What do you think of this move? I adapted it from Last Days of Angelkite. I’m not crazy about using preparation as the spendable currency for this move, but I’m not sure what else I can use.
You have access to the guild’s collection of supplies and artifacts. Too bad there’s no index or catalog, so good luck finding what you need. When you rifle through the guild’s collection for something special, spend at least 1 preparation and roll+preparation spent. *On a 10, you find what you’re looking for and may borrow it for one adventure; answer the following three questions about it:
• What type of object is it? (a weapon, a potion, a wand, a machine…)
• What does it do, specifically, that’s special or unusual? (detects magic, reads runes, starts fires…)
• What cost is there to using it, or how is it flawed or limited?
*On a 7-9, you find something close; you answer two questions, and the GM answers the third. *On a 6-, either you get nothing and the preparation is lost, or answer one question, and the GM answers the other two, along with adding an additional flaw, cost, or limitation to what you find.
Well, what does the guild take in exchange for giving people access to its collection? Would agreeing to go on some sort of quest or bring back some kind of artefact let you use the guild’s resources?
I’m not a fan of the 6- result being a possible nothing. Though I suppose it makes sense for the character to simply not take something rather than take something they don’t want.
I was thinking some kind of favor-based currency in place of preparation, e.g., when you do X for the guild, hold 1 Favor. The preparation may also reflect time spent as curator of the collection, with a minor tweak to the trigger.
That totally works. So just tack that onto the front of the move (unless there’s something else characters can spend favor on).
I think you could simplify if a bit by having the player say what effect they’re looking for, and roll. 10+, they find something and GM picks 2; 7-9, find something and GM picks 3:
– form factor is problematic (fragile, disgusting, awkward, heavy, delicate, etc)
– only 1d4 uses
– the power is severely limited or constrained
– the costs or side effects are considerable
– it costs an extra 1 Favor to borrow
(This also puts the item creation more in the GM hands, which seems more appropriate to me. The characters know what they’re hoping to accomplish; the GM controls what’s in the vault to be found.)
There are rules for spending “preparation” but how do you acquire it? Is my first impression this is half of a move. Is it the preparation earned by the bolster move? Can it literally take a month to find something?
Am I right that the ultimate goal of this move is to acquire a magic item? I ask because I think understanding why you created this move would help determine how to write it and how hard it should be to get modifiers to the roll.