Hello folks – quick question that was asked of me recently: for purposes of moves such as the Paladin’s I am the…

Hello folks – quick question that was asked of me recently: for purposes of moves such as the Paladin’s I am the…

Hello folks – quick question that was asked of me recently: for purposes of moves such as the Paladin’s I am the Law, is an NPC considered to be any reasonable being aside from PCs? For instance, assuming an attacking goblin understands the Paladin’s language, is it effectively an NPC? Other RPGs distinguish between NPCs and encounter monsters, but DW is different to the point that I assume anything is an NPC that isn’t controlled by a player. Just wondering how you guys treat it?

Continuation from previous, the party wander through the sewers eastward, as the man-made sewer bricks give way to a…

Continuation from previous, the party wander through the sewers eastward, as the man-made sewer bricks give way to a…

Continuation from previous, the party wander through the sewers eastward, as the man-made sewer bricks give way to a more broken, uneven terrain. The sewer trench becomes an underground stream. They continue onward until they notice that the natural ceiling is beginning to show root tips. After a while longer, the roots are thick and slowing progress.

Taran decides to stop, pull a small trench shovel from his Adventuring Gear, and dig upward. Akra hoists him up to dig further and soon they break the surface. Taran crawls out doing his best risen dead impression, just in case any undead are around, but he is alone.

Using rope, the other two join him, and they decide to make camp. Nothing happened overnight, so they continue into the forest and soon notice that things seem extraordinarily colorful and vibrant. Discerning Realities, they see that some plants move. They see an Ent (different from Tolkien in that they don’t just get up and walk quickly – movement is verrrry slow aside from moving branches and the like), and in the distance that the forest grows darker due to thick webbing in the treetops.

Zahara goes and speaks to the Ent, against Taran’s advice, and learns a little about the spider menace and a Spider Queen, who has captured the water Nymph that guards the forest’s stream. The Ent asks her not to harm the forest in her efforts, as he realizes she is a Pyromancer. She agrees and also scratches an itch for him with her staff, then they press onward.

Reaching the edge of the webbing, they decide to scout the area. One spider pokes through the upper webbing as they are deciding what to do, and slowly lowers toward them. Taran decides to talk to it, asking if it could show them where the stream is and the location of the Nymph. The spider hisses that it can, grabs him by his clothing and begins hoisting him up into the webbing, hissing sarcastically, can you see it? (Conversely, he can from up there – the Nymph is bound in a cocoon and stuck to the wall). Taran then draws an arrow from his quiver that he’d dosed with golden root when they made camp. He uses it to just scratch the spider’s leg and of course he is the first creature the spider sees, so the spider now sees Taran as an ally.

Taran asks his new ally if he and his friends could be taken to the Spider Queen, so they can bring tribute to her. They arrive, with Taran riding his spider ally, and the Queen comes out of a wall of webbing. Taran realizes the golden root effect will be lost soon when he proves himself not an ally, so plunges his rapier through his steed and kills him. Quickly he tells her that this spider was conspiring against her and they were sent to aid her. She asks why Dara’keth (the Lich King of the undead front) would send the living to aid her, and he uses his thief move to lie about his alignment, saying he is evil, essentially. She believes him but wonders why he is in the company of one bearing the symbol of the Platinum Dragon? Zahara steps in, saying they are in disguise in the village, trying to blend with the good people as spies…

…then she goes on to say that she is Zahara Flameborn, perhaps the Queen had heard of her. She had, but because Dara’keth warned her of the Wizard. Suddenly they are under attack as the Queen morphs into a Dryder/Ettin sort of creature and five spiders lower from the ceiling of web. Zahara casts Fountsin of Flame around the Queen (injuring her badly), which also sets fire to the surrounding webbing. Taran bolts to the Nymph, trusting Akra and Zahara to hold the spiders off, so Akra Defends him while Zahara unleashes a fireball over 4 of the five spiders, leaving 1 HP on each. The uninjured spider jumps on Zahara’s back but cannot get through her armor with its bite.

Akra goes on the offensive with the Queen and ends up pinned to the ground by one spider leg, while she keeps her attention on Taran. Taran is pouring a healing potion in the Nymph’s mouth and is bitten by the Queen but not poisoned. Her focus on Taran allows Akra to get free, attacking her from behind and finishing her off. Zahara backs into the fire, Defying Danger of getting burned, and burns the spider on her back and killing it. She mops up the fleeing spiders (1 HP left each) while the Nymph is tended to.

