End of Session questions
End of Session questions
Change the question
“Did we learn something new and important about the world?”
to
“Did we cross a threshold into new and unknown danger?”
It still deals with discovery. But, suddenly the players get points not for their philosophical musings, but for penetrating deeper, more dangerous areas and exploring the unknown.
What questions have you changed, whether for a session or for a campaign? How did it affect play for better or worse?
I liked the idea behind Colin’s Insidious Hunger move in the last Dungeon World Newsletter, but I didn’t like the…
I liked the idea behind Colin’s Insidious Hunger move in the last Dungeon World Newsletter, but I didn’t like the amount of rolling the players had to do while fighting the horde that attacked with this move, especially on a play by text platform like rolegate.com where battles take long enough as it is. So I changed it a bit but it’s still terribly costly and dangerous after a horde of fog creatures attacked the capital:
*Insidious Hunger*
This enemy exudes an aura of gluttony and everhunger. Once it drains your HP to half or below, roll+CON: on a 10+, gain 1 craving. On 7-9, gain 2 cravings. On 6-, gain 3 cravings and a sick debility. Whenever a move would have you consume a ration, such as Make Camp or Undertake a Perilous Journey, consume an additional ration and reduce your craving by 1. You must consume at least 1 ration to reduce your craving. If you ever go a day without eating while you have any craving, lose all craving and gain an appetite for sentient flesh.
I played it like this with my group, and I’ll let you know how this appetite for sentient flesh translates in a slum on the borders of a city waiting to be attacked by a supernatural threat.
When you enter a drinking contest with James “Hollow Leg” Hanson name your poison and roll + CON…
When you enter a drinking contest with James “Hollow Leg” Hanson name your poison and roll + CON…
On a 10+ You impress everyone with your drinking skills! You take +1 to Carouse and Recruit in this town from now on.
On a 7-9 You manage stay upright and take +1 forward to Carouse or Recruit but will have the sick debility in the morning.
Skirmish
Skirmish
I’m working on a move for large-scale battles. As soon as I got wind that large-scale battles would probably come up in the Planets Collide campaign, I picked up The Last Days of Anglekite by Magpie games. But Anglekite’s subsystem with Force dice and generic “harm” stuff didn’t quite suit what I was looking for. I wanted something more in line with Followers from Perilous Wilds.
But the Anglekite battle move had some cool ideas, so I started with that. Here’s my current draft—very much a work in progress—brought back to the drawing board with inspiration from Jeremy Strandberg’s recent work on an alternate Hack & Slash.
Yochai Gal suggested I share it, and I realized that would be a great way for me to uncover obvious problems and possibly make it better. And if it helps anyone else solve the problem, all the better! Here goes.
—
When you lead a force into battle, roll +Loyalty.
* Take +1 if your side has superior equipment, supplies, or intelligence.
* Take +1 if your side has a decisive advantage in this terrain or environment.
* Take -1 if you are clashing with a larger force.
* Take -1 if your side is a non–mythic force clashing with a mythic force (divine, magical, planar, or legendary).
✴On a 7+, the bigger force deals its damage, +1d6 extra, to the smaller force; and the smaller force deals its damage to the bigger force. If both forces are the same size, then they both deal their standard damage. ✴On a 10+, choose 2. ✴On a 7–9, choose 1.
* Your force suffers no casualties from the enemy’s attack: Ignore your enemy’s damage.
* Your force fights with ferocity: Add +1d6 to your damage.
* You hold the line on territory you are defending.
* You claim a new position from the enemy.
—
I’d love to hear any feedback or scorn you can meet out. Iron sharpens iron, people! Bring your iron and fight!
Or, you know, help me out. Ask questions. Or ignore this post and delete your browser history.
Thanks!
[Edit: fix formatting.]
Continuing to tinker with Hack & Slash
Continuing to tinker with Hack & Slash
Here’s what I’m thinking. Explanation in the blog post.
HACK & SLASH
When you fight in melee, roll +STR. On a 7+, you attack your foe (deal damage!) and suffer the enemy’s attack; on a 10+, also pick 2; on a 7-9, also pick 1 (but not the first one).
● You evade/counter/prevent the enemy’s attack
● Your attack is powerful/fast/brutal: add +1d6 to your damage
● You hold the initiative or give it to an ally; say what you do next, or who gets to go next
Thoughts?
(edit: slightly reworded; it used to say “By default” instead of “On a 7+;” changed because I want a miss to still be completely undefined. I know I’ve had H&S misses where I brought in something out of left field, like a grim portent, instead of the enemy attacking. I also rephrased it to say “you attack your foe (deal damage) and suffer…” because I intend to have “Deal Damage” be it’s own basic move when I’m done.
