I’ve been working on this for a little while, thought I’d share how it’s looking now. As before, it’s really an homage to some of the great detectives of film and literature. I think it captures that feel pretty well, all in all.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzuG4my2HZ_fZGtJeEx0bTdTdk0/edit?usp=docslist_api
Any thoughts are greatly appreciated! I’d love to see this thing in action!
Two things,
#1 why is this character part of a dungeon raiding group of adventurers?
#2 I think the option to just declare something as true about a character might break what you are allowed to say about the world. Also it should only work on NPCs for obvious reasons.
It pairs well with my investigate a scene move, though.
I agree with #2 only working on npcs, though. Except during bond creation, I could see it working then.
Could be automatic on NPCs, and ‘mark experience if you accept’ for PCs.
Alberto Muti You know, I had just assumed the target would be NPCs to begin with (which I should have made clear in the move itself), but, I really like the suggestion to mark XP if the affected player accepts the fact as true. I may just add that in there – thanks!
Incidentally, I am also thinking I should change the move to read ‘minor fact’ which may play into what Tim was saying.
Stephanie Bryant, has the move been posted, would like to see it!
Tim Franzke given the rather extensive definition of ‘dungeon’ and the many different genres I’ve seen touched on in the tavern, I think this class could certainly fill a role depending on the type of game. I’ll grant you that it (likely) makes no sense in a standard dungeon crawl game, but I’d say there are many, many formats beyond that.
Still a bit of a WIP, but it’s here: http://www.mortaine.com/blog/portfolio/investigate-a-scene-a-dungeon-world-hack/
Really, if a player decides to play The Investigator, isn’t it up to them and their bonds as to why they are in a dungeoneering party?
There are a couple of moves that reference Preparation, but I think I’m missing what that is for, exactly?
Mitchell Broesder, hey, this comes up a lot! Check page 79 of the core book for the move “bolster.” that’s where preparation comes from. I think I’m going to start making a reference this page in everything I make 🙂 hope that helps!
Basically, it lets you add +1 to any roll. But it’s pretty time consuming to acquire.
That having been said, I think it’s a great fictional device! I also think it’s criminally underused and under- known , so I try and fit it in wherever I think it might be useful.
Ah, I see now! I feel like it might be interesting to give the class some other effects to spend preparation on? A +1 is nice but it’s not very exciting fictionally, and I feel like there’s still space in the detective trope you might be able to mine for options.
Mitchell Broesder I’ve been doing some drafting and redrafting and giving it some thought – For the time being (while I think more on it), I’ve added a clause to Vice and Virtue so that the player will have to explain how their boundless levels of insight have provided them an advantage. That having been said, I think I’m in basic agreement that there are some other aspects of the detective trope I could be mining for. I’m thinking about the benefits of further adding to the class versus putting more in simply to ‘put more in.’
A basic +1 to a roll isn’t necessarily the sexiest thing in the world, but much of the fun comes from how you get those +1’s, after all =) – besides, I do like to think much of the rest of the playbook avoids the problem of flat bonuses. and honestly, with D4 damage and 4+Constitution HP, this class probably needs the push. 😉
Still, its food for continued thought and I appreciate your feedback!
as far as it goes and for all others interested, here’s a “final” working draft for the class:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzuG4my2HZ_fVTRpUHlyd0MtNU0/view?usp=sharing
Quick question- how do you define an adventure for Die Hard? One case from the casebook? One Front defeated? Since you were last in town? It’s a little unclear. Otherwise, I quite like it- I think I’m going to drop it in my game as an option, I’ll report back how it does if someone picks it up.
Hey +Skyler Crossman, thanks for the kind words! And if you manage to get any data, I’d love to hear it!
You’re right to point out that that part of “Die Hard” was left intentionally vague. When I wrote it as “adventure”, I had intended it to mean (more or less) “each discreet narrative arc within an overall campaign.” In many ways, it is meant for the player and GM to decide. This is most definitely vague, as you point out, but I think narratively important.
So you would also be right when you ask if a casebook case counted as an adventure as, at least from my perspective, it does. Certainly, I think in most cases, completion of a front would also qualify.
Really, it was a conceit made to track the feel of a noir detective (the narrative root of that move). In all the stories/movies I (re)visited when writing this, the protagonist often has one catastrophic brush with death, only to return/survive, albeit beaten and bruised. Rarely do they have more than that during their film or story.
So, rather than prescribe exactly when the move recharged, I felt it more appropriate for the recharge to track a given game’s narrative. In my opinion, this keeps the noir feel, and let’s the GM and player come together to define the most appropriate narrative bounds for the move.
Hopefully this helps, but do let me know if it’s too murky for your tastes, as I’m always looking to refine.