Category: Dungeon World Tavern

Defend is a rather unique move in that it hacks the main game loop / the narrative economy.

Defend is a rather unique move in that it hacks the main game loop / the narrative economy.

Defend is a rather unique move in that it hacks the main game loop / the narrative economy.

A hold-carrying player has to power to hijack MC moves. They can interrupt soft and hard moves and change them in a kind of ¿firm? move.

On a soft move, by spending holds, the defending players ensure that the threatening attack effectively happens, potentially bypassing other player’s agency and – in a way – transforming a soft move into something harder.

On a hard move, the player spending holds is saying “oh no you don’t, not so fast”, they are allowed to react when they normally can’t.  With much less liberty then when faced with a soft move, but nonetheless.

Strategically, if playing to win, spending hold on a soft MC move isn’t optimal. Better to address the soft move with a regular move (or no move at all) and keeping one’s hold for a hard move.

I don’t like the agency-robbing and the strategic parts so much.

It seems that interrogating oneself over Defend is in the air, so here is my shot at it.

It seems that interrogating oneself over Defend is in the air, so here is my shot at it.

It seems that interrogating oneself over Defend is in the air, so here is my shot at it.

My foremost trouble with this move is its temporality.

First, when it triggers, on a success, nothing really happens in the fiction. But on a 6-, the GM gets to make a move. It’s weird. Second, what happens when the holds are spent? Not very much.

Secondly, with the hold mechanics, I feel like a pc shouldn’t be able to defend again. Because if the they could, why didn’t they get more holds the first time? What does it means that the holds are spent? As far as I know, other hold-spending moves are usually for more abstract/unique things, giving something like a number of charge for a per-session effect or things like that. They depend less on a fictional trigger.

Now, players and GM may work together to move the game from there to a place where defend is less desirable, but it always feels artificial to me.

I feel that defend should work very well with no holds, as an “instant” move, like Hack n slash or Volley. Like this (untested): When you rise in defense of a person, item, or location under attack, roll+Con. ✴On a 10+, choose 3 from the list below. ✴On a 7–9, choose 1…

By now you should know I have a fixation with the Undertake a Perilous Journey move.

By now you should know I have a fixation with the Undertake a Perilous Journey move.

By now you should know I have a fixation with the Undertake a Perilous Journey move.

The move as written is kinda boring to me.

I don’t track rations.

I usually don’t do random encounters.

I never had actually interesting scenes when the party got lost. It just detracts from the actual adventure and it isn’t particularly exciting to play; it turns into an awkward moment of “well… so… yeah, we just continue in a random direction, hoping we’ll spot a landmark to try to figure out where we are exactly”. It might be fun the first time. Certainly not the second.

I’ve run many hacks (mine or found amongst the community) of the move and I’m still dissatisfied.

I’m trying this now, inspired mostly on Shawn Tomkin ‘s Ironsworn.

————

UNDERTAKE A JOURNEY

When you lead a group through hazardous or unfamiliar lands or explore a perilous site, roll +…

■ … +STR if you carry most of the gear.

■ … +DEX if you move cautiously and stealthily.

■ … +CON if you push on with resilience.

■ … +INT if you analyse the best path based on knowledge.

■ … +WIS if you follow land features and stars.

■ … +CHA if you motivate your group.

On a 10+, you reach a waypoint and gain 2 Progress.

On a 7-9, you reach a waypoint and gain 1 Progress, but use 1 Supply/Adventurer’s Gear.

———————————————————

VIGNETTE

When your reach a waypoint, tell us about:

■ A bond forged or broken

■ A trait or quirk of your character

■ A vista, landmark or terrain feature.

■ A task you undertook to help the journey

■ A hardship you endured or overcame

———————————————————

REACH YOUR DESTINATION

When your journey or exploration comes to an end, roll 1d6+Progress.

On a 10+, you reach your destination and take +1 Forward.

On a 7-9, you reach your destination but face an unforeseen hazard or complication.

On a 6-, your objective falls out of reach, you have been misled about the nature of your objective, or there is something you missed. If you push on, reset your Progress to 1.

========== PLAY EXAMPLE ==========

The adventurers gather their stuff and head out. They must reach the Temple of Doom before the sacrifice ritual happens in a fortnight.

GM: That seems like an Undertake a Journey move to me. Who wants to lead?

Ranger: I act as the group’s navigator, so it makes sense I do it. I roll+WIS; an 11!

GM: Great start, gain 2 Progress! Who wants to do the Vignette?

