Tag: Wynand Louw

Wardancing from my country as inspiration for Bard week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxhhF_nHxIs

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/120461/Pirates-A-Dungeon-World-Sourcebook

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/120461/Pirates-A-Dungeon-World-Sourcebook

Something I have been thinking a lot about lately: The mechanical strength of classes. Yes I know, number-balance is not an issue in DW. As GM my monsters have very fluid hit points anyways. I often let them die when it is fictionally appropriate (like when continuing the fight would be a bore, or when a messy weapon takes a theatrical toll) and not necessarily when they are HP depleted. 

But obviously there has to be some sort of guideline. When I dream up a character I start off with the archetypal roles in a party: Tank, Ranged fighter, Magic user, Healer, Stealthy guy/ Trap expert. Obviously there are many other roles that may be fictionally interesting. 

But lets say this ew class is going to be Tank. That means he takes the role of the Core Class Fighter.

So here I had a look at just damage buffs the fighter can get. (Obviously a mix of buffs will be more interesting, but I am trying to make a point)

Class Damage: d10

Starting moves: +2 damage.

2-5:

Merciless: +1d4

Scent of blood: +1d4

6-10:

Blood thirsty: +1d8

Taste of Blood: +1d8

So a fighter at 7th level could potentially do d10+2d8+2 damage with one hit. Thats almost a-dragon-and-a-half.

Should all tanks have this whacking capacity? Probably not. But sheer whacking capacity is not necessarily game-breaking when you are creating a tank. And I think one should keep this in mind when you create a class that really only fights, in order that you do not create a wimp.

NPC Wizards

Ho do you guys play them in practice? Do you stay with specific spells, or do you make them up on the fly?  Do you allow your players do do Defy Danger (Something) every time a spell is cast or do you just tell them, “OK you’re a frog”?  The third option is to just hit them with hard magic moves when they fail a roll. 

The way I’ve been doing it is something like this:

GM: The wizards waves his staff. What do you do? 

Fighter: I hit him with my mace. (Rolls 7-9)

GM: You break his jaw but too late to stop his spell. You start felling funny, the world around you starts growing. And growing. You feel cold and slimy. You croak. (etc)

I’d like to be more versatile the way I play this…

OK, Thanks to y’all here on G+  (Thanks guys!) and my DW group helping me to write my first class playbook, I just published The Pit Fighter on RPGNow. 

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/119947/The-Pit-Fighter-Dungeon-World-Playbook

(Proudly sporting the Weem’s “For use with DW” logo. See? There it is in the right bottom corner!)

And as always, the guys who made DW are still awesome! 

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/119947/The-Pit-Fighter-Dungeon-World-Playbook

My story for Paladin Week

I attended the fortnightly board game day at my FLGS this morning, and suggested to a group of regulars that I introduce them to dungeon world. (They are all regular Pathfinder Society players)  I printed the character sheets off the internet and we generated characters. 

My story hook was the old one (Based loosely on the module “Dungeons of Avanor”): You find yourself in a prison cell, to be executed in three hours after the coronation of the new king. What did you do to be arrested? Who are you? What are your bonds?

So the one chap says: What do you mean?

Me: Tell us about yourself!

Chap: You mean, I must just make it up? Like that?

Me: Yea… Duh…

Chap: I’m Augustus the paladin. 

Me: OK, thats nice. Tell us about your god.

Augustus: I worship Cthulhu.

Me: No you can’t. You see your alignment there? It says either LAWFUL or GOOD!

Augustus: I tell you, I worship Cthulhu.

Me: OK, you are Chaotic Evil. You are not a paladin but an Anti-Paladin. 

Augustus: Cool! That means my healing spell becomes a “Inflict harm” spell?

Me: Err… OK…

Augustus: That means instead of taking damage when I heal somebody as it says here, I heal when I inflict harm?

Me: (Getting a sinking feeling) Errr… Yes?

Augustus: COOL!

So the other guy introduces himself as Bob the Cleric of the god (something like) Pzzztriffleplick, the elder god of secrets and – I forget the second thing. Bob’s bond with Augustus is “I am working on converting Augustus to my faith.”

OK. That will be interesting.

The party also has a Wizard: Abra, (His family name is Kadabra), Celoine the Ranger and Walton the Fighter. 

So they escape from prison using maximum violence and the descend into the dungeons to escape from the castle. But the dungeons were sealed off for a reason. They find a skeleton who refuses to be turned by the cleric (In fact, he relieves the cleric of his holy symbol) and deals quite a bit of damage to everyone n the party before Abra makes his rib cage explode with a Magic Missile. 

