Solo FU using Chartless Mythic

It's been a while since I've done any solo roleplaying using the Mythic GME.  Most of my attempts resulted in a lot of great fun and I've really liked the GME and its results.  The one thing I've always found lacking however was my chosen "core" RPG rules set used for task resolution.  Instead of using the full Mythic RPG mechanics, or a commercial set appropriate to the specific genre (AD&D, West End Game's Star Wars, etc.) I utilized homebrew rules.  My system proved too incomplete and thus hampered the fun and flow of the solo adventure.

With these experiences in mind I've been very keen to try the Free Universal Role Playing System, or FU.  Although I wonder about the ability of this system to handle diverse power levels such as advanced technology and magic, FU seems incredibly well-suited for solo gaming.  I see FU interacting with the Mythic GME smoothly because the six possible FU results provide a more specific direction to the line of questioning than just the standard "Yes/No" offered by Mythic.   FU can therefore be used both as the GME in place of the Mythic Fate Table, and as the task resolution mechanism.  These observations have already been made over on The Convenient Skill's blog; it was actually through his posts that I first discovered FU.  

Over on the FU Yahoo Group there has been a lot of discussion over alternate methods of dice rolling to generate the six FU results.  As a review those six results are: "Yes, And...", "Yes", "Yes, But...", "No, But...", "No", "No, And...".  Group member Light Castle decoupled these six results from the six-sided die by making the brilliant observation that each result could be considered one of six discrete states.  If one rolls or flips any kind of binary indicator (a die with equal numbers of odd and even sides, a coin, etc), one will get one of two states.  Rolling (or flipping) five of these indicators and totaling the number of one of the two states on each results in six possible states.  To make it a lot more clear, consider flipping five pennies and asking how many heads results come up?  If all five pennies land tails side up that is one state.  There can obviously be five more states, one where a single coin shows heads and the rest show tails, another where two coins show heads and three tails etc.  If we substitute the even and odd numbers on a polyhedral die for the heads and tails of a coin we can generate these six states using any type of dice we want, as long as we roll five of them.

My addition to the all the fine work by these other gentlemen is to eliminate the Fate Chart in Mythic by integrating the Chaos Rank into the dice roll mentioned above.  Let's first take an example of a FU roll using the five dice method and d10s as our dice type.  I decide to count evens for all rolls and when it's time for my first question I roll five dice, getting a 2, 3, 3, 8, 8.  If the result was all odd numbers it would be a "No, And..." and a result of all five even would be a "Yes, And...".  Our example however lies in-between and with three even dice scores the result is a "Yes, But...".  Simple.  Now, let's say instead of using even/odd as our discriminator on whether we count one of the five dice, we use a target number.  If we count all numbers which exceed this target, then it's obvious that the larger this number becomes the more "no" results we have.  This becomes the opposite of the Chaos Rank of the Mythic GME Fate Chart, but serves the same purpose: to skew a known (assumed) set of odds based on the phase of the story.  In fact, this is more in line with the modification some Mythic users employ, which is to change the Chaos Rank in the opposite direction at the end of each scene, to prevent the "absurdity-spiral" that seems to develop in the Mythic GME rules-as-written.

So my proposal would be to use a handful of d10, all of the same color except one.  Set up the first scene using the standard Mythic GME rules and 2d10 out of the pile.  Utilize Chaos Rank, which starts at 5, as normal for determining altered/interrupted scenes.  The Order Rank is 10 minus the Chaos Rank.  Alternatively, in order to keep track of only one number simply record the Order Rank and roll greater than to determine altered and interrupted scenes.

When asking questions, as per Mythic ask questions which result in more chaotic results upon "yes" results.  Roll 5d10 if the odds are determined as "50/50".  If the odds are "slightly likely", "likely", "very likely", "near certain", or "certain" then roll 6d10, 7d10, 8d10, 9d10, or 10d10 respectively.  If the odds are "slightly unlikely", "unlikely", "very unlikely", "near impossible", or "impossible" then also roll 6d10, 7d10, 8d10, 9d10, or 10d10 respectively.  If the odds were "slightly likely" or better, resulting in more than five dice rolled, discard the die with the lowest score and continue this process until only five remain.  If the odds were "slightly unlikely" or worse, resulting in more than five dice rolled, discard the die with the highest score and continue this process until only five remain.  In all cases if none of the remaining five dice scores exceed the Order Rank, the result of the question is "No,  And…".   If only one of the five dice scores exceeds the Order Rank, the result of the question is "No".  If two of the five dice scores exceed the Order Rank, the result of the question is "No,  But…".  If three of the five dice scores exceed the Order Rank, the result of the question is "Yes,  But…".  If four of the five dice scores exceed the Order Rank, the result of the question is "Yes".  Finally, if all of the dice scores exceed the Order Rank, the result of the question is "Yes, And…".

Always include the off-colored die in any GM emulation rolls in order to determine unpredictable events.  If a "1" is rolled on the other-colored die, a random even takes place, even if the die ends up being discarded.

When a character needs to resolve an action, roll the 5d10 plus any net bonus or penalty dice assigned due to conditions as per normal FU.  The six results are derived the same way, but the target number is always 5 (no different than even/odd).

I'm swamped at work so I don't know when I'll get to give this a try.  The big consideration here is that "Yes" isn't necessarily good in all cases.  When a question is asked to define the setting or the adventure (a GM emulation roll), "yes" actually results in more chaos for the PCs, as per Mythic.  During task resolution however "Yes" is definitely positive.