This is sort of an offshoot of Christopher Weeks topic below.
Let’s just say we’re talking about a fighter wielding a longsword engaged in mortal combat with a Blue Orc (17 hp, no armor, moves: strike skillfully, disarm opponent), a well-trained swordsman of his militaristic people. The two are circling each other in a large, open cave, well-lit by magical gems floating high above them. The floor is smooth and unmarked. There is no one else within miles of this fight. Almost as if some unspoken signal had gone off, they close distance and clash blades. Hack and slash.
(1) How would you describe in the fiction a hack and slash roll of 12+, with a damage roll of 2 (1 on your 1d10, and 1 on your 1d6)?
(2) How would you describe in the fiction a hack and slash roll of 12+, with a damage roll of 16 (10 on your 1d10, and 6 on your 1d6)?
(3) How would you describe in the fiction a hack and slash roll of 7-9, with a damage roll of 1 (1 on your 1d10)?
(4) How would you describe in the fiction a hack and slash roll of 7-9, with a damage roll of 10 (10 on your 1d10)?
I’m most interested in actual examples of how you would describe each. I know how I’d do it, but I’d love to hear everyone describing their own ways of interpreting these rolls, particularly vis a vis differentiating the different sets of results, if you differentiate them at all.
What’s the lead up to the roll? That would really be the crux for me.
What Aaron Friesen said. We need to know what triggered the hack and slash.
Hmmm? I’m honestly confused. That first paragraph isn’t enough? What triggered the hack and slash is that these two opponents, who were circling each other, charge forward at each other at the same time, each swinging their blades, prepared for a clanging, crashing exchange of thrusts and parries as they face off against their deadly opponent.
Or…
GM: He’s circling you.
PC: I circle him, too. The moment I see an opening in his footwork, I want to charge in, sword raised, and strike for his neck, but I’m making sure that I’m ready to parry his own blade. He’s deadly with that friggin thing.
GM: Cool. He’s watching your footwork, too, and the moment he makes a slight shift onto his front foot, you spot it, and you’re off at him, at the same time as he’s off at you. Your swords meet in the middle of the circle your steps had drawn on the cave floor, as he lifts his own blade to parry your strike at his throat. Roll to hack and slash and let’s see how this first exchange goes.
One thing I don’t understand: why should there be a difference between 7-9 and any higher result of hack’n’slash beside that the opponent makes an attack on a 7-9?
I would be totally happy to lay out the difference for each of these if I knew what the trigger was. I’d absolutely narrate each one differently.
I think a big part of the question is around the disparity between the quality of success and the damage rolled, with the obvious example being rolling a 10+, upping the damage with a d6, and still getting 2 damage.
Personally, I wouldn’t worry about it much, and just worry about the final damage done, and use that as a basis for the narration.
Then the question becomes “how to narrate a high-damage attack vs. a low-damage attack”, which I think is pretty self explanatory… the high damage attack could be anywhere between a flurry of blows to a single overpowering attack, depending on the flavor. Even more evocative is to focus on the emotions of those involved – the orc leaving himself open to the attack with his powerful swing, and how he grimaces in pain as the blade connects with his side… or, for the weak damage, the orc’s incredible agility as he twists out of the way of the blade – but not quite quickly enough, allowing him to get slightly scratched.
That would be awesome, Adam! But I’m still not following what you mean when you say “trigger”, such that it’s not clear. The “trigger” of hack and slash is the situation that I described above in both the fiction and with the little PC-GM dialogue, coupled with the move trigger of “When you attack an enemy in melee, roll+STR.” Could you be a bit more specific about what’s missing in the above examples that doesn’t answer your question about the trigger?
I guess the narrative is described from an outside perspective, which confuses exactly how the PC is triggering a hack and slash – the moment where the circling becomes combat!
For example, does this capture the meaning the same way?
GM: The blue orc snarls and draws his weapon, ready to fight. He starts to circle you in the open cave, well-lit by magical gems floating high above. The floor is smooth and unmarked. There is no one else within miles of this fight – one of you is doomed to die alone in the dark.
PC: I nod slightly, a salute to an obviously skilled foe, and lunge in with my sword, point first – the battle is joined!
GM: Hack and Slash, please!
Brendan Conway Players are the ones that trigger moves so I think he’s asking specifically what the Fighter’s player is saying that triggers the move.
It seems like the core question is, what’s the difference between doing 2 HP damage when you rolled a 7 on your H&S and when you rolled a 14?
Adam, yup! That captures the meaning in exactly the same way, to me. That dialogue works perfectly for exemplifying the trigger. I also did provide this dialogue to answer specifically what the Fighter’s player is saying:
GM: He’s circling you.
PC: I circle him, too. The moment I see an opening in his footwork, I want to charge in, sword raised, and strike for his neck, but I’m making sure that I’m ready to parry his own blade. He’s deadly with that friggin thing.
GM: Cool. He’s watching your footwork, too, and the moment he makes a slight shift onto his front foot, you spot it, and you’re off at him, at the same time as he’s off at you. Your swords meet in the middle of the circle your steps had drawn on the cave floor, as he lifts his own blade to parry your strike at his throat. Roll to hack and slash and let’s see how this first exchange goes.
But I guess that could be amended, so that it says:
GM: …as he lifts his own blade to parry your strike at his throat. What do you do?
PC: I engage him in a vicious series of thrusts, strikes, parries, and counterstrikes, trying to find an opening in his technique to drive the point of my blade home.
GM: Excellent! Roll to hack and slash!
