Barf Forth Apocalyptica
powered by the apocalypse => Dungeon World => Topic started by: azrianni on August 11, 2012, 08:32:46 PM
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I guess no one's started this yet. So:
1) Yay! Thanks for the prerelease PDF!
B) In the first bit where the character classes are briefly introduced, there's no intro for the druid.
iii) It still seems odd to me to describe character creation, then put the basic moves. I expect the playbooks to come right after the character creation summary.
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iii) It still seems odd to me to describe character creation, then put the basic moves. I expect the playbooks to come right after the character creation summary.
This (chapter order) is something we are VERY interested in discussing.
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I may just be missing it, but on what page does it mention that your mark xp on a miss?
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p.32 & p.35 in DungeonWorld_PreRelease.pdf has probably wrong black background.
Almost hides text.
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I may just be missing it, but on what page does it mention that your mark xp on a miss?
I've searched the document a couple times and can't find that information either. As someone who's sort of late to the game (I've yet to have a chance to playtest, so never got in on the AG or any versions post redbook), I have FEELINGS about XP. :p
Also, not sure where the discussion on layout is going to happen, but the location of the move descriptions seemed inorganic to me as well.
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I may just be missing it, but on what page does it mention that your mark xp on a miss?
I think that rule went bye bye in the final version of the rules. You only mark XP when you resolve a bond, fulfill your alignment, and answer the questions in the end of session move.
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I may just be missing it, but on what page does it mention that your mark xp on a miss?
I think that rule went bye bye in the final version of the rules. You only mark XP when you resolve a bond, fulfill your alignment, and answer the questions in the end of session move.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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I asked about the exp for misses on the kickstarter page. It's still in and they're going to make sure it gets highlighted better.
As for the order of the basic moves and character creation, I think the current order is pretty good. The current flow I think is:
What is DW -> Basics of the mechanics -> Creating a character -> Basic/Special moves in detail -> Character classes in detail -> Gear/Magic -> GM stuff
So it's sort of light mechanics, light character, heavy mechanics, heavy character, no?
Or anyway, for me on the first time read I didn't really hang up on that flow. The hang ups I had was coming from a traditional rpg background and sort of groking how the mechanics themselves work. I think the book does pretty well with examples though.
Down the road a bit if they wanted to aim this game at pure newbies I'd recommend a separate 10-15 page starter guide. Have 4 simplified pre-made characters(fighter, wizard, thief, cleric) and a short adventure that has specific moves each character can do and how to react to the moves written out. Very much an A, B, C of how to play a rpg and DW in particular. Something like how 1983 red box Basic Set D&D walked the reader through the mechanics.
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Would it be better to have basic mechanics, basic moves, basic character, character classes, gear/magic?
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Would it be better to have basic mechanics, basic moves, basic character, character classes, gear/magic?
To me it would. Dracones might be right about the reasoning, but having a reason for an order doesn't make it automatically a good order for readers. To me, the current arrangement just means jumping back and forth between things. It's not like I'm going to remember the order of character creation after reading through it once. I want to read it and then immediately see what these choices are like, in the classes. Or to use it to create a character, which means not flipping past an unrelated chapter.
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Unrelated: I'm on "Hack & Slash" in the basic moves chapter, pp 48+, and there sure are a lot of Stray Capital letters, sometimes in the midDle of words. Unless reStrained means something specific to this game.
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Unrelated: I'm on "Hack & Slash" in the basic moves chapter, pp 48+, and there sure are a lot of Stray Capital letters, sometimes in the midDle of words. Unless reStrained means something specific to this game.
Update: at least some of those appear to be the unintended side effects of find and replace work, like poINT, and probably Concentration. reStrained may be the same thing--that STR might have been caught in a sweep for strength abbreviations, or the word Strength.
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you are right about "stat replacement", but not only (2 strange text sequences):
Quick search for "small+upper+any" gives:
"there or they're reStrained and helpless—then that's not Hack and "
"GM: Jarl, you’re up to your not-inConsiderable belly in "
"GM: The orc collapses in a bloody heap! The seCond orc "
"freezes just for a seCond and then he’s grinning at you "
"poInt."
"3. Is that enough to diStract him, at least?"
"Lux: I’m on it. I spend a poInt of my hold to redirect the "
"illusions—magical or otherWise."
