By the way, has anyone ever run a campaign where the characters are at ridiculous, god-like levels? For example…
GM: Your nemesis finally appears before you, his dragon tattoo glowing red on his chest.
Paladin: I spread my wings and dive at him with my holy lance!
GM: Roll Hack and Slash.
Paladin: 7
GM: Okay, roll D10.
Paladin: 6
GM: Your strike skewers him in the heart. The shockwave of your attack explodes outwards, blasting through the entire city and flattening all buildings in a cone behind your target. Your nemesis grimaces, then grins. He grabs your lance and flings you at the nearby bell tower! What do you do?
Paladin: I try spread my wings to stop my momentum!
GM: Looks like you’re Defying Danger. Roll plus Strength.
Paladin: Ugh! 4
GM: Roll D10.
Paladin: 8
GM: You smash through the bell tower, instantly shattering the solid iron bell into ashes, and you fly right through to crash into a nearby mountain, completely destroying it. As the dust clears, you see your nemesis hovering in the sky, his wound already regenerating itself. What do you do?
Paladin: Do I still have my lance?
GM: Yes, you’re still holding on to it.
Paladin: I aim it at him and fire a ray of wrath from its tip!
GM: Roll for Volley.
Paladin: 9
GM: Pick a choice.
Paladin: I’ll expose myself to danger.
GM: Roll D10.
Paladin: 3
GM: With a flash of golden lightning, the ray bursts from your lance and shoots into the sky. It hits the moon! The moon cracks apart and begins falling. The next thing you know, your nemesis is flying towards you. His left arm is gone! What do you do?
Paladin: I dodge!
GM: Okay, roll.
Paladin: 8
GM: He is going hypersonic! The shockwaves are fracturing the ground beneath you! You can either take the blow, or dodge and let the entire region be leveled by his next attack! What do you do!?
Ahem. Okay, I had a little too much fun there, but you get the idea. 😛
check out Mythender RPG, it’s free (or PWYW) and all about hunting down gods at the risk of becoming them yourself
I have not played this way, but the fact you could play this way without changing any of the mechanics is part of why I like DW so much. Everything scales based on how you narrate the actions and outcomes.
Like Chris, i have not, though id love to.
Maybe ill take World of Dungeons and play some DBZ lol
That sounds awesome! I know Savage Worlds uses “Setting Rules”. DW doesn’t really need that because it’s all about the fiction, but if you wanted to codify it as “setting rules” you could lay out a document that describes what “forceful” and “messy” (and other tags) means in your setting:
“Forceful: Powerful enough to knock you to the moon”
“Messy: That huge pile of bone and gore… that used to be a Tarrasque.”
Just those two tags tells your players they’re not in Kansas anymore!
I plussed that despite the mention of Savage Worlds Brian Holland. 😉
I played SW for about a minute lol. I just couldn’t get into it
Mark Weis Woah woah wait, since when is Mythender PWYW?! Rad!
Not quite to those levels, but to be fair the PCs can get ridiculous powerful when you start getting near level 10 in Dungeon World anyway, not that that’s a bad thing 🙂
Cameron Worrall I’m pretty sure i picked it up either free or PWYW a while ago
Mark Weis If you’re going to play Mythender and you’re coming from DW: you’re gonna need more dice. (Likely 50x.)
Shane Liebling oh yeah, i noticed that in reading the “Crap, that’s a lot of stuff” section
Yeah, this is well beyond where I’d go, but it’s not my campaign, so go for it!