From a conversation about stating up Beowulf over at the SA forums:
“You can make Beowulf easily in e.g. Dungeon World. He’s just a guy with a decent Strength score who’s allowed to use his strength in the fiction.”
“What is the mechanic in DW that would allow him to swim across the North Sea without allowing the wizard and thief to do the same?”
“Bend Bars, Lift Gates.
The obstacle is the North Sea.”
#mindblown
I remember a lot of people saying early on how the Fighter got shafted on starting moves, since he just gets BBLG and a Signature Weapon. I think this shifts the paradigm a bit, if you’re willing to go a little more abstract.
Realtalk:
Bend Bars, Lift Gates
When you use pure strength to destroy an inanimate obstacle
The North Sea isn’t an inanimate obstacle you’re destroying, so BBLG doesn’t trigger.
It doesn’t even make sense to use BBLG. BBLG is a specialised DD+Str that has pre-written consequences that apply to destroy inanimate obstacles. You literally just use Defy Danger (+Str or +Con). That’s it. That’s all you have to do.
I destroyed the North Sea, but I fixed it without a lot of effort.
Alex Norris Yeah, but what’s the fun in that? I like abstract things like that in my games.
So do I, but using BBLG in place of a Defy Danger is literally overcomplicating things for nothing.
Meh, I’m okay with it myself. I don’t think it’s that much of an overcomplication.
If anything it’d work for a hypothetical “epic level” DW thing. “Oh you’re 11th level? Now you can break the ocean or steal shadows.”
Man now I want to write epic-level moves for DW. Another project to add to the “stuff I’ll never finish” list I suppose.
I’ve considered writing a Constitution-based custom move for the 1st level Fighter. I’ll have to revisit that. Swimming across a sea is a good way to frame it.
I’ve seen Bards defy danger with CHA. The danger? Awkwardness.
I think that, if you’re all on the same page tonally and can narrate your way to something awesome like hiding from sight under a guilty memory or cutting someone’s sadness off, all the more power to you. The game may or may not even need new moves for things like this. It’s just about respecting the tone and hitting the right notes in your description.
And this is why putting the conversation first is great.
Brock Samson defies ALL danger with STR. Doesn’t matter what the danger is, strength is his idiom.
I think there’s space to explore mythic or legendary attributes in games.
Legendary Strength
Your strength has become legendary, and you can attempt tasks no ordinary person could. When you attempt the impossible or metaphorical using your might, roll+Str. On a 10+ you struggle and strain! but manage it. On a 7-9, the GM chooses 1:
Something important is irreparably damaged or destroyed.
You are severely injured in the effort.
Something acts against you while you perform the feat.
Every bard in my games is Tyrion Lannister and defies everything with Charisma. It’s a feature
/sub
uhm, I think that the answer to:
“What is the mechanic in DW that would allow him to swim across the North Sea without allowing the wizard and thief to do the same?”
Is: nothing in the classes’ rules specify what that specific character can do in such a scenario. It’s like: how much can I actually lift, expressed in pounds? You just decide on what makes sense.