Sooooo. How useful would it be to have the bestiary monsters on a deck of cards? Not that useful? Very useful? What else would be handy to have on cards – debility markers? I’m just thinking, it’s surprisingly easy to print playing cards these days.
Sooooo.
Sooooo.
I would enjoy having a deck of cards that I can draw from in front of the group and keep everyone on edge on what random monster enter into a scenario (if I need a random monster).
DW monsters aren’t really that complex and can easily be found before a session. I just don’t see a need, imho.
If you made different backs for the monster settings (Undead Legions, Swamp Denizens, etc) it might be interesting to shuffle them and let players pick one in place of a random monster table when you need something on the fly.
Pick a card, any card! Is THIS your Apocalypse Dragon!
I have debilities cards that I almost never used. I would use cards mainly to randomize monsters. Make a deck for an adventure (randomly or otherwise), draw monsters as needed.
FIY, you can get these from Inkwell Ideas: http://www.rpgnow.com/product/144780/Creature-Decks-Dungeon-World-RPG-PDFs–Printed-Cards-BUNDLE?manufacturers_id=4450
Thanks for the link Eric Nieudan. Yeah, I was kind of thinking it might not be worthwhile. But still…
Building on Eric Lochstampfor, you could make a laminate version so that setting or attributes for each monster could be changed from game to game with a marker.
Those Default Damage results of yours could make great cards for randomization in place of a dice. You could then control the chance for ‘high’ and ‘low’ damage.
Check out Inkwell Ideas .they do a generic monster deck and also npcs. They have dice for random dungeon generation.
http://inkwellideas.com/creature-card-decks/
One card i think would be cool is the Gm move cards. You could shuffle the deck and when someone fails you pick the card and oh it says take their resources maybe i should do that.
james day I still dream of a custom d12 with GM move icons.
I think this is an interesting side discussion. I would never choose a random GM move. Are you looking at randomizing them as a way of just suggesting things to you and helping you to remember what moves are available or do you literally want to choose them at random? If the latter, why?
Both! Cards that show all the moves would be a good reminder. But sometimes on a fail but especially on a 7-9 it can be hard to figure out what to do. A random gm card that says whatever will make you think how to put that in or another option if it doesn’t fit with the fiction. I find that the case anyway
Yeah. Honestly the idea sounded dumb to me at first and now I am really warming to it. For instance, I neglect the “separate the party.” I’m sure there are others I don’t think of. A randomizer might get me to use more of them. And you can always “re-roll” if you can’t make the choice fit, right? I could easily make a web app to give you a random GM move. Would that prove useful to anyone? You could put an icon for it on your smart phone and use it at the table? Would you?
Just because I like to roll dice, I use a random encounter table(s) with 6 options each. I roll 3d6 and pick from them, providing type, difficulty, and drive/wants. It can definitely help to expand your ideas and bring in events or encounters that you might not have thought of otherwise.
Randomness is great in RPGs, but I definitely suggest trying to draw in elements of the current story/world and apply it to that random information.
I used to play the Marvel game with the deck of cards and I really liked/used the fictional elements on them. They had phrases like “Hazmat leak!” or “Sirens in the distance.” It was a great way of quickly ratcheting up/layering a scene. They taught me to think less one-dimensionally in scenes.
I think DW has taught me to use both Fiction and randomness in a nice little mixture so no I don’t think you should do one or the other. Mix!
And I would love that kind of website!
james day Done and done. See my newer post.