I don’t recall using the actual ability scores anywhere in the game, just they modifiers. Am I missing something?
I’m asking this because there’s a French retroclone called Epèes et Sorcellerie that uses 2-12 scale for everything (TL;DR: it’s classic D&D mixed with Chainmail, but it’s more than the sum of the parts), and I really like the 2-12 (2d6) for everything.
It seems quick and practical to port this to DW, unless the 3-18 scores are used somewhere else…
HP uses full Constitution, discounts on purchases uses full Charisma (I believe?). And, of course, custom moves can make use of full stats anywhere you want them to.
True! Forgot about those… Thanks for reminding me that.
There are some 3rd party playbooks that use them, often as resource pools (you have as much mana as you have INT or something like that). Several of the classes in Sundered World come to mind.
Yes, but in most of the game it seems like you could just go with the modifiers. The Shadowrun Hack that I have only goes with the modifiers as the stats.
This is something that is questioned alllll the time. D&d does this, a handful of wastful numbers used for calculations. DW is ment to retain much of the feel of a oldschool d&d and thus we have stats that, by RAW, have no need (except HP, which could have easily been done differently).
I think the main function of the scores is to pace out advancement.
Like more recent versions of D&D, it does indeed pace out the advancement, which is why I haven’t ditched those scores. Like so much of Dungeon World, though, their main function is atmospheric. They exist to make the game feel more like an old D&D dungeon crawl.
When I GM, although rarely, I use them for passive actions. Here’s a move from a dungeon I’m making, which does involve a roll, but helps to explain what I mean.
The Grinding Stones’ Move: The Grinding Expedition
When you attempt to find your way across (or among) the Grinding Stones, roll:
+1 if someone has a potent light source
+1 if you’re being guided by the denizens
+1 if a present party member has a Wisdom of at least 15
*On a 10+ you have a vague idea where you are, given some time you’ll find the path you wanted to take. *On 7-9, you may be lost, find yourself in lack of something, stuck in a rudimentary machine, or something of the sort: the GM will offer you a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice. *On 6-, welcome your new life in the depths.