Category: Dungeon World Tavern

It’s bedlam! The bat-things are flying all over, attacking everyone. The cultists are in disarray, fending off bat-things and trying to get their bearings. It’s mostly dark, just a few braziers and starlight lighting the open-aired tower.

The Fighter rushes through the chaos and chops through the manacles, freeing the young lad who was going to be a sacrifice to the Night God. The Fighter then starts ushering the lad toward the exit. “I’m leading him by the wrist,” she says, “sword out and ready for danger.” We agree that this Defend and she rolls, gets a 7-9, holds 1.

We cut the action to one of the other PCs for a bit (the bard, wresting with the cultists on the tower’s edge). That exchange resolves with a cultist plummeting off the edge and the bard making a dash toward the stairs.

We jump back to the Fighter and the lad she freed. They’re making their way through the chaos, trying to make it to the stairs, too. There’s plenty of danger: the darkness, the bat-things, the cultists! The Fighter Defies Danger (with DEX, or INT, or even CHA… whatever. On a 7-9, maybe they get to the stairway but there’s a cultist coming up from down below.

Doesn’t matter, though, because the Fighter rolls a miss. The obvious move is separate them, and I say “as you’re dodging and ducking through the chaos, there’s a scream and the boy’s wrist is snatched from yours, a couple cultists are dragging him away, knife at his throat! What do you do?”

The Fighter, though, is like “Oh no they don’t! I spend that 1 hold from Defend and redirect their attack to me. Before they grab him, I yank him in front of me, so I’m between him and the cultists, then I spin and lash out at them. Hack and Slash?”

What do you think? Hack and Slash? Or does the Fighter just get grabbed/stabbed by the cultists?

What does Defend look like in your games? Which of these is closer to how it gets used?

The GM points to a looming threat… there are noises in the dark, outside the light of the camp fire. Sounds like something creeping towards you, goblins maybe? What do you do?

Version A:

The Cleric is like “I heft my shield, ready my mace, and stand in front of Ovid.” Rolls Defend, gets 3 hold.

The Wizard casts light and rolls to cast a spell. “Oh, crap. A miss.” So the GM makes a hard move, and as the wizard starts casting the spell “twang twang” he’s peppered with arrows! Take d6+3 damage, Wizard!”

But the Cleric’s like “no! I spend 1 hold to redirect the attack to myself and another to halve the damage… so… 6 damage, half that is 3, and my 2 armor brings it down to 1. Did the wizard’s light spell go off, or not?”

Version B

The Wizard casts light and roll to cast a spell. “Oh, crap. A miss.” So the GM makes a hard move, and as the wizard starts casting the spell “twang twang” he’s peppered with arrows! “Take d6+3 damage, Wizard!”

But the Cleric is like “whoa, hold up! I jump in front of the Cleric to protect him! Defend?’ Sure, roll it. 10+, so 3 hold. “I spend 1 hold to redirect the attack to myself, another 1 hold to halve the damage. So that’s… 6 damage, halved for 3… less 2 armor. Only 1 damage. Did the wizard’s light spell go off, or not?”