23 thoughts on “How would you represent a well-made weapon? Are bonuses like +1 good?”

  3. It’s well-made and is probably worth more (has the valuable tag), in addition to looking nicer and maybe drawing the wrong kind of attention in the seedier parts of town. Being well-made will have whatever advantages it has in the fiction.

    +1s are boring, especially +1s that you’re using to replace having cool fiction.

  4. +1 is a lot less interesting than tags! Ask what’s special about the weapon: is it because of the materials, who made it, where it was made, how it was made, what it signifies, then work any bonuses from the description of why the weapon is better than a standard weapon of that type.

    Depending on the weapon, you could add one of these from the Equipment tags:

    precise, piercing, ignores armour, messy

    or reduce the weight.

  6. Mostly I’d describe it, and give it tags based on that description. Maybe it’s +precise, or +inspiring. Maybe it’s such a well made and balanced hammer that it’s +forceful. Maybe it +pierces armor well. I’d steer away from simple bonus-to-rolls though. Boring as piss, and just ends up encouraging folk to look for more die bonuses.

  7. Ignores armour and messy aren’t really the kind of tags that say “it’s a sword that’s been well made” to me. IA is incredibly powerful and should be accordingly rare. Messy I guess could work as a kind of “this sword is so sharp it can cut through flesh with ease” deal? But it’s not the first thing that springs to mind when I hear “+messy.”

  9. Mechanically, yes, but I’m not sure how you justify giving a katana (a sword that is well known for being useless against armour and only good against essentially naked flesh) the piercing tag.

    I mean, unless it’s a joke item specifically designed to reference the silly meme from years ago. 😛

  12. Yeah, those would be the tags I’d hack in. Fiction is mechanical and vice versa so if you tag it with the master swordsmith then you’re writing them into the fiction and saying that it’s an important detail – to own a sword of that caliber means something.

  13. Alex Norris, I meant for those tags to apply to other mastercrafted weapons based on the fiction, so a troll who’s spent plenty of time sticking shards of glass into their club would probably have a +messy club!

  15. I decided to ignore the issue at all. I was wondering this for a move (you have an heirloom from your Ninja master, what is it?) but I decided to just say this: “Your old master left you a special piece of

    equipment: one of your weapons is of exceptional craftsmanship (choose an

    additional tag for one of your weapons).”

    Since it’s fiction first, whatever weapon the PC decides to “improve”, it’s gonna make sense (no messy for an dagger, i.e.).

  16. The book says +1s are fine for master craft weapons, but no good for magic weapons.

    I wouldn’t give “well crafted swords” special moves, because that makes magic swords less special. They’re magic after all.

    So yeah, I’d use the books advice. Mundane but excellent weapons can have a +1

  22. +1 is acceptible, but comes with huge danger. At +2 modifier the chance of success (7+) is already better than 80%. Which is standard for first level characters. So you have a huge danger of autokills and resulting boredom. Rather give +piercing and plus damage. Tags are nice but since their influence on the outcome of a battle is less discernable players may feel cheated if the great blade of mighty power only has tags. Custom moves are also nice.”When you roll 12+, trigger x ability”

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