If you’re familiar with both Dungeon World and Apocalypse World, you might have noticed a difference in their “GM/MC” chapters: in Dungeon World, the GM moves are described but given no examples. In Apocalypse World, the GM moves are named, not really described, but instead they are demonstrated almost entirely with examples.
I think newer DW GMs sometimes struggle with visualizing how those GM moves might manifest at the table. So let’s collaborate on a list of 2-4 examples for each basic and dungeon GM move.
As a reminder, here are the GM’s moves in DW:
“*BASIC*” GM MOVES
● Use a monster, danger, or location move
● Reveal an unwelcome truth
● Show signs of an approaching threat
● Deal damage Hurt them (https://goo.gl/PS7wVN)
● Use up their resources
● Turn their move back on them
● Separate them
● Give an opportunity that fits a class’ abilities
● Show a downside to their class, race, or equipment
● Offer an opportunity, with or without cost
● Put someone in a spot
● Tell them the requirements or consequences and ask
DUNGEON MOVES
● Change the environment
● Point to a looming threat
● Introduce a new faction or type of creature
● Use a threat from an existing faction or type of creature
● Make them backtrack
● Present riches at a price
● Present a challenge to one of the characters
Put your examples in the comments, with both the name of the GM move and the example. Make the examples short and sweet, ideally 50 words or less, definitely no more than 100.
Let’s try to get a range of soft, medium, and hard moves for each. If we can get enough good ones, I’ll curate this into a nice formal doc.
I’ll start:
Show Signs of an Approaching Threat
You drop the torch down the shaft, and it just keeps going and going, eventually the speck of light fades out. And you’re like, listening, right? Holding your breath, waiting to hear it hit bottom. But you don’t. You hear, like, a rustling. A fluttering. Lots of fluttering, and squeaks, rushing up the pit, towards you, getting closer. What do you do?
Tell the requirements or consequences and ask
That chasm is pretty wide. You want to jump it, you’ll be Defying Danger with STR or DEX, your call. But on a miss, you’re falling to your doom and rolling Last Breath. You do it?
Hurt them
So I think what happens is, you trip on a root or something and the razor boar just rushes in and gores your leg, it’s a bloody mess. Take 1d10 damage, 3 piercing, and mark the Shaky debility from blood loss and torn up muscles. What do you do?
Change the Environment
You pass through a few more dusty rooms, no sing of habitation exception for birds and spiders and mouse droppings. Then, in what you think must have been the kitchen, you find a stone circular staircase, leading down into darkness. What do you do?
Turn their move back on them
Ok, so you are trying to cast Cause Fear on the Constable so he is afraid of your follower’s knife. However, something goes horribly wrong with the spell and your follower is suddenly paralyzed with fear. What do you do?
Separate them
The downpour is now torrential. You are concentrating on the slippery footing on the steep mountainside trail. You hear a tremendous earth rending sound. There is a landslide directly in front of you. You and Gertrude remain motionless as you see Bix and Jeffery sliding along with the soil down the side of the mountain. They are now 100 feet below you and still sliding. What do you do?
Reveal an Unwelcome Truth
You drive your blade deep into the heart of the creature. As you pull back, its flesh begins to harden, encrusting itself around your weapon. It’s stuck in the creature; what do you do?
Introduce a New Faction or Type of Creature
Swayed by your promises, the butcher’s voice drops to a whisper. She tells you of the Nightfangs, the zealous cult which truly runs this city. What do you do?
Use Up Their Resources
As the shaman mutters strange syllables, Wizard, you feel the magic you had carefully memorized becoming vague and harder to keep ahold of. Which prepared spell is no longer prepared?
Put someone in a spot
As your run into the room you trip on a wooden plank. Unfortunately it was the home of carnivorous woodflies. They are now all around you barring any escape…
Show a downside to their… race
“Dwarves never gave us any quarter when the orc hordes came years ago,” the old inkeeper growls at you and your companions. “I’ll spit in my mother’s ashes – may her soul rest easily – before I’ll have a dwarf staying here as they’re stirring up trouble with the orcs again this time. And no, you can’t have a ‘bit of whatever’s in the pot’.”