Paladin: I’ll do it. I’ll go with terrain feature. So, at first, we navigate through farmlands. Since peasants recognize me as a zealot of The-All-Father, they offer us food and lodging. Then the land transforms into meadows as we move farther from civilization. The first trek is easy as we can follow paths, even if they are more like animal or hunter tracks after a few days. As we move further, the terrain becomes more rugged and plains give way to rocky hills.

Wizard: I’ll lead the group for the next segment. I watched closely the stars patterns and studied the maps (roll+INT); I’m pretty confident on what bearing to follow… Or not. I rolled a 5!

[Here the GM has an idea, so he does the Vignette himself]

GM: Don’t feel bad, it’s totally not your fault. The weather as been so terrible you barely made any progress. At first it was heavy rain which made everything miserable. Trudging through mud, soggy bread and frail campfire. Then as you reached higher elevations, rain turned to slushy snow. Some days, you had to stay put until weather calmed. All of you guys, suffer a Debility of your choice; some of you might just be demoralized or pissed, while others might be actually physically taxed. What do you do?

Ranger: If you don’t mind, I’ll take the lead back. My character is in a bad grumpy mood. Again, I’m just doing what I’m best at: navigating by following natural features. I roll+WIS, 7.

GM: Alright, so you’re now a 3 Progress, but this delay has taken a toll on your supplies. Lose 1.

Paladin: I’ll do the vignette. I think this group needs a pep talk. I want to portrait my Lead by Example drive, so we have a moment where I notice the morale is very low. Everybody is grumpy and tired. He turns to them and says: “I don’t know about you, but I won’t let these people die just like that. If I must walk day and night and pass out on the porch of the temple, by The-All-Father, so be it.” Then I head out.

[Here, the waypoint isn’t a physical location. It’s just a moment where the camera stops showing travelling montage and shows the characters in a situation.]

GM: Great! So, you proceed. I think Paladin should lead this segment!

Paladin: Follow the leader! I guess I’m rolling + CHA. Hmm, so let’s see. 9!

GM: Good, so you do keep going but I think you chose to leave some of your gear behind to move faster. Lose 1 Supply.

Wizard: Yeah, I guess we kinda accepted the fact that we’re probably not coming back anyway, haha!

GM: You’re now at 4 Progress. I think we had enough interesting scenes for this journey. Do you feel like this journey comes to an end?

Ranger: Yeah, I think so! Wizard, care to do us the honor?

Wizard: My pleasure! I roll only a single d6+4, is that so? That’ll be 8.

GM: Excellent so you reach your destination, although you see a troupe of cultists in the distance, maybe 200 yards from the temple entrance. They are moving a dozen of frail looking prisoners into a caged wagon dragged by weird muscled furless bull-like creatures. They seem to be moving some of the prisoners to another location. What do you do?

Piotr’s crushed form is to your right.

Piotr’s crushed form is to your right.

Piotr’s crushed form is to your right. The giant just snatched Vigo and smashed him into the rocks. The wind howls, and the giant hefts its enormous, jagged sword. It’s definitely spotted you, Fighter. What do you do?

The rest of the party is clambering up the slope behind him, trying to get into that cave they spotted earlier, hopefully safe from the giant and the elements. Not the Fighter, though. “I’m holding my ground. Hefting my shield, planting my feat. Let him come! Defend?” The Fighter is standing in defense, for sure. He rolls it. 10+, gets 3 hold.

Everyone’s looking to me, so make an obvious move and tell the consequences and ask. “Okay. It swings that mighty sword at you, straight across from your left. There’s no way you can just block that thing, it’ll send you flying if your lucky or cleave straight through you if you aren’t. What do you do?”

“I wait to the last moment and drop to a knee, planting my shield at an angle so it just glances off overhead.”

Cool, but how do we resolve this?

Option A The Fighter suffers the giant’s attack, taking d10+5 forceful damage, but spends 1 hold to halve the damage and effect. So he takes only 3-8 damage (less armor), knocked around but doesn’t go flying. Maybe there’s a crack down his shield. He’s still got 2 hold. “The giant’s a little off balance after that swing, what do you do?”

Option B The Fighter rolls to Defy Danger (based on his description, could be with STR, CON, or DEX… that’s not important).

On a 10+, the blow glances off the shield and rattles him a bit, but it does no real harm and the giant’s a little off-balance from the swing, what do you do?

On a 7-9, maybe I give the fighter a choice… hold his position but his shield shatters under the blow, or the shield holds but he goes flying… either way, no real damage. Regardless, he can spend 1 hold to halve the attack’s effect, so the shield is cracked rather than destroyed or he staggers back a bit rather than going flying. The giant is a bit off-balance from the swing, what do you do?

