Field Research
When you observe a monster or potential foe attacking its prey, or going about its business for a day, roll + WIS.
* On a hit, the GM will reveal a subtle way in which it is dangerous (a move).
* On a 10+, the GM will reveal what truly drives its behavior (its instinct).
Heh… I love the implied nastiness of a miss
i think you’ve given a move to something that’s inherint. If the group is waiting in the bushes, watching this beast for a day, they would observe it doing things naturally. They might have to defy danger a couple of times to stay out of its sight, but beyond that i think that they would learn that a basilisk wants to make new statuary, or that a Roper might snare the unsuspecting.
Sure. I think I have a tendency to mechanize concepts that are assumed to be inherent or implied actions on part of the GM. And I think it’s because DW is the first game I’ve seen that embraces that as a system, and want to bolster it. I think new GMs (like myself) might find it helpful.
I’ve also been looking for ways that explicit knowledge and “stats” the GM has (see my Gandalf move previously) can be grasped at by player-facing moves, since they are resources that aren’t otherwise explicitly utilized. I like hooking up wires that are left dangling.
Reading it again, there is nothing that says the information the players and characters get has to be related in “mechanical terms”. Still, I’m not a fan of how the move’s wording seems to say the GM should just tell the players the monster’s instinct or one of its moves – meaning just read them off from the monster entry.
What about wording it like “on a hit, you learn something new about what what the monster does or ow it attacks (a move)” and “on a 10+ you learn why the monster is a problem (instinct).”
Good feedback; updated the wording, including making the move one that is “subtle”, which accounts for the fact that most creatures will have at least one move that is readily apparent.
I think the way you’ve reworded the move implies that the GM should share information that the players/characters wouldn’t otherwise know. Very nice. 😀
Maybe drop the “either” from the trigger, so that hunting prey and going about its business become examples of how to watch the monster, rather than the only two methods.