Separate Them
The troll just charges right through your group. Some of you go left, and some of you go right. Now the troll is between your two groups, but whoever went left also has three orcs on their flank.
Change the Environment
This tunnel has been getting warmer for the last ten minutes. You see a ruddy glow up ahead as the path opens into a vast cavern, a small river of magma flowing through a fissure that crosses the room down the middle.
Show a Downside to the Race, Class, or Equipment
As you cast your spell, you feel something stirring deep below the earth. Some ancient force that responds to the presence of your god being invoked… and it is not happy.
Use Up Their Resources
This lock is so rusty, it’s taking forever to get the tumblers into place. By the time you’re done, you’re down to your last lockpick, and you can’t hear the goblins you were chasing anymore.
Point to a Looming Threat
There’s definitely more water down here than there was when you last passed by. At this rate, the passage will be completely filled in a few hours.
Turn Their Move Back On Them
The lich appears in your scrying pool. He’s in the library alright, but before you can discover anything more, he turns around and looks right at you, through the spell.
Give an Opportunity That Fits a Class’ Abilities
That scaffold that the kobolds are climbing over doesn’t look all that sturdy to you, Barbarian. A few good hards swings of your axe would bring it tumbling down.
Present Riches at a Price
There’s a dozen magic runes guarding the cabinet. You’ll have you carefully remove them one at a time if you want the jewelry inside.
Use a Threat From An Existing Faction
You find a few barbed arrows among the junk. Looks like the lizardfolk got here first. The blood on them is still wet, they might still be around.
Put Someone In a Spot
Hey Fighter, isn’t your father’s hammer still in that burning building?
Reveal an Unwelcome Truth
You reach into your pocket for the key… but it isn’t there! Hey, didn’t someone bump into you earlier when you were at the festival today?
Make Them Backtrack
As you prod the tunnel wall for secrets, you hear a creak and rumble from the ceiling ahead. Suddenly, it collapses in an avalanche of dirt and rock, causing you to duck and shield your eyes as the rushing breezes flickers your torch in the darkness. When the dust settles, you’re relived to find that none of you are injured, but the path before you is now blocked by an immense amount of rubble. You’ll have to go back through the fire caves and hope a different path can lead you to the dragon’s treasure vault.
Use a Monster Move
Golbin Orkaster – Use other goblins for shields
At the moment you raise your sword with the clear intention of slashing the Goblin Orkaster, you instead mortally maim a surprised nerby goblin as the Orkaster grabs and uses him has a meat shield.
Looking forward to the results
Just wanted to say thanks for doing this. I’m new to PBTA and have been wanting examples.
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When you inevitably put this in a google doc, please send it my way so I can put it on the Syllabus. Jeremy Strandberg.
Listening
/sub
LESS LISTENING AND THANKING MORE MOVES PEOPLE
Jeremy Strandberg I’M AT WORK YOU MONSTER but okay jeez
Use a threat from an existing faction or type of creature (Ghoul, “Gnaw off a body part”)
You try to push through the group of them, but they rake at you with their talons and snap at you with their teeth. Suddenly there’s a sharp pain in your hand, and when you yank it up in front of you, you feel woozy for a moment as you count only four fingers.
Show signs of an approaching threat
As you make your way in the sewers, you ear a loud eerie shrieking coming from further down.
Put someone in a spot
The hooded figure points his robed arm at you “character name” and says: “now mortal…you will know why they fear me…”
Change the environment
The mine shaft abruptly ends in front of you. You see a large cave lit by the reddish glow of the lava river flowing down several feet below you. The ore wagon rails you’ve been following jut out a few feet from the tunnel shaft letting you look down.
Introduce a new faction or type of creature
As your party and the ogres both catch your breath before reengaging, you ear a loud high-pitched war scream. A dozen ratkins suddenly appear from every side and start jumping and latching on the ogres. Are they friends or foes? For now, they are helping you dispatch the ogres!
