Most of the lands in my last game were bronze-age. The Dwarves had access to Iron and Steel, though.
Most of the lands in my last game were bronze-age. The Dwarves had access to Iron and Steel, though.
Why bother? Iron helps against the fae, of course, but I also introduced Tetanus. Aka every iron / steel weapon had a chance of inflicting a disease.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetanus
(I know, rust doesn’t cause tetanus, but it aids the bacteria and was considered to be the source for a while. I have ‘miasma’ in my games too.)
Question on Spout Lore
Question on Spout Lore
So my last session of DW this came up; the players happen across a cavern of mushrooms. One of the players wanted to see if the mushrooms had an unique properties so I asked what in the characters past would be helpful in identifying the mushrooms and roll spout lore.
Another player thought I shouldn’t ask for a source of knowledge. Her reason is because the sentence that explains the gamemaster has a right to ask comes directly after the sentence explaining the result of s partial success. She therefore belives my right to ask is linked to a partial success only.
My reading is I have the right to ask at any time for any roll. This divided up the table with no clear cut answer. What say you?
Yesterday my players arrived without notice.
Yesterday my players arrived without notice. I did have not prepared at all but I did want to play so I winged it. Some discomfort is growing in me as I recall some moments were really lame.
Plot summary: Monsters sent a strike team into a major city to destroy an important altar. Some monsters (orkasters on Worgs) were causing diversions to call the guard attention so that their leader could go to spot x in the city to destroy x important objective.
The party was not formally created, they know each other but still not a team so they tried to go their own way.
The barbarian stole a horse and started runnig through the city jumping from roof to roof. The elven Mentor and his students (a human evil fighter and an Immolator Salamander) were trying to cut the invaders way in but arrived really late. The cleric was at the temple just in case anybody attacked it (or using the rest room) and the rogue was at a blacksmith shop chatting about the weather.
The action followed them with different scenarios but they kept pulling apart and rolling low which moved the Grim Portents fast ahead. They could not react on time and since they did not do much to save the city some npc intervention was in place to kill the monsters and eventually the monsters managed to accomplish their mission when: the barbarian faced the last of them in front of their goal and decided not to smash him which he is great at but try to discern realities, which he failed miserably opening the chance for the monster to destroy the important thing he came to destroy. (Impending Doom accomplished).
It was a fun game they say but I think it was really lame and slow, since I kept chasing them with the action which they didn’t really cared much for. That was exhausting and frustrating.
Next time I’ll have a dragon hit the city just to see what happens. I hate improvising XD.
So we have been playing Dungeon World for awhile now.
So we have been playing Dungeon World for awhile now. My friend Sammi has a gnome druid that she plays in one of our campaigns. One of our favorite creatures for her to turn into is called a Tangle Wasp. It is like a wasp on steroids. The GM made it up. We just happen to be fighting some evil cave dwelling elves who used dark spells that centered on hate. She turns into this Tangle Wasp and stings the main bad guy in the eye while is is trying to cast a spell. Long story short he dies shortly after because after getting stung in the eye he was basically dumbfounded. Our groups favorite saying came from that session. “You think you know hate and malice… YOU KNOW NOTHING!!!” One of our group just happened to say this after she stung him in the eye. It was perfect timing and we all busted out into laughter. Just thought I would share my story.
I Ran Sixth World tonight!
I Ran Sixth World tonight!
Short version is: Was intended to be a one shot, everyone loved, will probably be a miniseries. Writing these notes as a reminder for the next session; hopefully someone out there gets a kick out of it.
Fair warning before I start: my experience with Shadowrun is the SNES game, the one that came out last year, and reading random discussions on internet forums. My player’s experience was that one of them thinks he had heard of it back in college. I have a lot more experience with other cyberpunk. So, I am aware of the fact that Shadowrun has a history and metaplot, but none of us were going to study it. So if you are the sort of poster I’ve seen on those forums who talks about “canon”, give this post a miss – you won’t like.
OK, so basically the game boiled down to this: you live in the grimy neon cyberpunk world of 2082. The year 2082 is basically the future as seen in 80’s films; Robocop, Total Recall, Escape from New York, Blade Runner, ect. The USA and the Commies are still eyeball to eyeball. Companies are setting up colonies on Mars. MegaCorps were a thing; I based everything on OCP, but used the corp names from Sixth World. As the game progressed, it changed from “the future as seen in 80s” to “a pastiche of the 80s, plus D&D, set in the future”. I think I sparked this accidently by using the 2082 date instead of the book date, but I also believe that this is what sold everybody on the game. Two of the players weren’t even around in the 80s, but everybody gets the references. In the end, I tried to shoot for a tone sort of like Snow Crash (but with less 50 page discussions of memes).
CHARACTERS:
Croaker – Street Doc. Promising young human surgeon, got hooked on meds and lost his license. Works a back alley shop pulling bullets, no questions asked. He kicked the habit about a year ago. Tells himself he’s more cynical and hardedge than he actual is. Recently, he got back in touch with an old flame to help a good client of his named Shazzer “divert” some medical supplies to a clinic downtown.