On a miss, d10+5 forceful damage (sending him flying) and I’m probably shattering that shield at the same time. Spending 1 hold would cut the damage down to 6-8 (less armor) and only stagger him and crack the shield.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen these around but I want to make one myself.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen these around but I want to make one myself.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen these around but I want to make one myself. (Inspired by Beowulf, Boromir, and other last stand warriors)

When you’re hopelessly outnumbered or outgunned and want to sacrifice yourself heroically for a person/cause, you trigger this move…

Your attack damage equals max damage + level 2X (does not affect accuracy)

All damage is halved against you

If using ranged Ammo, you don’t run out

But after a number of attacks equal to your level +2 have passed, or all your enemy(ies) are slain, you collapse without last breath roll.

(Dramatic option let’s you roll 1d100 with a 1% chance of coming back to life or returning in dramatic way later)

This is a rough draft, any critique or similar moves are welcomed. Thanks. Also feel free to comment favorite last stands in movies or literature.

Alright, yet another HP alternative.

Alright, yet another HP alternative.

Alright, yet another HP alternative.

This is a WIP, so I want your feedback to see what you think of it and what you’d modify.

This time, I got inspired by the Fate Core conditions mechanic.

I always loved how each injury had a narrative impact and the small tactical choice you have to take each time you receive damage. The big advantage is that you don’t need to get rid of the damage system to make it work.

So, the gist of it is that you have 6 Injury boxes (I’ve attached a mockup of how it could look). To each injury is tied a number (from 1 to 6). This is the number of damage that box can “absorb”. When you receive damage, you HAVE to check one or multiple boxes to absord equal or more of the damage received. For example, if you receive 3 damage, you could check both the 1pt and the 2-pts injury boxes, or the 3-pts alone, or even a higher than 3-pt box. Each time you check an injury box, you can also write a short description of the wound for narrative flare. When you check the (6) Fatal injury, you immediately make a Last breath move. These boxes correspond to 21 hp worth of damage, although you can only ever sustain 6 injuries, so you’d still go down after getting 6 injuries of 1 damage each. Armor still works the same.

Scars are optional mechanic (inspired by Uncharted Worlds) where you’d write a few words to describe an injury that left a visible mark, again only for fluff (but still has narrative weight as anything in a pbta game).

Here’s the moves I’ve added/modified to make this work:

—————-

Patch up

When you patch untreated injuries, treat all your injuries then roll +Supply (+WIS if you don’t use Supply rules).

On a 10+, choose 1.

On a 7-9, choose 1 but suffer -1 Supply (or -1 Adventurer’s Gear).

■ Heal both Minor and Trivial injuries.

■ Lower the severity of your less severe injury by 1 degree (slot must be empty).

When you treat a wound, mark a star in its checkbox. A treated wound cannot benefit from the Patch Up move again.

When you heal a wound, clear the checkbox of this wound. When you do so, you can mark an appropriate scar.

—————–

You’d also replace the line “Heal half HP” from Make Camp by:

Lower the severity of all treated injuries by 1 degree, then heal your Minor or Trivial wounds.

When you do so, you can rewrite the wound description to match its less severe state.

—————-

I think it sounds actually way more complex than it actually is, though. In all cases, the wording is not final. I’ll also probably make a move to explain the mechanics. Something like :

Receive damage

When you receive damage, check a number of unchecked injury boxes whose sum equals or exceeds the damage received. If you check the Fatal injury box, roll Last Breath.

So whaddya think?

Dire Turkey

Dire Turkey

Dire Turkey

solitary, large, terrifying

HP 16 Armor 0

Beak and talons, d10+3 (close, reach, messy, 1 piercing)

Qualities: short range flight, horrible appearance and gobble-gobble

> Buffet them senseless with its wings

> Pin prey beneath its weighty talons

> Tear their innards out!

Instinct: to vent its endless rage

(hat tip to Slothman over on the DIscord for the image)

“Uh-oh!

“Uh-oh!

“Uh-oh! Ranger, you’re surrounded! Three of those mutant goblins appear out of the spray, tittering and chittering and leering at you like you’re dinner. Water splashes all about as the tide comes in. The sea cave is starting to flood. What do you do?”

“I’ll take a defensive stance, spear braced behind me, and clear my head. I’m ready for the them. Defend?” Sure! She rolls, gets a 10+. Holds 3. She’s basically ceded the initiative by Defending, because she’s waiting to see what they do. Looking at the GM to see what happens. Soft move time.