Give an opportunity that fits a class’ abilities – Thief
You all enter the room but The Thief suddently yells “STOP! Everyone stay still…” Your instinct tells you something isn’t right. Wait… this isn’t dust that covers the whole place… it’s ash.
What do you do?
Offer an opportunity, with or without cost
The vizier stares down at you. “I will guide you to the sultan’s inner chambers…if you agree to slip this poison in his wine…”
Change the Environment
(hard version)
The floor just drops away and there’s that stomach lurching falling feeling then WAM, everyone take 1d8 damage as you land in a rocky, watery pit. From the light streaming in, it looks like you’re in some sort of natural cave, maybe an underground river? What do you do?
Tell them the requirements or consequences and ask
“Character name” if you charge ahead, the wyvern will get a chance to smack you a few times with his long tail before you reach him. Do you still want to go ahead with this?
Hybrid duo of Use up their resources & Offer an opportunity
You make the jump but midair you realize you’re a bit short. You smash into the opposite wall and manage to barely hold yourself by a hand on the thin ledge.
You won’t hold for long and that pack of yours is way too heavy. You can either drop it and climb back with no problem or try to muscle your way back up.
Put them in a Spot
(hard version)
Ovid, you’re like shining your lantern into the dark corners, and Belle, you’re like peering over his shoulder, and the audience sees something slipping up behind both you, multiple somethings, then WAM you get jumped and the lantern falls and when you come to, you’re hanging upside down in the dark, quiet except for the echoes of water dripping, like in your some vast, wet cavern. What do you do?
Reveal an Unwelcome Truth
No, no… the light spell goes off, no problem. But as it does, it reflects off like a dozen pairs of eyes in the trees. The baboons have found you! What do you?
Hurt Them
The alien reveals its terrifying true self to you, and you can only stand in shock, unable to move. You gain the Stunned debility, and you’ll need someone else’s aid to regain your senses. Meanwhile, you’re vulnerable to its attacks…
Jeremy Strandberg Are you going to leverage examples in existing popular articles from the DW syllabus? I think the following would be particularly helpful:
– DW Guide https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzeF5GXNEsnfUjU0NXRDM1dFN1k/view
– How to Ask Nicely https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/65809/how-to-ask-nicely-in-dungeon-world
– Suddenly Ogres https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MC_W_qxY7kScRK_2arLhGvATX0HyQz6dTIKFj_HI2T4/edit
Thomas Schellenberg I had been thinking about scouring existing sources, yes. Those would definitely be places to start!
Yochai Gal the Syllabus?
Jeff Wood The Syllabus:
docs.google.com – Dungeon World Syllabus
Jeremy Strandberg thank you!
Jeremy Strandberg Do you also want examples of both “soft moves” and “hard moves” (i.e. a comparison of the two)?
Point to a looming threat:
Gerkins, you manage to yank the rusty lever to Open. The colossal door against the wall begins to open in a puff of air and a shower of dust. It is agonizingly slow! Down the corridor you can see the shadowy tendrils of the Cursed Celebration grasp and grope their way toward you. A mannequin is gripped and drawn away, around the corner.
Reveal an Unwelcome Truth
Your sword deals a heavy blow to the goblin, throwing him to the ground. You stand over him, sword at the ready, as he looks at you with pleading eyes, bloody and defeated. Suddenly, you hear a rustling sound from the bushes nearby, and turn to see three goblin children hiding, watching, and waiting. One lets out a sorrowful moan: “Papa?” What do you do?
Reveal an unwelcome truth (on a Hack&Slash Roll)
A failure? So… your knife connects, and stabs Tabitha in the heart, the gleaming edge becoming crimson with her blood.
She smiles, as if not being actually hurt. You’ll need to think something else to kill her.
Separate them (on a Discern Realities Roll)
MMMh… You wished to understand better who’s in control here, right? So, while the others make camp, you check the place and the symbols engraved on the broken statues. You go forward, threre is a trail leading to a part where they’re even more ancient. But there is quite no light, now, and the camp is just a light on the horizon. What do you do?
