Has anyone out there done any work statting up hazards or traps as if they were monsters?
For example:
Flash Flood
natural, terrain
Instinct: to flow
● Soak someone or something
● Drag something or someone away
● Block a path
or
Crude Spiked Pit Trap
constructed, concealed, static
Sharpened stakes: 2d6 damage (messy)
Instinct: to lie in wait
● Give out underfoot
● Impale someone
● Betray signs of its presence
I’m not really sure it’s worth it, but I’d love to see other, similar stuff that’s been done before.
Inverse World does this.
The other option for traps I guess is via individual custom moves?
I made a mountain like that once, but I’m not very good at monsters. Converted a little, it looks like this:
Mountain, 1d6 damage, cold, windy, barren
A giant pile of rocks. Instinct: To break travelers.
* Be wreathed in a storm
* Take away a resource
* Punish the unprepared
I’m kind of agnostic on it — it’s a neat way to model the hazard and cement the scene, but it’s also maybe more work than it needs to be. I’m all for anything that makes it easier for me to remember to use dungeon/location moves, though.
In apocalypse world, terrain (landcapes) can be a threat and this has a set of moves associated with it
Planarch Codex suggests dungeons be treated as monsters/threats, so this seems like an extension of similar thinking.
Tam H That’s neat! But I’m generally hearing you re: “more trouble than it’s worth.” Also, Peter J… I never even noticed that Inverse World did that. And I think it’s telling that it never caught on among the creator community.
Rob Brennan I was definitely thinking about maybe just a short list of “hazard moves,” and maybe a list of instincts, but I’m not really sure it’d be sufficiently distinct from the Dungeon Moves (or as I’ve redone them for Stonetop, Exploration Moves).
Shane Liebling I think that custom moves are what you usually see, when folks bother to do anything formal for them at all.
The other modality I think might work is a countdown clock/super-focused grim portent/doom sort of thing.
All of these approaches might work. I think a full monster-like write-up is a bit much for a pit trap, but might be appropriate for a flash flood. And a countdown works great for a poison or a cave-in, but not so much for a storm or a prairie fire. A floor that could fall out from under you at any minute? Probably a custom move.
So… I guess this is what I’m thinking (right-most column; the other stuff is just the usual monster-creation rules reformatted).
Thoughts?
drive.google.com – Making Monsters & Hazards.pdf
That is AWESOME.
I second that.
The Valley of Yngrull and The Factory were both done as monsters in Sword Breaker 5.
It feels really “Fate Core-ish” to antagonize objects, locations, weather, or just about anything.
I think it’s a clever way to approach challenges if you want something more involved than a single DD check.
It allows about the same tactical mindset and excitement that combat brings to the table. The party has to “fight” its way through the challenge.
I’d probably even give HP to the challenge and play it a bit like ICRPG’s Effort.
When a character takes an action that would help toward overcoming the challenge, he makes a DD check then roll damage.
If you don’t like the idea of rolling damage, you can say that it takes X successes to consider the challenge overcame – basically what others suggested : clocks
You could also use Jeremy Strandberg ‘s Struggle as One against it.
E.g.
The Pass of Caradhras
terrain, weather
HP 12
Frostbite 1d8 damage (piercing)
Instinct: to deny passage
● Avalanche
● Neck-deep snow
● Reduce visibility
GM: “The Fellowship moves through the Pass of Caradhras, nicknamed “The Cruel” by the dwarves for its bad reputation of being treacherous. A violent snow storm soon hits the party and neck-deep snow makes every step a challenge. What do you do?
Legolas Discern Realities, 7-9.
What here is not what appears to be?
“There is a fell voice on the air”
GM makes a soft move: “A mighty crack is heard overhead, and great chunks of rock fall down from the mountain top. What do you do?”
ARAGORN: “He’s trying to bring down the mountain! Gandalf! We must turn back!”
GANDALF: “No! (he steps out to the edge of the path). Losto Caradhras, sedho, hodo, nuitho i ‘ruith!”
DD +Int, rolls a 6-
GM: “A great streak of lightning hits the top of the mountain above the Fellowship and an avalanche of snow rains down on top of you, burying you underneath it.”
Everybody take 5 dmg.
Gimli tries to dig through the snow, plowing a path for his comrades. He rolls+STR, 13! He rolls 5 damage, leaving The Pass at 7 HP.
GIMLI: “If we cannot pass over the mountain, let us go under it! Let us go through the Mines of Moria”