Please bear in mind that this is being written by someone who hasn’t played and was asking for clarification to understand the rules, like, yesterday (and probably won’t get to play soon, baby due any week).
I was thinking about how Dungeon World and the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG’s wizard patrons could be used in tandem, and this is what I’ve got so far:
Patron-Bound
When you engage in the required rituals to commune with a supernatural patron (demon, demigod, or alien entity) and pledge your service in exchange for power, you may take this move the next time you level up:
Invoke Patron – When you call upon your patron to bolster your power, roll +Wis. *On 10+, choose two. *On 7-9, choose one. *On 6-, your calls fall on deaf ears.
*You gain +2 forward to cast a spell
*Your patron doesn’t give you a task to complete
*You don’t gain patron taint (mutation)
As long as you have a task for your patron incomplete, you cannot call on them for further power.
If you have invoked the name of your patron in exchange for power, the next time you level up you can take a Patron spell in place of a regular spell. All patrons have a 1st, 3rd, and 5th level spell.
Nice idea.
My primary question is, are there any possible benefits to “Invoke Patron” other than the option to gain +2 forward to cast a spell? Otherwise, I see a problem with the choice given to the player on a 10+. Essentially, they can either avoid all negative effects (chose options 2 + 3), or they can get a positive effect and a negative effect. As a player, I’m not really sure why I would use this ability, because in just about every case, it will probably hurt me.
Maybe have only one negative choice and 2 positive? That way, if you get a 7-9, your choice is between getting what you want and having a bad thing happen, or keeping bad things from happening and not getting what you want.
Tyler Lanser Valid point and I’ve been wondering about it myself. I’ve been leaning toward upping the positive effect all the way to plus three, since the fiction should reflect patrons as demanding beings, since it’s more of a business relationship than a faith/loyalty thing, but I was also thinking about this – let me know your thoughts (this assumes bonuses forward stack):
10+ Choose 3, 7-9, Choose 2:
*Take +2 forward to cast a spell
*Take +1 forward to cast a spell
*Patron doesn’t give you a task
*You don’t take patron taint
EDIT: Also, this is my hack at writing a generic version, I’m sure a lot of DCC patrons have some cool effects on their Invoke Patron results that could be incorporated into a DW move version. But bonuses to things are def most common invoke patron result, and subsequent access to patron spells are added benefit.
Actually, I might re-word it to something like:
10+ : Take +2 (could adjust up to +3, season to taste) forward to cast a spell
7-9: Take +2 (or 3) forward to cast a spell, but your Patron is displeased (so, the GM adds in a complication here)
I think it fits a bit better thematically to let the GM come up with the “bad thing” instead of the player essentially choosing which bad thing they get, since in DCC, it’s determined by the dice.
Though, your version isn’t bad. There at least is a way for a 10+ to possibly hurt you a bit if you want to go all-out, which isn’t bad, but a +1 vs a task/taint? Not sure if I would take the +1 option, making it possibly a non-choice.
Tyler Lanser Yeah, that does sound better. The more I think about it, I was starting to lean toward 10+ get both, 7-9, pick one:
*Get +2 forward to spells
*Don’t get patron taint
And just leave the patron gives you a task portion to GM story development … maybe the Patron becomes a front?
John Carr I could see that, though I feel like the GM’s agendas and moves are also a great guideline for patron taint as well. It is tempting to pull in a DCC taint table for inspiration, though
Tyler Lanser Yeah, again though I am speaking from a position of only having read and not played, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the GM looking at or making the player roll on a random table for some inspiration/guidance