Thomas Schellenberg yes, definitely! I’d like an array of softer / soft / hard / harder for each GM move!
Offer an Opportunity, with or without Cost (Softest)
You see a set of shining stones secured to a statue in the center of the room. You could try to pry them out if you wanted to. What do you do?
Offer an Opportunity, with or without Cost (Soft)
You see a set of shining stones secured to a statue hanging from the ceiling. You could try to pry them out if you wanted to, but you’d need to find a way to reach them. What do you do?
Offer an Opportunity, with or without Cost (Hard)
You see a set of shining stones secured to a statue of a soldier in the center of the room. You could try to pry them out if you wanted to. However, as you’re standing there, the status comes to life, raising its stone hammer with one hand and summoning arcane energy with the other. It looks at you aggressively. What do you do?
Offer an Opportunity, with or without Cost (Hardest)
You see a set of shining stones secured to a stone altar in the center of the room, with an evil offer etched onto its surface: “To obtain my priceless gems, you must sacrifice an innocent person to the altar of Demogorgon and submit to His dark power.” You and your companions read the tempting words and then eye each other suspiciously. What do you do?
(These could also be “Present Riches at a Price”)
Tell Them the Requirements or Consequences and Ask (Softest)
Your attacks have trouble penetrating the soldier’s defenses, but you could score a solid hit if you maneuvered into a better position first. However, Prince Ego would be angry at you if you didn’t let him have the killing blow. What do you do?
Tell Them the Requirements or Consequences and Ask (Soft)
Your attacks have trouble penetrating the soldier’s defenses, but you could score a solid hit if you maneuvered into a better position first. However, you’d be separated from your companions and vulnerable to a counterattack if the soldier survives. What do you do?
Tell Them the Requirements or Consequences and Ask (Hard)
Your attacks have trouble penetrating the soldier’s defenses, but you could score a solid hit if you threw your family shield as a distraction. However, your shield would fall over the edge of the chasm and you’d lose it forever. What do you do?
Tell Them the Requirements or Consequences and Ask (Hardest)
Your attacks have trouble penetrating the soldier’s defenses, but you could score a solid hit if you fought recklessly, without fear. However, your enemy would deal you a mortal blow in return, and you would be close to death. What do you do?
Thomas Schellenberg those are great. I hadn’t actually meant an array of hardness using the same basic scenario, but now that I see them, I think including one or two arrays like yours might be a great addition to the final doc.
In general, though, I think I prefer variety over iteration for this project!
Put someone in a spot
Vernor, as the troll heaves the boulder across the icy canyon, you dive past your sledge driver Bjørk. The dogs flinch as the boulder just misses them, and with a whine they start sliding down the cliff side. Bjørk tries desperately to pull them up, but she and the sledge are sliding on the icy rocks as well. You see the troll begin to haul another huge rock on the other side. Bjørk won’t make it without help. Do you help her, or crawl to safety?
Reveal an unwelcome truth
Eldar, you pull the black fires of Muspelheim forth, hoping to burn the very soul of your enemy. As you fling that hideous fire at the pale dwarf, it just starts laughing like a maniac. The dark, almost invisible fire is crackling along the chains that cover all of it’s body, and seems to be giving him strength. His beard catches on fire, and as he speaks glowing cinders spurt from his mouth: “foolish manling! I was born again in the fires of Sinmara. The flames of my home hearth cannot harm me! Now I will drag your soul home to Muspelheim!”
Change the Environment (soft)
You scan the walls, and as you step in closer to the wall and examine an slightly out of place stone, you feel your left foot drop, and you look to the other side of the room to see the far wall slowly sinking into the floor, to reveal a series of wide steps leading down. What do you do?
Separate Them (hard)
Sa’riel, your eyes go wide as you realize you’ve lost your grip on Boldor’s hand. Boldor reaches for you frantically, but he’s just too late, and then you fall, say, two stories into the alley below. Take 2d6 damage, please, and if you live, what do you do?
