Sorry, I have a second question: How are investigating adventures played with DW. I plan to make something Victorian-sherlock-holmes-like. Are the Basic Moves for Discern Realities and Spout Lore ideal for searching clues and deduction?
Sorry, I have a second question: How are investigating adventures played with DW.
Sorry, I have a second question: How are investigating adventures played with DW.
No, if the players are smart they can solve any mystery case whit just one or two die rolls.
Not entirely, dw is about going into dungeons, all the classes and moves are focused that way, you can try your holmes game, but it will be an odd fit.
Better would be to examine what a holmes mystery is about, and develop moves to follow the fiction you’re trying to present. Watson isn’t a fighter who also knows how to heal you. He’s a veteran soldier, trying to make good as a physician (the approach to basic and class moves needs to be different)
Holmes is not a wizard or bard, though he does things that seem that way at times.
Look at the core character archetypes and what they are about, create moves from there.
Good luck!
They’re pretty good! I mean, the whole game is set up for exploring dungeons and fighting monsters, but if you want, it’ll truck along with it.
The best thing about the way it handles searching for clues and such is the players get to ask something from the list that interests them, and the GM has to answer honestly.
As an aside: Spout Lore is all about what your character knows, its perfect for pulling information out of thin air to keep the story going.
Picture this:
GM: You see the aether-train Fafnir pull into the station, smoke and ghosts spewing out.
PLAYER: What is that thing running on? Ghosts in the smoke? What!
GM: Well, you live here, you must know something, Spout Lore!
PLAYER: Right, I rolled a 9.
GM: Everyone knows the trains attract ghosts, because the engines run on aether- the stuff of life. The ghosts cling to it to last a little longer in this world. The actual mechanics of it all alludes you though.
PLAYER: Of course!
Had the player rolled higher, the GM would also have to show how these facts are useful, right now. Such as saying that this “aether” could be used by some criminal to lure a ghost into a trap, or whatever the plot is!
Think of the mystery as a dungeon, or a front. What are the threats? What are the grim portents? What happens if they don’t solve it? Discern reality, spout lore, parley, and defy danger all have a place in this.
There are other *W games that might be easier to adapt, if you choose that route.