How would you port the Apparatus of the Crab over to DW? I always liked this thing, and it could make for some fun times.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/a-b/apparatus-of-the-crab
How would you port the Apparatus of the Crab over to DW?
How would you port the Apparatus of the Crab over to DW?
It doesn’t look to me like anything needs to be changed at all, except picking a value for armour and hit points that are more on the Dungeon World scale. Maybe armour 2 and 30 hp would be about right – that makes it tough to smash, but not insanely so.
(I have always loved it too).
Would you add in a move or two to operate it?
You should be able to manage with discern realities. Or just ask which lever they mess with.
I know nothing about the “real” Apparatus of the Crab, but I could see Defy Danger being sed as the Move to operate it. “Do you know which levers do what? No? Then give me a Defy Danger with INT to figure it out.” Spout Lore could be used here too. Something that interesting is bound to have been written about somewhere. Even if only scraps and vague information is all that’s available.
Of course you could make a custom move to operate it. Tie it to either DEX or INT depending on whether you think manual dexterity or reason helps more. I might do a “10+ = choose 3; 7-9; choose 1” style of move, with a list of the most common things the Appparatus can do. Or, reserve the ‘operation move’ for the more uniquie abilities and assume that anyone can make it move around. Just not very well.
As a monster fighting the characters, Michael Sands has a good starting point. Here’s my attempt at it as a magic item.
Submersible Apparatus +5 armor
The Apparatus is a metallic vehicle, powered by magic. It appears as a large iron crab, big enough to hold two people. Closely examining it reveals a secret hatch, allowing you to crawl inside and access its various unlabeled levers.
When you pull a lever to try to get the Apparatus to do something you’ve never commanded it to do before, roll+INT. *On a 10+, you move the correct lever to the correct position, and the Apparatus does as you want. *On a 7-9, the Apparatus does roughly what you want, but you position the lever inexpertly: the GM will tell you how the action goes wrong or if the lever gets stuck. *On a miss, you pick the wrong lever, the GM will tell you what the Apparatus does instead.
When you use the Apparatus’ pincers to damage an enemy, roll b[2d8], 2 piercing instead of your damage.
(Notes for the GM – attacking while inside this thing is still Hack and Slash, and enemy attacks will tend to damage the crab as well as the characters inside. Maybe the crab’s damage should include the option to grab on, that’s up to your fiction or your players. I deliberately left the actions of each lever unlisted, I suggest you let the characters get creative, but you can keep the lever table for your own use or enforce it with the players if you like. The air limit can be introduced in the fiction using the regular GM moves, no need for a player-facing custom move IMO.)