I’ve been playing around with the idea of adding “intrusions”, from Monte Cook’s Numenera, as a new GM move. Here’s the basic idea:
Intrusions allow the GM to make sudden twists in the fate of a player. When a GM makes an intrusion, she gives an XP to the player directly affected, and that player gives one XP to another player. This is an exception to the rule that a soft move should always precede a hard move, but it is not an excuse to grief players. The intent of intrusions is to mix up the typical flow of play. A player expects bad things to happen on a 6-. Intrusions are a here to spice up the players lives. Just remember that too much spice leaves a bad taste.
(Edit: For those of you familiar with Numenera’s rules, note that players cannot refuse the intrusion in this adaptation.)
(Edit2: I’m realizing I was totally unclear. Intrusions can be taken at any point during the flow of play. It breaks the normal rules for when a GM is allowed to make a move. In fact, a GM should never make this move on a 6-. The point is to add twists that surprise the players. Again, use sparingly.)
(Edit5000: Remember damage is the least interesting hard move.)
I thought to share this because of a thread discussing dangers that are both unknown to and hidden from players. An “intrusion” could be used to blindside players in such a case.
As an aside, I can’t recommend this article enough when it comes to controlling and conveying the level of danger:
http://blog.trilemma.com/2014/10/non-mechanical-difficulty-levels-for.html
Edit3: I want to add an example!
“GM: You make a good pace through the Radiant Forest. The sparse trees let all of the morning sun shine through, and a gentle radiance glints off the golden brown fall leaves. Each crunch of leaves is like the spark of a cozy fire. It seems the locals were right when they told you this route is safe and uninhabited.
Sam: It’s about lunch time, and we’re low on rations, I’m going to forage and see if I can find us some food.
GM: As you finish telling the others your plan, you begin to turn your head only to feel the slightest prick of steel on your neck. You can tell someone is standing behind you now. What do you do?
Sam: I duck and draw my sword!
(no Defy Danger roll)
GM: You duck and draw your sword and face what you can now see is an elf woman that had an arrow to your neck. She is unfazed and unflinching. Your sword falls to the ground as a staff deftly breaks your grip. You see now two elves in front of you. They’re not attacking, but they seem to have you completely at their mercy. Sam, take one XP and give another to whomever.”
An intrusion and a hard move on a 6- roll are nearly identical anyway. The only difference is the player can’t refuse a hard move.
Aaron Griffin Ah, in this version a player cannot refuse an intrusion. Additionally, the major difference is that on a 6- the player knows something bad is going to happen.
+Aaron Griffin I’m realizing my initial post was completely misleading. I added an edit in an attempt to clarify!
Do they get XP, though? Otherwise you’re just making their lives harder for no reason.
Noah Tucker Yup! You award an XP to the player that is the target of your intrusion, and that player chooses another player who also receives an XP.
Oh, I probably would have seen that if I’d read your first paragraph!
So an intrusion happens when They Give You A Golden Opportunity, and it’s a hard move that may be good?
I have a similar idea with Fate style Decision Compels in DW – offering XP in the same way that some AW hacks offer it for manipulation moves on PCs.
“I think Strag would attack the goblin. If you do, I’ll give you 1XP”
Aaron Griffin I’d call that offering an opportunity.
If I’m reading Tyler Solomon correctly, he’s talking about hitting the PC with a hard move out of nowhere, no soft move to telegraph it and no chance to avoid it, but the PC (and another PC of that player’s choice) gets an XP to offset the fuckery.
“Fighter, you’re walking down the streets of Machiaville, on the way home from the bar, and THWICK suddenly there’s an arrow in your shoulder. Take d10 damage, 3 piercing, and you feel a terrible cold spreading out from your shoulder instead of the burning pain you expect. It must be poisoned! Go ahead and mark XP, and pick another PC to mark XP, too. What do you do?”
Jeremy Strandberg I’m not so sure it’d always be an “opportunity”, though. It’s usually “if you decide to do this probably stupid thing that’s within character you get XP”
Aaron Griffin It could be as a result of a Golden Opportunity©, or it can be Completely Out of the Blue, and only if the story calls for it, as always.