So while Bob is searching for his holy symbol Augustus sidles up to him, saying “I need healing…” He touches Bob, harms him for 6 and since he rolled 7-9, heals for 6 himself. 

I describe the feeling to Bob as the life is sucked from him by the vampiric anti-paladin. When Walton hears what’s going down he says, as Augustus touches Bob again, “I cut off his hand! (He hits and rolls 4 damage.)

Me: Your hand falls writhing to the floor. 

Augustus: But I just healed another 5 points!

Me: Your wrist stump miraculously heals over with skin. Even the stump of your severed hand heals over with skin. There it is, a perfectly healthy hand, lying on the floor, its severed end covered with healthy skin.

Augustus: I’m going to reattach it. I touch Bob again.

Walton: I cut off his other hand! 

So he does. 

Bob: I have sworn that I will convert this evil infedel to my evil god. I am going to re-attach his one hand!

OK, I hear what you are saying. The general GM wisdom is that if a player goes rogue, just let the others kill his character and continue the game without him.

I seriously considered it, but then, for better or worse, decided it would be boring and would end in the players being unhappy with each other, and not enjoying the game. 

So I decided to open a gate to another world (the dungeons were sealed off for a reason, remember!) and let the great Cthulhu himself teach the paladin a lesson. So with the right amount of grim portents and visions of impending doom, a lone tentacle of the great one breaks through a rift in space-time and grabs the paladin. 

Then I realised I made a HUGE mistake. Cthulhu is evil. He would reward, not punish evil. So what now?

Play to find out. 

While Cthulhu has a little one-on-one with his paladin, Bob frantically starts a ritual to banish Cthulhu and seal the gate. His god says: For the ritual he needs three secrets divulged (He is the god of secrets and whatever else, remember.) So while Bob and the others play Truth or Dare, Cthulhu makes a deal with Augustus: Re-attach his hands (nice new silver ones, as per Harry Potter), a boon (Impervious to edged weapons) and a promise from the paladin to be even more evil in future.

Bob’s god wants a last thing before he closes the gate: Bob has to convert Augustus to his religion in six weeks or Bob will die and be sent to the abyss.

The next moment Bob completes his ritual and the gate spits Augustus, now at 0 hit points and insane, out as Cthulhu retreats to the other side. 

Walton wants to kill the paladin immediately. But Bob’s life now depends on Augustus staying alive and converting, so Bob defends Augustus and convinces Walton to let him live. 

So we have a paladin and a cleric hating each other, but the cleric absolutely has to keep the paladin alive and convert him to another religion, while avoiding being killed by that same paladin.

Now for the aftermath.

When I decided to pull the stops and go into “call in the elder gods” mode, I was doing it with the idea that this was a once off. No consequences. 

Wrong. They all want to play again. 

That sucks. How do I handle this rogue anti-paladin in future?

Still working on the Pit Fighter. It was suggested that he should be more interactive with his team, so this is what I came up with (actually it was my daughter’s initial idea, and I’m also stealing from other great stuff I saw here). 

Bonds

________ Knows my dirty little secret.

Advanced moves

Anger Issues (Wis)

Once per day, when someone mentions your dirty little secret, roll+Wis

On 10+: You take +1d10 damage forward to your next Hack and Slash against an enemy.

On 7-9: You also do 1d4 collateral damage to yourself or one of your friends.

Right

My daughter plays the Druid, and took this move when she last levelled up:

Thing-Talker

You see the spirits in the sand, the sea and the stone. You may now apply your spirit tongue, shapeshifting and studied essence to inanimate natural objects (plants and rocks) or creatures made thereof, as well as animals. Thing-talker forms can be exact copies or can be mobile vaguely humanoid-shaped entities.

So, how does this work in actual play? I have no idea!

My first write-up of moves for the Street Rat class. 

Yes I know it treads on the Thief’s toes, but the Thief’s signature moves are all advanced moves for the street rat. And he is designed to play completely differently. Specifically in an urban jungle.

The rat crawls the underbelly of the filthy underbelly of town. He has a few main skills: Urban acrobatics – to run away from the law, mainly. He fights with knives. He is part of a community and culture, and mostly functions as part of that community. He knows all the news on the street. He has friends all over that will help him in a spot. And yes, he has a bit of sewer magic – just enough to give him some homeless bum awesomeness.

Note that this is Alpha version – input is always appreciated!

Urban Acrobat

When you fall from a hight and do a roll to soften your landing, subtract 3 from damage taken.

Roof Runner (Dex)

When you run the streets, rooftops and built structures of the city, roll+Dex

10+ : You run, jump and tumble over obstacles to where your want to be or to escape pursuers.

