The Dungeon World Tavern: Custom Moves – Page 23 – Dungeon World Tavern G+ Archives

I keep thinking about travel moves for #Stonetop.

We were originally were using Jason Lutes’s moves from Perilous Wilds, but they were too explorey-hexcrawl for Stonetop.

Then, I tried two “primary” travel moves: a Venture Forth that you used when you were heading somewhere known but through dangerous terrain, and a Wander move (similar to Jason Cordova’s and David LaFreniere’s labyrinth move). I’ll link to those moves below in the comments.

We tried those moves a couple times, and they felt too artificial. Wander, in particular, actually took us too far out of the fiction. That got me thinking about a comment Timothy Stanbrough had, about navigating megadungeons, that “Perhaps a purely GM facing structure is better, something that helps you create the fiction rather than dictate the outcome.”

And that got me thinking about Savvyhead workshop moves, and the Wizard’s Ritual.

So, maybe something like this?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ID4MBs2dM9Kbmo4d_8qCm9JdVmk0u0YBweOLUVdrqFE/edit?usp=sharing

Texas heavy metal meets Dungeon World. Huzzah.

Texas heavy metal meets Dungeon World. Huzzah.

http://spesmagna.com/archives/3514

First time posting… hope this goes to the right place.

So came across this idea while trying to find a cool concept for a fighter with a forgotten past, but figure it may be a neat GM/story move.

Trigger Move – 6 on Last Breath

Death/Some other God: will offer a chance to be reborn, but you must seek out (Something/Someone). Death requires the things demise. You will certainly parish as well, but will rise once again, in a new form(small price right?)… Any that accompany you, on this task, will come to no harm as the job is completed. This is, only, if they truly believe your explanation, as to your coming back from certain death. And with a new purpose as well. (if and PC is skeptical to your purpose, they will take dmg from ritual.)

If accepted they gain an altered version of “Watch the World Burn”(Immolator 6-10 adv. move).

New mechanics

– GM is in control of its use (to be used to destroy the target thing).

– Not matter the roll, something thing cruel, intelligent and hungry comes out from within the storm. (is it just the Reborn PC? A new story point/front/villain? Or just something to smash, and reveal new PCs)

Thoughts on overall idea and move executions. minor buff while trying to achieve task, as well as a drawback for straying/tampering?

-Thanks.

Location Based Move

Stone Guardians

When you pass through an area of the evil overlord’s keep, roll+3, minus the number of treasures you have looted from the keep so far (gold coins or other individual items count as one treasure). On a 10+ choose 2. On a 7-9 choose 1:

• The guardians turn to flesh, making them easier to harm.

• The guardians are slow, stupid or easy to predict.

• The guardians have no special abilities.

In one of my campaigns, I’ve got a classic magic object that’s somehow connected to a greater power that wants to…

In one of my campaigns, I’ve got a classic magic object that’s somehow connected to a greater power that wants to use it to corrupt/influence one of the characters. At the end of the last session, I offered the Mage a chance to form a bond with the item in exchange for marking XP; he took the bait. 🙂

Going forward, I’d like to up the ante and am considering a custom move. I’m curious to hear what folks think about it.

When you cast a spell and call on [the item] to aid you, you may upgrade from a miss to a 7-9, a 7-9 to a 10+ or a 10+ to a success with no side effects (the Mage class always has side effects when they cast a spell.) When you do this, [the item] gains 1 Hold.

[The item] may spend 1 Hold to interfere with you taking an action or to attempt to manipulate the result of a spell you cast. The nature of this interference or manipulation is up to the GM, but you’ll always have some option to try to resist, though perhaps at some cost.

A possible set of revised Expedition Moves for #Stonetop.

A possible set of revised Expedition Moves for #Stonetop. Feedback welcome and appreciated! (Edit: updates made based on comments.)

Previously, we’ve been using the expedition moves from the Perilous Wilds. Those work really well, but travel ends up being like a hex crawl rather than a point crawl. And while Hexcrawls are fun, they’re best for games that are about exploration, where the PCs are a bunch of wanderers out to see what they find.