"Unless a move says otherWise players can only ask questions "
"and accept death at this poInt—that's okay. Let him create a new "
"to new story tWists, Changes in Alignment, bonds, and in overall "
"wake from at least a few unInterrupted hours of sleep "
"your hit poInts as usual, but only mark off a ration if you're eating "
"longer relevant, or otherWise). Ask the player of the "
"you're under the care of a healer (magical or otherWise) "
"relatively lawful establishment of monStrous species, such as orcs or "
"lizard man? It stabs youCaught in a landslide? Rocks fall on you."
"not, as you might hope, a wall of stone. It’s much more porousPlaces "
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And that's why "match whole words only" is your friend when find/replacing. :) See also the infamous "1d6 dawizard per level" from the old Wizard's Spell Compendium.
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I was convinced to join the kickstarter by the promotional efforts of The Bear Swarm and John Wick. This prerelease is my first look at the rules. I am loving it so far, though I am still only about halfway through.
I have noticed some unclear things and some errors, so I'll chime in...
P.65, first line, "...he knows he lives on borrowed him."
P.66, "It effects what moves you can make" where "affects" would be more appropriate. Ditto on p. 139 "effected as usual". p.144 "effects the illusory image", and "capable of sleeping are effected."
Some of the multiclass moves are unclear, particularly in the Druid's case ("Hunter's Brother" and "Stalker's Sister"). Is the Druid limited to the starting Ranger moves, or can the Druid select Advanced Ranger moves? If the latter, does the Druid select from the Advanced Ranger moves as if he were one level lower than his actual level?
More an observation than a criticism, but the Ranger move "God Amidst the Wastes" and the Paladin's "Divine Favor" are explicitly weaker the later in the game they are chosen. Contrast the description in the Fighter's "Multiclass Dabbler" move, when a Fighter picks wizardly or clerical spellcasting.
The Bard move "It Goes to Eleven" is hard to interpret. The 10+ effect seems like it could be tactically useful to use on either allies or enemies. However the written consequence for rolling a 7-9 "but then takes +1d4 damage ongoing as the music invigorates it" is extremely unclear. Who is being invigorated, and taking more damage because of this invigoration? If this means your enemies are taking more damage, why is rolling in the 7-9 range a more desirable outcome than rolling higher?
I know nitpicks make me sound like I'm pissing on a hot fudge sundae, but honestly: holy damn do I want to run or play in this game.
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The Bard move "It Goes to Eleven" is hard to interpret. The 10+ effect seems like it could be tactically useful to use on either allies or enemies. However the written consequence for rolling a 7-9 "but then takes +1d4 damage ongoing as the music invigorates it" is extremely unclear. Who is being invigorated, and taking more damage because of this invigoration? If this means your enemies are taking more damage, why is rolling in the 7-9 range a more desirable outcome than rolling higher?
"Takes" in Dungeon*World has a specific definition. Like in "Take 1 Hold" or "Take 1 Forward", when someone Takes something, they gain an invisible, metaphorical game token which is then used. In this instance the author's intentions seem to be that on a 7-9, when you target and confuse one of your foes, that foe is then invigorated, supercharged, and gains a +1d4 damage Ongoing. They do not "take" a certain a mount of damage in the usual RPG parlance, incurring 1d4 hp worth of wounds wounds; instead, they get to add +1d4 to their damage Ongoing. Your Hit succeeds and confuses your foe, but the trade off is that your foe is now more powerful.
Now, honestly, the application of this power to Allies seems to have been outside of the authors' expected actions and it's not exactly clear if this is supposed to be an intentional buff when used on your friends.
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A few comments on first reading, from someone who hasn't played these rules yet.
Just (Level+1) of spells prepared, really? So when you finally get to level 5, you can either memorize 6 level 1 spells, 2 level 3 spells, or just one level 5 plus a level 1? ie, if you want your exciting new level 5 spell, you can't memorize any level 3s at all? That seems a little harsh.
On the flip side, a Ranger can take God Amidst the Wastes at level 2, and thereafter be only one level behind a dedicated Cleric, for no extra experience? That seems like a lot to get for just one advancement move.
The rules on the Ranger's animal companion seem thin, unless there's more somewhere I haven't found. What if a companion gets killed? Some guidelines would seem appropriate. Also, what does Unnatural Ally, "Your companion is a monster, not an animal", mean? Are you expected to get a new companion at that point? Or is it more of an "explain how your companion got enhanced" kind of deal?
Are there any guidelines for what the companion's tricks should or shouldn't allow? I don't see much.
The Cleric spell Animate Dead seems to be the only ongoing spell that does not say "While this spell is ongoing take -1 to Cast a Spell". Is that an oversight?
