Author: Robert Hanz

So I made a post last week I think about running DW for some players, and how much they enjoyed it.

I ran into one of those guys last night during a Fate game, and at one point asked him about the game and he said he really enjoyed the flow of it.  At this point the conversation went something like:

Me:  “Yeah.  Crazy that it could be that much fun when it boiled down to a dozen kobolds in a cave.”

Him:  “What?  Wait….  I never realized that!  It really was just a dozen kobolds in a cave!  But it went so well because there was more happening… them retreating, coming at us from multiple corridors…”

And of course all of what happened is true, and was mostly a result of GM moves (“announce impending danger” being the biggie).

So, yeah.  Congrats on an awesome game that can make a bunch of 30 year old gaming vets a) have fun with a bunch of kobolds in a cave, and b) not even realize that it really was just a dozen kobolds in a cave.

So, I ran my first game of DW last night, was totally unprepared, and yet everyone had a blast.

With a dozen kobolds in a cave.  Imagine that 😉

That said… I did have one question that I haven’t really seen an answer for – how does range on weapons work?

For instance, kobolds with stabby spears are trying to insert the pointy end into our heroes.  They have reach, while our heroes are working with close weapons… how does that work?

I just kind of ignored it last night as I thought there was enough going on without it…  but, thinking about it, it would seem like it would require a Defy Danger to smack the kobolds, which would then put everybody at close range… but then wouldn’t the kobolds just back up further, making it reach distance again?  If Hack and Slash were initiated at close range, could the kobolds even strike back effectively?

I guess this could work in the fiction as the kobolds being poky while leading their attackers into the trap, and they’d certainly get the option of first shot.