Alright so this is my first post on my favorite community for my favorite rpg Period. More will be coming mostly based on my experiences GMing dungeon world as well as small tricks, systems and tables that have helped me out in the hobby. This one is just a small one but I always thought it would break a low magic fantasy universe if 1 in every 4 heroes was a wizard with arcane power at his fingertips at the get go with little other explanation from my players than Uuuhhh, wizard school I guess, like Hogwarts. So a house rule I use across systems is that you can only play a magic using class or take moves/feats that allow you to cast spells if you roll a natural 20 on a d20. Now this may be harsh for your table but its what we use. If you want you can use a d10 or a d12 instead. I feel that if magic wizards clerics rangers or paladins are everywhere, that the magic really is gone from playing a magical character. What are your guys thoughts? Feel free to agree disagree criticize, expand and improve and reminisce.
Alright so this is my first post on my favorite community for my favorite rpg Period.
Alright so this is my first post on my favorite community for my favorite rpg Period.
Presence of magic users in an adventuring party is not equivalent to presence of magic users in society. In society, even 1 in 20 is too low, so why make it annoying for players when it’s not really adding any realism?
Also: Ask questions and use the answers. “What happened to all the other wizards?”
P.S. What’s a “feat”? 😛
I meant feat from dnd which is their equivalent of a player move. And the setting I’m going for is something more like stonetop, lotr, Conan, Xena, et cetera. I readily understand my idea is not suitable to all setting and play styles. Thanks for your input, especially on the story question idea.
If it works for you and your group, then it’s a good house rule. 😀
Welcome to the Tavern!
I like the basic premise. In my Freebooters on the Frontier hack, you don’t get to choose your class at all. Roll 1d12: 1-6=Fighter, 7-9=Thief, 10-11=Cleric, 12=Magic-User. Our current party is 5 Fighters and a Thief, and it’s awesome.
Jason Lutes Woah that is awesome I love that. I read the free sample once and now want to check out the whole hack.
I just think that if you’re looking for “Magic users are rare” it’s easier to reflect that in the world than in the party. Or if you want to reflect it in the party, just say “No magic users”.
But yes, if it works for you, it works for you.
Mike Pureka Personally i agree with Mike, always let your players be big damn heroes.
In the DW games I’ve played, the Wizard was called The Wizard because everyone else is… not a Wizard. That’s why we only could hire Adepts, not wizards.
If you want a low-magic world, then it makes the Wizard character more special, more dangerous, more feared… more awesome or whatever you and your players build together as you create the lore of your world.
I would just restrict the playbooks during character creation. Maybe add some third party ones in there for flavor to cover lacking fantastical skills.
But in all honesty, if you discussed a low magic setting with your group and someone wants a wizard, they might not have buy-in to your concept. Remember, in DW you don’t get full control of the world. The players get a say, too.
I’m actually not a fan of the Dabbler moves in general. I feel like a main point of the playbooks in DW is to make each character different and special. Each person gets to do their own thing. If another character would take the Druid’s shapeshifter move, for instance … if I were the Druid I would hate that. There are some moves that make sense, of course, as things that expand upon the core competencies of another playbook. Others feel like they should have a “hands-off” asterisk on them.
Low magical settings are cool. Just remember that adventurers are not a good representation of the general population. They are special.
Another way you could go about assigning classes is to have cards with class names on them. Let the players draw the cards and trade with one another. This way you can control the number of magical users in your group without falling into a situation where everyone is the same class (like what happens with rolling a dice)
What Clinton Pong said. If the Wizard is basically one-of-a-kind in your world, or one-of-a-very-few, then she become more powerful in some ways (people are not prepared to face Charm or Invisibility!) and less powerful in some others (Places of Power are rare, Counterspell is useless). But if you want the world to feel low-magic, that’s totally in your control: just throw in a lot of NPCs who have never seen magic before. Have them react with awe or fear, and if you like, have them assume the Wizard must be evil and trafficking in things Man Was Not Meant To Know. Or have them assume the Wizard is a charlatan, and it all must be done with trickery.
Also, if your player’s explanation of where they learned magic is “Wizard school, like Hogwarts”, then they haven’t bought in to your idea that it should be a low magic world, and you should discuss that.
If a player chooses to play a wizard, they are waving a BIG FLAG that says ‘Hey GM, I want magic in our game’. Embrace that request, talk as a group what that means in your Dungeon World.
But that choice of playbook is a player-generated setting canon element. If a player chooses a magic wielding playbook, then there is magic in your game.