1 10

Dice Nest

Prima Materia - an alchemical oracle for solo role-playing, worldbuilding, and creative inquiry

Prima Materia - an alchemical oracle for solo role-playing, worldbuilding, and creative inquiry

$46.00 USD
$46.00 USD
Sale Sold out

Core Concept

Prima Materia treats storytelling like alchemy–combining symbolic elements to generate meaning and narrative.

At the center are three dice that form a symbolic grammar:

  • Sol (Light) – impulse, energy, intention
  • Nox (Shadow) – condition, obstacle, hidden forces
  • Syzygy (Alignment) – the relationship or transformation between them

Together they create prompts that help guide story events, character choices, or creative decisions.

Both novices and experienced players can use these tools and interpret the results at whatever level they choose. They work just as well for crafting a protagonist’s revenge story as they do for deciding what shoes that protagonist might wear while pursuing that revenge.

These dice are like prisms: with only a slight shift in perspective, they refract entirely new meanings.

Dice Structure

Die Sides Meaning
Sol 12-sided (D12) Represents light, initiative, and motivation
Nox 12-sided (D12) Represents shadow, constraints, or complications
Syzygy 6-sided (D6) Determines the type of interaction or transformation

The system’s core formula:

Light (Sol) + Shadow (Nox) + Relationship (Syzygy) → Narrative Meaning

Example interpretation:

  • Sol: Self
  • Nox: Division
  • Syzygy: Inversion

Possible story prompt:
A character’s sense of identity fractures or even reverses...perhaps they are in fact the very enemy they pursue.

What the Syzygy Die Does

The Syzygy die creates the alchemical reaction between the other two results. Outcomes can include transformations like:

  • Catalyze
  • Accelerate
  • Invert
  • Create
  • Destroy
  • Remake
  • Obliterate
  • Elevate
  • Resurrect

These act like verbs applied to the concepts rolled on Sol and Nox.

Design Philosophy

The creator（Man Alone） aimed for a tool that is:

  • Minimalist but deep
  • Mystical but practical
  • Simple yet flexible

The goal is to keep players inside the story rather than flipping through large rulebooks.

Instead of telling you exactly what happens, it sparks interpretation.

Physical Edition

The printed set includes:

  • Three gemstone dice
    • Obsidian – reflection and protection
    • Tiger’s Eye – focus and vision
    • White Jade – clarity and inspiration
  • 25-page guidebook with instructions and examples

Dice size:

  • D6 (Syzygy): 16 mm
  • D12 (Sol & Nox): 18 mm

The stones reinforce the alchemical symbolism of the system.

Why It Works Well for Solo RPGs

Solo RPGs need something to replace a game master’s unpredictability.

Prima Materia does this by:

  • Generating symbolic prompts
  • Encouraging interpretation rather than strict rules
  • Supporting character arcs, scenes, and world details

It can answer questions like:

  • What complication appears next?
  • What hidden force is influencing the scene?
  • How do two narrative elements interact?

Prima Materia is less a “game system” and more a creative oracle engine and symbolic toolkit that turns random rolls into narrative inspiration.

Size of each dice:

D6 = 16 mm

D12 = 18 mm

Weight (3 dice) = 38 g

 

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Mr. Man Alone for designing Prima Materia, a unique and inspiring oracle system. Through a structure that is both simple and profound, he skillfully brings together symbolism, imagination, and narrative, offering a new way of expression for solo role-playing and creative exploration. It is this inspired design that allows Prima Materia to become a tool that connects story, thought, and creativity.

Please note: Once your order for *Prima Materia* has been shipped, a PDF version will be sent to your email address.

View full details

Customer Reviews

Overall rating: 4.9 / 5 from 46 reviews.

Customer photo review of Prima Materia - an alchemical oracle for solo role-playing, worldbuilding, and creative inquiry

Those are very hefty well-made dice. Awesome vibe, great idea, nice implementation. It's a well thought-thru oracle system with tons of ideas behind it. But even used in simplest way it's a very nice dice oracle. I'd love to see the idea explored further. The more nice dice oracles the better! :) F.e. (extended) Lenormand, or other ±divination-adjacent or custom oracles to complement this set.