That’s not what Stonetop is about. The PCs in Stonetop are local heroes, and when they leave town, they leave with a purpose. In general, you can boil down the types of travel they’ll do to 3 types:

1) Travelling the roads (which are supernaturally safe)

2) Going to a known place through dangerous terrain

3) Searching high and low for a place that you know is out there

Type 1 is easy: the GM says how long it takes, provides some color, and the players Manage Provisions to add some randomness and texture.

Type 2 is a revision of the original Undertake a Perilous Journey. The intent is allow the journey to be handled at a zoomed out level (think montage travel scenes in Fellowship of the Ring), but have the potential for meaningful interruptions–without falling into the “there’s always just 1 random encounter” paradigm. (relevant: https://goo.gl/5TSe3W)

Type 3 ends up being very similar to the Labyrinth move that Jason Cordova and David LaFreniere presented on the Discern Realities podcast. I’d actually had the framework of this move worked out a long while ago, but shelved it when Perilous Wilds came around. I think it’s interesting how designs evolve in parallel.

https://goo.gl/UzDekI

OK, final question for the day (can you tell I have a new session coming up on Tuesday, and am doing prep? :-))

So, my Lizard Abbot already has the kidnapped NPC girl under mind control, and it seems logical to me that he will try to do the same thing to one or more of the player characters as well. So I am looking for a good Mind Control monster move — but have been surprisingly unsuccessful at finding anything online, and am therefore trying to come up with something myself. Jeremy Strandberg had some ideas for that in a previous discussion, but it’s still a struggle to distill a good Move out of it.

I was thinking of an ‘opening’ GM move (perhaps triggered as the result of a previous 6- on something?) along the lines of “The Abbot opens his third lizard eye and starts speaking to you in a low voice. What do you do?“, followed by:

“When you try to break away from the Abbot’s stare, roll +WIS. On a 10+, you are successful; on 7-9 you are successful but you also do not remember that he tried something; and on a 6- the GM will tell you which idea has been implanted in your head that you will now act upon as if it was your own.”

I like the ‘implant one idea’ concept, but I can’t imagine any player is ever going to voluntarily continue to listen to the Abbot (and if they did, the 6- result would presumably just happen anyway?), so the trigger seems a bit dodgy, and I’m not sure this move will really enable fun game play. I also have not been able to come up with a good idea for how the players could actually break the spell.

Any thoughts?

Im thinking of some good enchantments to create with the Enchanter playbook.

Im thinking of some good enchantments to create with the Enchanter playbook. It uses a move which requires that you roll+stock. I have some in mind, but would like to see what the hive mind of our community can muster up. Ideas?

This is a spinoff of +Gary Chadwick ‘s prior thread.

I would like to use a countdown clock as a measure of ambient threat within a dungeon. The clock is a way to visualize how much noise that the PCs are making, and how alter the dungeon is to the intruders. When the PCs do something that makes a lot of noise or takes a lot of time, a segment of the lock gets filled in. (A good use for moves that “attract unwanted attention” or make a lot of noise.) This is a mostly fictional thing, with the exception of the following move, which I am looking for feedback on:

When you try to Make Camp or otherwise rest for an extended period of time in a dangerous dungeon, roll+filled in Threat clock segments. *On a 10+, choose two. *On a 7-9, choose one.

– The dungeon becomes more alert, advance the Threat clock. You cannot choose this option if the clock is already at 12:00.

– A threat approaches, someone must Take Watch.

– It’s just not safe to stay here, you don’t have enough time to get sufficient rest to do what you wanted. The GM may offer an ugly choice or hard bargain.

*On a 6-, things remain calm, and you can rest safely. No XP is awarded for a 6- on this move.

0:00 The dungeon is calm and quiet, any monsters inside are going about their normal routines, unaware of any threats.

3:00 Some of the more wary foes may become suspicious, but they don’t know exactly what’s going on yet.

6:00 The enemy knows that something hostile to them is present, though details are yet vague. Monsters will not be caught flat-footed, but neither are they actively taking up defensive postures just yet.

