So I ran a G+ session of XCrawl, the retro-futuristic bloodsport, by way of DW. We had an Ogre Gladiator (Grug), a Human Paladin (Titanus), and a Human Thief (Larc). All in all, it went pretty well! I’m still not where I’d like to be with snappy responses and especially 7-9 rulings, but I’m getting there.
Clips from the highlight reel:
Trying to get across a mud pit, Titanus falls flat on his face, and Larc uses him as a stepping stone, leaping across with graceful ease…
Titanus and Grug argue over who gets to climb into the room full of armed orcs first, and both end up stuck halfway through the hatch. The orcs chuckle and approach, slapping their baseball bats into their hands menacingly…
While Grug and Titanus fight off the orcs, Larc moves like a lightning-quick shadow, freeing the prisoners from their cells lining the room…
Titanus lights himself on fire and leaps into the pit, only to discover that those creatures down there are rust monsters!…
Grug’s mighty executioner’s axe rusts away before him, and with murder in his eyes, he tears out the creature’s antenna. Meanwhile, Titanus draws his enchanted blade from its velcro sports sheath…
Larc sprints into action, dashing across the sand towards that glinting object, when an invisible force lifts him off the ground with crushing force, and a puncture wound appears in his gut…
A siren blaring in the background, Grug’s hammer connects with the chin of one of the many goblins, launching it into the ceiling, where its skull shatters, and blood and brains rain down upon the melee…
Titanus shoves his swords into the eyes of one goblin, while another across the room buckles and falls to its knees, Larc drawing his dagger from its spine…
This session of XCrawl was brought to you by our sponsor, Red Unicorn: it’ll give you health and wings!
I almost leveled up twice, Titanus did not have very good luck
Yes, great fun! I also had an additional thought here. We lost track of the audience a bit into the game, but they could have a huge effect on us depending on our favor with them. Perhaps they have a collective vote to set off environmental hazards as we fight the creatures within a room. Especially since Titanus decided to piss off the crowd on a regular basis. That could have impacted the indirect difficulty he faced in each room, or hindered us all by making a golden button raise up on a spiked platform rather than being easily reachable from the ground. On the flip side, we could beseech the crowd to help us, which based on a roll or the GM’s favor discretion, could be a turning point in any situation.
This could even be a specific move developed for this particular game.
When you beseech the crowd for a favor, roll+CHA. On 10+, you get what you need. On 7-9, they first demand a task of you, the GM will tell you what. On a 6-, they decide to go against what you want and make it more difficult.
That’s a really cool idea! Goes well with the Gladiator’s Grandstanding move. Maybe we can try it next session.
This sounds like a roaring good time. Wish I could be a player in a game like this! I will live vicariously through your session snippets. Thank you for sharing =D
Did anyone make fun of the Paladin’s name? XD
Nah, we had too many other things about him to make fun of. Why do you ask?
Guy MacDonnell Hey Titanous is great name!
Oh also I cant believe you didn’t mention how I got set on fire a second time. Still im standing by that it was worth it. That goblin was a jerk
It was running away and you hurled a longsword into its back…
Cowards need to be eliminated
Damian Jankowski
The pitfighter has specific moves that interact with the crowd. He fights better when people cheer him on.
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/119947/The-Pit-Fighter-Dungeon-World-Playbook
I haven’t seen the Pit Fighter yet, but I imagine it has too much overlap with the Gladiator to make it practical to include both in a starting party.
I havent seen the gladiator. Do you have a link?
Kaillan Reukers does, he played our Ogre Gladiator.