Roman G. 5/5 Verified

Prima Materia - an alchemical oracle for solo role-playing, worldbuilding, and creative inquiry

Customer photo review of Prima Materia - an alchemical oracle for solo role-playing, worldbuilding, and creative inquiry

If the house burns down, I'm grabbing these. Love the product. Material feels great, the icons are crisp and easy to read. The book itself is packed with info, yet nothing feels like extra chaff. Beautiful writing from both an artistic/poetic perspective and a mechanical perspective. Great structure to the way ideas are scaffolded and presented. The packaging was great, and everything arrived here in NZ undamaged. Customer service was prompt and helpful. The book had a few very minor formatting issues. There is a page number on the front cover, and the text is covered by an image in a tiny patch on pages 9 and 15. I would say a slightly larger font might have been nice, but to be honest, I can't see anything in the book I would want to sacrifice for more room. If Man Alone collaborated with Dice Nest again, it is very likely I would buy that product. The PDF sent after the fact caught me off guard, I didn't expect to be getting that, but what a great boon! That is so helpful for my digital solo play.

P. 5/5 Verified

Prima Materia - an alchemical oracle for solo role-playing, worldbuilding, and creative inquiry

Store owner replied: Thank you very much for your honest and constructive feedback. We’ll definitely take your suggestions—regarding the minor layout issues and font size—into account next time. Have a great day.

Customer photo review of Prima Materia - an alchemical oracle for solo role-playing, worldbuilding, and creative inquiry

Thank you for the excellent dice and for a fun tool that helps me draw out more materia from myself during play! Rolled Safety Toward Self for my first roll and this review so here goes: The manual is great but some of the pages have fonts that are too small for me to see. I need to bring the pages very close and read in a brightly lit room to be comfortable. It would be wonderful if a PDF version were included for easier reading. Thanks again and keep it up, Man alone!

Clarence 5/5

Prima Materia - an alchemical oracle for solo role-playing, worldbuilding, and creative inquiry

Store owner replied: Thank you for liking our dice and for your insightful feedback. We can provide a PDF document, which we’ll send to your email later. Have a great day.

Prima Materia has been great for my solo roleplaying sessions and as a tool for inspiration with my writing hobby. Tempted to get another copy just to see how the Tiger Eye Die ends up this time! High Quality, Great Design, and very useful in my multiple hobbies.

Jonathan A. 5/5 Verified

Prima Materia - an alchemical oracle for solo role-playing, worldbuilding, and creative inquiry

Store owner replied: Thank you so much for your appreciation and feedback. You may not realize just how important your review is to us—it truly drives us to keep moving forward. Thank you again! If you decide to place another order, please feel free to use this discount code: DZ64RQ24B30Q.

Dice are beautiful, the booklet is a bit amateurish. Very small font, low quality images in places. I'd look at revising the booklets layout.

Joseph S. 4/5 Verified

Prima Materia - an alchemical oracle for solo role-playing, worldbuilding, and creative inquiry

Store owner replied: Thank you so much for your support and sincere suggestions. We will definitely readjust the layout for the second edition. For sections with smaller font, you can use the PDF version. Thank you again for your appreciation and support.

Everything about this is perfect - the dice are beautiful, clear with clean lines, the system is elegant and delivers as simple or complex oracles as you want to experience. Man Alone's design is insightful and interesting. This oracle set is genre independent, but will easily meld with every scenario and style that I can imagine so far. This is the dice oracle that I've been searching for!

Wes C. 5/5 Verified

Prima Materia - an alchemical oracle for solo role-playing, worldbuilding, and creative inquiry

LOVE the dice, like the system... the manual? It is a real struggle to read. Squinting at page after page of small or even sadistically tiny fonts is not fun.

Matthew K. 4/5 Verified

Prima Materia - an alchemical oracle for solo role-playing, worldbuilding, and creative inquiry

Store owner replied: Thank you so much for your support. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the small font size. We’ll send the PDF to everyone shortly. Have a great day.