So we had another playtest of Freebooters this week.

So we had another playtest of Freebooters this week.

So we had another playtest of Freebooters this week. Mathieu Mazzoni ran a short dungeon for 3rd level characters, and we have a few observations. Warning: braindump ahead.

Overall feeling

It’s nice to have a few more hit points and an extra move: my fighter felt more capable, but far from invincible. The magic-user did a few impressive things with his spells, and everyone felt like they contributed to the delve. It really felt like low level B/X.

On durations

Mathieu felt the duration tags weren’t really intuitive, and he kept giving estimates of how long a spell or a torch would last (in minutes). Reading the rule again myself afterwards, I think I could handle it as a Judge with a bit of practice. Thinking about duration as a resource takes some getting used to. Maybe this could be stressed in the book.

About the Cast Spell move

On a miss, choosing -1 ongoing for the duration of the spell’s effect shouldn’t be available when the spell is instantaneous. It’s probably obvious, but we had to stop and talk about it a couple of times during the game. This may warrant a mention somewhere.

In the Spellbook move

Maybe it’s just me (I played a magic-user in our first game), but listing the aspects and their costs like is a bit confusing when you’re in the middle of a battle. Layout permitting, I would suggest a table like the one I made here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nrCmm529H4gT5lwNts2hHlpYliSP4x_QVWKK-UDk6N0/edit?usp=sharing

A fleeing move?

There was a moment in the game when Tom Z’s  dwarf used Not Guts, No Glory to dive at a giant spider-god emerging from a bottomless pit. The monster was clearly too powerful for us and the only reason we survived is our nice Judge. Mat decided the spider didn’t like that stingy axe. It retreated and let us live.

After the fact, Tom remarked that maybe the game needed a move to retreat or flee. Having it front of your eyes would be a good way to remind players that Freebooters shouldn’t fight to the death. Here’s a thing I drafted. We will test drive next time.

When you lead the retreat burn 1 Charisma and roll +CHA. On a 10+, choose 3 from the list below; on a 7-9, choose 2; on a 6-, burn 1 Charisma and  choose 1.

– You don’t leave anyone behind

– No one is injured in the process

– You don’t lose anything precious

– The monsters give up the chase

That said, I’m really enjoying freebooting on the frontier. This game is the dream child of old school survival and DW that I always wanted.

A hoard of DW monsters on playing cards. I need to rob a bank.

A hoard of DW monsters on playing cards. I need to rob a bank.

A hoard of DW monsters on playing cards. I need to rob a bank.

Originally shared by Acritarche

Inkwell Ideas has just released the Dungeon World Monster Decks and they are so cool!

Well,don’t believe me at face value on this one. After all I wrote many many monsters for these decks.

Check for yourselves!

http://inkwellideas.com/dungeon_world_creatures/

We played the last session in my Keep on the Borderlands ’83 sandbox last night.

We played the last session in my Keep on the Borderlands ’83 sandbox last night.

We played the last session in my Keep on the Borderlands ’83 sandbox last night. Two groups, somewhere between 20 and 30 sessions over a whole year, it’s been an amazing ride. My notes and fronts were messy as hell and I wasn’t sure how to end it, so this is how I prepared. (Yes, this is an air café receipt.)

Threats included mind flayer marketing executives and their bugbear mercenaries, a modron ‘angelic’ invasion planning a nanocalypse on the whole region, a pirate speljammer, the Bloodstone Idol, the Eye of Gruumsh and the Apocalypse Dragon. I stayed away from most of my notes and stuck to asking questions and building on answers.

And I’m glad I did. The modrons, idol and dragon never showed up and the climactic scene felt really fresh: a raid from the ship onto a Drow tower, with assorted spiders, poisoned blades and evil magicks. Also, having the Underdark as a backdrop gave the session a special, very TV show finale feel.

The heroes saved the day and the Border, freed the Keep from Mindless, Inc. and decided to open a tavern in the village nearby.

I’m looking forward to visiting this setting again, thirty years in the future, when everything is cyberpunk’d up. (Cause 2013 is when cyberpunk happens – finally an excuse to run Sixth World!) 

After several months of hiatus (I blame White Books) my Keep on the Borderlands 1983 campaign is about to reach its…

After several months of hiatus (I blame White Books) my Keep on the Borderlands 1983 campaign is about to reach its…

After several months of hiatus (I blame White Books) my Keep on the Borderlands 1983 campaign is about to reach its conclusion in the next couple of weeks. On my plate for the next session:

– A mashup of all my fronts to try and reincorporate as much stuff as possible: a mindflayer corporation, angelic macropocalypse, the Eye of Gruumsh, a Spelljamming pirate ship, the wererat plague epidemic…

– Another read through Inglorious to decide if I want all this to end in a planar battle.

– A list of ideas for a sequel campaign set in 2013, maybe using the Sixth World hack.

I’m really excited!

Fellow taverners

Fellow taverners

Fellow taverners,

Four months ago, I came here to show off a little hack I was working on. 15 iterations later, it is now a (little still) game that you can help me make better. It’s a minimalistic, GM-less (or GM-full, if you like to be precise with that sort of stuff), no prep way to run through an epic dungeon crawl in two to four hours. Follow the link and drop me a line if you feel like giving it a spin!

http://quenouille.com/white-books-playtest/

#ClericWeek

#ClericWeek

#ClericWeek  

I’ve played and ran quite a lot of DW, and the only time I’ve seen a Cleric player character was when there was no other choice (the French Red Box has only four character classes and there were four players). 

On the other hand, divine power has been very common: with human Wizards of course, Paladins and Rangers often take the move to get cleric spells, etc. 

Is it just my experience, or is the Cleric unpopular?

Random thought as I was brainstorming ways to integrate d20s in #whitebooks : an I feel lucky move for lazy…

Random thought as I was brainstorming ways to integrate d20s in #whitebooks : an I feel lucky move for lazy…

Random thought as I was brainstorming ways to integrate d20s in #whitebooks : an I feel lucky move for lazy players:

When you call on Lady Luck, counting on chance instead of devising a clever way to reach your goal, roll d20.

– On a 20, you get your miracle. Everything works even better than you hoped. For now.

– On a 18-19, Lady Luck smiles upon you and you get what you wanted.

– On a 14-17, you will have to accept a hard bargain, limited success or price to pay.

– On a 13, the Powers of Neutrality intervene and Nothing Happens. Think of something else before you get into trouble.

– On a 6-12, the GM makes a hard move against you.

– On a 2-5, the GM makes a hard move against you and your companions.

– On a 1, Lady Luck screws your over. Expect to see the hardest, most uncalled for move to ever to happen at your table.