One thing I really like about FATE is the players ability to change the scene by spending a their FATE bennies. Has anyone tried something like this with Dungeon World?
One thing I really like about FATE is the players ability to change the scene by spending a their FATE bennies.
One thing I really like about FATE is the players ability to change the scene by spending a their FATE bennies.
The problem is that in DW the sole responsibility of the player is to play their character. The character can’t change the scene by himself
Well player can definitely ask if something that has not been established as there but reasonably could be is there; the GM, being a fan of the PCs, should say yes if it makes sense. So I’d say that the plater very much have this power.
What about Spout Lore? That changes things. “Clearly this place has been abandoned since the Time of the Fire Demons – see the scoring along the wall? I wonder if the limestone will have become brittle in some places, allowing us to find a tunnel opening?”
But you can’t really predetermine what you know about the subject. Th GM will tell you what you know, not you him.
AHH – I must have read that wrong.
I like that bit of FATE too, but it’s not really straight-up compatible with DW. DW, by default, leaves the players in charge of what their character says, thinks, and does. A few moves modify this (cleric’s Deity, fighter’s Through Death’s Eyes). Making that more prevalent and open ended (player can add anything) may create some interesting interactions with moves. It’ll also require some Gm gymnastics around Fronts in some cases.
It’s totally possible! I’d just go carefully, as it’s a pretty big shift.
I couldn’t see a way to do it without ruining the Dungeon Worldiness of the sessions. That’s why I asked. =)
Another point is that fate points let players ‘succeed at cost’ with a mechanic. DW had this a bit at the 7-9 result and at 6- one could do something similar, only at a much higher cost.
Dungeon World is a conversation. Sometimes, in a conversation, you ask to change the subject.
GM: So you guys are all getting drunk at the tavern – does anyone want to do anything else?
Avon: No, but I’d love to see the next morning where I’m all hung over and trying to talk my way into the Wizard’s Guild.
GM: That sounds awesome. Did you bring anyone with you?
well, personally, if the players ask for there to be a thing… there is usually a thing. Unless I feel it would conflict with something else.
In DW this is just assumed to be part of the conversation rather than something mechanical, The GM is expected to ask Questions and roll with the answers. And every time the GM does this the Players can and often do establish some important facts about the world. These background facts can have direct impacts on the current scene when it makes story sense to do so.
I folded player worldlbuilding into our AoDP game last night, and it worked great. There was nothing mechanical about it (beyond the occasional application of Spout Lore), but whenever I needed a question about the world answered, I just asked a specific player and rolled with the answer.
Together, we discovered that mourners at a Saturnian funeral are expected by tradition to lie face down in imitation of death during the last rites; that sulphur is Saturn’s #1 export, thanks to the Sulphur Mines of Titan; that the Earthling’s “magic shield” (an undefined piece of starting gear) can be thrown and called back to him like Thor’s hammer; and that Saturnian pilots usually leave their keys in the visor above the windscreen.
I found that the key was to know when to ask a question, and when to go with my vision of the world. Now I can’t imagine playing any other way!