Things i learned from the IRL Dungeon World game this week.
#1 i need to describe more. The group decided to make camp and one player immediately said he wanted to Discern Realities Because there was nothing i had established it was a bit awkward Had i described their camping place i would have had more to work with. The player asked what here is not what it seems to be. I told him that the snow berries (normally being used to heal people) in this area have been warped and contain tiny thorns inside that would tear up your throat.
The Sky Dancer then went on a scouting flight to discern the realities of the entrance to the Orc cave. Once again i gave basically no description of the place before he asked his first question. I had it in my mind but i didn’t describe it in any way. We used the questions of the player to better define the orc defenses and the tactical options they had. After the questions we all had a pretty good idea about the place but it could have gone much better.
#2 The Sky Dancer is an excellent Scout and having a flying character from level 1 is really cool.
#3 I tried really hard to keep Johnstone Metzger s advice in mind about the Defense Move. The Dwarf Barbarian was fired at with flaming arrows. He buried his giant sword in the ground and hid behind it. He choose to take half damage and open up the archer to attacks. (the last thing maybe a bit much) so he took half damage and no damage afterward even though the orc was still firing at him. The Skydancer used that moment to fire an arrow at the orc and then knock him down the watchtower.
The same thing on a Hack&Slash, the fighter was fighting with an orc but didn’t kill him with the move. The kept on fighting but my next move couldn’t just be “he goes for another attack”, i had to change the situation so i used the “attack unrelentless” move and described the orc hacking with double speed, going total berserk without defending and “what do you do”
#4 I still need to ask more questions next session. We took a lot of time creating characters, especially because we had a total RPG newby with us so i wanted to get into the action fast. We still don’t know much about the Skydancers and Fighters Race.
#5 The Orc berserker has a “mutations” special quality. I took that as a hint, especially because the players talked about the orcs warping normal animals into beasts, to mean that the orcs had a lot of biomagic and transformation magic. That’s why there were two mutated orcs, one with 3 arms and a transformation magic shaman. He had a Mr. Fantastic Rubber Arm and hit the Dwarf Barbarian with a magic pulver – granting the Dwarf extra knees (and a DEX debility).
#6 now i have to write dungeon fronts for the orc cave/fortress
#7 I need to think about why the orcs are doing what they are doing and in that, don’t fall into the same story structure i usually do. The player characters fail to prevent some ritual or to defeat a big dangerous enemy and have to flee to prepare and fight another day. It’s not planned by me but it happend in 3 games now. I will try to not do that so there is no big godzilla monster waiting under the cave.
#8 Oh BTW. the orcs have yeti allies (yay 6- Spout Lore)
#9 Dwarfen Air-Ships don’t have the strongest hulls. A barbarian can throw an orc at it and create a hull in it.
i am open for front suggestions. I need the Orc Shaman, The Yetis – maybe a fraction of orcs that don’t want to do the things the shaman wants – something more. There are dwarf traders on the other side of the mountain; they are an option. Maybe something more?
But those are probarbly to many for a adventure front.
On issue #1 your players should be trigger the move through their descriptive fiction. You don’t just “discern realities” when you enter a room. You enter a room and look around at the frescos, tap the floor with the edge of my staff, try to see why there’s a wall sconce missing in the NW corner, etc…”
Your players seem stuck in the “make a preception check” mindset.
Also, tell them to let you finish a sentence for f’s sake! “Let me describe the situation then you can tell me what your character DOES, not what dice you wish to roll.”
Just remind them that it’s a conversation and they need to trigger moves, not make rolls.
It can be difficult to get out of that mindset for both GM and Players.
It really wasn’t the players – it was me. And they totally are not in a “i make a perception check” mindset because this never was part of their gamer mindset.
Sounds like a lot of fun – what was the advice you talk about in #3? I’d love to see it.
As far as front suggestions, one thing I’m planning is to have the shamans of the orcs of a certain tribe (I’ve called them the ‘Tribe of the Ghost Serpent’) in cahoots with a mysterious stranger. He’s convinced them to go into what all the other orc tribes consider ‘tainted ground’, and into the ruins of the ancient evil race. The other orc tribes, when/if they find out about it, are going to be outraged.
Anyway, the mysterious stranger is out to gain the power of the evil ancients, and using the orcs to get it 🙂
The other thing I’m planning is for the mutated orcs to be those that followed the shaman into the tomb. The magic of the ancients will twist them.
Have a look at the discussion about the Defend move. I think it was started by Richard Robertson but i might be wrong. It was a very good discussion.
Thanks – I’ll try to find it, I wish the Google+ interface better allowed for that.
BTW, I’m curious about this because I haven’t yet (we’ve only had one session, and one fight) had anyone use the Defend move. I really hope the folks get the idea that they need to protect their ‘casters’ a bit more, and start to use Defend on them.
If you like a thread a way to “put a pin in it” is to share it with yourself (your gmail address). That way it will always be on your Google+ home stream somewhere.
Odd but effective. Easier than searching 1000+ posts.
Eric Lochstampfor Ahh, thanks for the tip.
#1 and #4 go hand in hand. Just turn to one of your players and ask, “So what does your camp site look like?” or “What do you see as you glide over the entrance to the orc cave, what about it is most shocking to you?” Stuff like that should easen your burden on descriptions.
However, as pointed out already, I’m not even sure how your players trigger Discern Reality when the scene hasn’t been fully set yet, that makes no sense.