Dragon Thrall
If you have done work on behalf of a dragon, either willingly or by duress, you may take this move when you level up:
Groveling in the Presence of Greatness
When you supplant yourself before your master, roll+CHA. On a hit your master hesitates to consider your plea. On a 10+ choose 3; on 7-9 choose 1. On a miss you’ve made your master angry.
– You won’t be hurt any more for the moment
– You can quietly leave your master’s presence
– This transgression won’t be noticed
– A costly sacrifice will not be demanded of you
Once you have taken Groveling in the Presence of Greatness, the following moves count as class moves for you. You may also choose from this list whenever you level up:
Lecture from Antiquity
Add the following option to your Groveling in the Presence of Greatness move.
– Ask your master one question, your master knows the answer and will answer truthfully.
Invoke the Wrath
Add the following option to your Groveling in the Presence of Greatness move.
– Inform your master of a transgression, your master will make it right.
Nice move here, Jeremy.
The other moves seem quite nice, but the first one… I dunno. Why should I spend an advancement for a “roll to see how much things will suck for you” move?
To be clear, Jason Morningstar created the foundational Groveling in the Presence of Greatness move.
I didn’t know that, but still, I’m a bit puzzled. Maybe Jason could clarify that to me?
Ernesto Pavan that is a very good point. I was aiming for the very powerful next set of moves. But help me tweak this compendium class.
Ernesto Pavan What part is puzzling you?
The base move that Jason came up with was for the Pit Slave in his Dungeon World adventure. The Pit Slave did get another move, but in all regards, the Pit Slave was a very weak (and deliberately weak) playbook at that.
Well, Jeremy Morgan, the thing is: it’s a move that just bestows disadvantages. It has no positive effect whatsoever. And on top of that, you “pay” for it by chooising it instead of another move. I can’t see why I should take a move that will have a dragon bite me because I didn’t choose the “You won’t be hurt any more for the moment” option, instead of, say, a move that will allow me to fight better. Maybe I’m missing something.
Ernesto Pavan Unless I’m missing something, these promote results in fiction.
Being able to ask a powerful being a question or have it ‘correct’ a transgression? Those have a lot of potential in the fiction.
If your game is more fighty, these moves may not be appropriate for your game style.
But those moves I’m ok with! It’s the “main” one that’s sort of unconvincing. In fact, I think I’d like it better if those three moves were made into just one.
Ernesto Pavan Ah, I should have read through that more carefully. Yeah, I got nothing for that. It makes more sense to me if you just get the move when you level up (which really makes sense in the case of duress).
Ernesto Pavan you are right that this move wouldn’t help you fight better. And I think this highlights that we will see a divergence in Dungeon World (which is cool). Because the moves are what make things interesting, and each person has a different perspective on interesting.
The one key thing that the base move Grovelling gets you is an ability to get physically close to a dragon. There is a horde there. I saw Clark Valentine put groveling to excellent use.
Jeremy Friesen Clark Valentine Out of context, that last sentence is amusing.
Should Invoke the Wrath be renamed Wake The Dragon ?
Yessssss. Rename!
Clearly the initial move is for when the dragon is pissed and you need to deal with it.
If you DON’T have that move, when you try to talk to the dragon:
– You will be hurt
– You can’t quietly leave your master’s presence
– This transgression will be noticed
– A costly sacrifice will be demanded of you