Marty C – Dungeon World Tavern G+ Archives

I’m finding that Bonds aren’t quite clicking with my players, and I’m not really sure how to address it at this…

I’m finding that Bonds aren’t quite clicking with my players, and I’m not really sure how to address it at this point.

Our last session was almost entirely character driven, featuring stuff like the Wizard (who stayed back at the inn due to his injuries) telepathically bickering with the Fighter, the Fighter flagrantly trying to seduce one of the villains rather than following the party’s actual plan to rescue the children she had kidnapped, and the Bard putting some moves on the Ranger’s ex- only to be dramatically interrupted by said Ranger. Oh, and thanks to some memory-rewriting magic, the Wizard recalls his first experiences with the Fighter and the Bard as going dramatically different (and worse) than they actually did.

And then we get to the End of Session and every single one of ’em goes “Eh, I don’t think my Bonds changed.” WHAT.

After some pointed reminders of all the insanity that had actually transpired — much of which was structured specifically because I had their bonds & backstory in mind — a few of them made some updates, but it’s clear everyone still feels a little shaky on the idea, especially when “resolving” the bond means writing something that may not seem at all related to the previous bond. Any suggestions on how to address the subject without just throwing XP on everyone? I can come at this from the player side as well — we have two campaigns with different DMs being run on alternate weeks, so I’m trying to lead by example in the one I’m a PC for.

How messy is your messy?

How messy is your messy?

It’s one of the more open-ended tags in the game, and it’s applied to monsters ranging from the Apocalypse Dragon to the humble Cave Rat. Do you ramp into it with soft moves like NPC slaughter, environmental destruction, or just a description of how nasty those teeth look? Do you pull it out as a surprise to emphasize how sudden things can go south? Do you start small and ease into the devastation (degrade armor -> break armor -> sorry about your legs)?

I don’t like starting thought discussions like this with my personal anecdotes, but I was struck by it when I threw some sahuagin at my PCs last session and was confronted with the combined might of messy and one of their main attacks being “bite off a limb.” To a certain extent it mirrors the old issue with using fumble rules in D&D — it’s fine for monsters because most only exist for one battle, but surprise PC death or disfigurement is a long-term deal. I ended up massacring & de-limb-ing some companion NPCs, playing up bleeding wounds and useless limbs, applying conditions like Weak, and relieving the Wizard of some of his fingers. But it was an interesting line to toe between respecting both the principle of “Think Dangerous” and the monster’s actual move, while also understanding that this was intended to be a harbinger of things to come rather than a TPK/PC retirement party.

To those who have designed their own base classes, I’m curious: how do you prefer to go about testing & polishing…

To those who have designed their own base classes, I’m curious: how do you prefer to go about testing & polishing them?

Do you just run an arbitrary handful of sessions and look at the overall feel? Do you have a particular style of session you like to run – dungeon crawl, wilderness adventure, urban crime, etc? Do you control party compositions – heavy on similar classes (Ninja+Thief+Bard), different ones (Ninja+Paladin+Fighter), or the “classic 4” party? Or do you just eyeball the moves for clarity & completeness and call it a day when you think it looks good-ish?

Obviously there’s no One True Way – especially since DW sidesteps the need for fiddly evaluation of combat effectiveness – but I’m interested to see what people have settled on.

After months of reading posts & articles, it feels so good to be a part of a session, and great to DM a fun one.

After months of reading posts & articles, it feels so good to be a part of a session, and great to DM a fun one. Thanks for all of your help, everyone!

We started with a dirt-simple pitch – it was graduation day for the PCs (Fighter, Wizard, & Ranger) and that they needed to retrieve a McGuffin as part of the process to prove themselves worthy. Bonds and a few questions sorted out what their organization was all about — in a surprise turn of events they chose to be government-sponsored — as well as some of the major threats to the guild.

As soon as that was done, I called for a 15 minute break to slap together the actual adventure. I had some rough ideas already, but it’s incredibly liberating for the rules to fully support winging it. I still only got as far as “ruined keep in the woods,” but that’s on me. 😀

We opened with a take on 13th Age’s redcaps, just as the Fighter had caught his foot in a snare trap and was sent rocketing into the air. For the redcap’s Bad Word, I chose “there,” figuring that I could cheat on any “they’re”s and “their”s as well. I didn’t get the trifecta I hoped for, but rampant teleporting enemies that fall apart in one clean blow set a fantastic tone for the session. And not using a battlemats made room for a ton of trap shenanigans. One of the redcaps was chucked into a “Catapult trap,” which is apparently just getting Wile E. Coyote’d into the side of a tree. A 7-9 on another Defy Danger meant successfully throwing one but knocking an ally into a pit trap in the process. Basically it was the best kind of insanity.

The PCs swing by the keep’s chapel, which I decide is dedicated to the god of art & engineering. They do a solid for a ghostly guardian who can’t come with (I’m not running a DMPC in our first session) but he mentions the keep has a state of the art heating system. Thus rather than busting down the front door, they enact Operation: Santa Claus, sneaking down the chimney to get to the ritual chambers underground. They bypass most of the keep, getting in a small scrap with some skeletons and a larger one with an iron golem along the way, and make their way into the caves below.

There, they find a group of evil telepaths using the McGuffin to help them imprison an illithid, surely for some nefarious purpose. As the fight breaks out and the telepaths start to drop, the illithid’s bonds are broken, and he’s indiscriminate as he lashes out. The PCs grab what they came for and book it for an alternate exit, barely making it out as the illithid finishes his jailors & gives chase. They escape to a nearby town and call it a night, with the Ranger leveling up and the others within 1 or 2 XP of it. And now I have an illithid on the loose for next time, when they report their (strictly speaking) success back to base to earn their stripes!

The Wizard wasn’t thrilled with his class, mostly because he prepared Magic Missile and Detect Magic – not a great level 1 combo. And I could’ve pushed more hard choices and non-damage outcomes, pulled fewer punches, and overall just managed the pace better. But this was an absolutely great session, which makes it a phenomenal starter, and almost as much fun as I’ve ever had on the DM side of things.

Thanks again, everyone!