Category: Dungeon World Tavern

The Ranger, the Fighter, and the Wizard are holed up in a mostly-buried building, like an old cellar or something: sturdy, its one entrance covered by brush. Easy to defend. They’ve bound their wounds, eaten, and set watch.

During the Fighter’s watch, he hears something creeping about outside. Getting closer. They’ve been dodging the mutated inhabitants of this ruined city, and they’re on edge. The Fighter rouses the other two, quietly.

The Fighter and Ranger each notch arrows. The Wizard stands back a bit and gets ready with the magic. (It’s a small space… like a big closet.)

It’s getting closer, closer, closer. NOW! The Fighter shoots through the brush. Maybe we resolve it with a Volley, maybe it’s Defying Danger. Doesn’t matter. He rolls snake eyes, a miss.

So CRASH… this thing bursts through the brush and into the room! Tall and gaunt, eyeless, tentacles coming off its shoulders, creepy fine hairs all over its skin. HIISSSSSS!

One of its tentacles lashes around Fighter’s bow-arm, the other tentacle wraps around the Wizard’s throat, and it kicks the Ranger in the stomach and sends her flying back, gasping for air. In close quarters, this thing is awful.

The Fighter draws a dagger with his left hand and lashes down at this thing’s tentacle, hoping to chop it off and get free. He rolls Hack & Slash, gets a 7-9, does some crap damage (maybe 2 HP, and this thing has 8). For its attack, it flings the Wizard into the Fighter, hurting them both (d8 damage each) and dazing them for a moment. (using a monster move: perform a feat of terrible speed and strength)

You’re the GM. You turn the spotlight on the Ranger.

Option A: “Ranger, you just saw that happen, all in a blink. You’re slumped against the far wall, gasping for breath, bow in hand. What do you?”

Option B: “Ranger, you just saw that happen, all in a blink. You’re slumped against the far wall, gasping for breath, and you realize that those tentacles are like poking and prodding, about to piercing into the flesh of the Wizard and probably the Fighter, too! Your bow is hand. What do you do?”

These are your only two choices. Which one do you do?

Not necessarily the one you think you should do, but the one you think you would probably do if you were the GM?

(Assume using standard Dungeon World rules & moves!)

Putting my “initiative” based tweak to Hack and Slash through its paces.

This isn’t actual actual play, but it’s one of the ways I work through a rules change to see how it’ll play out. Despite objections that others have raised, I’m liking this quite a bit.

Even if you aren’t interested in my tweaks, you might find this a fun read. It’s a pretty extensive, brutal fight scene.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uaCkx9aJEuJwZdZPjj0qzrtbe292A5-VQogTBFrFlQQ/edit?usp=sharing

Another discussion of Discern Realities from the archives of the Tavern. Originally a discussion prompted by Gerke Bouma.

Discern Realities v. Spout Lore v. Just Describing Stuff

This is another retrieval from the archives of the Dungeon World Tavern. Gerke Bouma posted about how “I still struggle sometimes with when to use discern realities and spout lore, and when to simply provide information or make them do a different type of roll.” This was my response.