Tag: Jeremy Strandberg

Intentionally provocative post:

There are really only 3 GM moves

● Provoke a character to (re)act

● Increase tension

● Establish badness

All other GM moves are specific applications and/or combinations of those 3 moves.

Corollary: If you haven’t done at least one of these 3 things, then you haven’t made a GM move.

Prove me wrong.

You know all those polls I’ve posting lately? This is where they got me.

Warning: it’s long.

Questions and feedback are of course welcome.

Hack & Slash, part II

I previously talked about Tinkering with Hack and Slash in order to make it a move that explicitly dealt with initiative and, in the process, address some of my beefs with the move as-written. That led me to put some polls up on G+, and the responses (and ensuing discussions) led me to discard the initiative idea and and think more deeply about the move.

The hagr (12 feet tall, long-limbed, rolls of fat and muscle, one eye bulging with hate and fury) just took out the Ranger with that tree it was using as a club. It turns that hate-filled eye on the Heavy and the Blessed (who’s dispelling the unholy fog that kept them from coming to the Ranger’s aid).

The hagr flings the tree at them. The Heavy dives and drags the Blessed to the ground, nailing the Defy Danger with DEX and the tree goes smashing overhead. But they hear the hagr bellow and come stomping towards them.

Still on the ground, the Blessed reaches into his sacred pouch and calls on nature’s fury. The forest erupts, ensnaring the hagr with vines and roots and earth, just a few feet away from them. It’s held for the moment, but it’s already tearing free.

The Heavy rolls to his feet, loads his crossbow, and fires. He’s close, and the thing’s restrained, but it’s ripping free and terrifying and this is anything but a sure thing. He rolls Volley. Gets a miss. Oh dear.

The hagr breaks free, swats the crossbow from the Heavy’s hands, and snatches the Heavy by the wrist, hoisting him up and clearly about to use him as a club to smash the Blessed.

I ask them both what they do. The Blessed says he’s rolling to the side and trying to get away. The Heavy is like “I draw my long knife with free hand and stab it in the wrist, the one that’s holding me, so that it drops me.”

Okay, cool! Seems like the Heavy’s move should resolve before the Blessed’s, but how do we resolve it?

(If it matters: the hagr has like 19 HP, 2 armor, and reach; the Heavy deals d10 damage, hand range, no relevant damage-boosting moves.)

Option A The Heavy is attacking the hagr, and the hagr can fight back, so this is Hack & Slash. On a 7+, the hagr drops the Heavy no matter how much damage is dealt; if the Heavy is exposed to attack, it’s something like the hagr booting him with a forceful kick.

Option B Hack and Slash, but on a 7+, the Heavy’s damage roll determines whether the hagr drops the Heavy, and that in turn determines what the hagr’s attack looks like. If the Heavy deals decent damage, the Hagr drops him and then maybe kicks him away. If the Heavy deals only a little damage, the hagr holds tight and maybe uses the Heavy as a club, the Blessed Defying Danger to get out of the way.

Option C The Heavy is trying to get free more than anything, so this is Defy Danger (STR or DEX or even INT). On a 10+, yeah, the Heavy stabs the hagr and cuts himself free, dealing damage cuz the hagr got knifed in the wrist. On a 7-9, we’ve got any number of worse outcomes, hard bargains, or ugly choices to choose from.

Option D As option C, but the 10+ just means the Heavy gets free without dealing damage, but maybe seizing the initiative or giving the Blessed a chance to act.

The Bard and the Wizard and the Fighter are making a break for it, trying to escape the dungeon as a horde of draugr (7 HP each, 2 armor) try to stop them! The Wizard was closest to the door and gets away, but as the Bard goes for it one of the draugr moves to intercept.

The Bard tries to dodge past and Defies Danger with DEX, gets a miss, and the draugr’s hand flashes out and grabs the Bard by the throat and starts squeezing (the Bard takes d6+1 damage).

The Fighter comes running up behind the Bard and is like “I swing my messy, forceful hammer at the druagr, like an uppercut, sending this thing flying.” Hack and Slash, yo!

The Fighter rolls a 10+, chooses to evade the enemy’s attack, and (cue sad trombone music) rolls a 2 for damage. Soaked by the draugr’s armor. No damage done.

You’re the GM: what do you do?

Option A: “So you smash into it and goes flying back, but it’s almost immediately back on it’s feet and and about to charge. Bard, you’re gasping for air, Fighter there are more coming from behind you, what do you two do?”

Option B: “You smash into it and it just staggers back half a step, doesn’t even loosen its grip on the Bard. But it turns and looks at you with those dead eyes, Fighter, and raises its ax overhead, what do you do?”