Was just reading Mike Weem ‘s awesome post about his first session and saw comments about coming up with 7-9 results and I thought it might be cool to start a thread about that.
So – just to keep things focused, what are some cool ideas for 7-9’s on Hack & Slash?
I think I’m going to pay more attention to the range tags in the future and allow things to move from ‘close’ to ‘hand’ range on a 7-9, then have the player do a defy danger to get back out of range possibly so they can use their close weapon.
Tom Miskey had a cool idea of having the weapon get stuck in the corpse – I love that idea, and I’ll definitely be using it!
BTW, I understand that a lot of these will be situation dependent – but that’s fine, I say post the situation you think it’d work great in.
You get set on fire
The hellhound explodes into a little imp
They bend your weapon with a mighty blow. You now have -1 damage on your weapon
You slip in the blood of your enemy, stumbling to one knee. You can continue to attack, but you’re at a -1 until you stand up. If you’re engaged, then you need to Defy Danger to stand up.
Tweaking the ‘getting stuck in a corpse’ idea, the Fighter in my game has a hammer that is ‘messy & forceful’. On a 7-9, where he slays his enemy, I think I’ll have the hammer smash into some set piece like the stone wall or a tree and get lodged there.
Michael Barrett Additionally, re: the hammer getting stuck in a set piece, I had been thinking about messy weapons damaging the environment in ways that put other PC’s in danger. EX: The Fighter’s hammer misses, smashing a support beam… “Rogue – a large portion of the roof is collapsing towards you… what do you do?”
Michael Barrett i wouldn’t give out a -1 penalty. For one it’s not really so exiting and two, he is on the ground and this is a penalty in of itself
The arterial spray catches you right in the face, blinding your eyes for a moment. Take a -1 Forward.
same thing…
Tom Miskey Yea, there is a lot you could do with the body of a slain or injured enemy – they can fall on you, or even instead of dropping dead, you could have one drop their weapon and cling to the PC, etc – good stuff!
Tim Franzke Hmm – good point. How do you see the being on the ground affecting the player then? Would you make it so they couldn’t attack from the ground and needed to get up first? I figured the -1 forward would be fine as long as they could easily rectify it (ie: getting up, possibly with a roll).
Tom Miskey I like it – you could do something similar with a skeleton, zombie, or mummy. Dust/gore spatters in your face, leaving you coughing/gagging.
Maybe something like Tim Franzke ‘s blunted weapon idea for when you fight slime – the goo dulls the weapon.
A nice one from my game:
You stab the Orc Chieftain, dodging his attack and making him drop over the railing he hits the airship’s propeller getting shredded to tiny bits. Unfortunately this completely destroys the rotos, sending the airship into a mad downward spiral. You have only moments before the orc airship is out of reach of your own. What do you do?
Mike Weem Oh I love the idea of them smashing a column or something and putting someone else in a tough spot. if the rogue is fighting someone, it could even work out for them that the column/tree falls on the enemy as well. Very cool.
He knocks you to the ground with a shieldbash. As you turn around to face him again he comes down with a flurry of blows. You can block each one of them but counterattacking from the ground might be hard without getting hit. (no hack&slash but you just trade damage) Getting out of the way will also not be easy with this constant attack.
cool idea in that scenario:
“I will block every little attack of him until he is completely out of breath” (defy danger with con)
From last night: Character went to bash the last orc unconcious at the end of the foght so the could.question him. Blew his roll, but since it seemed so borderline that a roll was needed, the character just got groin-punched by the orc.
Michael Barrett here’s the thing, being knocked down does all sorts of things. If you’re untroubled and have time, its nothing. If you’re knocked in front of an established threat, the GM might be in a position to deal damage as established. If you’re getting up under a rain of blows its easily a Defy Danger. If you’re safe but your friends are under attack, you’re not able to aid. If your party is moving, it’s a perfect Separate Them moment.
Alex Wilson did he get a Condition ‘Groin Punched’?
If the opponent has Forceful tags or Berserker or “Unrelenting” type attacks in the description I let them deal their damage and enrage the enemy, crashing blows down on them. The character can do nothing but defend, perhaps even push them back/down. It’s also a good way to shift the focus to an ally who can see them taking the beating. Setting up an aid or volley or spell opportunity.
James R Cool, makes sense. Thanks. Hah, love the condition 😉
James R
🙂 Not explicitly, but when the Mage blew his Parely roll (interrogating the captive), the orc escaped his ropes and ran off, and the groin-punched Dashing Hero was in no condition to pursue.
As written, don’t these actually contradict the rules? Its not “You hit the target, but something bad happens in response” but its “You hit the target, and they get to make an attack back at you.”
Sure, the attack doesn’t have to be a generic sword-swing, but I would hardly classify “your sword gets stuck in them” as an attack they made.
Michael Walsh These seem like things you could do on a 6-, actually.
Oh wow, it’s been a long time since I”ve looked at the actual rules for Hack & Slash, and it seemed like I’d seen so many posts where people talked about various soft moves and what not whenever they got a 7-9 that it just sort of wriggled its way into my brain. Still, these seem minor for a 6-.
Hmmm, not sure what I think about that.
Well, how about “Your sword impales the owlbear, which lets out a death screech like a thousand dying souls and collapses on top of you. As you fall, pinned beneath its enormous weight, you hear your blade snap.
Mike Weem On a failed volley, one of my new players tried to invoke a tunnel collapse to crush a yeti, and it was one of the few times I said “no, I can’t give you a desired result on a failed roll”. In hindsight, I should’ve collapsed the tunnel on all of them, and made the yeti take advantage of the familiar snowy terrain (and rage at his home being destroyed) to ramp up the danger. I need to learn that saying yes to all ideas is fine; Just remember when to turn the move back on the player.
Matt Horam Very good example, I love it 😉
Once the players realise they have the ability to contribute to the lore, the more dangerous ones start messing with each other with custom moves.
“Don’t steal the idol’s gem eyes! The only way to redeem yourself is to swallow them:
On a 10+, you are granted permanent dark vision.
7-9, you are sick (constipated) and can see in the dark for a week.
on a 6 or lower, YOU DIE.”
He rolled a 3.
> Its not “You hit the target, but something bad happens in response” but its “You hit the target, and they get to make an attack back at you.” – Michael Walsh
For this, would the player get a Defy Danger roll? Or is it just ‘he gets hit now’?
I believe he gets hit now.
With the attack, whatever it is. That may lead to Defying Danger as the fiction continues.
So Michael Walsh has a point about these not being ‘by the rules’ for a 7-9 roll. So are these more of something that you’d do on a 6-? Some of these seem less ‘harmful’ than taking damage. I’m actually a little confused as to how often you should be hurting the players now.
Yep on a 6-, and yes they might be less harmful than damage, but its up to you as a GM how hard you push at any moment. I personally seem to find my players get wrecked pretty quickly following from the fiction, so I try to make my hard moves kind of soft like these.