So, Im new to the community. New to DW. Just ran my first session. It turned out great.
I did have one ‘catch’ though during the game. I was having trouble with the 7-9 roll only with ‘Defy Danger’. It came up three distinct times (that I can remember) during the game.
The first is probably the hardest. -The Ranger, Halek, wanted to push large pieces of detritus in front of an old wooden door, to keep Draugr from the room. Rolled a 7. I referenced my sheet. Worse Outcome, I decided that the detritus collapsed pinning the ranger’s leg, but he was able to partially cover the door, in turn slowing the Draugr entry.
The second is probably the best I did. -The Wizard, Halwyr, had to leap over a great chasm and land on a landing on the opposite site. Rolled an 8. I referenced my sheet. Hard Choice. I told him he made it across fine, but he had to choose whether he landed wrong and took damage or whether he landed wrong, crushing the antitoxin in his bag. He chose the toxin.
The third I have mixed feelings about. -The Fighter, Hawke, ran from a guardian stone at the climax of the session, jewels in his hands. The ceiling had just fallen in on the group, and there was plenty of large ruble to wade through. He rolled an 8. I referenced my sheet. ‘Trip up’ it says, so I told Hawke he literally tripped and have him a choice. Either, take so much time holding on the jewels that the guardian stone pulls you back into the room, or scramble to your feet evading the guardian but loose the jewels down in the rubble. He chose to lose the jewel.
I just feel like Im missing something here. Am I?
What advice do you have?
Welcome to the tavern! Glad to hear things went well your first time out. 🙂
Those all sound decent to me, though one of the choices you gave Hawke wasn’t really a success. The tricky thing about Defy Danger sometimes is that the character should still succeed on a 7-9. Getting pulled back into the room doesn’t seem like a success.
But overall those sound great. 🙂
It all sounds good to me, hope you and the triple Hs had fun!
7-9 fundamentally needs to be a success. On the last example I would just tell the player he dropped the jewel. If the player then decides to stop and try and pick it back up…
You know, you did damn fine for your first run. That all seems pretty swell. But I agree with the others, the success needs to be maintained.
Honestly, I still struggle with this myself. One way I’ve found my way around it is to introduce something new. Give the player a full success, and then go “but suddenly!” and toss a curveball. Could be that the cave starts to rumble. Could be that there’s torchlight and scampering up ahead. Could be spiders on the walls. So many perils!
Yes, probably, what you’re missing is players’ posityive feedback to your move. Your impression might derive from them, even unconsciously, feeling the actual success “stolen” from them.
But otherwise, you did just right. These examples would have convinced everyone at my table.
I think you did great.
I wrote a bunch about how to defy danger in Appendix A of my tight one-shot guide: http://tiny.cc/tight-dw-oneshot
On 7-9 the first thing i look for it’s giving the character the success on the action but at a cost. If I can figure out two costs I usually present the choice to the player.
Thanks for all the great replies. And John Aegard , that article helped. I really liked the appendices.
I’m not much more experienced than you, but I don’t think that first action counts as a Defy Danger.
Putting yourself at risk to physically block a door would, and a low roll might get the character grabbed, knocked to the ground or pinned. However, moving some debris (assuming it wasn’t something big enough to need The Fighter’s move) sounds more like a narrative action. You just allow it to happen and reward the player’s quick thinking with some more time to prepare for the enemy.
That’s some great advice too. Thanks everyone.
I’m not saying you’re wrong Matthew Alexander (and a big part of DW, or any game for that matter, is doing what’s right for your group), but I could see blocking a door in time triggering Defy Danger. The danger involved could be injuring yourself by moving heavy objects, or, more likely, getting the door blocked in time before the Draugr comes through. I tend to interpret the “danger” in Defy Danger pretty loosely.
I believe the book has Defy Danger listed as the ‘catch all’ saying it was most likely the roll to make when you didn’t know what to roll, bit it felt like you should be rolling. That’s why I chose it. Also the Danger was in fact the Draugr.
DW rules are open to interpretation. Some people (myself included) use Defy Danger as a catch all when the character should just succeed but no other move applies. Other people only use it when they character is acting despite an imminent threat. There’s no wrong way to do it, other than a way that doesn’t feel right for your group.