Tag: Andy W

More questions from the newb DW GM corner. This time mainly regarding combat. Again in no particular order.

1. Who goes first? I know there’s no initiative, and I can see how things develop once it all gets going, but in many examples I’ve read (eg the intro handbook) there is a clear combat initiator. How do you decide who this is, since the outcome has an effect on what rolls are made?

For example. You turn a corner and there are a group of goblins waiting for you. a) player says   ‘smash the first one over the head with my axe’. OK, sounds like Hack & Slash. b) GM says ‘the first goblin rushes you, spear coming toward your head’. OK, dodge out the way with Defy Danger. Same situation, but a critical difference based on who acts first.

2. How far down the rabbit hole do you make rolls? Say an axe is heading toward you and you Defy Danger but only get a partial result. GM says you side step the axe but in doing so step on a snake which is about to bite you. Do you DD again (with another potential soft fail on 7-9, which could result in another dodge onto another snake) or does the snake sink its fangs since you failed the roll?

3. Aid. This can be used with anyone right, not just those you have a bond with?

Hi. I’m new to DW and have a number of questions I can’t find an answer to. I hope you good people can help me out before my 1st game – in a few weeks time. In no particular order;

I often see the phrase “take +1” in the book (eg the fighter move, Seeing Red). Does that mean +1 forward, +1 ongoing, or something else?

The fighter move “Through Death’s Eye’s”. I just don’t get it. This seems a game breaker – and curiously, the 7-9 result appears stronger than the 10+ for the majority of situations. Fighter meets dragon, fighter uses TDE, dragon must die. What..?! On a 10+ result there’s the inconvenience or having to name someone to live but so be it (it can’t affect PCs hence why I don’t see how 10+ is better).

Hard/soft moves. I think I understand when to make a hard/soft move but unless I’m missing it, there’s nothing in the rulebook that lists the hard and soft moves. I see that “deal damage” is often considered a hard move, that can be applied as a consequence of a 7-9 attack by a PC. I thought only soft moves apply on a 7-9.

I’m new to DW but have been playing rpgs for the past 30 years (almost always as the GM). In my past AD&D 1st/2ed and Pendragon games whenever a PC would try a lore roll (say read languages or spot hidden) if they failed another one would try, and so on etc,. I always found this a bit annoying but so be it. In DW how do you handle this? Say a group goes into a room and wants to Discern Realities, do they do so individually or do you roll once and use the Aid move?

More to follow, probably. Any help much appreciated. Cheers!