kind of person on this planet 🙏

Fantastic rule book for solo rpg adventures 🧝🏼‍♀️

[Benjamin]

How? Picked up off the RPG shelf at the library.

What? It's a system for solo gaming. There's a handful of solo games (and the number is growing) but this is meant to be a somewhat generic system or even a system to slot over other games.

One of the standard devices of the solo RPG genre is the idea of an oracle: rather than you having to invent everything, you can instead ask a question, usually yes/no, and then roll. You crash your spaceship onto Barsoom -- am I near a Red Martian city? Am I in the desert? Is there a predator following me?

This book has that oracle, but I think a more interesting (and central) idea here is the idea of the expected scene and the chaos factor: In this story, what do you think the next scene would be? You're escorting a chosen one to a monastery -- will your mountain path take you to a village? And here you might get yes, it does; or kind of (an altered scene); or no (an interruption).

The big has a pretty big font and nice whitespace and a lot of tables for coming up with random elements to spark your imagination.

Yeah, so? Once, I organized a game of Fiasco with some fellow code school students; now Fiasco is basically a collaborative storytelling game, so you can facilitate a bit, but you can't really guide in the way you can as a GM. (Or: you're not supposed to.) I will say this: people eventually got it, but there was a lot of hesitation and anxiety about telling a story.

There's a lot here that feels like it's for that person: you know how to play games, but, yikes, you could never write a story by yourself! So there's some help here to get people into that narrative flow (what would be an unexpected next scene).

That's not for me. What is for me, though, are the pages of random tables to spark imagination, and the idea of an oracle with slightly more variation than yes/no.

[AHCuteArt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why did you read this book?
I’ve been getting into TTRPGs lately and this book was suggested to me.

What format did you read this book in?
Purchased the PDF from drivethrurpg.com.

Is this an educational book or a book for entertainment?
I read this book for pure entertainment purposes.

What genres do you think this book belongs to?
Fantasy, Reference, Game

What was your favorite part of the book?
I didn’t have a favorite part per se, but I did like how it creates a great system for solo game playing.

Who would you suggest this book to?
Anyone who is looking for a great guide/rule system that can help them generate content for the TTRPG.

What is your general opinion/ rating of this book?
I wasn’t sure about this book at first since I’ve heard so many mixed reviews about it. Some claim it’s the best solo TTRPG system out there, while others think it’s too complicated. Since I am an overthinker, this book was a perfect fit for me, but I can see why some people dislike it. It has a detailed (and complicated) success/failure system. There is also a plethora of material that can help give GMs, and players prompt to inspire while developing their games. Overall, I think this is a great add-on to any TTRPG, but it isn’t for the GM or player that just wants simple rules.

[GreyIC · Rating 4 out of 5]

My rating is untested, meaning I have not yet played a game using Mythic.

However, this looks like a handy toolkit enabling solo roleplay, with copious examples of use. One could also easily incorporate these systems into a more formal, GM-and-players game. The handful of systems are also modular enough that they can be incorporated without the entire framework if desired. Finally, the whole book is an idea generator that can be used for inspiration for your next session.

Great RPG resource!

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting approach to solo RPGs. I can't think of a situation in which I would use this entire thing, but I certainly can see its value, and the influence it has had on future systems. I think most folks interested in running solo RPGs are likely to want something a little lighter, such as the "Solodark" ruleset, which I personally use with OSE (rather than Shadowdark). I do like the chaos system, but again, prefer the Solodark approach of advantage/disadvantage.

[Notger Heinz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The classic, genre-defining rule system, in a new, improved layout and with lots of added juice.

While personally I felt that v1 was giving me all I needed, I liked reading through v2 and liked the additions. Examples are plenty and very instructive and while some of the explanations are a bit verbose and repetitive, I realised that if they weren't I would probably have complained about information being too hard to find.

[Joseph Riina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seems like an interesting way to play ttrpgs solo! I think the rules here are really elegant, only requiring a couple types of rule, but the way they're summarized at the end of the book overcomplicates things a bit imo

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smart and clever oracle for RPG gameplay. Extremely well thought out. It is amazing what can be done with it. I think it serves to learn to be more intuitive in interpreting possible scenarios. I think a good tool in anyone's DM box.

[James Tomasino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. As a tool, as an oracle with limitless possibilities, as a writing tool

[Richard Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am super excited to play solo adventures using this system. I am also intrigued by the idea of writing stories using Mythic to randomly generate elements

[Caleb M. Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some really cool stuff here, super useful for Game Mastering as a whole, as well as solo and GMless games. Excited to implement some of the structure here in my own games.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