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Awesome Points as a countdown

One thing I love about Old School Hack is the Awesome Points economy. It turns all the players into fans of the whole party: Each player can give Awesome Points to other players when they describe something awesome; they can spend their Awesome Points to do something awesome; and they can only level up when everyone has spent a certain number of Awesome Points. It gives everyone the incentive to play awesome, but it’s also important to notice when other people are being awesome.

I never thought of using Awesome Points in DW until I saw this thread on BFA:

http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=6163

I wasn’t quite satisfied with the idea of offering Awesome Points in place of XP, as suggested by some of the comments there. In my view, the reward for spending Awesome Points is part of what makes the mechanic work: Otherwise, people will have to weigh the tradeoffs between a temporary benefit and advancement, which will encourage miserliness.

Here’s my idea: Add a countdown to every character sheet, maybe six boxes. Players fill in a box whenever they spend an Awesome Point. Add this question to End of Session: “Were we totally awesome?” The answer is yes only if every player has all their boxes filled in.

Check out OSH here:

http://www.oldschoolhack.net/

#awesome_points #countdown

http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=6163

Wandering Monsters in DW and WoDu

Once upon a time, I had TSR’s board game DragonStrike! (Feeling brave tonight?) There were four boards, each with a timer dial on one side. Every turn, the DM was supposed to advance a token on the dial; once the timer ran out, the dragon would show up. I could never consistently remember to advance the dial, but it wasn’t long before I was running my own adventures and hacking the game to embrace more role-playing, so the timer ceased to matter.

Today I was thinking about how I might create more tension in a DW delve, without all the bookkeeping of old-school procedural dungeoneering, and my mind turned to the lurking menace of wandering monsters.

I’m mindful that the GM moves handle this completely, and there’s no need for a separate system. I thought of one anyway.

Here’s my idea: Whenever the delvers are exploring a dangerous area where monsters may be lurking, create a countdown on an index card, and put it in the middle of the table. (Countdowns are explained in Dark Heart of the Dreamer.) The GM may use a Die of Fate (from World of Dungeons) to determine how many boxes are in the countdown, or just pick a number based on the how near and/or sensitive the monsters are.

Fill in a box whenever the delvers make a loud noise or otherwise draw unwanted attention without an immediate consequence. (This counts as “making your move elsewhere”.) Loud noises might include the din of battle, Bardic anthems, spirited conversations between delvers, or clatters caused by Tookish curiosity. What you count as loud depends on how vigilant your monsters are and what else is going on. You might also fill in a box whenever the delvers are taking their sweet time.

When the last box is filled in, wandering monsters catch up with the delvers. If there are more monsters lurking about, you might create another countdown right away.

Anyway, that’s the idea. Could it work?

#wandering_monsters #countdown