I, Writer: Playing Dice with a Fictional Universe

A Dice Game To Play With Your Plot

Simple Rules

Get some dice and throw them to decide what happens next. It's a simple way to lock in a choice and move on to the next part of the story.

You don't even need physical dice. There are websites that simulate dice like Roll Dice Online. Though physical dice are so easy to find and so much more fun because they're real.

For a binary choice. 1-3, go left and 4-6, go right.

Or create a set of a choices.

Complicate Your Character's Life

Your character has a very good simple plan to break into a building. How does it turn out?

1 = Everything goes perfect (Go figure)
2 = A good guy betrays your hero
3 = A bad guy helps your hero
4 = A stampede!!!!
5 = Caught by the police
6 = Building catches on fire

Include options that are not the outcome you prefer. You still have to write the story but once the dice are thrown, the choice is locked.

Story Cubes

The dice feature images on each side and they're a fun little game. I bought a set of story cubes with the Batman theme. Half because I wanted the story cubes but also because Batman. I also got a set of three crime cubes because my preferred plots possess prolific criminality.

Now, back to my novel. My hero just broke the law.