9:00 The dungeon is aware of the party, as well as their rough location. The dungeon’s defenses come into play noticeably. Any quick defensive measures that can come into play are activated. The monsters are obviously ready for a fight.

10:00 The opposition steps up their game significantly. Expect cautious patrols designed to flush out the intruders, and the monsters taking on a much more active role in protecting their lairs. Moments of safety for the PCs to regroup and prepare are becoming noticeably harder to come by.

11:00 The party’s location and activity are pinpointed. Any remaining preparation or defenses that can be set up are. The enemy will actively hunt down the PCs, since they know where they are. Contingency plans are coming into play, such as hiding loot or taking escape tunnels out.

12:00 Anything left in the dungeon is now fully armed and mobilized, and the dungeon throws everything it has at the PCs, non-stop. Coordinated attacks, carefully staged defenses, loot spirited away, you name it. The PCs will not have a moment of safety until the dungeon is completely empty of foes or until they are running for their lives.

The goal is to make the dungeon feel more like a living ecology. Monsters will not docilely wait their turn to be slaughtered, nor should the PCs have free reign to recharge their abilities after every fight. It’s a way to combat the “15 minute adventuring day” phenomenon I have seen before in other games with powerful once-a-day abilities. The clock adds a visual reminder that this place is emphatically not safe, and keeps the adventure humming along without letting the stakes drop.

I hope this is the appropriate place for this as it’s not a move per se, but sort of a hack system I’m trying to…

I hope this is the appropriate place for this as it’s not a move per se, but sort of a hack system I’m trying to design. I’m GMing a game where the player’s recurringly taking a non combat approach. Which is fine of course, but last session I caught myself letting a fight drag on because I wasn’t sure how to decide when they had overcome the encounter. So I thought it might be interesting to add a “clock” like system into Dungeon World for overcoming encounters that doesn’t just involve taking away the enemy’s HP.

It’s entirely untested and quite ropey, but I’d love some thoughts on what I’m trying to do:

Clocks

Clocks are a measure of non combat progress against an enemy obstacle. A bear, a group of cultists or an ancient evil force can all theoretically be overcome without a blade. However the difficulty has more to do with their intent and ability to be swayed than their actual strength or power.

Starting clock size – How forceful is it?

The enemy’s attitude is key in revealing whether they’ll back down/move on.

Docile and passive – 1

Indifferent but willful – 2

Stubborn or hesitant – 3

Forceful and aggressive – 4

Is this a group?

If the group has a unified instinct they are harder to convince, depending on how many there are. If they are not unified or motivated, do not apply this modifier.

A pair – Add 1

3 or 4 – Add 2

5+ – Add 3

What is the situation?

If the player is directly in the way of the enemy’s instinct, add 1

If the player’s kind is familiar to the enemy, subtract 1

If the player is frightening to the enemy, add 1, but note that intimidation will be effective.

If the enemy cares more about their instinct than the player, subtract 1

If the enemy is intelligent, add 1

If the enemy is known for deceit or trickery, add 1

If the enemy is difficult or impossible to communicate with, subtract 1 but note that the player reasoning with it will not work.

If the clock has been reduced to 0 or lower, consider if the player even needs to convince the creature. Perhaps it has no interest in this encounter at all.

Filling the clock

A successful action from the player against the creature should fill one segment.

Consider filling more than one if it seems appropriate. For example:

An action plays into the enemy’s instinct, either aiding or boosting it.

An action builds upon a previous action for a compounded effect.

eg. Back a person into a corner, and then your ally grabs them from behind.

A particularly clever idea that warrants added effect.

Remember that this is not HP, it’s a soft indication of progress.

If the player can tie up their opponent, it doesn’t matter that there are 5 segments left on the clock. Use the progress to remind yourself that the player has done well, and should ‘win’ the engagement.

As the player makes progress, fictionally portray their success building. An enemy at 1/4 health will be hobbled, so an enemy with an almost full clock should be losing heart.

Once the clock is full, the encounter is beat. By whatever means seems appropriate, remove the threat.