Night’s Eyes
You find two perfectly round black pearls that seem to drink in the light. They reflect vague shapes and forms. It almost looks like there’s something in them.
When you look into them, they suddenly jump forward to your eyes and blood spurts out as your eyes are eaten out completely and replaced by the Night’s Eyes. Roll+CON.
You can now see perfectly in the pitch dark, but light hurts your eyes. You suffer -1 to actions involving sight in such conditions. But, you can also see the outline of invisible objects sometimes. You suffer -1 charisma when your eyes are visible.
On a 10+, you manage to stay conscious through the pain and agony, but suffer 1d6 damage.
On a 7-9, you are either knocked out from the pain and suffering for 12 hours or manage to stay conscious but suffer 2d6 damage.
On a fail, you fall unconscious from the pain for 24 hours. your eyelids were also destroyed and you suffer a further -1 to your charisma permanently unless you conceal your eyes. You must also find a way to moisturize them or you suffer 1 damage each day from the pain.
Did someone want to play Riddick in Dungeon World? 🙂
Sounds like a cursed item with a minor upside, or a lesser artifact with some major downsides. I would write a custom move for when you look deep into the black pearls…and save the really nasty aspects for a 6-
I made an artifact recently, and this is how I did it:
When you hold the Crystalline Heart against your chest, roll +CHA. »On a 10+ you are deemed worthy and may choose two of the following. »On a 7-9 you are found unsuitable, but may choose one for your audacity. »On a 6-, you are branded a defiler and the GM will tell you how you are affected.
¤ You do not attract unwanted attention
¤ For as long as you possess the Crystalline Heart, you cheat Death on a 7+ when you make the Last Breath special move
¤ For as long as you possess the Crystalline Heart, you gain +1 armor
¤ You know the exact location of your heart’s desire
So they launch out when someone gets close enough to look at them?
On a Full Success you take damage? Hrm.
Bad design, a gm springing this on me, would find me walking out of the game then and there.
AS written no way to avoid, likely no way to foreshadow and it auto affects all chararcters, leavings all but one permanently blind.
It’s not that it’s bad it just need to have weight one way or another.. If it’s a buff, it should be attractive to use. If it’s a debuff it should be avoidable.
Thomas Roberts Well, that escalated quickly! It takes guts to post your designs to the public. Maybe gently point out your concerns, and offer solutions?
Frankly, if one of my players walked out because I threw out this “well-I-thought-it-was-cool” thing that didn’t end up being fun for whatever reason, I’d reconsider future invitations to the game. Or I’d be discouraged and stop running games.
How about this:
10+ = A sinister voice in your head offers to allow you to see in the night as if it were day. If you accept, it instructs you to lift the orbs to your eyes, were it painfully (but without damage) merges with them. If you refuse the offer, nothing happens.
7-9 = The orbs fly at your face, heading straight for your eyes! If you wish, you may block them with a piece of equipment (it is destroyed) or your hand (1d6 damage). Or may may choose to not avoid them, they eat your eyes (1d6 damage) and you gain their powers and drawbacks.
6- = There is no time to block the orbs as they begin burrowing into your face. You may turn your head at the last moment as they burrow into your cheek (1d6+1 damage and a Chr Debility for a week until the wounds heal) or accept them into your eyes as above.
This way, the player always has a choice to make.
Thanks for the ideas and feedback.