Another thought: Does anyone else’s group prefer to use miniatures and a battlemat? I found weapon ranges easy to convert to squares but it was weird trying to handle precise movement.
Another thought: Does anyone else’s group prefer to use miniatures and a battlemat?
Another thought: Does anyone else’s group prefer to use miniatures and a battlemat?
Use the minis if you have to but lose the grid. It will mess up your thinking and put you in a tactical grid based mini game state of mind which is detrimental to DW’s cinematic fiction comes first state of mind.
Poster above deserves a cookie. Personally, the lack of the grid is what makes DW combat so much fun.
Minis + whiteboard, yo.
While I prefer pure narration, sometimes it is easier to quickly sketch a rough map onto some scrap paper. People’s positions are dots that get scratched out as they move, or get scribbled out in red when they die.
I won’t tell you to not use a gridded battle mat, Matt Horam. Do whatever you and your group feel comfortable with. But I do agree with both Wynand Louw and Kasper Brohus Allerslev that using squares can cause you to think tactically rather than cinematically, and that the lack of a grid is what makes DW so appealing to me.
I totally agree, but the ever-present “how far can I move and still act?” question happens regardless of the grid.
We don’t use the minis at home but my workmates are fond of them.
The answer to that question is “As far as makes sense based on what you’re trying to do/what would be awesome.”
I like having some kind of platform to ground the shared imagined space, even in a game like DW.
I don’t do anything real elaborate, I just have really crude positioning on the tabletop with little card tents for each PC on the table. I use dice to represent the monsters, with the hit point count facing up on the die.
Sometimes I’ll throw out terrain features as well. “This coke can is the evil altar, and this pair of pencils is the airlock.”
I draw crude maps and use tokens or just pencil dot for the carahters.
“Elhohiir show me where are you, please. Ok, if you attack wirling your axe you will end something like… here, right?”
No squares, just rough maps.
Matt Horam When a player asks how far he can move, ask him to tell you what he wants to do. If that is not immediately possible, don’t tell him he fails, tell him the consequences or requirements and ask him what he wants to do instead or how he deals with it.
One of my players has a rather large assortment of minis…I think its nice to give them an outing. I don’t really find myself wanting to count squares or anything.
I like minis and plan to use my new Dwarven Forge stuff with DW.
For movement, eyeball it and ignore the grid. If you want to measure movement, pick a rate (6 inches?) and use a tape measure so it’s freeform. But how about this:
When you try to get someplace in time, roll +Dex:
On 10+, you end up where you wanted
On 7-9 choose 1:
– you don’t get where you wanted to go
– you don’t get there in time
– you are put in a spot
Naturally if time is not important you just walk over.
Not to be “That Guy” but the move you’ve suggested can already be covered by Defy Danger, Mike Harvey. 😉
Christopher Stone-Bush it could, and in this case you should. Mike Harvey’s move is a failure on a 7-9 unless you choose to be put in a spot.
Ah, good point Kasper Brohus Allerslev. If you want to use that move, Mike Harvey (which you totally could), you’d need to change the first two options. Something like “You have to drop or leave behind something important to get there.” and “You get where you intended, but you’re winded.”
Always keep in mind that you are not tracking time, actions or turns. The question being asked of you is one based on games that do. The only real question if there is a distance to close is whether there are any dangers to defy in getting there. If they are moving toward an enemy, the enemy may engage by moving toward them as well, in a cinematic “300” dual charge.
I’m leaning towards the Numenera model, which is move a bit and act or just move a bit more, but roll to move a lot. Numenera uses 2/10/20 but I think 4/8/9+ should do it. I have and will apply every suggestion here either at home or work, and so I thank you.
I like to use a dry-erase board for a rough diagram that allows the players to see relative positioning but doesn’t draw too much attention away from the verbal description.
I haven’t adopted any sort of move rate specifically to help prevent my players from thinking in terms of “turns”. If a player describes an action that seems like it would take “some” time I tell them so and move on to other players. The other night the thief wanted to get over to a mysterious idol I said was a few hundred feet away. I asked how she was moving. She said she was sort of jogging but looking out for danger. I said no problem and focused on the other four players for a few minutes before getting back to her.
I love the fact that everything in DW doesn’t take 6 seconds. Sometimes the fighter has a couple of Hack & Slashes while the ranger is climbing a tree and the druid is performing first aid on an NPC.
I use a gridless whiteboard and little mini’s, though not for every situation. I enjoy creating complex situations with multiple elevations, obstacles, and my monsters use tactics. So having something to track a chaotic situation is often a boon.
I did not suggest defy danger because there is no danger to defy, and nothing happened to you. Therefore defy danger is not triggered.
I was trying to think of good consequences for 7-9 and failed. Christopher Stone-Bush offered some nice ones though.
You could always say that the danger is NOT getting there in time. Now defy it.
If there is no danger in getting somewhere why trigger a Move? You simply get there when it seems like enough time has passed to resonably get from point A to point B given the fictional terrain, distance, and the character’s condition.
I use Defy Danger as a catch all for “actions that should not be an automatic success, but don’t fall under another move”. I realize not everyone looks at things that way, and people have different interpretations of what exactly counts as “danger”.
But John Lewis nailed it. If the player wants to move, and there is nothing preventing them from getting to their destination, no consequence resulting from them moving, or no issue of time involved, then the character simply moves. No move triggers, and no dice are rolled. If they’re covering a large distance, then maybe other characters can do multiple things before the moving character finishes, simulating how much time they’re taking to get to their destination.
But if there is a chance of them not getting to their destination, if there is a consequence resulting from them moving, or if there is an issue of time involved, all of those can easily become the “danger” for a Defy Danger move.
Trying to cross a slippery ice bridge, a large patch of loose gravel, or a hallway covered in caltrops? Defy Danger if you want to move faster than a crawl. Trying to get to your buddy so you can help them deal with a Troll Berserker when you’re already fighting one of its friends? Defy Danger to avoid its attack when you disengage. Wizard just get knocked down by a sweep of the red dragon’s tail? Defy Danger to get there in time before the monster turns and lets loose a gout of flame from its maw.
One of the hardest adjustments I had to make for DW was not making players roll for every “little” thing.
John Lewis Yeah, mine too. It was Tim Franzke who adviced me to make GM moves instead of using defy danger for everything.