So I’m working on a compendium class to make available to my Thief who has started listening to an intelligent (and cursed) dagger and our last session ended with him murdering a pirate lord who had been prepared as a sacrifice on a place of power, but tuning the ritual into the dagger instead of it’s intended target.
Basically, his action gives him a bond with his dagger, “I have much to learn from my dagger ” and he can now make bonds with his dagger instead of his allies. The overall motif of the powers will be shadow based and allow the thief to move through shadow and command shadow, sort of a shadowdancer concept. My idea was that any abilities granted by this class will have him roll + his bond with the dagger instead of a stat.
My question is: is using Bond as a stat interesting or is it just taking away from opportunities to have connection to other players at the table? My idea was that I get to write the bonds when he makes one with the dagger, so that if he wants XP from completing those bonds, I can shape/encourage him to behave a certain way. It puts the reins in his hands. If he wants to reliably use the abilities of the dagger, he plays to the desires of the controlling spirit. I’m trying to simulate the temptation of an outside influence that way.
What do you think?
I think this idea is fine. The thief has 4 bonds. If he wants a +3 with the dagger then he needs to give up relationship to all but 1 ally.
On the other hand i would give them at least 1 move that links to another stat. Lets say DEX or CHA. Just to give them another option that is still in line with the theme.
I also really like this trigger for a CC, that is exactly what they are there for.
Have you seen the Bearer CC in the Kickstarter CC book? It’s free on the Dungeon World website, and it’s kind of what you’re looking for. It also uses + Bond, so I’d say it’s an acceptable mechanic.
In fact this bond idea proposes a great reflection of intelligent items. The more the thief bonds with this artifact, the more he withdraws from (read: loses bonds with) his friends.
The Bearer was actually one of my mechanical inspirations for this concept, but I wanted to tie specific abilities to this particular item. I’m thinking about making a set of these daggers which lead to Compendium Classes that have a similar skeleton structure and different specific abilities. My major thematic inspiration is the Knights of the Blackened Denarius from the Dresden Files novels and how each one offers power at a cost, but have unique personality and ability.
cool thing.
One thing that I might add is a “negative” move…
“When the dagger makes an immediate demand of you, roll+bonds. On a miss, do as you please. On a 7-9, mark XP if you do it. On a 10+, mark XP if you do it and take -1-forward if you don’t.”
Although, this might be a bit too much for some players, but if the other powers make up for it it could be fun! 🙂
no. that is exactly the kind of thing you want.
That is a great idea! Definitely going to include that.
Oh man, rolling +bond just solved a problem I didn’t even know I had with something I’m writing up.
A mage with fairly far reaching freeform magic, fueled by mana (roll for hold, spend 1 for 1)
I’ve been wanting to divorce INT from magic for more character variety and using +bonds works great for this!
This is also good for illustrating how a mage gets isolated from “normal” reality as they gain power (a Fictional element I was having trouble expressing in the class before)