Lonelog is designed to be picked up in under five minutes. This guide walks you through the five core symbols using a short dungeon-delve example.
The Five Core Symbols
| Symbol | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
@ |
Action | Something the character attempts |
d: |
Dice | A mechanical roll or resolution |
-> |
Result | The outcome of a roll or oracle query |
=> |
Fiction | What happens in the story |
? |
Oracle | A yes/no question to the oracle |
You do not need all five in every entry. Use what the moment calls for.
A Sample Scene
Here is a complete scene logged with Lonelog:
### S1 Dark alley, midnight
@ Sneak past the guard
d: Stealth 4 vs TN 5 -> Fail
=> I kick a bottle. The guard turns.
? Does he see me clearly?
-> No, but...
=> He's suspicious — starts walking toward the noise.
@ Duck behind the crates
d: Stealth 6 vs TN 4 -> Success
=> I press flat against the wall, holding my breath.
Notice how d: captures the mechanics and => captures the fiction. They are always separate lines. This is the heart of Lonelog: mechanics and narrative live side by side but never bleed into each other.
Starting a Session
Open a plain-text file or a paper notebook and write a scene header:
### S1 The Ruined Tower, dusk
That is all the structure you need. From here, log actions as they happen. Do not worry about formatting every line perfectly — the goal is speed at the table, not beauty.
Tips for New Users
Use => liberally. The fiction lines are the most valuable part of a log to read back later. Err on the side of more prose, not less.
Keep d: lines terse. Skill, value, target number, result. No adjectives needed.
The oracle ? is optional. If your game system has a built-in yes/no oracle, use -> to record its answer. If it does not, you can use any external oracle and record the result the same way.
Next Steps
Once you are comfortable with the core five, explore the optional modules in the full specification: Clocks for progress tracking, Threads for narrative arcs, and NPC tags for recurring characters.