So completely new to Dungeon World. I have been reading over the online SRD, some blogs, and ‘actual play’ stuff but I will admit – this isn’t your conventional set of rules. I get how it gives the feel of old school, but some of the mechanics are… mind bending… In a refreshing kind of way.
That out of the way, and I hate to bring this up because I obviously haven’t played yet and expect the, “try it before you monkey with it” rules-as-written responses, but something just gnaws at me: GM Moves. I get the concept, I do, but other than giving a scene more narrative difficulty for the Characters that doesn’t translate into an actual Character consequence, there are only one or maybe two moves that cause ‘damage’ (Cause Damage / Use Monster’s Move). Don’t get me wrong I am all for that, and I see how this can be used to weaken or strengthen the opposition (thinking back on something I read about a 16 hp Dragon). All these moves are… ways to dictate the pacing of a scene. Or am I out in left field here kicking ant mounds?
Sorry I can’t really convey what I am after here to set up my actual thought, so I’ll just get to it: If I could throw the damage move on them or put them in a spot then throw the damage at them, what’s really the benefit to me as the GM to put them in a spot other than pacing and quality fiction? Now, and this would require a little bit of book keeping, but what instead of – say using a Goblin’s 1d6 for a Cause Damage move – I instead took a bonus to that eventual move to say Put Them in a Spot first? Pacing control is still there. The Players, through their Characters, are sensing the setup for impending worsening trouble and it might generate a bit of fire to “Quick, kill this Goblin!” if they know that next they are either going to have to Defend or Defy Danger and if they fail I can either Cause Damage with at 1d6+2, instead of 1d6, or press my luck further and try to spin even more bonus by, I don’t know, Using Up Their Resources (maybe lose a shield to the Goblin onslaught for another GM +2) so I could hit them for 1d6+4?!
A +2 bonus may be too much, I don’t know. It might be better to just keep setting d6s in front of them where I would eventually make them roll them all when I finally get to that Cause Damage move and take the highest result… The point is, unless I am missing something in the RAW, is that there is a mechanical advantage for why to prolong the pacing and build the fiction’s tension in a scene this way.
Thoughts?