The Cleric spell Sanctuary gives no guidance that I can see about area of effect. Would anything prevent a cleric from walking the bounds of an entire castle, or town? And then it lasts for as long as they stay inside. The wizard spell Alarm has a similar issue.
The Cleric spell Repair seems too vague to play as is. For instance, should it allow "I repair all the effects of when Vlad Dracul was made a vampire"? Which would result in killing Dracula himself and also his entire brood. And who knows what else. If not, why not? Presumably there must be a limit of some kind on how old an event can be Repaired, to avoid time paradoxes.
Plague should be tagged Ongoing and is not. Possibly Storm of Vengeance should be also; or if not, I'm not sure why it's different.
Is the Wizard spell Telepathy meant to be ongoing? If not, it seems its value is severely curtailed, being able to communicate silently with someone you could just talk to. Or is the idea that it lasts indefinitely, but doesn't count as "ongoing" because it doesn't give a penalty to casting? Also, it only says that the wizard can speak to the target of the telepathy; I would assume vice versa also?
There should be some guidance as to what counts as a "lesser spell" and what is "powerful magic" for the purposes of Dispel Magic. Is it relative to the level of the caster, or fixed relative to the 3rd level of Dispel Magic itself? Are permanent magic items different from ongoing spell effects?
How nearby is "nearby", for Fireball?
Contingency says "a 5th level or lower spell that you know", rather than "have prepared". Is that intended? If so, it seems like you could thereby use Contingency to indirectly cast any lower-level spell in your spellbook without worrying about what you prepare.
It seems like Cloudkill would be powerful against an army, if you have a company of archers on your side. But tricky to make much use of in a dungeon (and this is Dungeon World) -- likely to harm your allies as much as your enemies. Maybe I'm missing something.
Soul Gem is puzzling. I am not sure what it does that makes it a 9th level spell; it seems only marginally more powerful than the 1st level Contact Spirits in terms of the described mechanical effects.
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A few comments on first reading, from someone who hasn't played these rules yet.
Hey Zmook,
I know your questions come from a need for mechanical qualification, but I would strongly recommend that you play a session of DW and see what questions come up in application of the rules.
Your questioning seems to hint at a particular 'balanced' style of play where ALL contingencies are catered for mechanically. The game does work as is for fantastic storygame play, but if you want to fiddle and give the wizard more spells or specify ranges in feet and inches, or detail what happens when a Ranger's companion dies or the depth of a cleric's sanctuary..... Then by all means, its your game after all.
Be a fan of the characters, fill their lives full of adventure, leave blanks. Once its authored into the fiction of your dungeon world its canon. Your questions make me dream imaginatively of hordes of undead that would require the cleric to invoke sanctuary over a whole town (and what hard move I could make on a miss!), encouraging discussion with the ranger's player on what sort of tricks they want their companion to be able to do, what happens when the orc the wizard has telepathy over talks back and requests aid for her infant son being held hostage by the kobolds?
Have a crack at telling a good story with the rules as is, they work. Fiddle later if you don't like it. Tell us all about in an AP! We love hearing great stories from actual play :)
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Thank you MrPrim, I like your interpretation of "It Goes to Eleven." However, your definition of "takes" seems at odds with at least one other place in the rules, the "Penitent" and "Martyr" moves for the Cleric. There, it is fairly clear that the Cleric must "take +1d4 damage," meaning that the Cleric actually suffers 1d4 hit points more damage than he would normally, not that he would deal 1d4 damage than he would normally.
Certainly the use of "ongoing" in the description of "It Goes to Eleven" makes your interpretation the sensible one. But "take" appears to be inconsistently used. Where in the text do you find the specific Dungeon World definition of "take"?
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I know your questions come from a need for mechanical qualification, but I would strongly recommend that you play a session of DW and see what questions come up in application of the rules.
Hiya, noofy. A few responses: 1). I'd love to just play some, but that would require people to play with and also more hours in the day. I don't really have either this month, though I do have time to read a set of beta rules (that I'm quite interested in) and write some feedback on what doesn't seem clear. First-time players count too, right? Hopefully my questions will be helpful to Sage & Adam.
2) I am currently running an Apocalypse World game in what gaming time I do have, so I have some idea how the structure works, and what I was hoping to see in Dungeon World. I've also played a lot of old-school D&D over 20+ years. DW bills itself as a game with modern rules and "old-school style" -- I mean, it's a game with an encumbrance stat and it has a Make Camp roll. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me to expect the character rules to support a bit of gamism in my game. Gamism is fun too.
