Originally shared by Kris Miller
Feel free to put critique in here.
I will say that the reason behind forcing the Compendium Class on the character, as well as resetting their experience to 0, is based upon the fact that the ONLY way you can get this Compendium Class is to die and fail your Last Breath roll. Your character is already dead, so I don’t feel that forcing this on them is terrible.
It also fits within the lore of the world that we are playing in (Quintus is attempting to overthrow Death and is recruiting via this method). The players love the idea so far, but this is the first time I’m actually hammering down the mechanics.
THAT ALL BEING SAID, I’m open to all critique, particularly about resetting experience to 0. Some might lose 1 xp, some might lose 6, which is a bit uneven, of course.
Dirk Detweiler Leichty Alexander Glenn David Morris
Also, this is my first post like this, showing any sort of mechanics, and I’m nervous as hell that it’s going to be torn apart 😀 Hehe.
Nice compendium class.
Definitely a one-way driver for the fiction: once a character takes the ‘Your Soul Belongs to Quintus’ move it’s only a matter of time before everyone works for Quintus. I like that Gladiators, while easy to raise, also fade in power quickly.
The intro felt a little clunky. Possible alternative wording:
You have have been marked by Quintus, pretender to the Throne of Death, for admission into his eternal army. When you take your Last Breath and roll a 6- Quintus restores you to unlife, reset your Experience to 0 and gain the following moves:
Also, what happens if you die after Quintus has restored you to (un)life?
– Does Quintus restore you again, automatically?
– Or does Quintus decide you are not worthy enough and consumes your soul?
Good call on the intro. I was overdoing it, which isn’t really in the spirit of things, is it? Dungeon World tends to give brief blurbs, and it’s up to you to fill in the blanks. 🙂
I hadn’t though about what happens after you die once you have this class. I’ll have to put some though into it, but I think perhaps Quintus does take your soul. I like that.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hlkwnbh8uvlrv4a/Legionnaire%20of%20Quintus%20%28Compendium%20Class%29%20PDF%20v1.1.pdf?dl=0
Some quick tweaks! Core mechanic changed a bit drastically (I posted this on my personal page and am getting feedback there too).
I preferred the earlier mechanic where the Gladiator loses 1 skill each time it assists you.
Regarding the SomethingAboutBeingSmarter move: suggest that you only use skill options that fit Quintus’s nature – this will give the gladiators a consistent theme that will make for richer, more memorable fiction.
As an alternative, what about a move that enables the gladiators to rise up from and sink back into the ground?
Also, highly recommend you playtest this before finalizing it.
Re: playtesting. Oh, of course 😀 This compendium class is being created because one of the players in my game died in our last session and failed his Last Breath. They had recently dealt with Quintus when he was a mortal(ish) necromancer, and I had decided he’d graduated to demigodhood, so I wanted to throw the situation out there. Since that was the last session of my game (rather, it wrapped up the storyline that was occurring), we haven’t revisited that character yet, so I’ve been working on this in the interim.
Re: losing skill. I’m torn. It’s hard to find the balance between too weak and overpowered. Dirk Detweiler Leichty was afraid that losing 1 skill each time it’s used was a bit too weak; basically, every time you kill someone, you’re getting a one-time bonus of one to armor or damage, so it was worried that it wasn’t enough. I kind of agreed, but was having a hard time figuring out what to do for it.
What do you think about the change to the creation and raising the skills? I think I prefer the “spend x soul” mechanic to the “spend 1 soul”. It makes it kind of fluid. Curious what your thought is 🙂
Following Quintus’s nature is a good idea, but there are just so few Hireling skills, and I’m trying to avoid bulking the class down with extra unique mechanics for the Hirelings. Perhaps only adding Adept (Quintus was, after all, an accomplished necromancer, and continues to use arcane magic to further his goals) and Burglar (he was also an experienced adventurer prior to becoming a necromancer, and it would make sense that he had a good sense about him for traps ‘n such). It doesn’t really make sense to add Priest, since he’s not a particularly caring or healing dude, and he wasn’t any sort of tracker or ranger. I also didn’t add Minstrel because I refuse to let a corpse have that ability lol
I like the summoning and dismissing thing a LOT! It helps differentiate between another character that has a sort of similar (but very different) follower. I’m going to work on that next!
So! That was a lot of text. Do you have an opinion on the “spend x soul” mechanic? I reeaaally like it, but wanna see what others think as well.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z1wei0uwvphrsls/Legionnaire%20of%20Quintus%20%28Compendium%20Class%29%20PDF%20v1.2.pdf?dl=0
Some more updates, specifically the “Dust to Dust” move.
Looking good.
Dust to Dust works as is, however as worded it comes across a bit dry. Also, the Moon Elf reference is out of place (though, no doubt, it makes sense in your campaign) – better to invoke Quintus directly (this maintains consistency and reinforces the theme of the compendium class).
Maybe something like:
When you speak the words of dismissal, your Gladiators sink into the ground and pass into Quintus’s realm to await your call. When you invoke the power of Quintus, Shadow Lord of the Dead, in a clear voice, your Gladiators rise out of the ground around you, ready to do your bidding.