Hey folks, I’m trying to create my very first custom move (kinda new to DW yet). I’m playing a 1 on 1 campaign that’s themed on Necromancy (lots of undead, corrupted paladins, liches and whatnot), so I figured that it would be cool to create a move around the ideia of resisting necrotic corruption: the more you have it, the more you are resistant to necromantic spells, but, you get some kind of penalty that increases with this corruption.
So, here’s the move:
“You feel the dark hand of the Great Raven holding your soul, trying to bring you to the realms of undeath. When you try to resist it, roll plus your corruption.
– If you get 10+, you resist the effects of the spell and get away clean.
– If you get 7-9, choose one:
You take the effect of the spell, but stay clean
You take +1 corruption, but the spell doesn’t work against you
– If you get 6-, the spell affects you like intended, and you add +1 corruption.”
So yeah, there’s the move, right now I’m trying to figure out what kind of penalty the accumalated corruption should come with. Any suggestions?
You may add a 13+ result which gives penalties, like, for example, a debility.
The only thing I’d say is that the trigger of the move is ultimately on the GM – the Great Raven needs to be trying to bring your soul to the realms underneath. And why wouldn’t the players resist? Is there any incentive to let it happen? What happens on a 6-, do they die?
You’d also probably want to describe corruption better and possibly indicate if there are other ways you can gain corruption.
As Aaron Griffin says, the trigger of “You feel the dark hand of the Great Raven holding your soul, trying to bring you to the realms of undeath.” is something that’s controlled by the GM. The GM has complete and total say over when this move happens. As written it’s a good trigger for a move that’s attached to a powerful monster or NPC, like the Great Raven.
But it looks like it’s meant to be a move about resisting corruption from either casting or being the target of a necrotic spell. So the trigger of the move needs to reflect that. Something like “When you are the target of a necrotic spell, roll +Corruption.”
Aaron Griffin The Great Raven is the “dark evil god” of this setting, so whenever a character feels its power (using a cursed item, casting or being the target of certain spells, and so on) it gets exposed to the Raven’s corruption.
With that said, vampires, liches and other kinds of undead creatures are infused with this necrotic power. Maybe a wizard PC might want to become a necromancer and just take it, without triggering the move.
I’ve made this move because I wanted to give a key mechanic tied to the campaign’s theme, giving the player the option to get some resistance in exchange for a penalty (I was thinking about a random debility for each point of corruption, similar to what Andrea Serafini said earlier).
This is how I did it for my Drought in Sulindal adventure:
You have a Corruption stat equal to your wisdom, whenever you do, sleep, or wield something that is corrupted, you take +1 Corruption. When Corruption at 1/4 of wisdom, you take a minor physical or mental affliction (rolled randomly), at 1/2 you take a moderate physical or mental affliction, when Corruption equals your wisdom, you gained a major affliction and if your Corruption exceeds your wisdom then you become completely corrupted.
Some of the afflictions are gross but provide a benefit, it helps to bait players into wanting to take corruption but in the end it can consume you, pretty much like the Dark Side.
drivethrurpg.com – Drought in Sulindal – A Dungeon World Adventure