I think that your dialogue, Adam, captures the essence of what I wanted just fine, so go for that, if that helps. Thanks!
Just to clarify, the 1d6 extra damage is because the Fighter is allowing the Orc to make an attack?
Yup! Sorry, should’ve called that out clearly. I decided to make it an example in which the only real variables were the number rolled on the H&S, and the damage amounts, not whether or not the Blue Orc gets an attack.
No worries. So, here’s how I’d do it.
12+, with a damage roll of 2 (1 on your 1d10, and 1 on your 1d6)?
GM: You lunge in, uncertain of this new foe, and see an opening in his defense. Your sword jabs into his shoulder and a well of black blood drips to the floor. A sharp pain in your left arm causes you to catch your breath – the two of you have made a mirror move. Take 1d8 damage! It seems you’re pretty evenly matched! The Orc grins wickedly and presses forward with another attack. What do you do?
12+, with a damage roll of 16 (10 on your 1d10, and 6 on your 1d6)
GM: You lunge in, expecting this savage swordsman to parry or block or show you some sort of defense. Instead, he grabs your sword by the blade and with a shriek, pulls it deep into his chest, snarling. Inches from your face, he spits blood into your eyes and shoves you back. You can hear the clatter of your sword on the stone floor somewhere and the laboured breathing of the Orc as, somehow, he manages the strength to press forward with another attack! What do you do?
7-9, with a damage roll of 1 (1 on your 1d10)?
GM: You lunge in, but the Orc is too fast, and before you have a chance to strike, he bashes the blade of your sword with his wrist, knocking it to the stone floor nearby. A few drops of his black blood drips from the shallow cut. He looks at your sword, then at you, and grins, tensing for the attack. What do you do?
7-9, with a damage roll of 10 (10 on your 1d10)?
GM: You lunge in, and carve a deep gouge in the Orc’s sword arm, deflecting the blow he had aimed at your heart. Your blade grinds against bone and he roars, grabbing you bodily and shoving you to the floor. The Orc looms over you, breathing heavy, blood gushing from his wound. Despite the obvious pain, he grins and you and raises his blade. What do you do?
Awesome! Thanks so much, Adam! Those are some great examples AND illustrations of the monster moves I gave the Blue Orc! Cool! It’s almost like you wrote the game or something!
I’d still love to hear from anyone else, too. I don’t imagine that there is a “right” or “wrong” way to do this, and I’d just like to hear what other people think, get an idea of what versions are out there.
Aaron Friesen? Hopefully Adam’s help cleared up my original intent enough that you could provide your own version. I’d love to hear it!
Alessandro Gianni? I’d imagine that the difference is, just as you say, that on the 10+, the opponent doesn’t make an attack, or the opponent does make an attack, but you get to inflict greater damage, which mean fictionally a nastier blow. Would you care to describe how you’d do it, if you don’t think there should be a difference?
Robert Hanz, thanks! That’s the kind of thing I was hoping to hear about! Cool!
Christopher Weeks, I think you’re right, that is an important question in all this. I’m curious what you think the answer is. In my vision, I think there is a difference, and I think it’s pretty much what Adam illustrated — different moves from the Blue Orc. On a 7-9 with 2 damage, he sends his own blade raking along your arm. On a 10+, you took a chance, trying to take advantage of an opening, and you nicked him for your efforts, but then he trapped your blade against his own side and wrenched it out of your hand. But I’m interested in hearing other versions. What do you think?
For me, it’s always a case of looking at what triggered the situation (to follow with my own moves) and then I use damage (both the total-in-one-roll and the total-against-their-remaining hp) to narrate the intensity of the move they made, then follow up accordingly. I could have just dealt damage in any of these situations, but combining or alternating with monster moves helps keep things exciting.
Huh, it never clicked with me that “the enemy makes an attack” could be other moves besides doing damage. Cool.
At times I’ve done the following for a 10+ roll w/ maximum (and fatal) damage — I just say “Ok, they’re definitely dead. How did that happen?” and I let the player narrate it out, disclaiming decision making. On a roll where a monster has 1 (or very few) hp left, I’ve described something akin to the following, depending on the description — “You hack right through his sword-arm, cutting his hand off at the wrist, his sword clatters and he screams” — although if I’m cognizant I’d disclaim decision making here too sometimes, saying something like “Wow ok you have the advantage and you disabled him somehow, but he’s still fighting. What happened?”
But, I tend to forget to make soft moves when the players roll really well! Tomorrow I’ll make more of an effort to do that.
I really loved the example of the orc pulling the sword into himself on a 10+ w/ max damage, I’m certainly dropping that in as soon as I can, ha.
All of those descriptions Adam gave are cool, but I don’t really grok why one goes with one set of rolls and not another. Like, the orc self-impaling, is him telling the player that he’s got the power even if the PC is doing good damage, so why isn’t that the result of the 7 on H&S instead of the 12+? If that’s clear to all of you, what principal guides you all to that, that I’m just missing?
The amount of damage indicates, to me, the severity of the fiction. The player got a massive amount of damage and only because he exposed himself, so I ratchet up the bloodshed.
So is that a kind of HP as character agency/influence on the narrative? Also, what was the justification for the move against the PC on the 12+? Or was that the one where the fighter chose to take the attack in exchange for an extra d6 damage? Is there not a distinct version for 12+ vs. 10+?
It’s not a hard measure, just flavor. Also, +12 is the same as 10+
Oh ok, I wasn’t sure if there were leveled-up moves like in AW.