Aniket Schneider – Dungeon World Tavern G+ Archives

Let’s say a paladin lost his sword hand.

Let’s say a paladin lost his sword hand. Obviously this is a problem for him, so he dedicates himself to the quest of restoring it somehow (phrased mechanically as “Discover the truth of how to restore missing limbs).

Problem is, the quest is pretty orthogonal to the party’s goals, so the quest isn’t really getting advanced. Fictionally, how would you handle a paladin that decides to abandon a quest? What about one who is taking advantage of his boons for all sorts of things that have nothing to do with his quest?

Of course the player has a say in how paladin quests work in-fiction too, but I’d like to have some ideas going into that conversation.

Bonus question: as a DM, how much would you push back on selfish and/or awkwardly phrased paladin quests such as this? How important is it that the goal of the quest fit nicely into the given prompts?

Agrash Rage-Fist the orc says, “Human village weak. We strong!”

The Bard interjects, “But if you-“, but the orc immediately takes a swing at her with his fist. What do you do?

In this case the Bard wanted to discern realities to decide how to react, so I had her Defy Danger +INT to think quickly enough to both analyze and react before she was hit. Turns out this is just standard orc behavior to assert dominance, and Agrash wasn’t trying to hurt her, so she rolled with the blow and avoided antagonizing anyone. Classic neutral bard.

Thought I would share, since I’ve found Defy Danger +INT to be extremely rare!

I’ve been running a DW campaign for a few weeks, and last night was session 4.

I’ve been running a DW campaign for a few weeks, and last night was session 4. Up until last night it’s been pretty fun, but last night I decided to try and consciously apply some advice I read (I think somewhere on this board, though I can’t find the post): make harder hard moves, and deal more damage. In particular, whenever fictionally appropriate, I dealt damage in addition to whatever fictional consequences there were to the failure.

The difference was really palpable. Tension was higher, and players responded by making more interesting (sometimes desperate) fictional actions. The declining hit point total made it necessary to move the story forward with every move.

The session ended with the wizard getting her face painted with blood by an orc shaman and taking part in a ritual to become a berserker. Unexpected, for sure, and I could not have been happier with the outcome.

What kinds of effects do people use when a druid, in an animal form, poisons someone?

What kinds of effects do people use when a druid, in an animal form, poisons someone? As a rattlesnake in a recent game my GM had me just deal my class damage without damage reduction from armor, but we agreed that it wasn’t the most exciting or narratively compelling result. There are a few poison examples from the thief class, but I’m curious what other poison effects people are using in their games.

I have a scene coming up where the PCs help defend a city, so I thought I’d add a custom move for the city’s fixed…

I have a scene coming up where the PCs help defend a city, so I thought I’d add a custom move for the city’s fixed defenses.

When you fire a ballista at a slow-moving target, roll + DEX. On a 10+, you hit dead on – inflict 1d10 damage. On a 7-9, the GM picks one:

* Your target has a moment to react. Roll 2d10 and take the lowest to determine damage.

* You hit, but not the target you were aiming for. Deal 1d10 damage to a nearby target instead.

* You hit dead on but the ballista is damaged or jammed. Deal 1d10 damage, but you cannot fire again until it is repaired.

This is my first custom move so I’m still trying to figure out what works.