“GM: You make a good pace through the Radiant Forest. The sparse trees let all of the morning sun shine through, and a gentle radiance glints off the golden brown fall leaves. Each crunch of leaves is like the spark of a cozy fire. It seems the locals were right when they told you this route is safe and uninhabited.
Sam: It’s about lunch time, and we’re low on rations, I’m going to forage and see if I can find us some food.
GM: As you finish telling the others your plan, you begin to turn your head only to feel the slightest prick of steel on your neck. You can tell someone is standing behind you now. What do you do?
Sam: I duck and draw my sword!
(no Defy Danger roll)
GM: You duck and draw your sword and face what you can now see is an elf woman that had an arrow to your neck. She is unfazed and unflinching. Your sword falls to the ground as a staff deftly breaks your grip. You see now two elves in front of you. They’re not attacking, but they seem to have you completely at their mercy. Sam, take one XP and give another to whomever.”
I get the intent, but I’m not sure it’s necessary. What’s the intent, really?
Wanting an opportunity to make more moves? I would solve that by putting the characters in the position to make more rolls.
Surprise players with something out of left field? You can do that easily enough with existing moves, I think, though I’m definitely of the opinion that telegraphing is almost always more fun than a complete surprise.
Not sure what an intrusion is trying to fix, and disconnecting it from a player’s roll feels a bit counter to part of the special sauce of Dungeon World, I think.
Tyler Solomon I dunno that all sounds like Golden Opportunity to me. “We’re hanging out in the woods not paying attention for bandits” is totally an opportunity
Derek Guder I’m certainly not trying to fix any perceived flaw with the game. I think the game stands quite well as it is!
The move is just a bit of fun because in the normal flow, a player knows something going to go wrong on a miss. And yes, of course you can make great twists even when a player knows it’s coming.
Again, in the interest of fun, I would use this move sparingly.
Sure, I was just trying to figure out what itch you’re hoping to scratch with this.
Sounds like you’re looking for a bit of a more active role as a GM? The back-and-forth feels a bit fuller and more natural for you?
This definitely works for that. I would also just recommend tossing more rolls at the players. Maybe describe a bit more (for that feeling of GM involvement) before tossing it over into their court. Might help with at flow for you.
But yeah, certainly doesn’t seem fundamentally broken by any means. Have fun throwing those curve balls at the players 🙂
Jeremy Strandberg That’s a perfectly fine example, though I would add that damage is probably the blandest hard move. I’ve added an example to the original post that uses Put a Player in a Spot and Remove a Player’s Resources.
You can already do all these things. Being a fan of the characters and filling their live with adventure allows you to throw them a curveball now and then.
It also telegraphs you are making a move but you should misdirect from that.
Derek Guder Thanks for the ideas. And great point about raising stakes with additional rolls.
I’ve added an example to the original post that uses the move to evoke the impression of a cohesive, unknown and hidden force. Let me know what you think.
Tim Franzke Indeed! This just adds a little bit of mechanical sugar.
Tyler Solomon Right, hence the poison.
Yeah, I have to admit it’s not really my thing, and your example illustrates why: it feels like this isn’t “playing to see what happens” – it’s basically bribing the PCs with XP to get them in the situation you want.
Not to say it’s unreasonable or anything, just doesn’t quite jive with how I usually like that to go. I prefer my bribes more along the lines of Fate, where it’s “take this point to make your life more interesting/complicated, or pay to make it go away.”
This kinda feels like “here’s XP to bribe you into letting me deliver this read-aloud text.” That can still be great, fun, but it deviates a bit from DW for me and I’d definitely use it sparingly.
Derek Guder Thanks, and noted!
“(Edit5000: Remember damage is the least interesting hard move.)”
I agree: I prefer to see the heroes running to prevent anything to become the worse it can be…
Sure, why not? This works.
Eh, not for me. I see Numenera as a great game all on its own, but I also feel the same about Dungeon World. I wouldn’t change anything. I could just as easily just switch to FATE if I want to maintain my setting and change the mechanics. But I won’t add anything to DW. Fading Suns is a different story. I had to convert it to FATE Core System just to get my group to play in that rich setting.