Ordinarily I’m the DM but this weekend at Gamestorm I got to actually play Dungeon World three times.
Let me tell you, true believers, how the Druid rocks the casbah. Your shapeshifting move made you a Green Lantern with antlers at first level, but when you level up and you get Elemental Mastery your mayhem potential will go geometric.
I got away with using EM to collapse an entire dungeon around us today. Tho looking back I think that pushing that move that hard is kind of like playing chicken with the DM…
Dont forget that a Druid whit Elemental Mastery its also a powerful trouble attractor.
If a 10+ is rolled the player have to choose to retain control or to avoid to pay the price to spirits. As GM usually I ask a proportional favor as “price”. Losing control often is worse, it means spirits free to do anything they want, poweful effect means poweful free spirits.
if a 7+ is rolled the Druid have to choose to both pay the price and lose control; or give up the effect he ask, but he still have to pay the price or lose control.
I’m usually “fair” and try to ask for proportional price, but the move dont say that. 😉
Anyway I still think that Druid and Barbarian ara “unbalanced” booklet. They are mechanical powerful, they can drive the fiction better than other booklet and they are also fucking cool to play. 😛
The scale of influence for certain characters (apparently Druids, but also casters with their spells and rituals) sometimes scares me, especially when spotlight distribution and influence is first and foremost driven through the narrative and not through mechanical aspects.
If this happens more often … well … I’d say something is going wrong.
But it does sound fun 😀
That was the first thing the Druid in the game I am running picked up. He turned into a earthen wall and was using Volley to sling stones at Ogres.
As GM usually I ask a proportional favor as “price”. Losing control often is worse, it means spirits free to do anything they want, poweful effect means poweful free spirits.
Yup, this is why using Elemental Mastery is like playing chicken with the GM.
I am not sure that this makes it better. for me
You see, asking for a favor is basically as much a way of spotlight control, as losing control or making the dungeon collapse around you.
What I am saying is, that the influence is inherent (it does come from the character, not from equipment or an idea) and other characters do not have this kind of large-scale impact (at least I have no idea how to do something like that as a thief or a fighter. But looking at what the thief and fighter do, I can quite well see, how the Druid or Wizard could do that.
Not saying that it cannot be done at all. And I am not saying that this by itself is necessarily a bad thing. But I do see that this kind of influence favors some character types, and I personally do not like that element of the game. Especially when it’s not kept in check. Usually though the combination of DM and other players will make sure things will roll somewhat smoothly.
I dont know if this is true also in DW, but in AW booklet are “balanced” in this way: some are more mechanically poweful, usually have more bonus in base stats or have better equipment; other instead have more power in “drive the story” because they are leader of local community for example.
Do you ask for good large scale “story driving” moves for Thief and Fighter?
Thief have Connection. If he/she ask for the “right” thing he/she can really change the world.
Fighter have Heirloom. It dont have always large scale impact, but alway put the Fighter in the spotlight!
Yes they are both advanced moves… like Elemental Mastery. 😉