I promised myself I’d save this one for the book, but there’s so many good #hirelings showing up here I couldn’t resist!
Woof, the Faithful Friend
“BARK! BARK! BARK! Bark? Wwwwwwwwwwhiiiiiiine?”
Loyalty 3
When you discern realities with Woof, you may ask one of the following regardless of your roll:
• Where is the nearest food?
• Which way did the person who was just here go?
Woof will always try to defend his master or mistress, whether you want him to or not.
Cost: Your love
OK, I hands down love this idea. I have always been fond of the “hero and his dog” clichè. 😉
The extra questions seems a little off though, because they imply something about the fiction, merely by asking the question. Especially the latter, namely that a person was there. I’d reword these to
• Is there food nearby?
• Has something just left this place, and if so, in which direction?
I just don’t think your own questions always make sense. If there’s no food nearby, the dog wouldn’t be able to smell it, but you can demand to know where it is either way. Just an example. My own reformulations can be answered negatively, for example with “No, there’s no food nearby”.
Love the idea though 🙂
Awwwwww!
Kasper Brohus Totally – I’m surprised no-one’s thought of it before! Those points on the questions are valid, but I wanted the first question to imply that if there is food nearby, the dog will be acutely aware where it is – even if it’s in a place that doesn’t help the players (“Where is the nearest food? The dog starts pawing at your ration bag…” or “…the dog sniffs the ground and starts bounding east.”) Does that still make sense, any thoughts?
Joe Banner Yeah, except people would only really need to choose it when they are out of food?
Hmm, yeah I hear you. In retrospect this move isn’t doing what I wanted, which is for the dog to sniff out something small but helpful right when the players need it. A revision is in order, I think.
The more I think about it, the less I’m sure about the food question. After all, as you say Kasper Brohus you would only pick that option if you’re out of food anyway, and potentially someone could abuse the move to get free rations over and over.
Sniffing out the enemy seems more interesting, and there’s potential to turn Woof into a “mini-ranger” the same way other hirelings are light versions of the full classes. How about this:
When you discern realities with Woof to find out where a specific individual went, add “which way did they go?” to the list of questions you may ask. If you have something Woof can use to get that individual’s scent, take +1 forward to the roll.