3) Of course you can always houserule a broken or incomplete rule, but that doesn't mean it wasn't broken or incomplete to begin with.
I am still very much looking forward to giving this game a try someday. DW seems as close to the game I want to play as anything I've seen lately.
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No worries Zmook! Of course ist time players can have questions and it helps to have answers. I wasn't trying to dissuade you from asking questions of Adam and Sage, far from it! I'm happy that you think DW will scratch that particular itch you are hoping it will.
Its just that the rules have been developing over two years and many of the systems, procedures and tags are well versed in story game play, but don't act as intended when you 'game them up'. I've played several dozen sessions of DW (and a fair bit of AW too), and haven't really felt the need to 'houserule'. I've tinkered, but always seem to fall back on the base ruleset that Adam and Sage (and Tony) have developed and worked on.
I mean, did you query tags like 'messy' in AW, or have issues with 'Opening your brain'? These have similar counterparts in DW that may be at odds with more gamist attitudes. All this aside, I'll have a crack at your questions and try to be helpful from my (heavily biased) story games standpoint.
I've had a player who played through with a level 9 wizard (and three rulesets) and had no issues with his spells or associated moves. Its a limited resource sure, but he also could also remember his spells, cast rituals, have specialist magical knowledge. He could also 'change his menu of spells' whenever he sat down and prepared spells, not be limited by the daily vancian paradigm.
Taking God Amongst the Wastes is a heavily story affecting choice. Descriptive and Prescriptive remember? The Ranger's player is making a statement and raising a flag for you as GM to what sort of story they want to play with the group, not simply because that move choice is 'more effective' than the cleric at a similar level.
I dunno, what does happen when Strider, the ever vigilant wolf companion of Athos the Ranger (who also happens to be a God fearing man amongst the wastes) is taken down by their mortal enemy Gratch the Ogre? That's a great story question, particular to my Dungeon World, but at a pinch I would say that Athos will be Defying Danger for while, and mayhap take a disability until he can train a new wolf pup.
A companions tricks are tags, just like any other. There limitations are governed prescriptively and descriptively by the fiction and by the GM following their principles and agenda.
I don't believe that Animate Dead needs a -1 ongoing. The zombie, once animated, no longer needs so much 'prayer concentration'
I think that if you determine that the cleric could walk the perimeter of the town and apply sanctuary then go for it! That sounds like an awesome story in the making :)
Repair is a level 9 spell. Its meant to be powerful, I think that how you interpret its effects shapes your Dungeon World. What you suggest with Vlad and his brood seems reasonable (and fantastic!). Also, what would happen if you failed the prayer roll?!
Yup, we played that telepathy doesn't act as as a -1 ongoing to cast spells unless the wizard is actively talking to their target.
What do you need to know about lesser magics or powerful ones? As a GM your antagonism is just that, tagged as lesser or powerful. All the questions you ask are gold for your game and the answers may be totally different to mine and that's great! So long as you follow the principles it'll work out fine. There is only one Wizard, and you are a fan of them :)
There are large open spaces in the deeps beneath the world.... Plus Tonks had learned cloudkill, and also had went on a wonderfully evocative adventure to a (hithererto unknown) ruined enchanter's tower to unearth the fabled crystal eye of Jirizzah (which he breathed life into being after a spout lore roll). The eye allowed him to scry places that he had already been and made cloudkill a spell he became renown for throughout the land, inspiring fear as he used it to curtail an invasion of bugbears - garnering the moniker 'The myst robed mage of doom' and changed his alignment to evil as a result.
Nearby is closer than far away. Seriously.
Contingency is worded correctly methinks. At least the way we played. It is a high level spell after all, and it allows the wizard to do exactly as you describe, but remember: you can only have one spell under contingency at any given time. This is a very useful spell for 'increasing your repertoire' of limited prepared spells.
You are trapping a soul. That is powerful, both narratively and mechanically. What does that say about the wizard? What soul has he trapped? What happens to the body? What other uses can the gem be put to once a soul is trapped within? These a tremulous, world-defining questions...
Mate, if you can play for long enough with a group and get to ask these sorts of questions with high level clerics and wizards, that is so very satisfying and all part of the charm that is this brilliant game :)
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There are a couple of rule suggestions here on the forum (I'm mainly thinking of these two, about load and statistics: http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=2770.0 and http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=2799.0 ) that seemed to be well received, but that are not present in the document.
Is this intentional? Did you mumble over them and decided to leave them out, or were they simply passed over?
