Yes/No Dice

Lens is about pressure and perception, not fact-finding. But facts matter. When you need an objective truth your RPG, module, or setting does not already provide, use this oracle.

How to use Yes/No Dice

1. Ask a clean yes/no question

Frame the question so that yes is the answer you expect or the answer the fiction is leaning toward. Know what the alternative truth would be before you roll.

Examples: “Is the door locked?” “Is anyone watching?” “Is the manager in today?” “Did the message arrive?”

2. Set the likelihood

How likely is the answer yes, given what you already know? Pick a number from 1 to 6.

3. Roll and read

Roll a d6. If the result is equal to or less than your likelihood number, the answer is yes. If it is higher, the answer is no.

At likelihood 6, the answer is always yes. Roll only if you are using the Twist die and want to check for complications.

Twist die (optional)

Add a second d6 as a Twist die. Roll both dice together. The first die gives you the yes/no answer. The second die tells you whether the answer comes with a modifier.

If the Twist die shows 2–5, the answer stands clean. No modifier, no complication. Straight yes or straight no. Most rolls will land here.

Worked examples

“Is the guard still at the gate?” Likelihood: 4 (likely — he was there ten minutes ago and has no reason to leave). Roll: 3. Yes, the guard is still at the gate.

“Did the message reach the safe house?” Likelihood: 3 (even odds — the courier left on time but the roads are watched). Roll: 5. No, the message did not arrive.

“Is the vault door unlocked?” (with Twist die) Likelihood: 2 (unlikely — this is a secure facility). Roll: 2 and Twist: 6. Yes — but. The vault is unlocked, but something is wrong about it: the lock has been forced recently, or it was left open deliberately. The answer creates a new question.

“Is anyone watching the alley?” (with Twist die) Likelihood: 3 (even odds). Roll: 4 and Twist: 1. No, and — reinforced. Not only is nobody watching, but the alley shows signs of being deliberately avoided: boarded windows, no footprints in the dust. Whatever keeps people away is still keeping them away.

Quick Detail Prompts

When you need a fast concrete detail, a complication, or a pressure prompt, use these tables. They are split into two halves that can be used separately or together.

Table A: Sensory Hook

What does it look like, sound like, feel like? Roll a d12 on each of the three columns (Aspect, Verb, Descriptor) and combine the results into a single concrete image. If you need it grounded, add an anchor from the fiction: a door, a radio, a hand, a corridor wall.

How to read it: “A/An [Aspect] [thing] [Verb]s, [Descriptor].” Add the anchor from your scene to make it land.

Sensory Hook examples

Rolls: 4, 7, 3. Rusted / Drip / Sharp. A rusted pipe drips something sharp-smelling. It was not doing that a moment ago.

Rolls: 11, 2, 8. Marked / Stalk / Bright. A marked crate, symbols still bright and fresh, sits in the corner as though it followed someone here. The paint is not even dry.

Rolls: 6, 5, 1. Scratched / Pulse / Cold. The lock casing is scratched around the keyhole and pulses cold to the touch. Someone has been working on this. Recently.

Table B: Stakes Prompt

What does this moment demand? Roll a d12 and read across the entire row. The four columns tell you what the situation is pushing toward (Need), what the world runs on right now (Truth), the role you are forced into (Perspective), and what you must risk or pay to engage (Cost).

How to read it: “To [Need], you must risk [Cost], because this world runs on [Truth], and right now you are acting as a [Perspective].”

Stakes Prompt examples

Roll: 5. Avenge / Surveillance / Debtor / Reputation. To avenge what was taken, you must risk your reputation, because this world runs on surveillance, and right now you are a debtor. Translation: someone is watching, you owe something, and the only way to settle the score costs you standing. Do you pay?

Roll: 8. Awaken / Isolation / Heretic / Name. To awaken what sleeps, you must risk your name, because this world runs on isolation, and right now you are a heretic. Translation: you are alone, marked as dangerous, and the thing you need to do will confirm every accusation against you.

Roll: 3. Expose / Decay / Intruder / Silence. To expose the truth, you must risk your silence, because this world runs on decay, and right now you are an intruder. Translation: everything here is rotting, you do not belong, and the moment you speak you lose the only advantage you have.

Using both tables together

For the richest solo prompts, roll Table A first for a concrete detail, then roll Table B for the pressure behind it. The sensory hook tells you what your character notices. The Stakes Prompt tells you what it means and what it costs.

Combined example

Table A rolls: 9, 6, 12. Wired / Whisper / Spreading. A wired panel whispers static, the interference spreading along the wall, creeping toward the next junction.

Table B roll: 10. Steal / Infection / Outcast / Innocence. To steal what you came for, you must risk your innocence, because this world runs on infection, and right now you are an outcast.

Combined: The wired panel whispers and the interference is spreading. Whatever is in this system is alive and contagious. You are already outside the law. Taking what you need from behind that panel will prove you are exactly what they say you are. The only question is whether the evidence is worth more than the last shred of deniability you have left.

That is a playable scene from four dice rolls.

Quick reference

Table A (Sensory Hook): Roll 3d12. One each on Aspect, Verb, Descriptor. Combine into a concrete image. Add an anchor from the fiction.

Table B (Stakes Prompt): Roll 1d12. Read across the row: Need, Truth, Perspective, Cost. State the pressure in one sentence.

Both together: Table A first for the detail. Table B for what it means.