Aye, it’s a new concept to me as well, that was brought to my attention in another Solo Play thread using ACKS. The general premise is a light system that modifies chance percentages based on an array of simple language ranked qualifiers (Impossible, Very Unlikely, Unlikely, Somewhat Likely, Likely, etc.) cross-indexed against a Chaos Factor that increases and decreases in a specified way.
The result is a chance percentage. The flat chance is expressed in the game as 10 50 91, and one poses a Yes/No question: Will I read Atlictoatl’s Solo Play? If the roll is 50 or lower, it’s a yes. 51 and higher is a no. If it’s 10 or lower, it’s an Extreme Yes, whereas the 91 and higher is an Extreme No.
I’ve been very pleasantly surprised at how well this system works for pulling creative results from the corners of my mind. It’s in the series of questions that one asks as one gets results. Something you would expect to be a Yes gets a No, so then you have to ask another question, and it’s in that path hunting for what returns a Yes that the game or gameworld or character unfolds. Then, when you get an Extreme Yes, or an Extreme No, the thing just blossoms.
In the third post of my Solo Play, I describe how I took the name of one of my PCs, Astagar of the Azure Tower, and wanting to know a bit more about the Tower alluded to there, I ran it through the GM Emulator. To my great surprise, I got results I never would have expected that utterly intrigued me and which turned a fun alliteration in the character’s name into a significant organization in the gameworld.
I’m having a blast running a game with myself that I never planned for, never designed, haven’t created background for, etc. It’s unfolding in front of me as I play it, and so far it has been a thoroughly engaging process. It helps that I’m in love with my ACKS PCs, and I attribute that to the richness of what Alex, Tavis, and Greg built.
But, yeah, Mythic’s GM Emulator is definitely a delightful surprise.