Not very original, but I just penned my first custom move…
Leverage Experience
When you lean on experience to improve your chances, spend 1 XP: In return, take +1 forward to re-roll a miss. Narrate how your experience (a recent failure, etc.) is a boon. If you miss again, tough luck: Do not mark XP. Maybe you haven’t learned that much after all… (This move can be used just once per action.)
That’s cool! I think I might strip it down to one or the other, though–substantial enough to be something interesting, not so bulky that it weighs the game down.
Andy Hauge I agree it’s slightly messy. It’s two flavours because ultimately, I couldn’t decide which one I preferred. 🙂 Thanks!
I think I’d use the second version: XP is a precious resource, and I’d much rather not spend XP and not have it matter. Much better to spend XP to hopefully succeed at something I failed at. It also means you get to tie it to the “near miss” idea.
Agreed. Now that I think of it, the other flavour kind of impinges on Bolster‘s territory anyway.
Ok, removed this version:
“When you leverage experience to improve your chances before making a move, spend 1 or 2 XP to take +1 or +2 forward. Narrate how your experience (a recent failure, etc.) is guiding you now. If you miss anyway, tough luck: Do not mark XP. Perhaps you haven’t learned as much as you thought.”
Thanks, Andy Hauge !
When there is a single pool for buying permanent benefits (levels) and temporary benefits (a bonus to a roll), players have incentive to avoid the temporarily benefits.
+1 is worth, at best, a 1/6 improvement in your odds of getting at least a 7. That’s only happens when there is a −1 modifier to start, otherwise the benefit is smaller. About 1/12th of a level for a one time 1/6th improvement to a roll seems pretty pricey.
Spending before rolling rubs some players very wrong. At best, 13/18ths of the time the final result will not change. For some players this feels like a wasted expenditure and is very frustrating.
Yeah, I think that’s why the “reroll a miss” option feels better to me. When you have a hard move dangling above you, it’s tempting to spend your XP to change that. (I wonder–you might even be okay making it work like Monster of the Week’s “luck”: when you draw on your experience in the face of sudden danger, you can spend 1 XP to turn a miss into a 10+.)
Hmm… That might take some of the fun out of it for me, I think. I’d rather put the players in a spot where they choose whether or not to gamble with their XP, not just pay for success outright. I would even consider adding a clause like “and take +1 forward for the re-try” to sweeten the deal. 🙂
I think it’d definitely take the gamble element out of it, but that means it turns it into a more deliberate choice. Is it really worth it to spend that XP now, or do you save it to level up? Do you really want to spend that XP?
True. But with a “sure 10” I feel like there would have to be a bunch of other restrictions to keep the move from being over-powered in certain contexts: Last Breath, Hack & Slash when < 5 HP, etc.?
I really like the idea of being able to spend an XP to re-roll a miss. I think it is plenty balanced that way. Spending XP won’t be taken lightly, especially since it isn’t guaranteed. Not a fan of the XP = Auto 10. That feels imbalanced to me. Likewise not a fan of spending XP for a +1 to a pending roll. That doesn’t feel worth it and probably wouldn’t see use by my players.
Thanks, Chris McGee! How do you feel about the current version – as written: that is, a simple re-roll (with +1) on a miss? I’m not sure the +1 is that helpful… but might make people feel better about wagering the point for (a shot at) a better outcome.
What iconic class owns this move? Why does the X class have this move? How does it fit into the fiction?
At my table, we’d use this as a Basic Move.
Totally a basic move. The +1 idea isn’t bad, considering the epic nature you’re sponsoring with the move to begin with. I’m going to add it next session for my table and see how it goes.