Need feedback on a move, particularly the part about monsters breaking it. It seemed like a good way to simulate a more powerful monster breaking through after a few hits, but your average goblin warlock cant. Should I drop the numbers and the bit about the tag and just say “a very powerful magical creature can overcome the ward with enough force”? That seems too vague to me.
Hold Portal
When you mark a ward of protection on a portal (door, window, gate, ect), roll +WIS. ✴On a 10+, you place a strong ward, it will last at least a week, maybe longer. ✴On a 7-9, the ward is not strong; it will last as long as you stay nearby and concentrate on it, but as soon as you stop, it will quickly collapse. While active, no creature other than yourself can pass through that portal unless they speak your name aloud first. Creatures with the +Magical tag can break the ward; roll their damage, 12 or higher breaks the ward.
Why not somehow tie it to the creature’s size?
My beef is the underlying assumption that the raw magical power required to break through the ward can only be represented by a high damage die, when the Wizard (arguably the most powerful magic user in the setting, certainly assumed so from a thematic standpoint) only rocks a d4. Or the Thief, who is all about breaking through wards and only does a d8.
Vague is actually good; it leaves more narrative wiggle room, for sneaky things to break through for example. Also, why would you have someone with this move roll the damage for a monster to break through off screen? That lets them know about things they shouldn’t know about in character.
Edit: they should probably be able to set a custom password for each cast. A name isn’t particularly secure.
All that aside, the basic idea is cool. Is there a reason it’s a move rather than a spell, though? It doesn’t seem quite like it would come up often enough to devote a level up to it.
As a follow up to James Etheridge’s point about why a spell versus a move: why use +WIS to roll? If a monster broke through, would their damage be done to the caster?
Mechanically, it seems very similar to a spell, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t be +INT instead.
Your move seems a little wordy.
Since the outcome of the roll is what creates the next part of the story, you’re better off keeping everything as vague as possible while still staying on-theme. All the other stuff you mention is really at the hands of the GM and table dynamic.
Like, the GM moves can totally cover that bit about monsters with the magical tag.
(eg. The demon comes up and slams the barrier, what do you do?) should be all you’d need in that situation.
Here’s what I’d do:
You Shall Not Pass!
When you mark a ward of protection onto a portal (door, window, gate, ect), roll +WIS.
On a 10+, it’ll hold together just as long as you need it to.
On a 7-9, choose one:
• It’ll work, but not for long. You’ll need to hurry to take advantage of it
• It works, but there’s a weird quirk or complication to it
Your move has some strong points, such as needing a name to pass, or specific tags to get thru.
I’d say, keep these and remove the damage roll (saying instead “you need at least 2 tags among … Large, magical, divine, ecc), and the specific duration.
As for being too vague, the Principles should protect coherency and the players.
I do wish DW had a concept like hit dice to let me crisply describe “sufficiently powerful creatures”, like it would also be really nice to have a way to say the Sleep spell didn’t affect dragons or vampires for instance.
Well, the Sleep spell doesn’t affect vampires or dragons. Both are highly magical, and one is undead. 😉
colin roald Draft versions of DW did have HD (well, monster level) but it was scrapped because that didn’t map to the fiction at all. I hear what you’re saying, but I think they made the right call.
Dylan Knight As for this move, I definitely think you should drop the damage die. And I don’t think you need to make an exception for power at all. A magic ward like this should work unless you do it wrong or aren’t strong enough.
I’d write it more like this:
When you mark a portal (door, window, gate, etc), with a ward of protection, roll +WIS.
✴On a 10+, for as long as the mark remains, no creature other than yourself can pass through the portal or touch the ward unless they speak your true and secret name.
✴On a 7-9, the ward’s magic lasts only as long as you stay nearby and it requires your concentration and force of will to keep a powerful creature out.
Christopher Stone-Bush — Sleep makes no reference to “highly magical”; it only says “creatures capable of sleeping”. And if you tell me dragons and vampires don’t sleep, I’ll simply have to tell you you’re wrong.
Jeremy Strandberg I get what you’re saying, though I would personally argue that having a measure of “creature more powerful than you” does map to something in the fiction, even if it’s intangible.
James Etheridge, to be fair, the Wizard does have access to Counterspell and Dispel Magic, which can make any need to do direct damage to the ward irrelevant.
colin roald You familiar with Torchbearer? It uses a Might scale that does that, determining which types of conflicts are feasible. I’ve rolled around something like this for a DW/AW hack, but never really did anything with it. Here’s the text from Torchbearer:
The Scale
1. Critters, kobolds
2. People, goblins, frog people
3. Adventurers, orcs, gnolls, horses, dire wolves
4. Bugbears, giant spiders, owlbears
5. Ogres, trolls, young dragons
6. Dragons, hill giants
7. Ancient dragons, storm giants, gods
8. Elder gods
– You may capture creatures equal to or less than your Might.
– You may attack and kill creatures up to one order higher than you on the scale.
– You may drive off creatures up to two higher than you on the order.
– You may wage war against creatures up to three points higher than you on the scale—provided you have an army, of course.
– You may flee, convince, trick or riddle with any creature.
Thanks everybody, appreciate the comments. Gonna go back to basics on this and incorporate some the suggestions above
Updated version, much happier with it after I got your input.
Hold Portal
When you mark a ward of protection on a portal (door, window, gate, ect), no one can pass through except for yourself, or any creature that speaks your name first. Roll +WIS. ✴On a 10+, choose two options below. ✴On a 7-9, choose one.
• You don’t need to concentrate to maintain it.
• It’s strong enough to hold even mighty creatures (ie: demon, dragon, lich).
• If you close your eyes, you can see the area as if you were there.
To answer previous comments, the bit about the name in there is because there is a risk to rune work in this game, it can’t be done secretly, a name is always involved. Note that it doesn’t say true name – many of the wise will develop other names and epithets that they can use instead. The WIS roll is because the actual rune in not complicated, it’s more intense focus and concentration to empower it. I’ve added in the sensory component to help as well, I see it as the magical equivalent of peering through the keyhole.
Looks good, but I think you need to reword the trigger.
Hold Portal
When you mark a ward of protection on a portal, roll +WIS. On a 7+, no one can pass through the portal except yourself, or someone who speaks your name. On a 10+, choose two , and on a 7-9, choose one:
• you don’t need to concentrate to maintain the ward;
• it’s strong enough to prevent even mighty creatures from entering;
• if you close your eyes, you can see the area as if you were there.