Has anyone ever experimented on having the PLAYER come up with the useful bit of information for Spout Lore on a 10+? With the right players it would be fun, and I always feel like I’m railroading when I’m forced to give them a useful bit of info.
Has anyone ever experimented on having the PLAYER come up with the useful bit of information for Spout Lore on a 10+?
Has anyone ever experimented on having the PLAYER come up with the useful bit of information for Spout Lore on a 10+?
Oh yes, it’s wonderful. I had alluded to a past between three characters, let one spout lore, and suddenly EVERYTHING changed. They had been past friends, and allies but too much detail to explain here happened. And it was beautiful!
Characters being NPCs
Don’t feel bad. It’s your job to do this. If you let me do this, i would abuse the hell out of it (in theory, i am also a nice player).
Use it to set up intense new situations. “Yes this screaming Baloth does have a weak point! It’s soft underbelly! Who do you want to get under it Wizard?”.
You have to bring a lot to the story in Dungeon World even thought you are not railroading in any way. It’S basically just another move you make.
Now and then you can do it, especially if you have no idea what to say but most times i wouldn’t do that.
Tim, I love the idea of the player abusing it a bit. When the player does something truly abusive to give themselves a huge advantage, it just gives me a fun opportunity to try and come up with something to counteract it.
…turns out that soft underbelly covers their Digestive Acid Gland. Defy Danger against spraying digestive goop.
I love giving the players lots of power, but then turning it around on them with my own moves.
well that is messing with their success though.
Right sorry, the example you gave wasn’t an example of abuse. I was merely illustrating a way to counteract someone who was trying to abuse it.
In reference to your example of how to use Spout Lore, I HATE giving lore like that because it basically totally railroads the fight. Now the players are all focusing on that soft underbelly. I’d rather them come up with their own solution to killing the Baloth.
If I recall, this was the way that spout lore originally worked on a 10+, where the player got the narrate it out. But it was changed later so that was an option rather than the default rule.
Actually I believe it used to work like Discern. But those are both prolly true. Iteration, baby!
Here is part of the Open your Brain move from Apocalypse World:
On a hit, the MC will tell you something new and interesting about the current situation, and might ask you a question or two; answer them.
Those questions are a good way to let the player build the lore without too much capability for abuse.
But those are questions about the character. Their most intimate secrets and fears. The brainers deep brain scan questions are a good way to start.
Personally, with the right group, I’d totally turn it over to the player(s). And who says you need hand that power to the acting player? You can turn it over to another player for an idea or toss it out to the table – this would likely curtail abuse.
Totally do it. It’s fun.
Houses of the Blooded has the mechanic that players get narration rights for succeeding with roles. Now that player agency can be great, but it’s a sharp edged tool and so you can get cut. If players don’t try to further the story, but further their own character, it can make folks sore as narration is used by one player in a way that screws over instead of furthers the story for another.
Nothing wrong with sharp-edged tools, but in the wrong hands, folks can get cut.
I’ve only run three sessions of DW/AoDP so far, but I love turning Spout Lore over to the players. If I have a good answer on the tip of tongue I say it, but if I don’t I ask them to do it. So far it’s only made things more fun!
Spout Lore is often much better in the hands of the players! Remember the key point though; the GM can always ask a character “how do you know this?”
It isn’t even a tweak. The GM is allowed to turn questions on the players/characters whenever he or she wants to. That’s one of the cool things of DW
I actually re-made the Spout Lore equivalent in my hack to emphasize this, basically making it work like the way I’ve always used it anyway.
When you relate a useful fact about the situation at hand, roll+SAVVY. *On a 10+, the GM will confirm your knowledge, or correct you with more accurate information. *On a 7-9, your information is partially true, but it’s not the whole story. *On a miss, it’s dangerously false. You or an ally may mark XP by acting on this misinformation.
It is totally canon to use Spout Lore in exactly this way. Indeed, I find that the world is much more interesting and the players are much more invested when I allow them this much input.
In my DW play by post game, I rolled a 14 on a Spout Lore about the golem. The GM decided that I was instrumental in the creation of that particular model of golem and asked to describe how. That was awesome.
I find that I mix it up quite a bit. Often I will call for a roll as a player is saying specific info about something while RPing their character. I let them narrate for a bit and then we see if the info they gave is true. It has worked well, and as created some funny situations.