Help & guides

Carry the story. Know your next step.

ORACLE holds an event’s briefing, characters, discoveries, and shared play tools. Your organizer prepares the world; you choose your character and act within that event.

For players

Join your first event

Sign in or create an account. On My events, choose Enter invitation code and use the event invitation from your organizer.
Read the briefing. Open the event and review its rules and instructions. Its wording and appearance may be Fantasy, Cyberpunk, or Wasteland.
Open Characters. Create a sheet if the event allows it, or use one assigned by the organizer. Submit it for approval, or activate it when approval is not required. Play needs an approved, assigned character.
Open adventure. Choose your character, then scan a prop or type its printed code. New game actions open in Rehearsal or Live. Your journal keeps the discoveries you receive.
Meet another player. A badge shows a public identity. Use Exchanges to offer selected readings or trade terms; review them before both players confirm online.

Private objectives and inventory are separate from your public badge. Ask your organizer if an action is unavailable or you need an assigned character.

For organizers

Prepare a first session

Choose a starter adventure on My events. Pick The Last Lantern, The Last Neighborhood Signal, or The Last Water Beacon. Each creates a new Draft with a complete cooperative story.
Prepare adventure. Read the private running notes and solutions. Review the briefing, character rules, sharing policy, and enabled instruments. Start with the tools your session needs.
Invite and assign players. Each starter includes two approved, unassigned characters. Assign them to event members; create or approve more for a group of up to six.
Print prop labels and place them as the running notes describe. Prepare any optional procedures, fictional readings, shops, or managed encounters you plan to use.
Make rehearsal copy. Practice in the separate copy with its fresh characters and codes. When ready, set the intended event to Live and keep staff available for connection or gameplay problems.

For a large group on one shared network, register and sign in ahead of time or stagger arrivals. The shared-address limit covers both registration and sign-in attempts.

Four different purposes

Which code should I use?

Use the code in its matching screen. A scanned code still checks your current event access; it does not grant access by itself.

Codes and where to use them
Code	Where it belongs
Event invitation	My events → Enter invitation code. Joins your account to the organizer’s event. Ask the organizer for a fresh invitation if it has expired.
Character badge	Characters → Scan a badge. Shows an approved character’s permitted public identity. It does not share their private sheet or start a trade.
Prop code	Open adventure → Scan a prop for adventure props, or open the named instrument’s lookup. Choose your character and use the matching prop’s label.
Exchange invitation	Exchanges. Joins a temporary player-to-player exchange. Both players review and confirm the current offer; changing it clears earlier confirmations.

Camera trouble? Use the photo option where offered, or enter the printed code manually. Prop and badge codes use 20 characters; temporary exchange codes use 12. These are different from puzzle answers or message release words.

Use what your story needs

The twelve instruments

Open the event’s More tools for this event section for specialist tools. Availability depends on the enabled instruments, your role, and the event’s current state.

Instrument names and purpose
Instrument	Use it to
RELIC	Examine a prepared object and discover the readings your character can access.
DEAD DROP	Open prepared messages, documents, or recordings when their release conditions are met.
CIPHERBOX	Solve an authored puzzle with its clues, hints, and attempt rules.
WAYFINDER	Reserve or enter a scene within its availability and admission rules.
TRACE	Keep an investigation notebook of evidence, people, places, theories, and selected connections.
WHISPER	Collect character-appropriate rumors. A rumor is an unverified account, not established truth.
BROADSIDE	Propose and read event announcements; organizers review publication, corrections, and withdrawal.
BAZAAR	Use fictional resources in organizer shops, with checked stock and transaction receipts.
OATHBOOK	Propose exact agreement terms, gather acceptances or witnesses, and request organizer rulings.
SIGIL	Run a shared-device cooperative challenge with assigned roles, checkpoints, and timers.
STATIC	Read explicitly fictional prop or zone signals prepared by the organizer.
STAGEHAND	Coordinate encounter readiness, accepted parties, dispatch, capacity, and acknowledged returns.

Themes change presentation and vocabulary. They preserve the event’s rules and existing records. Shared-device SIGIL play does not provide synchronized timing across separate devices.

Before heading into the field

Install, save, and reconnect

How do I install ORACLE?

Open ORACLE while connected, then expand Install ORACLE. Use its install button when offered, or open Install instructions. On iPhone or iPad, open the app in Safari and use Share → Add to Home Screen. Android and desktop browsers may offer an Install app command; wording and support vary.

Installation is optional. The app also works in a supported browser tab. Wait for the install panel to confirm that the complete public app is available offline before relying on the saved shell.

What can I do without a connection?

Before leaving, open an event, then Field desk → Prepare for the field. This saves the player briefing and rules, your own approved character sheets, and verifies your saved journal readings. Check the app and event readiness messages and preparation time. Saved copies are historical and can become out of date.

Read journal entries already saved on this device and write a Field desk note for a previously checked own character. Choose Save note on this device to keep the note; it does not change online discoveries or character stats.

You may save information-exchange invitation requests, join requests, and reading-only offers for later review. Nothing sends automatically. Reconnect, check your session, then explicitly review and send each saved request. New reveals, trades, confirmations, timers, admission, and staff actions need a live connection.

This help page is included in the complete public app cache. The full guides linked below are on GitHub and need a connection.

A request timed out. Should I start again?

Check the visible request state. An uncertain outcome means ORACLE may already have received the request. Use the offered retry for that original request, or review current exchanges after reconnecting. Stopping local retries or clearing the device does not cancel a request already received by the server.

How do I get an app update?

In the install panel, choose Check for app updates. Once the complete update is ready, save your work, finish any active scan or group procedure, and choose Apply update and reload this tab. Unsaved forms and answers can be lost on reload; saved Field desk data stays on the device.

Other open ORACLE tabs keep their current version. If ORACLE asks you to close older tabs, finish and save their work first, then retry the update. Do not clear browser data just to force an update.

How do I protect data on a shared device?

Use the app’s sign-out and event-leave actions when finished. Clear all local data in Saved readings, or Clear device data in Field desk, asks before removing device readings, notes, and saved requests. Those controls do not delete authoritative event records or cancel server actions. Browser storage can also be removed by the browser; local notes are not a server backup.

Can I practice or reset a starter safely?

A starter creates a separate Draft. Use Make rehearsal copy in Prepare adventure to practice separately from your source event. Assign the copy’s fresh characters and print its new codes.

Reset rehearsal progress is available only for a dedicated copy in Rehearsal. It clears that copy’s runtime progress and restores its captured starting inventory and shop stock. It is destructive within the copy: check the event name and read the confirmation. A Live event cannot use this reset.

Is an exported briefing pack a full backup?

No. Export organizer briefing pack contains event setup and briefing material, including private organizer material. Export player material removes organizer-only content. Neither is a complete backup of accounts, characters, inventory, discoveries, or live play.

Import creates a new Draft. Keep organizer exports private; use a rehearsal copy for adventure practice and the deployment guide’s database backup procedure for full recovery.

The text or controls are hard to use.

In the app, open Reading settings to adjust text size, outdoor readability, or reduced motion. You can also use your browser’s zoom. Keyboard users can take the Skip to content link and move through controls with Tab. Optional sounds have visible equivalents; sound is not required to understand a result.

Keep the full instructions nearby

Full guides and release information

These links open GitHub in a new tab and require a connection. For help with a specific character, invitation, or event ruling, contact your event organizer.

v1.2.0 is the software release. Physical-device and human pilot acceptance remains unrun; automated checks do not replace those observations.