.
(I know that you may not include these arrays, but I’m enjoying doing them as an exercise. Feel free to use them as you wish!)
Hurt Them (Softest)
The owlbear swipes at you with its claws. It misses, but it causes you to step back and cut your leg on a jagged stone, dealing you 1d4 damage.
Hurt Them (Soft)
The owlbear rakes you with its claws, dealing 1d10 damage.
Hurt Them (Hard)
The owlbear slams into you with its massive body, dealing 1d10 damage and breaking your ribs. Take -1 ongoing until they’re healed (either magically or with long-term medical treatment).
Hurt Them (Hardest)
The owlbear mauls you with its superhuman strength, dealing 1d10 damage and giving you the Weak debility as it rips off your sword arm completely. It then flings your detached arm, still clutching your bloody sword, into Floyd the Henchman, skewering him with a mortal blow.
Put Someone in a Spot (Softest)
Two zombies flank you, preventing you from making an easy escape. What do you do?
Put Someone in a Spot (Soft)
Three zombies surround you, preventing you from making an easy escape. If you try to attack one of them, you will be vulnerable to attacks from the others. What do you do?
Put Someone in a Spot (Hard)
Five zombies surround you, preventing you from making an easy escape. If you try to attack one of them, you will be vulnerable to attacks from the others. One zombie punches you, dealing 1d6 damage. What do you do?
Put Someone in a Spot (Hardest)
Ten zombies surround you, preventing you from making an easy escape. If you try to attack one of them, you will be vulnerable to attacks from the others. One zombie, the size of an ogre, claws you, dealing 1d10 damage and infecting you with zombie rot. You fall on your back and your sword flies out of your reach. What do you do?
(Oh, this was a fun one that I got to use for a boss battle in my last game!)
Use a Monster, Danger, or Location Move
As you enter the arcane library, you see the lich king standing among the shelves and immediately feel his dark, supernatural aura filling the room. While you’re in the presence of the lich king, you take -1 ongoing.
Thomas Schellenberg I added variations on your Put Someone in a Spot and the Hurt Them examples, but with a lot of editing.
For the Hurt Them, I generally consider that to be hurting them, inflicting an injury that is more than just hit points. It’s basically never a soft move in my mind. I’d call your first example with the bear and jagged rock just “use up their resources” (in this case, their HP).
Here’s what I went with instead:
Hurt Them (hard)
The bear swipes at you and does 1d10+1 damage. How much did you take? 4? Okay, so it like smacks you across the shoulder and sends you flying and spinning into the dirt. Your shoulder is burning, your head is spinning, you vaguely realize there’s something you should be attending to, something important. What do you do?
Hurt Them (harder)
A miss? It bites down on your arm, hard, and starts yanking. Oh gods it hurts. Take 1d10+1 damage. Eek, 10 huh? You feel something in your shoulder tear, and everything’s fire, and the bear’s still pulling, the rest of its weight on your chest. Mark Weakened. What do you do?
Hurt Them (hardest)
Oh, crap another miss? Dude… Well, Sigurd, you come running to the clearing, just in time to hear this wet snapping noise over Hawke’s screaming, and the bear like jerks back and there’s this spray of blood as it tears Hawke’s arm off. Hawke, take another 1d10+1 damage. Sigurd, what do you do?
For the zombies, I think you’re escalating hardness by layering on details/numbers, rather than focusing on the fictional positioning. Here’s how I added them to the doc:
Put them in a spot (soft)
The two zombies flank you, cutting off your escape. What do you do?
Put them in a spot (harder)
The zombies surround you, preventing you from making an easy escape. They’re getting closer, all around, and you know they’ll pounce any moment. What do you do?
Put them in a spot (hardest)
Oh, gods, there are zombies everywhere. And as you scan about, looking for a way out, one lunges at you and grabs on, biting you for 1d6 damage. The others surge forward, what do you do?
oh, and for anyone who missed it, here’s the compilation
docs.google.com – Example GM Moves for Dungeon World