The Nymph purifies the stream, Taran harvests poison from the Queen, and everyone rests there after being rewarded by the Nymph with a useful magic item.

Now they focus on the town again, having restored the town’s water supply and had a healthy drink of their own…

Zahara (Eladrin Wizard), Taran (Human Thief) and Akra (Dragonborn Fighter) began the session hiding in the basement…

Zahara (Eladrin Wizard), Taran (Human Thief) and Akra (Dragonborn Fighter) began the session hiding in the basement…

Zahara (Eladrin Wizard), Taran (Human Thief) and Akra (Dragonborn Fighter) began the session hiding in the basement of a safe house in a town (and kingdom) overrun and controlled by an undead army. The living citizens are essentially slaves, forced to utilize their talents to manufacture supplies for the undead forces. Ghouls feed at will, unimpeded.

Making matters worse, the water supply to the town is somehow poisonous, causing drinkers to be subdued, almost submissive. The heroes have abstained from drinking the water during their time there, but their own water skins are now dry and water seems as precious as platinum.

The party decides to venture into the nearby forest to find the source of the poison, firstly by taking the town sewers underground to safety, as the party is well known in the region and even the citizens would report them because they fear for their own families if they aid them.

They sneak out at dark, making for the nearest sewer drain grate, avoiding patrolling skeletons as they go. Reaching the grate, Akra starts to remove it when Taran decides he should check for traps first (getting a 6-). As he checks the grate for traps, a ghoul down below (in the sewer) leaps up, clawing his hand. The noise of the ghoul alerts nearby skeletons who, with scimitars drawn, race toward the source.

Zahara launches a fireball through the grate, severely injuring the ghoul and causing it to retreat into the shadows. Akra begins to remove the grate using a cloak as a buffer ( originally for sound but now certainly for heat as well). The first skeleton arrives and sinks its scimitar into Taran’s shoulder/collarbone, pulling back and stabbing in to Taran’s stomach. Taran avoids the second attack by jumping backwards over the sewer hole (7-9 Defy Danger), but losing his balance on the other side. No matter, as Akra (grate now removed) chops the skeleton in half and it falls to pieces.

Akra starts down the ladder, knowing there is an injured ghoul in the shadows, meanwhile a second skeleton closes in on the surface. The ghoul erupts from the shadows, targeting Akra’s legs as he descends. Taran fires an arrow at the ghoul (7-9, taking what he can get (1d8 damage – 1d6). This actually results in a -1 (no damage) which we joke heals the ghoul 1 HP. However, 7-9 is technically a success, so the ghoul is not harmed because the arrow strikes already-charred flesh, but the force of the arrow knocks the ghoul off of Akra. This allows Akra to drop, turn, and put a gauntleted fist through its head.

Zahara, meanwhile, casts Magic Missile and dispatches the second skeleton before it can harm anyone. With that, the party enters the sewers, closing the grate behind them. To the East, where they are headed, lay only darkness and the sound of running water.

(The second half of the session later, if anyone is interested). At this point I shall note that Alex Cox played Taran and it was his first session of DW ever. The dice were not his friends , but he made such a spectacular move in the second half of the session that his newness to the game bears mention!

So Saturday evening my campaign resumes after months of hiatus. Is it sad I’m losing sleep with anticipation?

So Saturday evening my campaign resumes after months of hiatus. Is it sad I’m losing sleep with anticipation?

So Saturday evening my campaign resumes after months of hiatus. Is it sad I’m losing sleep with anticipation?

I am working on a project that’s finally on the fast track thanks to PbtA engine.

I am working on a project that’s finally on the fast track thanks to PbtA engine.

I am working on a project that’s finally on the fast track thanks to PbtA engine. Along the way I’m researching whatever I can prior to initiating a Kickstarter. My question here, especially to Sage LaTorra and Adam Koebel, (anyone else with an answer welcome) is who can you recommend as a printer? I’d like to know who I can rely on and I like the quality of the DW book’s binding.

