I keep falling back on being a bloodthirsty bastard of a Judge. I still feel like I am being a fan of the characters: I want them to succeed!
But I also want them to suffer quite a bit to get there. It’s my favourite part of being a DM, putting tough challenges all up in their grills.
After two main sessions with 6 players at the table (plus me), two characters have made the Bite the Dust move (still survived with a 7-9 result!). Another was poisoned by a mudsnake, losing literally all of his hair and hallucinating all throughout camp. Does this seem normal in Freebooters, or am I being to tough on them? They’re still getting lots of shinies!
Everyone claims they had a great time, but I am concerned for their sanity if their Judge keeps trying to kill their characters!
Everyone claims they had a great time, but I am concerned for their sanity if their Judge keeps trying to kill their characters!
Seems fair to me. You’re playing Dungeon World, but you’re also trying to emulate the feel of the Basic days, when a single roll could kill your character. If the players are having fun, don’t change a thing!
Seems fair to me. You’re playing Dungeon World, but you’re also trying to emulate the feel of the Basic days, when a single roll could kill your character. If the players are having fun, don’t change a thing!
Funnels for them feels
Funnels for them feels
Every table has its own “normal,” but it sounds to me like you’re doing it right! As long as everyone involved is aware of the stakes, and consequences are clear for any iffy decision they make, you’re on the money.
I personally don’t work to actively kill the PCs, but I run our world in a “simulationist” fashion, where the dice and logic dictate how tough a given threat might be. Then I just let them explore and make decisions based on what they perceive. I rarely make out-of-the-blue hard moves — everything follows from the dice and fiction.
As an example of the kind of simulationist play I’m talking about, in our last session, they were trying to find their way through the dense mist of the Bog White, all strung together on a rope in order to keep from getting separated. I had prepped a bunch of discoveries and dangers between sessions, with a little d12 table for each. The first Scout Ahead move was a 6-, so I decided they would encounter a Danger, and they rolled the worst one: a wraith that could compel people via mind control to its lair (an ancient shipwreck), where it would slay them and add their stuff to its hoard. I asked the scout, Feyise the Fighter, to make a WIS saving throw, not telling her why; she failed, and the next person in the marching order behind her felt the rope go slack.
The rest of the party rushed to the end of the rope and there was no sign of Feyise. In my head I had decided that she was being drawn across the Bog toward her doom, and that she was about 50 yards away to the southeast. One of the others started calling her name, and I decided she was still within earshot, so I allowed her one last WIS saving throw. She made it with a 7-9, and my call was that she snapped out of her trance. They quickly reunited, but my secret 7-9 tradeoff was that the wraith now has its hooks in her, and if they pass that same way again it will target her.
I had also decided that if she failed her second WIS save, she would be lost to the wraith unless physical intervention occurred, so it would be up to everyone else to try to find her in time. It didn’t go that way, but now everyone is suspicious of her behavior, and very much aware that the Bog White is a dangerous place to go.
Every table has its own “normal,” but it sounds to me like you’re doing it right! As long as everyone involved is aware of the stakes, and consequences are clear for any iffy decision they make, you’re on the money.
I personally don’t work to actively kill the PCs, but I run our world in a “simulationist” fashion, where the dice and logic dictate how tough a given threat might be. Then I just let them explore and make decisions based on what they perceive. I rarely make out-of-the-blue hard moves — everything follows from the dice and fiction.
As an example of the kind of simulationist play I’m talking about, in our last session, they were trying to find their way through the dense mist of the Bog White, all strung together on a rope in order to keep from getting separated. I had prepped a bunch of discoveries and dangers between sessions, with a little d12 table for each. The first Scout Ahead move was a 6-, so I decided they would encounter a Danger, and they rolled the worst one: a wraith that could compel people via mind control to its lair (an ancient shipwreck), where it would slay them and add their stuff to its hoard. I asked the scout, Feyise the Fighter, to make a WIS saving throw, not telling her why; she failed, and the next person in the marching order behind her felt the rope go slack.
The rest of the party rushed to the end of the rope and there was no sign of Feyise. In my head I had decided that she was being drawn across the Bog toward her doom, and that she was about 50 yards away to the southeast. One of the others started calling her name, and I decided she was still within earshot, so I allowed her one last WIS saving throw. She made it with a 7-9, and my call was that she snapped out of her trance. They quickly reunited, but my secret 7-9 tradeoff was that the wraith now has its hooks in her, and if they pass that same way again it will target her.
I had also decided that if she failed her second WIS save, she would be lost to the wraith unless physical intervention occurred, so it would be up to everyone else to try to find her in time. It didn’t go that way, but now everyone is suspicious of her behavior, and very much aware that the Bog White is a dangerous place to go.
Being tough on the PCs is definitely an area of weakness for me. As I noodle on house rules, it’s very appealing to disclaim as much of the brutality as possible to the rules and random tables, so I can steel myself ahead of time and then just follow through in the moment.
Being tough on the PCs is definitely an area of weakness for me. As I noodle on house rules, it’s very appealing to disclaim as much of the brutality as possible to the rules and random tables, so I can steel myself ahead of time and then just follow through in the moment.
Once again, I love the advice.
I never got a chance to DM Basic (I only played), so my reservations come from “Was my old DM playing straight Basic, fairly and by the book, or was he being a murderous bastard?”. Basic got fun when you could accept that the Save vs Death on your sheet was there for a reason. I only hope the group sees it the way I do.
But, I still want the game to feel like DW, just deadlier and dirtier DW.
Thanks fellas!
Once again, I love the advice.
I never got a chance to DM Basic (I only played), so my reservations come from “Was my old DM playing straight Basic, fairly and by the book, or was he being a murderous bastard?”. Basic got fun when you could accept that the Save vs Death on your sheet was there for a reason. I only hope the group sees it the way I do.
But, I still want the game to feel like DW, just deadlier and dirtier DW.
Thanks fellas!
Michael Prescott, that’s exactly how I arrived at my current approach. I’m super-sensitive to whether or not my players are enjoying themselves, and I’m also a big “fan of the characters,” which means In most games I’m prone to shying away from harsher outcomes. So I set up systems (and set expectations) that help those harsh calls feel like they’re being visited upon us from somewhere else.
Michael Prescott, that’s exactly how I arrived at my current approach. I’m super-sensitive to whether or not my players are enjoying themselves, and I’m also a big “fan of the characters,” which means In most games I’m prone to shying away from harsher outcomes. So I set up systems (and set expectations) that help those harsh calls feel like they’re being visited upon us from somewhere else.
Apart from rules that encourage/demand the GM cause harm, there’s also also mechanics that only engage when harm has been done – this is a subtler signal, but I think it’s a good one. (In The Regiment, the medic’s coolest moves can’t fire unless the team has been taking fire.) Same thing with death moves and generational stuff.
Apart from rules that encourage/demand the GM cause harm, there’s also also mechanics that only engage when harm has been done – this is a subtler signal, but I think it’s a good one. (In The Regiment, the medic’s coolest moves can’t fire unless the team has been taking fire.) Same thing with death moves and generational stuff.