Tats – Adept – 19yo half Japanese, half Russian elf. Was grabbed at an age too young to remember, and turned into a slave by a man she knew only as The Sheikh. At the age of 13, escaped to the US with the help of a Polynesian Ork named “Buzz”. He taught her to fight, and taught her the mystical tattoos that bind power into her body. In the US, she was taken care by an old woman named Keiko (no Ms, she’s very informal). Tats lives only for revenge against The Sheik, but the only strong memories she has are the “Guo Systems Plc” logo on the machines used to drug her into compliance.
Tedashii – Street Sam – 15yo Korean elf. Sophia Guo was the heir of Guo Systems Plc, the Pan Asian bio and cyber-med superpower pushing into US markets. Up until about 8 months ago, she was the ward of her Aunt and Uncle after her parent’s tragic and mysterious deaths. Her curiosity got her into trouble though and one night in the lab she discovered proof of Aunt Umi and Uncle Hiro’s complicity in her parent’s deaths, as well as proof that the company was the company was withholding a cure for the HMM virus. (I guess they had a big file they kept all this in?) She was caught, and in a rage her uncle tossed her into a vat of powerful enzymes, ACE chemical style. She was barely more than bones and guts when Dr. Midori, one of the employees working late fished her out. Tedashii is a sack of meat in a plastic shell now; doesn’t stand out from a distance, but very noticeable close up. Unlike Tats, she’s not out for revenge, and spends more of her time spiraling into hedonistic self-destruction and back alley modifications.
Shazzer – Merc – 25yo Dwarf. A resident of the mining town Sherringham in Britain. She was from 3 generations of dwarven miners, but when she looked what it did to her mother and father, she knew life in the oricalchum mines wasn’t for her. She ran away from home and joined the army under age. She got involved in some action in Ireland, discovered she had a talent for it, but not a taste for morally dubious orders. When she mustered out she went freelance, taking what work she could get. A friend of hers named Liam “Lefty” McLegin (she’s the reason he’s called Lefty, but they worked it out) gave her a lead on some work in Seattle. She’s now working a missing persons job for Mrs. Guo Umi, who is terribly worried about her runaway niece, and needs her quietly found before some sort of “criminal element” grabs her. They tracked to Seattle via her friend Dr. Midori, but they need a professional to handle it from there…
For those interested in hearing some actual play of Dungeon World, my podcast – Adventures From The Shed – is…
For those interested in hearing some actual play of Dungeon World, my podcast – Adventures From The Shed – is continuing in our campaign; Perils of Parandisi. We’re in iTunes, and you can find us on the website www.adventuresfromtheshed.com
Dungeon World is still my favorite rules system! The clean and quick style of the rules really lends itself to fluid entertainment without getting bogged down in number crunching and hunting for information on character sheets and rule books.
Castle Ravenloft as never revealed before. Only for my DW game session. 😀
Castle Ravenloft as never revealed before. Only for my DW game session. 😀
Hopefully a full write-up is forthcoming.
Hopefully a full write-up is forthcoming.
GM’d my first game of anything in a long time. Used DW and my venerable copy of Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.
The characters were a Nephilim, Cursed Armor, and a Hobgoblin.
My favorite scene was:
The party was fighting a troll that I created. In short, the Troll had a move that it could regenerate the last wound it took. This means that on a 7-9 roll, it could regenerate the damage caused unless it was caused by fire.
Believe it or not, they had enough 10+ that they almost offed this thing, but then the bad rolls started coming. At this point they opted for Defy Danger rolls instead of Hack-n-Slash/Volley.
Before they made it to the troll cave, they suspected that a giant eagle or manticore was following them.
The Hobgoblin rolled a 2. The party discovered that they were dealing with a Griffon Lord that was charging at them from high above.
Faced with the prospect of two unbeatable monsters, the Nephilim character came up with the epic idea of the night. He got between the Troll and the Griffon. When the troll charged at the Nephilim, the Nephilim went to the void. This left the troll face-to-beak with the griffon.
As the two of them fought, the party calmly searched the interior of the troll cave for loot.
We all enjoyed that scene. 1 XP for the Nephilim.
– Where are you going with so many RPG source books?
– Where are you going with so many RPG source books?
– To play Dungeon World of course!
– But those are not DW sourcebooks.
– That’s the point.
( ˘ ³˘)♥(｡･ω･｡)
Havenshine AP report!
Havenshine AP report!
Cast:
Priscilla the Irascible Barbarian, played by Liz
Shrike, Elven Ranger, played by Ravian
Ludwigron, Human Wizard, played by Barak
Felix, Human Thief, played by Louise, and
Baldric, Elven Bard, by Lilly.
