Custom Move for my game – any feedback?
When you consult the great library about the void, roll +weeks spend(max. 3)
If you find a helpful research assistant, gain +1 forward for the roll
If you can bribe your way into the restricted section, gain +1 forward for the roll
On a 10+ choose 3, on a 7-9 choose 2. On a miss choose 1 anyway but there will be complications.
On a 12+ choose 3 and ask 1 question of your own about the void. You will get a useful answer
– You find out how Mitra and the gods banished the void
– You find Gith’s battle techniques
– You find a ritual to banish void taint
– You learn about the common void creatures
– You find some hints about the meteor
– You learn about the origins of the void
– You find an helpful ally in your quest amongs the Wizards of Belverus
– You learn about the last occurence of void influence
– You learn about 2 useful and legendary artifacts that might help you in your quest
Since only one player rolls, what do the others do to help?
Or do they just do other stuff in the intervening weeks?
They can still aid. 2-9 results will lead to extra scenes
Only 1 successful aid counts, yeah? Or am I misremembering?
I think everyone can help
But I don’t have the rules in front of me
Technically the rules say no matter how many people are helping, you only get the benefit once (which is only barely different than only one person can help).
That seems like an awful lot of options to me. Is it the point to make it a difficult choice of what to research and find out about, and possibly have to do it more than once (spending months at a time) to get the information you want? If that’s the case, (and I’m not too sure about this because I have no idea the setting or context in your game) as a player the information here doesn’t look as appealing to me as just spending the same time in preparing for the trip. I think what would tip the scales in my opinion is doing what Discern Realities does and give +1 forward when acting on the information, so it’s almost like you did spend the weeks in preparation (which you did technically, just in a different form).
Is time pressure a real part of the campaign? Weeks seems fairly long, almost arbitrarily so. If there’s time pressure, +1 per day spent researching sounds reasonable and easier to understand, unless they have, perhaps, a month to stop the void? But if they have, say, a week, then +days spent might be a bit more… present? I’m not sure.
Additionally, no matter what, it is almost imperative that for every question they ask about the void, the void gets to ask a question about them, otherwise Nietzsche may turn in his grave.
If you wanted to hew closer to the system as written, make it an +INT roll, tell them the consequences of researching and taking that long and ask if they want to, and make your 12+ result the 10+ result (e.g. 10+ is 3, 7-9 is 2, 6 or under is one plus a hard move.) (Playing by the RAW is hardly important though, your interpretation follows the spirit just fine I think.)
If the library is actively dangerous and you want to let multiple people roll (like you did w/ the aid another checks) you could simply say that whoever wanted to roll it, multiple people could make the move over the same period of time. (But if you want them to only have a few answers from that list, obviously this doesn’t work.)
Just my feedback! I think the move would work perfectly fine as is.
Ah, simple idea for a hard move — one of the Wizards of Belverus could be a void disciple, and you could announce future badness through finding those writings. (Or not!)