So let me lay out a play example and then ask my specific question. The example:

So let me lay out a play example and then ask my specific question. The example:

So let me lay out a play example and then ask my specific question. The example:

Anya and her hirelings approach a mountain pass at night, where tribal drums were heard. They are here because a dwarven caravan of ales are overdue for a festival in a local town. Anya (a wizard) casts Invisibility and continues forward alone, as silently as possible.

Anya spots the silhouettes of two creatures (kobolds) with spears. They are talking but she cannot hear them because of the drumming echoing through the pass (she is flanked on each side with rocky climbs, her hirelings several paces behind on the path and the kobolds about 30 yards ahead). She continues forward and feels something catch on her foot, followed by a rumble up and to her right as a bunch of large rocks tumble down toward her.

Anya Defies Danger with DEX and gets an 8. She dodges the rocks, but they now separate her from her friends and the drumming has stopped. The kobolds are alerted but she is still invisible, so they think something is under the rubble. They move past her to the rock pile and poke with their spears. Then her friends, also not aware of her situation (and thinking she just got crushed), call out and the two kobolds hear. They begin to climb stealthily up the rock pile to look for her friends.

Anya asks if she has a flask of oil on her person. I ask if she has Adventure Gear uses left and she did, so of course she has oil. She throws the oil at the rock pile and the kobolds, then says she wants to cast magic missile to set them alight. I rule that magic missile is a magical force, not an ignition source. She asks instead if the force could possibly cause the rocks to shift and get them that way. I agree to that and the end result is still two dead kobolds and I tell her to take back the Adventuring Gear use because Anya the wizard would have known in advance that the oil trick wouldn’t work with magic missile.

So, with all that said, here is my question: should I have rolled with the idea and let magic missile set them on fire with the oil? It felt like a good narrative suddenly stopped because of a technicality that is somewhat open to interpretation, and I’m always looking to improve.

I’ve been running one-on-one sessions with my wife so we can get the hang of DW before porting a 4e campaign over. …

I’ve been running one-on-one sessions with my wife so we can get the hang of DW before porting a 4e campaign over. …

I’ve been running one-on-one sessions with my wife so we can get the hang of DW before porting a 4e campaign over.  However, I keep running into a problem that I’m hoping someone has advice on: when I ask my wife “what do you do,” she freezes.  She goes to her character sheet (as you would with D&D) and seems not to be able to just go with the fiction and build on it.  In our D&D game, she would all the time want to do things the rules don’t allow for, etc., but now that we’re bringing in a game that WANTS her take the reins, it’s like she doesn’t know what to do.  I’ve told her to start with the fiction, just tell me what she wants to do, and the moves will follow from there if triggered.  I’ve tried to convey that her imagination is the limit (especially as she’s playing a wizard right now and has access to rituals in places of power).  I’m sure she’ll get it and be very good at it – she actually loves a fairy-tale like epicness to stories – but right now she’s having a hard time letting go and just going wild in the game world. 

Has anyone else here had a player that hit this wall?  How did you help them grasp the game?  I’ve sent her the link to the DW Guide (very handy!) but not sure she’s read it.  It’s bound to be a limitation on my part (in conveying a fantastic enough world) as I’m also learning, but I have an easier time pulling things from my posterior because I’ve always been a GM/DM.  Thoughts?  Any help?  Thanks in advance!

Last one for the 4e Campaign I’m porting.  Another focused CC (for a fighter character) called the Guardian.  Any…

Last one for the 4e Campaign I’m porting.  Another focused CC (for a fighter character) called the Guardian.  Any…

Last one for the 4e Campaign I’m porting.  Another focused CC (for a fighter character) called the Guardian.  Any feedback is appreciated.

Another CC I’m working on.  This is for the same 4e campaign I’m porting to DW as the Pyromancer I already posted,…

Another CC I’m working on.  This is for the same 4e campaign I’m porting to DW as the Pyromancer I already posted,…

Another CC I’m working on.  This is for the same 4e campaign I’m porting to DW as the Pyromancer I already posted, so this CC is very focused and is obviously connected directly to the Thief base class.  I’m fairly happy with what I have so far and three of the moves you may recognize from Peter Johansen ‘s Assassin CC build.  Thanks to him for letting me borrow them.  I’m posting here not just to share but to get some input on how useful (or not) individual moves may be within this CC.