Coming from a pathfinder background before dungeon world, I have made mistakes before when it comes to +1s and +2s in the past. So I’d like to post a question to you guys. Where is a +1 or +2 ongoing appropriate and acceptable? +2 ongoing should mostly likely be a taboo, as you can’t fail on a +5. Have you ever used ongoing before? What is it useful for? Regale me with your tales please đ
Coming from a pathfinder background before dungeon world, I have made mistakes before when it comes to +1s and +2s…
Coming from a pathfinder background before dungeon world, I have made mistakes before when it comes to +1s and +2s…
In my mind, it would be used in situations where some sort of magical or strategic advantage helps you. Something like this:
“Take +1 ongoing while defending the front gate of the magical castle, until it falls.”
Be specific about what the ongoing bonus applies to and when it expires and you’ll be fine.
In my playbooks, I think I may have used ongoing once or twice, but it was “+1 ongoing to a specific attribute until X,” where X is an event, such as the end of a battle, once a marked target is dead, until you roll less than a 10+, etc.
I’ve never used +x in any of the games I’ve run.
I really prefer bonuses to be highly situational, and stop at +1. Beyond that, you may as well give a hold to its effect and let them take a free auto-success.
A +1 ongoing is a pretty big deal, and I’d always make it very circumstantial, limited, and/or easy to lose. And always tied to the fiction. Â
Make is something that they must fight for or consider in their narration if they want to keep it. Â Something that pushes them towards acting a particular way or making tough decisions.
Example: Â *Parkour* When you use your sweet moves and haul ass, take +1 ongoing as long you maintain your momentum.
Other good examples are getting +1 ongoing only against a certain foe that has wronged/bested you (there are a few like that in Class Warfare), and the barbarian move that gives you +1 ongoing while your HP are < CON.
+1 ongoing for one scene, like defending the magical portal Harrison s suggests, is not the end of the world.  But, the usual advice is that it’s more interesting to give out some more specific advantage:  maybe there’s a magical field that blocks enemy arrows, or a field that boosts your armor, or an ongoing magical heal, or a magical drawbridge that’s hard to cross.  Two reasons:  one is that it adds more vivid detail to the world; the other is subtle, but important:  the 10+ full success result is boring.  Fun stuff happens on the partials and failures.  Why would you want to increase the chance of the combat being predictable?