I have lately been entranced by Mighty Magiswords, a lighthearted show on cartoon network about a pair of sibling adventurers who collect and use the titular magiswords, zany magical swords that often only bear a passing resemblance to actual weapons. It’s harmless, fast-paced and a lot of fun; I recommend checking it out.
Anyway, naturally(?) I got to wondering how to model a magisword-wielding character in Dungeon World. At first I looked to Class Warfare, since the Arsenal specialty seemed like a no-brainer. There are a couple of problems with this approach, though. Mainly, many of the magiswords are more utilitarian than offensive, more like adventuring gear than weapons (e.g., Accordion Magisword, Retractable Ladder Magisword, etc.). There’s one race move for adding a specific type of utility gear to your arsenal, but (understandably) no “I pull out whatever I want” option. Mixing in other specialties, like Conjurer, moved things in the right direction, but I couldn’t find anything that felt quite right.
But then it struck me: with a sufficiently loose definition of “primary element,” the Grim World Channeler class is a pretty darned good fit as-is. The Techniques, especially with the “hazard” tag, allow a fair degree of flexibility in designing new magiswords; you can only have 3-4 at a time, but can swap them out during downtime (so fictionally, you have a large collection but only have a few readily-accessible; this more or less fits in with the show, breaking with it in favor of game balance). The Summon Elemental move covers the more independent magiswords, like Taunting Jester and Zombie Pumpkin, though it makes more sense once you take Reabsorb Elemental.
It’s not a perfect fit, but if I were going to play a Warrior for Hire it’s probably the class I’d use. How would you model these characters in Dungeon World?
Haha. I ran a Mighty Magisword campaign for my son a while back. It was closer to a Lasers and Feelings simplification of World of Dungeons so I don’t know if I have any relevant advice.
Well, I’m intrigued how you blended Lasers and Feelings with World of Dungeons if nothing else!
I searched my notes and found this move. I think that is very close to what we did in play. I gave him a couple of tokens each session and as rewards for missions.
I have just the thing for that
When you can think of a Magisword that could be useful in the current situation and you want it, follow these steps:
1. Come up with a narrow and specific power for the sword.
2. Pick a flaw from the list:
» It is hard to control or hold back it’s power.
» It has side effects or hits the user too.
» It is awkward or difficult to carry around.
» It attracts trouble.
» It has limitations or restrictions.
» It is not very powerful.
» It is extremely powerful, but you must sacrifice a magical item every time you use it.
3. Say what it looks like and give it a descriptive name.
4. Then choose one:
» Spend a token and tell how you got it.
» It is not available right now, but you know where it is.
» It came at a terrible price and the consequences will hit at an inconvenient moment.
We didn’t care about balance or encumbrance in our campaign, but if I was writing a class, I would probably let the player carry a bundle of n Magiswords ( weight n ) and let them specify which swords they are carrying as they need them.
EDIT: (Send me a message if you want me to explain what L&F + WoD looks like. I don’t need to derail your thread.)