Category: Lampblack & Brimstone: Freebooters on the Frontier

So I’ve been thinking a bit about custom moves for some good, light PvP scenarios. This came up because two PCs got into an argument that it was clear neither was going to budge on; they did a great job of roleplaying it out but it was clear they were at an impasse so I decided to incentivize making things come to some sort of a dramatic conclusion. With that in mind, I came up with a custom move on the spot based on some of the mechanics in Apocalypse World and Monster of the Week, and today I wrote it up and revised it a little bit. I’d love for your feedback, particularly on whether a.) you even think PvP mechanics should be a thing, and b.) whether the incentives being offered are sufficient and make sense. So far we haven’t had any fist fights break out so I’m hoping this is all we really need, but any ideas for handling PvP stuff that gets physical would also be of interest to me. How do y’all handle this stuff if and when it comes up in your games?

The mechanics for negotiating (or manipulating, I suppose) NPCs haven’t changed so I’m only including the new PC rules:

Negotiate or Manipulate

When you want something from someone that they don’t want to give up, make your case and roll…

…+STR to intimidate them

… +CHA to convince or charm them

For PCs: on a 10+, both; on a 7-9, choose 1:

– If they do it, they mark XP and take +1 forward

– If they refuse, they suffer 1 point of ability score damage to an ability of your choosing, as long as it makes sense

On a 6-, mark the ability used, and they decide how badly you offended them and choose 1:

– If they refuse to do it, they mark XP

– They’ll do it, but they’re going to hold it against you; erase any bonds you have with the PC

As promised, here’s the marketplace. I ended up putting our house ruled loads in parentheses after the RAW loads in case you want to use them. The changes aren’t terribly dramatic, I don’t think. So far it all seems to be working for us. The only other change is that I’ve added in Halfling Pipeleaf, since that was a fave from DW. Players can use it to add +1 to Negotiate or Keep Company by expending 2 uses. I think those are the only changes.

Note that there’s a blank page left in just so I could easily print it out in booklet form. Feel free to, y’know, do whatever you want with that.

I’ve been making some handouts for my players and myself and thought others might find them useful. The first one I’ll share is the Judge Reference guide. It contains the Judge Moves as well as an adapted set of agendas and principles (inspired by the Principia Apocrypha), some recommendations on GM moves from a PDF I found called Worse Outcomes, Hard Choices, and finally a list of tags and terms and some page references for The Perilous Wilds. I don’t know if anyone would find this useful or not, but in case you might, I’m glad to share it.

I’m also finishing up a marketplace booklet my players can keep on hand (with some slight updates based on the discussion the other day about horses and loads).