Hi, everyone! My group and I are discussing the setting for my first ever DW campaign, and one thing we’ve determined is that each of the sapient races suffers under a certain curse. It developed from this whole backstory about twisted Mage-Kings, an inevitable uprising, you know the tropes.
I’ve set up some custom moves for the curses, and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Best intention seems odd to me. Say a character performs a task in an innovative way and rolls a 10+ as written, it seems identical to rolling a 7-9 in anyone else’s game (DM makes a soft move against the player). So, what happens when a player rolls a 7-9 while accomplishing a task innovatively? Does the DM get to pick two of those moves?
The plus 1 forward seems to be canceled out by the move the GM makes rendering success moot.
Also the term “moves” doesn’t quite seem right. I like what you wrote for the elves, but it reads to me like it is a bond or belief, not a move.
Dwarf and halfling text reads like specific defy danger moves and, to me, feel like they would get old fast depending on how often you called for them.
In none of the cases does it seem like the player gets to chose when he makes the move, but seem rather to be GM moves against the players. Which is fine, but realize they are GM moves and not player moves (except for the elf, which seems like alignment XP).
Best Intentions is definitely the one I’ve got the most trouble with. Everyone likes the idea of it – rewarding inventive solutions while bundling them with a negative fallout – but it always ends up looking like an extra GM move.
I could have the consequence bit only trigger on a 10+, but that feels more like a band-aid than a proper fix.
They still all read like GM moves. A player move would look as if best intentions were like a a thief’s disarm trap, I.e. Fixing something nobody thought could be fixed.
Best intentions: A player makes this move when something has gone horribly wrong and nobody knows what to do.
10+ it’s miraculously fixed! Take plus 1 forward and one of the downsides.
7-9 it’s miraculously y fixed, pick two down sides.
6 GM makes a hard move (I.e. You’ve made it worse).
I’m afraid I don’t get you. Are you saying these aren’t player moves because their effects are largely negative?
Upon reading them again, I think I understand your intent better. “Cursed” moves where even the 10+ have a GM move attached, but what’s the upside?
A 10+ grants a plus 1 forward, but also take 1d4 damage is basically a 7-9 roll in anyone else’s campaign. why would anyone use that move?
I mean, think about what a plus 1 forward means. It means that it hopefully stops a GM from making a move in the future…but to get that plus 1 forward you have to give the GM a move (d4 damage or d8 plus d4 damage). What if the dwarf used that plus 1 forward in hack and slash? What benefit could come of that?
Moves aren’t used willfully, they’re triggered by whatever happens in the fiction. You don’t declare a Hack & Slash move, the GM asks you to make it because you said “I chop his hand off.”
Likewise, a Dwarf will have to make their Banished move when their character is exposed, whether the player likes it or not.
Furthermore, there are plenty of existing moves where a character trades HP for a specific benefit. The Cleric’s Penitent move does exactly this; 1d4 damage for +1 forward.
It might help to specify that none of these moves – even Secretive, which is pretty forgiving – are designed to offer the characters any kind of power or benefit. They represent hindrances to overcome, with occasional positive side effects.
But for penitent to happen a cleric must have granted the GM a move. The cleric must take damage. The only way to take damage is with a GM move. Penitent is interesting in that it is a player move triggered by a GM move.
So what you’re saying is that a dwarf would only expose his skin to the sun as a result of giving the GM a soft move (by having rolled a 7-9 on some action) and thereby trigger his curse?
Dwarf: I attempt to leap across the roof top.
GM: roll defy danger plus Dex.
Dwarf: I rolled an 8.
GM: ok, as you leap across, you catch your sleeve on a piece of metal it exposes your skin. roll banished.
That’s a perfect example. Mind you, the GM makes a move whenever it fits the conversation, not only when players fail rolls. A player could also personally choose to brave the Banished move under a lot of circumstances; If life or gold is on the line and they happen to be unarmoured, they might very well charge out into the sunlight, damn the consequences.
Interesting twists. Kudos.
Jørund Kambestad Lie It seems this dead horse has been beaten to undeath, so I’m gonna throw in my ideas real quick.
I would recommend changing up the way they’re structure a bit to make them seem more like player moves. I understand your thought process behind these moves, they’re just reversed engineered ‘negative moves’ For example, I would change the dwarf’s ‘Banished’ move to something like this.
When you step into direct sunlight with little UV protection(ehehe xD), roll+con. On a 10+, choose 3. On a 7-9, choose 1. On a miss, you collapse under the heavy beat of the sun on your skin.
*You aren’t blinded for a few moments.
*Your skin doesn’t burn with heat.
*You don’t take a disibility.
Or Aura of Ruin
When you spend time with your kin, roll- # ofHalflingsinyourcompany. On a 10+,choose one. On 7-9, the GM chooses two. On a miss, the GM chooses 3.
Food and drink spoils around you.
Metal rusts, wood warps and stone grows soft.
Distrust and envy is sown in the hearts of everyone present.
Something is stolen by one or more rat-men.
Finally, Best Intentions
When you take a novel approach to a problem, roll+ the appropriate stat and take +1 forward. On a 10+, choose 1, however, your efforts will succeed even if they mean danger in the future. On a 7-9, choose 2. On a miss, choose 3.
*Your solution has unintended consequences that affect the world around you.
*An opportunity once available to you, is now gone.
*You garner unwanted attention.
NOTE I’d be more inclined to allow players to mark EXP for a novel idea then just ‘withholding or gaining information’ in the elf move(how is that a curse, anyway?:P).
So that’s my ideas. Feel free to tell me what you think. Gl!