Critics needed! I wrote a custom move for an upcoming Funnel World game in which a mob of peasants encounter beastmen led by chaos priests who shoot bolts of mutating energy. I wanted to write a move that made it possible for a peasant to gain an interesting mutation or even become a monster. It would be fun turning a PC into a monster in the middle of a fight, and I don’t really see a GM move that would allow for such a thing…
Should the components of this move (gaining mutation, becoming a monster) be monster moves instead? Is it fun and fair to turn PCs into monsters because of one failed roll?
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When you are struck by the warping energies of chaos, roll+WIS.
10+ You are shaken, but maintain control of your body and mind.
7-9 Your mind is still your own, but your body warps – gain a random mutation.
6- Chaos consumes you! Gain two random mutations and become a beastman.
It’s definitely fair for a funnel game – life is supposed to be cheap in a funnel. I think this is a little too hard for everyday use.
Noah Tucker Yeah that was my thought… turning PCs into monsters isn’t something normally part of Dungeon World, but since a 6- often means death in a Funnel game, so you might as well snowball that move and make more monsters!
Maybe I can add a damage roll to the 6-, indicating that getting to 0HP as a result of that damage doesn’t mean death, but joining the beastmen. Too complicated?
I like it. I’d make it clearer on the 6- that you are now a monster and not a PC. Also, I don’t think you need to say “two random mutations” if they’re no longer going to be playing the character, except maybe for flavor.
Maybe:
6- Chaos consumes you! You become a beastman in control of the GM. Roll a couple random mutations to see just how weird you end up.
Yep, fair and square: It´s a Funnel! Will hopefully teach them to run away from the chaos priests. As far as I remember “strike fear into their hearts” is one of the principals of Funnel World.
Horst Wurst Hell yeah, warp fire should strike fear into their hearts!
…and if anyone is interested, this is for the game I’ll be running at ValorCon, 10am October 17th. Join me and perish! http://valorcon.com/
Advanced world of dungeons has guidelines (charts) for chaos warping.
Might be a little late but wanted to toss support behind The Metamorphica if you need some cool, random mutations. its a system-less book of dice tables for mutations and changes, I also believe its 100% free, but could be wrong.
Craig Haley the Metamorphica is the sole reason for this move 🙂
The move worked out great, thanks for the input! Jeremy Strandberg I used your 6- result verbatim and it was a hit. Upon closer inspection, however, the Metamorphica was a little too real for the intended audience – the possibility of a being covered in anuses (a roll of 37 and 1) was extreme; I opted to make a table of 100 just-grosteque-enough mutations instead.