So, I ran my first game of DW last night, was totally unprepared, and yet everyone had a blast.
With a dozen kobolds in a cave. Imagine that 😉
That said… I did have one question that I haven’t really seen an answer for – how does range on weapons work?
For instance, kobolds with stabby spears are trying to insert the pointy end into our heroes. They have reach, while our heroes are working with close weapons… how does that work?
I just kind of ignored it last night as I thought there was enough going on without it… but, thinking about it, it would seem like it would require a Defy Danger to smack the kobolds, which would then put everybody at close range… but then wouldn’t the kobolds just back up further, making it reach distance again? If Hack and Slash were initiated at close range, could the kobolds even strike back effectively?
I guess this could work in the fiction as the kobolds being poky while leading their attackers into the trap, and they’d certainly get the option of first shot.
it sounds like you’ve come up the the right of it yourself! The reach tag means it’s hard to get close to the little buggers safely – defy danger to close into melee is entirely reasonable. Although, if they can’t fight back once you get there, then you could have the player just roll damage. You don’t need to hack & slash every time you want to stab a dude, only if they are fighting back.
Alternatively, you could force the hack & slash roll, and have the damage on a 9 or less not come from the kobold being stabbed, but from his buddies – after all, their spears have Reach, they can poke right over his shoulders! A group of kobolds armed with spears aren’t just hard to approach, but they can cover each other when you do get into the thick of it.
Oooooh, I like that 😉
Right. My use of tags is entirely based on how interesting they are to use. 😀