Shortly after playing my first game of Dungeon World, I got back into Final Fantasy XI.

5 thoughts on “Shortly after playing my first game of Dungeon World, I got back into Final Fantasy XI.”

1. /sub – won’t be able to help until tomorrow

   but i want to point you to the cc i showed today because it is kind of an blue mage

   https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lPWv9QuvK4wlMlxcs0PoeCxFHa–VJm_Ij7DtvpC6vk/edit?usp=sharing

   let me also say, that this is a very hard concept to do in DW – especially if you want to make it really close to how it tipically works in FF

2. So, overall I dig it.

   I will provide a few points, though…

   HP 4 seems too low for a class with a core intent of subjecting themselves to lots of enemy abilities. Maybe 6?

   Quick Study seems better than the other two moves, maybe.

   For Training, only getting three abilities from one animal seems weird, especially since many animals will only really have 1/2 (if any) targeted abilities. I’d much rather see one ability each from 2/3 animals.

   Learn By Experience is okay, but the construct “When you take an action to study a creature and are then a target of a special ability of that creature” is maybe a little awkward? Maybe something like “When a creature you’re keeping a close eye on targets you with a special ability, roll+int.”. Also, on a 7-9, I’d probably just make it +1-ongoing instead of forward.

   For “Abilities Per Day”, you shouldn’t specify the time. Instead, leave something vague like “When you make camp and contemplate your abilities,…” or “When you spend time in quiet contemplation…”.

   Furthermore, I think the numbers are wonky. Specifically, the huge jump from a miss to the 7-9. I’d probably do like: “Contemplation: When you make camp and contemplate the skills you’ve learned, hold equal to your level and roll+int. On a 10+, hold 3 extra; on a 7-9, hold 1 extra. On a miss, hold no extra.”

   Buuuut… I’m not sure you even need a hold/per day mechanism for this. Instead, flat out, mimicry could be…

   “Mimic: When you invoke an ability you’ve learned, you do it and roll+int. On a 10+, no complications! On a 7-9, choose one. On a miss, you still do it, but the GM chooses one and you choose one.

   – Take -1-ongoing to Mimic until you make camp.

   – You can’t use this ability again until you make camp.

   – The ability has half effect, duration, or so on.

   – The ability gives backlash or some unforeseen consequences”

   The alignments are okay. I’d rather see them revolve around using abilities and not learning them, though.

   “Natural Lore Books”, under defenses, are confusing… Are these lorebooks (per the new item) relating to natural creatures, or are they books (the normal item) relating to “natural lore”? I assume the latter, right?

   The bonds are fine, the second could probably be re-worded. And they need more bonds! 3-5 is ideal.

   The third option for “Primal Learning” is weird.

   Otherwise, I think some terminology and wording needs polish, and they need more advancements, but I think you’re on the right track. A few revisions and I’m sure this’ll be awesome! 🙂

   I hope this isn’t too long, I was just writing things as they came to mind. Sorry! :/

3. Yeah, it’s really difficult.  As someone pointed out, the way I’ve written the Blue Mage, the eventual abilities list will be huge.  FFXI gets around that by only allowing you to equip a limited number of  abilities at a time, but that seemed excessively complicated to try to model in DW.

4. I didn’t actually think of that!

   I think that, in this system, that’s the least of your worries.

   In, say, the newer editions of D&D, each ability is at least a few sentences to a few paragraphs!

   So, there, it’s a big issue.

   But for DW, and this class, it’s really just a one-line thing.

   So, even if you have a bunch, it’s just a list on a paper, no big deal.

   You could even use index cards and group by theme or whatever.

   If you think it might be a problem, though, one thing you can do is limit the number of abilities you can learn (1+level, maybe?), but I’m not sure how necessary.

   Or make an option when learning, on a 7-9, choose one:

   – forget an ability you’ve already learned, but learn this one

   – don’t learn this, but take +1-forward to learn it later

   Maybe?

5. No way, man.  Feedback is awesome.

   Agreed on the HP thing.  I went back and forth on that, eventually ending up with 4 because that’s what Wizards have.  6 will probably help a lot with survivability.

   On Learn By Experience, I initially wanted the Blue Mage to have to take an action to be studying the monster, but maybe that’s too nitpicky.  Just keeping a close eye on the monster is probably enough for it to be fun, but still require some forethought.

   I have a hard time with the balance on the matrixes for “on a 10… on a 7-9, etc” so feedback on those are good.  I like your version better anyway, since you’re not completely crippled if you roll badly.

   I do think that the Hold mechanic is important so that Blue Mages don’t just become these crazy versatile wizards with infinite abilities until they botch a roll.  Forgetting (and having to subject yourself) to an ability seems like a really steep penalty (since some abilities are going to be incredibly dangerous – think Behold disintegrate eye ray), but I DO like the rewording of Mimic because it looks more like when you cast a spell (and since these things are based off wizards, it seems to fit better).

   I agree the alignments need work, as do the bonds.

   The third ability of Primal Learning was kind of filler.  I wanted there to be three options, but perhaps since the Advanced version only has two, the first one only needs two as well.  Alternately, that “take on the form of the thing you’re mimicking” could be its own Advancement and I could flesh out the wording a bit more.

   Thanks for the awesome feedback.

Comments are closed.