Getting ready to fire up a game of Dungeon World with my group.

Getting ready to fire up a game of Dungeon World with my group.

Getting ready to fire up a game of Dungeon World with my group. One of the players is wanting to play an Assassin. Anyone know of any good Assassin playbooks out there? Thanks in advance!

12 thoughts on “Getting ready to fire up a game of Dungeon World with my group.”

  5. Also, some fellow named Fenarisk was working on an Assassin playbook:

    “The Assassin

    Damage: d6

    Health: 6+Con

    Alignment

    Good: Perform an assassination on an evil, corrupt, or dangerous target

    Neutral: Perform an assassination due to business or orders

    Evil: Perform an assassination for purely selfish reasons

    Race

    Elf: When performing assassinations in natural areas, you are easily concealed any time of day

    Human: When performing assassinations in public areas, it is harder for witnesses to identify you

    Halfling: You are able to build rapport with targets and their allies easier than most

    Starting Moves

    Death Dealer

    Whenever you successfully attack a target, you may gain 1 Mark. All Marks are lost when danger is no longer present. Marks may be spent one-for-one on the following:

    -Make a deadly strike that ignores armor

    -perfectly parry an attack, taking no damage

    -instantly dispatch a humanoid target that has a third or less of its maximum hitpoints.

    -Grant +1 forward to any ally attacking your targets

    The World is My Weapon

    You are always considered to be armed, and any weapon with the hand quality can always be concealed on your person with no chance of discovery.

    Unblinking Eye

    When you take time to research a target, name the person you wish to learn about and ask the GM these questions. When acting on the answers you and your allies take +1 forward.

    -When are they vulnerable?

    -Who are their allies? Who would pay to see them dead?

    -What is the greatest obstacle I would have to overcome to reach them?

    One With the Crowd

    When you attempt to mask your presence in a group of people, the environment, or any advantageous surroundings whether in danger or not, roll +INT. On a 10+ pick 3, on a 7-9 pick 1.

    -The target doesn’t feel like they are being watched or followed

    -There isn’t any undue attention brought upon you by someone or something else

    -You don’t lose something or someone important

    -You heal 1d4 damage

    Advanced Moves

    Improved Death Dealer

    The following may be spent for 2 Marks a piece:

    -Inflict a debility on a target

    -Deal an additional +1d6 damage

    -Perform a feint, allowing a nearby ally to instantly attack the target

    The Slow Bleed

    All allies that attack a target after the Assassin has struck gain +1 forward to Hack & Slash

    Nothing Gets In My Way

    When thwarted from an Assassination with an oath or contract left to fulfill, gain +1 forward on all actions made to reconcile the assassination. Until it is complete all other actions receive -1 forward.

    Opportunist

    When taking advantage of an ally’s attack as an immediate followup, deal +1d4 damage.

    Always An Out

    Something about your luck supersedes even the best casing of a location. There is often a fortunate way out, hiding place, or way to lie low to keep you from death’s cold grasp.

    The Cold Truth

    When attacking targets that are unaware of your presence or intent, deal +2 damage.

    And a taste of a Compendium Class (name not yet figured out):

    Leader of Shadows

    When calling on your old allies, fresh young recruits, or the aid of your Assassin’s Guild as reinforcements, roll +CHA. On a 10+ pick 2, on a 7-9 pick 1:

    -They come exactly when you need them

    -They come without bringing unwanted attention to themselves and you

    -They come fresh and capable without previous injuries “

  6. Thanks! Alex Norris that’s fantastic. When I read ⃞Adumbration I wanted to wet myself. Super great! Hey Tim Jensen have you played any of those books, or used them? I have no problem paying a few bucks for a good class playbook but I don’t want to grab it unless someone tells me it’s good. I’ve seen some really shoddy class builds if you know what I mean.

  7. I’m not up on alternate playbooks, but the vanilla Thief actually does a good job of this, depending on how you play them. To play an assassin-styled Thief, use moves to sneak around (so much Defy Danger!) and prepare for Backstab. If you pick Serpent’s Tears as their favored poison, that Backstab can deal an incredibly horrendous amount of damage. 🙂

    Also, the Neutral alignment move is tailor-made for assassins: avoid detection, infiltrate a place.

    Leveling up, the player should look at moves like Cheap Shot, Shoot First, Envenom, Brewer, Escape Route, and Disguise. Stuff that lets them make poisons and avoid detection (and strike from the shadows).

  9. The assassin on DTRPG that Tim Jensen linked is mine, and is the exact same playbook that I just linked. The bundle also includes a CC version of the assassin (which is just four of the moves put into the CC format) and the City Thief, both of which can also be found on my profile if you don’t want to pay for them (along with the Shaman, which I also wrote, and my Peerless Fighter variant class).

    If we’re doing random recommendations, I can rec anything anything by Jacob Randolph (Inverse World, the various Mages, the Dashing Hero, the Witch), Andri Erlingsson (the Elf/Dwarf/Halfling), Josh Krutt’s Initiate and most of Adrian Thoen’s stuff from that list (although his “monster” playbooks – Fae/Giant/etc. – might not fit with your “standard” DW game). Not on sale but also fantastic are:

    – the Slayer by SA user Boing: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B94zELwEwdHsR3JTX1Vaek1FeHc/edit?pli=1 (it’s basically Geralt of Rivia)

    – the Gladiator by SA user GimpinBlack: http://www.mediafire.com/view/inz15vfdb2o7co5/The+DW+Gladiator.pdf

  10. Thanks Alex Norris , Tim Jensen and Andy Hauge . This is exactly what I needed. I agree, the vanilla thief has some good latitude to lean Assassin and that is honestly what I had planned to do if I hadn’t gotten any good leads, but there’s tons of great stuff out there. I’m headed to RPGNow to grab those playbooks as I write this.

  11. Alex Norris and Tim Jensen  So, yeah, thanks for draining my wallet. 🙂 I just grabbed The Old School Bundle, Class Bundle 2, Playbook Collection and The Guest Star playbook, and yes, The Assassin. Honestly, after looking at it, I think my player will be best suited by using the Vanilla DW Assassin, and then playing his way into the Assassin CC as included with Alex’s Assassin books. I think it will be more enjoyable for him to “become” an Assassin through play than to just pick the class. Thanks again everyone!

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