I also use it to self-check where I am emotionally or to check bias. If I am hoping for a result I know is destructive, or one that is anti-player, I go with the dice results and adjust the game to be less stressful and more player focused.

Not all GMs need to use divination, as some are more in tune with their intuition and have a better stocked tool box to run games. It’s still a helpful tool to check yourself with, and following it has led me to more interesting story beats or combat results.

Divining is using the ritual of rolling dice to figure out what you want to happen in the moment but still ignoring the actual result. If you are indecisive about the direction you want the game to go, roll dice and use the result you hoped would come up in that brief moment of rolling.

This is a complicated one and might need multiple posts:

Fudging vs. Divining

Both have the GM ignore the results of the dice, but they are not the same. Fudging is where the GM already knows what they want and will ignore the dice regardless of the result. This is often against the players.

If you aren’t having fun, change something until you are. It might be the rules. It might be how you play. It may be that you need a safety mechanic. It might also be that you need to stop playing or leave the group altogether. The point of these games is to have fun, so have fun.

And then we head back. We slowly collapse the game back to the central big idea. Once it’s all packed up we let ourselves phase back to the present and we ask, “Now that you’ve seen it, and seen that we’ve won, what are you going to do to get back there?”

Lastly we create an NPC or two and tell a story. We give them names and descriptions. We ask questions and answer them by telling their story. We explore living in the future, see why it’s worth longing for. Why we want to be there and make it real.

Then we get into senses for the smaller concepts that the group feel the most drawn to. Robust foster care programs smell like Play Dough and baked cookies. They sound like laughter and music. They feel warm and soft. They taste like comfort food and Capri Sun. They look filled with happy children.

Big concept: Every Child Has A Loving and Safe Home
Surrounded by smaller concepts like: free school breakfast and lunch, robust foster care programs, addiction recovery support, free childcare, spaces safe for free roaming, and a whole basket of social safety nets.

The next challenge will be how to guide a small group through that future through cooperative storytelling. I like the idea of starting big and focusing on one or two large concepts. Going from there, the group narrows down more and more towards fine details.

First rules will have to be around table expectations and buy-in’s. No dystopias, no claiming things are impossible, no talking about past failures. You are in the future, of course it worked! Of course it happened! How wonderful, how good, how happy! Suspend your disbelief and be in the future.

I can’t really give you numbers but we had just as many sales this year as the last but a lower average sale amount, which means we made less this year. We also saw fewer international customers, who are often the ones who make big purchases to avoid shipping fees. Take from that what you will.