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Plus Tonks had learned cloudkill, and also had went on a wonderfully evocative adventure to a (hithererto unknown) ruined enchanter's tower to unearth the fabled crystal eye of Jirizzah (which he breathed life into being after a spout lore roll). The eye allowed him to scry places that he had already been and made cloudkill a spell he became renown for throughout the land, inspiring fear as he used it to curtail an invasion of bugbears - garnering the moniker 'The myst robed mage of doom' and changed his alignment to evil as a result.
That's a dramatic story, yes, but my question is with the Rules As Written, which say: "A cloud of fog drifts into this realm from beyond the Black Gates of Death, filling the immediate area. Whenever a creature in the area takes damage it takes an additional, separate 1d6 damage which ignores armor." I happen to believe it's hard enough for every person around the table to get to a shared vision of what's possible in a fantastic story, so the written rules are important, and these say that cloudkill only does additional damage when a creature in the area first takes damage from some other source. It also says "immediate area" so even line-of-sight is a stretch, though it certainly seems crazy to expect a spell called Cloudkill to summon something centered on the caster. As a player, I would think that it would be somewhat difficult to contrive circumstances where this spell is worth casting; ie, where it would be more dangerous to the enemy than to my friend the fighter. Every goblin attacking him gets +1d6 damage? No thanks! (Am I missing something? That does seem to be what the rules say.)
As a GM, I can of course have a discussion with the player to figure out an interpretation that makes the spell as powerful as a L7 should be, but as a GM I just do *not* want to have to have discussions like this about every spell and special move. I'd much rather spend my time describing cool monsters for them to fight.
If I'm missing something written elsewhere in the rules, that's fine. If the response is, well that's vague on purpose, so you can figure it out with the players, that's fine too (though not really what I'm hoping to hear). If it's an unintentional oversight that Sage or Adam want to clarify, great! In any case, I understood the point of distributing pre-release rules to be looking for comments, so those were some of mine.
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Tons of typos. Are the github edits still being looked at?
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Everything is definitely still on the table, edits-wise. Keep plugging stuff into the github if you were using it to report bugs before.
The stats and load are two things we're currently debating.
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Just (Level+1) of spells prepared, really?
For this, there are moves a wizard can take to reduce the memorization requirements of certain spells. So magic missile could take nothing to memorize leaving that spell as an always prepared spell. Or you could take fireball(3) and reduce it down to 2. But generally spells in the game are pretty powerful so you aren't meant to be running around with a lot of them memorized. Also you can swap them out without a huge amount of rest.
As for the lack of a lot of specific mechanics in the rules, this game doesn't run on specific mechanics. It's very Old School in that the GM is going to have to make a lot of calls(along with player input) in how things operate. Walking the perimeter of a city for sanctuary or alarm? Sure, why not?
Part of the rules say "be a fan of the players" which means let the players have fun with things. I think the game could probably get a little gonzo or over the top, but that's fine. The PC's, their classes, are very unique in the world. Just because they can do certain things doesn't mean that the world at large has those things happen all the time. Your cleric might be the only cleric in existence who knows the sanctuary spell. So you don't normally see towns with that spell cast around them.
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Cleric spell Detect Alignment lists only the alignments good, evil, and neutral. Is this deliberate or an oversight / holdover? 'Cause I'd think a lawful cleric would be able to detect law or chaos, too.
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P.204, "it suffers loses" should be "it suffers losses."
Is it made clear in the Wizard class description that they can learn new spells in play, besides the ones they get by leveling up (and by buying the Expanded Spellbook move)? P.214's treasure chart, entry 15 implies that they can.
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On page 344, the "final" version of Hack & Slash is quoted offering an option for +2 dmg, which doesn't match the (presumably official) version of Hack & Slash on p 48 (+1d6 dmg).
The text occasionally uses the term "NPC" without ever defining it as "non-player character". On pages 21 and 60 it also inconsistently uses the term "GM character". Also, on p32, there's a whole section called "Monsters" (that says "sometimes it's just a guy in some armor") that never uses the terms NPC or GM character at all. My expectation is that there's not supposed to be any real distinction between a "monster" and an "NPC", but it's not made completely clear.
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The Bard has the option of starting with a Dueling Rapier (close, precise, 2 weight). In the gear chapter, the Dueling Rapier has 1 piercing also, while the normal Rapier has no piercing and 1 weight. How much of a deal this is depends on the Load rules being used.
Also, the Paladin has a couple of advanced moves that give bonus to the Order Hirelings move, which isn't described anywhere in the book (only alluded to).