Tinkering with Hack & Slash
There’s a lot a like about Hack and Slash, but it’s always bugged me how utterly mechanical the player side of the move is. You “deal your damage,” and maybe evade the enemy’s attack, but the move is silent regarding the momentum of the fight itself.
So let’s imagine a different sort of Hack & Slash, shall we?
So let’s imagine a different sort of Hack & Slash, shall we?
HACK & SLASH
When you fight in melee, make clear your intent and roll +STR. On a 10+, your maneuver works as well as can be expected, deal your damage if appropriate. On a 7-9, your maneuver works but there’s a catch:
• You’re exposed to the enemy’s attack
• It costs you something (your weapon, your footing, you position, etc.)
• It’s less effective than you planned (if dealing damage, you have disadvantage)
• You cause unwanted harm, peril, or collateral damage
If you fight from a position of relative strength or safety, you chose. Otherwise, the GM chooses.
We gain a move more grounded in the fiction, both in its inputs and outputs. We get a move that can be about fighting for position at least as much as doing damage, which can make disappointing damage rolls less disappointing. We also get a fun little incentive to improve your tactical position when fighting, because of the control it gives you on a 7-9.
We lose the fun choice on the 10+, where the player has to decide if that extra d6 damage is worth the damage/harm, or if if it’s character. We also lose some of the move’s simplicity.
We also potentially lose moves that interact with Hack and Slash as written. Like, how would Smash or Superior Warrior interact with these? Or various magical items?
What do you think?
From Ironsworn:
From Ironsworn:
INITIATIVE
Initiative is a special mechanic in combat. It reflects who is in control. When you have initiative, you make proactive moves and have more options. When your foe has initiative, they are forcing you to react.
To determine whether you have initiative, follow these guidelines (unless a move tells you otherwise):
• When you score a strong hit, you take or retain initiative.
• When you score a weak hit or miss, you lose initiative.
NPCs do not make moves. When an NPC has initiative, they take actions in the fiction of the scene which force you to react. When you have initiative, you are in control and taking proactive actions to achieve your objectives.
This is just brilliant. I’m so going to use that in my DW games.
I’ve been struggling lately with combat as I felt the monsters/enemies were too passive. I don’t take much spotlight as I pass it around players so the opposition was waiting for a 9- move from a player for me to make a GM move and thus making monsters actually do something.
If I implement a similar initiative mechanic, it codifies in the game that a character can’t take offensive actions until they gain initiative, which narratively allows me, as the GM, to take actions with my monsters.
I’d have each player track if he has initiative or not. If one doesn’t have initiative, I’d consider any monster that is interacting directly with this character has having initiative.
Another old/ongoing project of mine.
Another old/ongoing project of mine.
(Image by R Shel Kahn.)
Drowning & Falling
“Drowning & Falling” is my collection of custom moves for Dungeon World, covering situations that absolutely don’t need custom moves, but that come enough that you might want them. I’ve tried to include design notes, relevant examples of GM moves, and variations as much as possible.
I’m going to playtest a variation of the Jason Cordova labrynth move to simulate something I can the “Death Star…
I’m going to playtest a variation of the Jason Cordova labrynth move to simulate something I can the “Death Star Hustle.” Remember when Han and Luke and company were running around in the Death Star, dodging Stormtrooper squads, kind of a combination of a chase scene with exploration and running fights? The idea is to run a scene like that in Dungeon World. I can think of lots of situations where the party is inside an enemy base or deep in a dungeon where “all sectors have been alerted to you presence!”
Basically I’m thinking if they get a 10+ on the roll, they get a hold and don’t encounter guards.
On a 7-9, they get a hold but have to fight or evade guards.
On a 6- they have to backtrack (lose a hold).
Once they have 5 hold they can find the Oblivion Altar (or hanger bay, or prison level).
What do you guys think? I’ll report back once my players run through it…
My Barbarian just did an awesome, so I wrote some custom moves for him to choose from in the future:
My Barbarian just did an awesome, so I wrote some custom moves for him to choose from in the future:
Paralysing Headbutt (levels 2+)
When the enemy is within your arms reach and you land a hit, you can choose to roll your damage die twice without any modifiers (unarmed combat) and take the higher die. In addition, the target is stunned going forward.
Killing Headbutt (levels 6+, replaces: Paralysing Headbutt)
When the enemy is within your arms reach and you land a hit, you can choose to roll your damage die twice without any modifiers (unarmed combat) and take the higher die. In addition, the target immediately goes unconscious.
What do you guys think?