Thinking about some desert-based moves to accompany my Sand Dragon:
When you enter [the desert], set WATER equal to your constitution.
When you must consume a ration, or when you perform a physical task, you must consume a liquid or decrease your WATER by 1.
When your WATER reaches 0, your HP is reduced to 0, and you Take your Last Breath.
I know DW isn’t about simulation, but I’m trying to simulate the need for hydration in a desert, and the scarcity of water in that environment. Are there already some moves floating around that accomplish this?
How can I improve this please? Thanks!
Just thinking out loud – I’d probably reuse what’s there. Maybe instead of spending water you simply lose d6 hp due to dehydration and you take a Con debility?
Aaron Griffin, I was trying to think of a way to use a debility as well, but didn’t want to be over simulation-y (yeah, that’s a word now LOL).
I like the idea of using WATER because it adds a resource the GM can use up. The characters stock up on water for their long desert trek, and maybe something spooks their camel (or whatever) and it takes off running with half the party’s water supply. You can’t do that with an HP loss, and drinking water doesn’t recover lost HP.
A Sundered World has all these little micro-currencies floating around, and I’ve been reading it so much lately that it’s just kind of stuck in my head LOL.
It DOES add a complication and some bookkeeping though, so perhaps I’m just overthinking it.
I feel like rations assume you have water as part of them, and you could lean hard on players that don’t have enough food or water with debilities. Characters that don’t need to consume rations could describe how they gather just enough food and water for themselves to get by.
Hmmm Adrian Thoen, I guess I only thought of Rations as food. If I can extend rations to include water, then I can also address Aaron’s thought about reusing what’s there.
When you rest you’re going to use rations anyway, so I can make a move that just says “When you take a physical action in the desert, consume a ration” and then hit them when they’re out of rations. I’ll mull this over. Thanks!
My take: rations could probably include some water (unless we’re talking about the nigh imperishable iron rations), but more than the usual amount is needed to deal with the intense heat and arid conditions of the desert. Hence the need for extra canteens.
Yeah Bastien Pilon, that’s what I was going for with my water move. I think I’ll still use some form of it, because while the ration use is an elegant solution, I feel it doesn’t really capture what I’m going for. Thanks!
Brian Holland it largely comes down to: how do you want the scarcity of water to affect your game play?
Do you want it to be a limiting factor? Something that actively drives character decisions? Should the PCs carefully marshal their water supply and track who’s carrying how much? If they run low, should they be dropping everything and heading back to the oasis?
If so, then yeah… making water a tracked resource, with moves that require you to use it… that’s good. I’d probably say that they consume 1 Water when they Make Camp, and as a GM, give myself permission to say “all that exertion has left you parched; consume 1 Water or mark a debility.” (And if they’ve got no more debilities when they make camp or when you tell them they need drink, they roll Last Breath.) Don’t forget to assign Weight to water, by the way! And ask them how they’re carrying it.
But: that sort of approach will seriously alter the course and tone of the game. It’ll be entirely possible that the PCs get themselves killed without even realizing it, because they didn’t bring enough water with them.
You could get a similar, but less brutal, effect by writing some thirst-related GM moves for yourself. Like:
* Reveal that their water is running low
* Reveal that they’ve just run out of water
* Require that they use up their water (before or after something)
* Have their voice crack and strain
* Inflict a debility
* Tell them they can’t Make Camp until they find water
* Show signs of water (with or without a cost)
* Make something seem worse than it is (because of exhaustion, fatigue, and thirst)
* Cloud their senses (because of thirst, delirium)
* Require that they defy danger just to keep going
etc.
This sort of approach has the benefit of being more flexible, more fiction-based, and allowing for more heroism, and less resource tracking.
Very nice Jeremy Strandberg! I like your second method. I DON’T want to add any bookkeeping, and I DO want it to be more fictional. This handles it very nicely. Thanks!
Brian Holland if you like I could write this all up as a Dungeon Starter when you decide what you like (or you could)…
Jeremy Strandberg
“But: that sort of approach will seriously alter the course and tone of the game. It’ll be entirely possible that the PCs get themselves killed without even realizing it, because they didn’t bring enough water with them.”
That’s exactly the way I like it, on both sides of the GM screen. 🙂
Plus it’s not like they won’t be aware of it. “The Great Burning
Waste is deadly to the unprepared. Better make sure you have enough water to cross it. How much weight can you carry again?”
Thanks Mark Tygart! I’m slowly collecting wisdom from the community to do just that. Every once in a while I’ll come up with a few interesting ideas, but I really need help from here to flesh them out. Pretty soon I’ll be ready to put it all together as a Dungeon Starter, and it would be amazing if you could look it over for me!
Brian Holland I would be honored.
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What about these?
“When you are in the desert and you should consume a Ration – but you have none, choose one:
– Mark a STR, CON, or DEX debility.
– Take your Last Breath”
This way the characters use Rations as water and all that stuff (without adding any other currency). Of course, as a GM move you may spoil their Rations (the water is discovered to be tainted), ask them to consume a Ration (expecially when they make camp, after a battle, a long march, a really hot sun, a deprivation attack from a sand dragon, or a particularly salty meal).
You may modify the weight of the rations, (let us say, 3 uses – 1 weight or even less uses!) to make them choose wisely how they make their backpacks.
Andrea Serafini, I like that. I’d also add a WIS debility (confused). Even if I do add water, I can still find fictional ways to use it up as Jeremy suggests.
I don’t know that I’d alter the “stats” for rations, but I WAS thinking about altering the load ranges in the Encumbrance move while in the desert. Without being too harsh, I was thinking “fine” would be load -2. Maybe this could even go lower.
“I said take only what you need to survive.”
“It’s my industrial strength hair dryer. And I CAN’T live without it!”
And how about a simple water container?
Waterskin 5 uses, 2 weight
Indespensable for long treks through arid regions. Just make sure that Dwarf has water in it instead of that stout they’re so fond of!
Nice!
I would advice you to use only 1 between waterskin or modified rations, to reduce book keeping to a minimum.
I agree. I think the waterskin covers all of the bookkeeping and is themed appropriately for a desert, and simple desert moves allow me to use it up faster than they would use rations. Your custom move becomes “When you are in a desert and should consume water but you have none…”
I still like the idea of altering Encumbrance, I just don’t know if it’s really neccesary, especially when they’re going to be taking debilities if they don’t have enough water.