7-9: The GM also chooses one

You bail once and take 1d6 damage (subtract 3)

You draw attention to yourself, causing complications for you or your friends.

Freestyle Fighter (Dex)

When you do an acrobatic stunt to defy danger during combat,  roll +Dex.

10+ Take +1 and +1d4 damage forward to hack and slash.

7-9 Take +1 forward to hack and slash.

The Grapevine (Cha)

When you need to know about anyone or anything in town, roll+Cha

10+: People will tell you something interesting and useful relevant to your enquiry. 

7–9: People will only tell you something interesting—it’s on you to make it useful. 

Advanced Moves:

Know the turf

You know how to get to any place (even obscure places) in a city or town.

When you are cornered or pursued in a town or city environment, Roll+Int

10+: There is a window, alley, hole or sewer you can disappear into. 

7-9: As above, but the escape is only temporary.

Backstab (Dex)

When you attack a surprised or defenseless enemy with a dagger, you can choose to

deal your damage or roll+Dex

10+ choose two. On a 7–9 choose one.

You don’t get into melee with them

You deal your damage+1d6

You create an advantage, +1 forward to you or an ally acting on it

Reduce their armor by 1 until they repair it

Pickpocket (Dex)

When you pick pockets, roll+Dex

10+, you do it, no problem.

7–9, you still do it, but the GM will offer you two options between suspicion, danger,

or cost.

The grapevine (Cha)

When you need to know about anyone or anything in town, roll+Cha

10+: People will tell you something interesting and useful relevant to your enquiry. 

7–9: People will only tell you something interesting—it’s on you to make it useful. 

Fence (Cha)

When you attempt to sell stuff that you should not have, roll+Cha

10+: You get its value + 50%

7-9: Choose 1

You get its value

You don’t get into trouble

Knife Brawler (Dex)

When you fight with a precise knife and you roll Hack and Slash or Volley, do +1d4 damage.

Knife Fighter (Dex)

Requires and replaces Knife Brawler

When you fight with two precise knives and you roll Hack and Slash or Volley.

10+: Do +1d6 damage.

7-9: Do +1d4 damage.

Knife Master (Dex)

Requires and replaces Knife Fighter

When you fight with two precise knives and you roll Hack and Slash or Volley

10+: Do +1d8 damage.

7-9: Do +1d6 damage.

Street Rats (Cha)

When you need help in a public place, roll+ Cha

10+: There is a friend to help you. (hireling, loyalty=3, skill 4)

7-9: There is a friend to help you. (hireling, loyalty=1, skill 2)

The person leaves when the immediate need is met.

Street Rat Riot (Cha)

Requires Street Rats

When you need someone to start a street riot in order to create a distraction* and the fiction allows it, roll + Cha

10+: Within a minute or two a riot starts that involves at least 10 people and lasts for a few minutes, or until the law arrives.

7-9: It costs you coin, it takes a bit longer to happen, with less people, or you may get into trouble.

(* The rioteers won’t fight for you!)

Snitch (Wis)

When you are in trouble with the law, roll+Wis

10+ You know something about someone else that gets you off the hook for now.

7-9: As above, but now you have trouble coming from the person you snitched on.

Blend in (Cha)

When you stand still in a dark shadow you will not be noticed.

When you attract unwanted attention in a public place, roll+Cha

10+: You disappear in the crowd

7-9: You disappear for a minute or so.

Tail (Int)

When you tail someone, roll+Int.

10+ You follow the person to his destination

7-9: The GM also chooses one:

You attract attention from your target

You attract attention from someone else

Roof Jumper

When you do Roof Running, take +1

Climber

When you climb a wall, you can find hand and footholds on the smoothest surfaces.  Take +1 and roll+Dex

10+: You climb fast and efficiently.

7-9: There are delays, complications and / or danger.

Urban Summoner

Once per day, when you  summon a swarm of rats or a pack of dogs, roll+Wis

10+: Hold 3

7-9: Hold 1

Spend hold to 

Do +1d8 damage when you Hack and Slash

Take +1 when you Defy Danger

Take +1 when you Parley

When all your hold is spent, the creatures leave.

Master Summoner

Requires Urban Summoner

Once per day, when you  summon a Drain Beast or Sludge Monster from the city’s sewers, roll+Wis

10+: Hold 3

7-9: Hold 1

Spend hold to 

Do +1d10 damage when you Hack and Slash

Take +2 when you Defy Danger

Take +2 when you Parley

Take +1 on Mob Buff rolls

When all your hold is spent, the creature leaves.