The shrine to Himinglæva
This came about because of the Gauntlet’s shrine competion. I never got it finished in time, and it’s way over the word-limit, but I thought I might share it here.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13MtwkdxxJ4U9niq_9ItkP85cdIh6DvrPhEMC9bQ4XmQ/edit?usp=sharing
The move is inspired by techniques employed by Jason Cordova in the Gauntlets We Hunt the Keepers campaign. For some reason I can’t tag the right Jason to give proper credit.
Comments, suggestions and critique welcome.
That’s great.
Love this, very evocative, and a tight thematic through line
Thanks Jeremy Strandberg and Eamon Mulholland! That means a lot. I hope I have a chance to use it, starting a game in September and I’m super stoked, haven’t really played more than a couple one shots of DW yet.
Roleplaying can be a fiendish hobby in terms of actually getting people together in one place, but systems like DW make it so worth it
Don’t know where that mechanic originated Christian Hundahl, but I think Jeremy Strandberg uses it, and I believe I’ve heard it mentioned on the Discern Realities?
It is the best way of handling mind control in a RPG I’ve seen.
That specific style of mind control (hold X, GM spends 1 hold to compel a course of action, get 1 XP if you spend it) is from Jason Cordova. At least, that’s where I first heard it.
My go-to for mind control is this:
When you are compelled to act against your will, mark XP if you act as bidden. If you resist, roll +WIS: on a 10+, you shake off the compulsion and act as you wish; on a 7-9, choose 1:
* Stand dazed, fighting for control of your mind
* Start acting as compelled but stop yourself at the last moment
* Harm yourself to regain control (1d6 damage, ignores armor)
On a 6-, you come to your senses having done gods-know-what.
It gives the mental influence more teeth and makes it a lot scarier. Yeah, it has the chance of removing a player’s control over their character, but it does so with a “fugue” moment rather than making the player actually play out the actions they don’t want to take.
You could mix it with Jason’s move pretty easily, by making the 1 hold something you can spend as a compel… and that then triggers my move above. And, if you wanted to soften it up a little, you could make the 7-9 result be “You resist, but the GM gets their 1 hold back.”
If you’re still interested, I’ve got a much more elaborate discussion of mind control here:
docs.google.com – Drowning and Falling: Custom Moves for DW