In preparation for a “spooky” DW game tomorrow, I’m building a custom 0-level playbook based on “The Commoner”. I decided to expand on the “Cower” move as follows, and would love your thoughts.
Original:
Cower
When you drop any weapons you hold and beg for
mercy, opponents ignore you in favor of other targets.
NEW: (edited)
Cower
When you drop any weapons you hold and beg for mercy from an intelligent opponent, Roll + Str.
On a 10+, your opponent recognizes the threat you still pose, and attacks without mercy.
On a 7-9, your opponent will spare you, but with a cost…
On a 6-, your opponent ignores you in favor of other targets. Do not mark XP.
It’s a flip of the stat usage, with the intention that it’s easier for a weaker character to appear non-threatening.
Except in this case, you probably want +STR. Since, 10+ is a miss…
Jim Morris I think you’re right. Got caught up in the reversal logics and went too far.
Why don’t you mark xp?
James Etheridge Just doesn’t feel right to give XP for successfully being a coward.
By that logic it seems like you should get the xp on a 10+ for failing to be a coward. I mean at its heart this is basically Defy Danger flipped on its head, so…
James Etheridge Perhaps it’s a reworded Defy Danger, perhaps it could have been a Cha roll or even drifted into Parley, but I like what it is, and I don’t want it to give XP for failing or succeeding to be a coward in that manner. Should the PC try to retreat, though…
Dude. This is awesome. I would probably give XP on the +10, but I really appreciate your courage to twist the system like this. Congrats.
Why not roll with minus STR? Then you don’t have to flip the fundamental logic on it’s head.
Asbjørn H Flø I had originally started that way, and for reasons I can’t recall at this time of the morning, I decided this way was better.
Getting the xp still seems like the way to go. You’re already going against most players’ instinct (to play heroic, competent characters). The double win of a hit and xp would at least make me more likely to use it.
The Take A Powerful Blow move in Masks is set up similarly and gives you the xp on a “miss” too.
Update: The game went well, but nobody died. They came really close, though. The Cower move never came up.