Author: Chris McNeilly

For those that are super Hangout savvy, is there a way for me to share music during a hangout? We use Roll20 which has the jukebox feature, but unfortunately it just pipes from SoundCloud which means I’d have to upload my copyrighted ambience tracks and set them to public. Not too hot on that. Any suggestions?

So we’re two sessions into our Hangouts game and its working crazy well. My only problem with DW so far is that, man, it’s really enabling the lazy GM in me. I’m already at the point where I’m not really even considering monster moves or GM moves at all. I barely even consider the wispy few numbers I have for monsters. Everything is running about 90% off of description.

The primary DW aspects that are really driving play are: the die mechanic (yes, yes but, or anything but status quo) and “be a fan”.

Unarmed damage?

We finally got our first game going via Hangout tonight and it went really well.   In the climax scene the barbarian recklessly slams through a barred door and falls skidding across the floor into a roomful of awaiting bandits. Crossbows twang as he deftly barrel rolls amongst shattering bolts but loses his dagger in the hectic chaos. Carnage ensues. Later as he chases the fleeing bandits across a rubble field he tackles a lagger and twists his ankle as he does so. With no dagger, he wants to bash the guys face in.

I really didn’t know what to do. I almost went with 1 damage, then maybe 1d4 but ultimately we said screw it…we all want to see the barbarian be viscious. So I gave him full damage. It just felt weak to do otherwise in the final moments of that brutal scene. So what’s the official way to do it?

Man, haven’t thought about this in a very long time…but how do you folks like your hit points. Is every hit point loss literally a scratch, bruise, cut, etc? Are your characters bloody messes, persevering under the weight of a sanguine hell until they cross that threshold?

Or are they psychological/karmic in nature? Hit points being the measure of close calls, erosion of awareness and opportunity. With the loss of the final one indicating the strike that found its lethal destination?

Combination? I think I’m gonna lean heavily towards the latter with some scratching and bruising thrown in. I like the idea of “Cure Wounds” being as much about calming the mind and refocusing as it is about wounds growing shut. Fits well with getting most of your hit points back with each rest too.

DW GMs, do you cleave to monster moves as presented and try not to “move” beyond those two or three? Or do you view them as reminders only, and allow yourself to do whatever makes sense for the monster? For example, are you free to use your Troll to pick beings up and pull them to pieces?

You know, I originally thought I’d never be able to appreciate digital formats for books. I clung to my physical books and reveled in my tactile appreciation of them. Then I had kids, and my reading time got chopped up into bite sized sessions, lots of picking up and putting down. And the only large chunks are when it’s dark and everyone is in bed. I began to appreciate digital for its convenience (and backlight). So much that I thought, “wow, maybe I’m done with physical books!”

And I read DW on my kindle. And I studied the PDF some. It was functional. Then I got my hands on my buddy’s hardback DW. Well, physical form still rules for RPGs. At least for me. It’s just much easier to STUDY a book (and appreciate its layout) when it’s physical. It’s nice having that at hand now.

So as I study up for the game there’s one aspect of DW that I continue to have some unease with: the level of freedom provided the GM. I know that may sound strange but I can’t help it.

Most of the monsters are some stats that are of moderate importance in their presentation. But we’re reminded time and again of how the monster is more than these stats, that they’re an interesting fictional creature filled with excitement. Play their tags, play their descriptions, be true to the fiction. I TOTALLY get that and it’s exciting!

Now most people like to point at the Dragon as an illustration of how awesome and terrible creatures are, beyond their stats. Honestly, I look at the dragon and he seems pretty terrible on stats alone and there’s not much in the way of description that makes him worse. There’s Terrifying and Messy which help but those are totally up to the GM to make as relevant and deadly as wanted.

But I’m encouraged to stay true to our fiction too. So I guess I get to bring in other qualities to represent my dragon and maybe that falls under the purvey of Elemental Blood because otherwise I just have no idea what that means. Ill just make it up and assume it means magic resistant, knows magic, and has a killer command of certain elements. So there’s a pretty awful opponent.

But I’m just making shit up. And that’s what I’m struggling with. Ultimately it’s my fiat that decides whether their plan to shred the dragon’s wings with arrow fire can work. My fiat dictates when, instead if just doing damage, the dragon shreds armor or even removes a limb. The dragon is going to be exactly as horrible as I decide to make him and it doesn’t really have anything to do with the dice rolling.

Now for me personally, sure the dragon of the book is okay, but the ghoul? Man, we expect dragons to be bad but when that first hard move becomes available and someone’s arm is wrenched from their shoulder with a cartilage crunching wet pop…that’s gonna be rough.

So where’s the line between being a dick and being a fan? Do other GMs struggle with this in DW?