Our story began in the entrance hall of a crumbling castle, where our heroes had crossed paths with six beastmen. One charged at Priscilla, who deftly cleft it in twain as the rest of the party wondered why the hell they had got themselves into this situation. The consensus was that they were after the head of the Albino beast of Nekesti, though Ludwigron mumbled continuously about some book he hoped to find, and Baldric secretly sought a cutting from the White Tree.
That’s when everything started to go wrong. Our group, bar one, had never played an RPG before, and the one thing I forgot to suggest was optimising stats. Their numbers followed their vision of their character, so when the dice rolled low (which was often) things went rapidly south. I don’t regret this at all. It was refreshing after min-maxed marathons.
Shrike had trouble with his first arrow and quickly found himself pinned to the wall by a beastman cur. Ludwigron used the dust and commotion as cover to investigate the portrait which he suspected to obscure a secret passage. He lifted it off the wall only to find more wall.
Priscilla cleft a second cur to bits as Felix tried to dive through the vine-choked window to the garden beyond. The vines had other ideas, and he found himself tangled halfway, a cur grabbing his ankle from behind.
Baldric loosed an arrow, wounding one cur, then drew his rapier to save Shrike. The sword missed both the beastman and the Ranger but jammed in the masonry. Ludwigron tried to cast Charm Person on that beastman, but failed, then panicked and broke the portrait over the beastman’s head. Shrike took the opportunity to duck and slide out from between the beastman’s hooves, only to find himself between that cur and two others charging toward the group. He drew his blade but little else before the cur struck the wizard and spun to face him.
Another arrow from Baldric was sent to save Felix by hitting the beastman’s arm, instead hitting Felix in the leg. Felix struggled against the vines to draw his rapier but the vines released a cloud of dizzying spores.
Priscilla swung her axe at the charging beastmen, killing one, but taking a horn in the forearm in return. The horn tore a ragged hole and blood sprayed out.
DM: “At least you earned a scar worth a good story”
Player: “I wouldn’t even bother talking about this wound”
Another beast fell, then Shrike called his eagle to distract the head wearing the portrait-frame while he lunged for the kill. The cur swatted the eagle away before succumbing to the blade in its stomach.
Ludwigron sent a magic missile resembling a grapefruit at the final beastman, killing him.
DM: “A rotten grapefruit?”
Player: “No, like, a really nice one”
It was then, as they extracted Felix from the vines, that they heard a sound from a hitherto unnoticed stair downward. Shrike sent his eagle to investigate, but only panicked cries returned. He lit a torch and led Ludwigron and Felix downstairs while Priscilla and Baldric remained behind to prevent unneccessary violence. If the Barbarian sees anyone else here, they’re likely to die.
DM: “So you’re hanging out with the fiddle-player?”
Player, sarcastic deadpan: “Oh, I am going to love that”
DM: “Which instruments do your people play?”
Player: “Xylophones of human skulls”
On a whim, I hadn’t supplied the reason they sought the beast’s head, nor asked them. Whenever a player asked why they wanted it, I had them roll to Spout Lore. EVERY ONE OF THESE ROLLS FAILED. By the end of the session, no-one knew why they had accepted this quest, or confessed to being the one who led the group there. I playfully suggested that the xylophone was missing a C#.
Meanwhile, Shrike found a white-furred, stitched-together abomination wrestling the eagle onto a necromantic workbench. Ludwigron cast Charm Person and asked the thing what it was doing here. The eagle escaped and a woman’s voice issued from the terrible mouth.
“Oh, just trying to put my life back together. After I upset that Death God, I really fell to pieces”
The voice dissolved into growls as she noticed the others on the stairs. Felix had pocketed a pod from the vine which he threw at the beast to buy them time. Then before it began its fully-bestial charge, Shrike called to Priscilla, who sprinted down the stairs and tackled the beast to the ground.
As Felix pocketed a treasure from the table, the others tied the beast up and Baldric blew halfling pipeleaf-smoke in its face to suppress the animal and further question the Necromancer he suspected to be within, based on the lore of the place. She longed to be restored.
Shrike: “Nothing else down here but skeletons and brown beast-bits”
Ludwigron: “Maybe we could transfer her soul into your eagle?”
Felix, whispering to Priscilla: “CHOP CHOP CHOP DONE”
In the end, they decided to drag the beast up to the courtyard, in case a soul-transferrence ritual brought the castle down around them. Priscilla smashed a step to disable the ward trapping them down there. The cracks in the masonry chased them upstairs, and they all broke into a run to get safely into the courtyard.
DM: “Barak rolled a three? Which wall do you NOT want to collapse?”
Barak: “The library”
DM: “The library wall collapses”
THE JAWS OF ALL PLAYERS HANG OPEN
Two walls collapsed, bashing Priscilla’s hands and burying the beast-thing completely, the rope trailing uselessly from the pile of stone. To Ludwigron’s horror, the library stair which had crumbled, his precious book most likely lost over the cliffside, into the sea below. He stood agape, clutching a torn portrait in a broken frame.
And that’s where we left it.