Hey everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster here. Awesome community.
Anyway, last night I was rewatching A Knight’s Tale (love me some cheesy “medieval” fun) and now I have a couple of questions for you internet sages: how would you do jousting competitions in DW and how would you make each opponent harder/easier to face?
Hack&Slash feels perfect for this. Maybe some Defy Danger against the sly opponent who tries to sabatage you. Or some CHA to impress the judges.
I’d let the players decide how the story goes. They’re so many ways to take it. Maybe the thief wants to joust and is ill trained, so she tries to sabotage THEM.
As for difficulty, increasing HP is simple, but allowing them to make a harder hit in crucial areas is cooler. Armor piercing too (Their cheating of course). Or a stead that towers over all others, making you have to defy danger against an overwhelming enemy.
This is a move from the Cavalryman playbook of my Fourth World hack. It makes use of the rules in Mounted Combat.
Throwing Steel in Place of Kisses
When you charge your favored mount at a mounted rider who is also charging at you, roll+Control. On a 10+, choose three. On a 7–9, choose one.
• Deal your damage to the rider. If you are using a forceful weapon, you also unseat the rider.
• Unseat the rider. If you are using a forceful weapon, you also knock the mount off its stride.
• You avoid taking damage from the rider.
• You stay on your mount.
• A witness of your choice becomes very impressed with you.
I think that I would go with a Defy Danger with roll+Cha. Much of Jousting is a mental game, in getting the other person to flinch. Now you could also go on the strength side of things, with the theory that a Stronger person could control their heavy lance, armor, horse, and keeping in the seat.
Mostly, I would see what fiction that the players come up with. Hack&Slash is not the right move here. Defy Danger is. A 10+ would be knocking your opponent out of saddle, 7-9 would be a hard choice of taking 2 conditions below, 1. Take the hit and gain Stunned and a – 1 for the next round, 2. Both get knocked off and it’s a sword battle. or 3. Lose the point but be fine for the next round. and 6 or less to be that you lost the point and a snake eyes meaning you have been unhorsed.
Mind you, you shouldn’t really do a round by round. Maybe 3 rolls at most to represent the different brackets. And the last one, roleplay out to the hilt if going up against the final guy. Make them work for winning the tournament.
Best option, Keep it simple, keep it in the roleplaying realm as much as you can.
I like Throwing Steel in Place of Kisses, as shown above. I would let each character describe their technique before choosing which stat they roll with, to best represent the fiction.
A good example of someone thinking outside the box would be Loras Tyrell using the fact that his horse is in heat to beat The Mountain. Probably used defy danger with INT for that one.
Yeah, I agree that keeping it simple and in the fiction is the way to go here. And I would totaly let the PC win most fights just by roleplaying and describing a “tournament montage”. The more-important-but-not-the-main-dispute fights (like the first real joust of the PC, or one with an important NPC), those I would resolve with a single Defy Danger (where a 7-9 could mean a broken armor or a dislocated shoulder, for example, something to deal with before the next opponent).
But I still don’t feel that these options cover the final fight with the bad guy. I want the tension for that one, I want the “oh man I need to make the next roll” feeling. The best option for that, IMO, would be having three DD rolls (or something more like the Throwing Steel in Place of Kisses move, which is really nice by the way. I would, in this case, change the stat like Tim Jensen said, though), one for each lance, with lots of descriptions and opportunities for the others players to act in between. The sabotage thing could enter here as a way to Aid or Interfere with the next roll, or the Bard could try to win the crowd, or maybe the Druid wants to give the horse a pep talk… that kind of stuff.
Vinícius Vill Yes, I completely agree. I loved the scene with Chaucer amping up the crowd. “Guilding the Lilly” as it were. He was the Bard of the group and he posted fliers, talked to the crowd, produced paperwork, ect. The last day of the Tournament could be filled with intrigue and fun. Finding out what the enemy is doing, getting people’s support, getting royalty support, taking care of the horses, and even shopping and repairing equipment. Let alone, healing up from the previous bouts. The bit where Chaucer amps up his “liege” by telling him of all the awful things that his opponents are doing with taxes and stuff..roll+Cha instead of +bond to aid him and give him a boost on his roll. This has some great potential for fun. Also, placing bets on the contestants, stopping any sort of cheating. Remember, in that day and age they did not drug test opponents or the mounts. Mix in Magic? wow. Sounds like you could have a fun session and cap it all off with some great social stuff at the banquet.
Matrix Forby Yeah Chaucer is a cool Bard. He really makes me want to start playing a herald in that style, with the speechs and all.
Dungeon world doesn’t support higher dc skill checks. Instead of the player having to make a more difficult rol for the final boss, you could have him work his way through a bunch of knights without giving him a change to heal. That way the player has to take the ‘avoid taking damage’ option more often.
You could also make the final boss more threathening cinematically. By the time your hero faces him, they should be evenly matched because of all the knights he has allready bested. After all, you still want your hero to have a decent change of winning, even if the story looks like he has to defeat the odds.