“The one behind you, up on that rock, coils up and pounces, trying to tackle you and probably sink those teeth into your throat. What do you do?”

Which of these is best represents how this should resolve?

Version A: The Ranger spends 2 hold… 1 to halve the mutant goblins attack, another to deal damage back at the attacker. She describes pivoting away from the pouncing mutant and bringing her spear up to block it, then launching a kick into its solar plexus. The Ranger takes maybe 1/2 of d8 damage (let’s say only 3 points in the end) and stumbles but isn’t tackled, while that attacking mutant backs off, injured. The other two goblins, though, launch themselves at the Ranger (who still has 1 hold). “What do you do?”

Version B: The Ranger says that she pivots away from the pouncing mutant, bringing her spear up to block it’s attack and punting it hard in the solar plexus. The Ranger rolls Hack and Slash, gets a 7-9. Deals damage, suffers the enemy’s attack. In this case, I say that the leaping pounce of the goblin tackles her to the ground, raking and biting, for d8 damage, before she manages to kick it off of her (doing damage). She spends 1 hold to halve the effect/damage, from 6 HP down to 3 HP, and manages to keep her footing. She’s also spends another hold to deal her level in damage to the mutant that attacked her; let’s say that’s enough to drop it. The other two goblins, though, launch themselves at the Ranger (who still has 1 hold). “What do you do?”

Here they come!

Here they come!

Here they come! The swarm of orcs smashes into the front rank of soldiers, snarling and snapping. The line buckles, but holds… for now! You can tell that they won’t last long under this ferocious pressure. What do you do?

The Fighter hoists her shield readies her sword. “If you’ve got any clever ideas, Ranger, now would be a good time!” I’m staying alert, ready for an attack if one of them makes it through the lines or something. Defend? I got an 8, so… 1 hold.

The Ranger hops up onto one of the battlements and scans the approaching forces, assessing the situation and looking for any edge he can get. Rolls Discern Realities and gets a 10+. “What should I be on the lookout for?” A little to your left, there’s a spot in the line where your forces are really having a hard time with it. It could give way any moment. “Ugh… who or what is really in control here?” You spot a big old one-eyed orc, maybe like two ranks back, right near where the line is about to collapse. There’s sort of space all around him, and he’s urging the orcs on… he’s clearly a lieutenant or war-priest or something. “Okay… what here is useful or valuable to me?” Um… honestly? Your bow and arrows. You take that one-eyed priest out, and it’s going to change the course of this battle. What do you do?

“I’ve got a shot?” asks the Ranger. You’ll have to roll Volley, but yeah, you can try? “He’s not surprised?” No, he’s in the middle of a battle… he’s got his one eye all sorts of peeled for danger. “Okay, I’ll draw, take aim… fire! Volley… whew! A 7. I guess I’ll move to get the shot, placing myself in a danger as you describe it.”

Okay, so… you’ve got to hop and weave closer to the front line, then jump up onto one of those huge stones the siege engines tossed earlier. Roll your damage!

The Fighter interjects… “I’m staying close to the Ranger as he does this, so I can protect her!” Cool.

Ranger nails it and rolls 8 damage! The one-eyed orc goes down! But for the danger, I say that as he takes the shot, the weak point in the line breaks and a swarm of orcs rush through,. Three of them are rushing right at you in your obvious spot, what do you do?

The Fighter is like “oh no they don’t! I spend my 1 hold and jump in front of the Ranger and redirect the attack to myself. I’m hacking and hewing left and right at those orcs!”

Okay, cool… but how do we resolve that in game?

Option A The Fighter’s just Hacking & Slashing. The fact that she had 1 hold from Defend doesn’t really even matter, because she was fictionally positioned to do intercept the orcs anyhow. (But she loses the 1 hold because she’s not defending anymore.)

Option B The Fighter is Hacking & Slashing, but the 1 hold she spent means that those orcs are fixed on her and the Ranger is definitely in the clear.

Option C The Fighter doesn’t actually need to spend the hold. She’s Hacking & Slashing the orcs, but keeps that 1 hold because she’s still defending him. If she rolls a miss on the H&S and I have the orcs rush past her, then she might spend that 1 hold to intercept them. But on a 7-9 (or a 10+ if she exposes herself), she could use that 1 hold to half the damage or effects of the orcs’ counterattack.

Option D The Fighter intercepts the orcs and she’s got their attantion, but she suffers the orc’s attack in full. In this case, let’s say is damage (d6+2, 1 piercing & messy, +2 extra damage for the three orcs attacker her.