I want to create a custom move for my next session where the party will start exploring a large ruined city looking for a specific building. Here’s what I have so far, any thoughts?
When you spend the day exploring the ruins, roll +WIS. On a 10+ choose 3. On a 7-9 choose two.
-You are 1 step closer. You can select this more than once, and once you achieve four steps you find what you’re looking for.
-You forage enough cactus and don’t need to consume a ration tonight.
-You avoid unwanted attention.
-You find something else interesting and potentially valuable.
I like it. In fact I’ll probably jury rig it to fit into a near future game of mine if you don’t mind.
I like that move a lot.
I like how clear the “step” option is.
Can a player choose an option multiple times in the same roll? Indicating their blatant barging through the ruins?
Yes, the idea was they could select option 1 multiple times in one move. And sure, feel free to borrow as you like 🙂
I actually don’t like the step mechanic since you have to re-roll the move at least once to get what you want. Perhaps there should be a qualifier at the end of the move that says ‘once you have spent all day searching, you have to make camp or suffer a condition of your choice’ – forcing the players to roll a separate move prior to multiple attempts on this one?
It seems like the step mechanic is basically just gaining hold, with the proviso that you can spend 4 hold at any time to find the final objective right?
Which could also be interesting if you make the hold spendable to avoid other harm or misfortune in the meantime. I guess it depends how much you want to drag out the exploration of the city.
Richard: Yes, the step mechanic is like gaining hold, I just used the word “step” to reinforce how it relates to you getting closer to the goal. Nathan: After spending a day searching, they will fictionally need to make camp, so I did plan to trigger the Make Camp move. I didn’t think it needed to be called out in this move.
Dion Kurczek
I wrote a couple of moves for similar reasons last week, if you’re interested in another approach I can translate it and post it.
Sure, always great to see more ideas.
While the flavor is awesome, I feel like the consume no rations choice is a bit weak. Seems to me that the only situation they’d choose that over the others is if they felt they were running out of food, but if they are, then there is already tension being applied, and they will just use the first option to press ahead.
I think I’d combine it with the last choice, maybe give them the option to spend time foraging cactus, and potentially find something interesting/valuable.
I love the step idea. It would be really cool to pair it with some fictional clues as well, like choosing that option gets the party a scrap of an old map, or a carved tablet that describes a nearby part of the city.
This is a good move. I wonder if it could be tweaked to work on a bigger scale, like finding something on a continent?
Does only one player get to make the move?
My idea was that yes, one player would make the move, but another could Aid if they have a Bond with that character.
That makes sense, and I figured that was the direction you were going. A followup question is, how does the second day of searching work in regards to length of time–would you have to camp afterwards or does the ration option simply become unnecessary if only 1 step remains (or even 2, potentially)?
My plan is that the move would encompass a full day of searching. Each night thereafter they would have to Make Camp, and consume a ration 🙂 On the day that they find their goal, it’ll be close to sunset and they’d be far too tired to start the descent, so they’d most likely Make Camp that night too.
I think the key then is to make it explicit, either in the move’s text or in discussion with the players, that the PCs will have to camp at least twice. On a 10+ on the first day, they may still elect to take the maximum amount of steps if they’re worried about their chances for the next day (or for whatever other reasons). Anyway, I like it.
This move played out pretty well in the session. The Ranger kept rolling the move, and twice he rolled a 7-9 and selected the two options to forage for cactus and find something else interesting or valuable, and the Barbarian was almost boiling over because they weren’t getting any closer to the goal. Pretty funny.