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On p.233 and p.331, instances of "who's" should be the possessive "whose."
In the description of the Lodestone Shield, p.326, it explains that to use the power of the shield you must spend hold, but does not describe how you gain hold to spend.
The effects of missing on the roll for The Ku'meh Maneuver and Other Strategems, p.325, is very unclear. "The GM can 1 of your hold" does not make sense, and further it would seem that the consequences of failing the roll could be avoided by not giving out advice.
The Druid move Elemental Mastery, p.100, delights me. But I want to understand it better. What does it mean to pay "nature's price"? If you select "retain control" but do not select "the effect you desire comes to pass," can you then simply control the spirit to cause the effect you desire? I assume not, because if you didn't select "the effect you desire comes to pass"... it won't! I also assume that the range of effects is limited to what elemental spirits can do, which is largely up to fiat.
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P.20 helpfully explains that unarmed PC's deal 1 damage. How does this reconcile with the Fighter's option to make her signature weapon her "Fists" (p.105)? Does the Fighter then just have a really nice set of benefits on that 1 damage? Should this be "Gauntlets" instead of "Fists"? Or perhaps if a Fighter takes Fists as her signature weapon, she is never actually "unarmed" and can deal full damage with her tattooed kung fu killing hands capital-F Fists. I like that last interpretation.
The Paladin move "I am the Law," p.112, is unusual in that it succeeds on a roll of 6 or higher ("6+"). This is different from every other rolled move in the game, where marginal success requires at least a 7. I'm thinking typo.
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The Thief move Trap Expert, p.128, calls for a roll+DEX. Which strikes me as odd, since the move allows you to perceive and determine more about the environment, which would usually call for +WIS or +INT. I mean, I can kind of see how you could justify it as the Thief walking around and poking everything very dextrously to figure things out, but I wonder if that was intended.
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The Thief move Trap Expert, p.128, calls for a roll+DEX. Which strikes me as odd, since the move allows you to perceive and determine more about the environment, which would usually call for +WIS or +INT. I mean, I can kind of see how you could justify it as the Thief walking around and poking everything very dextrously to figure things out, but I wonder if that was intended.
I suspect this is to prevent "attribute creep" where a class slowly needs a longer and longer list of atts to do everything. But that's just a guess.
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Traditionally, thieves are supposed to be awesome at finding traps, and having a skill tied to their best attribute helps with that.
It certainly does make sense that disarming traps would get a bonus from Dex, and finding isn't much of a stretch. High Int characters can be absent-minded professors, and high Wis might mean you're disciplined and strong-willed, but hardly necessarily observant. Alertness is often considered a component of Dex.
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Although -- are the stats even properly defined in the rules? If there's a page where it actually says, I don't see it right now. That could be an issue for, e.g., the difference between Int and Wis (which I remember having debates about when we were teenagers first trying to figure out D&D).
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"Stunned" refers to two distinct conditions, one described on p.21 and again as INT debility on p.23. I'd want to rename INT debility as "addled" or something.
Starting on p.255 some monster stat blocks have "w" or "b" indicated in their damage. Is this defined somewhere?
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Starting on p.255 some monster stat blocks have "w" or "b" indicated in their damage. Is this defined somewhere?
It is defined somewhere. Hmmm or used to be.
B means to take the best of the two dice. I think W means to take the worst.
It should probably be added to Chapter 17, Elements of a Monster - Damage, to make it clearer though.
Might also be worth adding to Chapter 2 - Harm and Healing - Damage. Where it talks about monster damage.
But of the two areas the Chapter 17 would keep it fresh in the reader's mind as they look at the monster stats and see it pop up.
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More over: what should I do when a bunch of minions and their 2d10·b damage leader deal their damage to the same character? Should I have to roll 2d10 for each one and take the best? Or just 1d10 for each minion and 2d10 for the leader?
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Hey Adam, you should ask a few questions and establish the fiction first, before you ask how to deal the monsters damage.
How does that fictionally happen? Are the minions tiny? Are they and their leader leaping all over the character and hacking away? How are they dealing damage? With sword blows or bites or magic?
If it is fictionally established that all of these blighters can make an attack against the character simultaneously (poor bugger) and you decide to go with dealing damage, then:
If multiple creatures attack at once roll the damage die for each of them and take the highest result. If some of the creatures deal a different amount of damage roll the damage with the highest potential for each creature involved in the attack and take the highest result.
p.165
So yeah, roll 2d10 for each one and take the highest result showing. Perhaps making an attack / hard move other than dealing damage would be more of a fan of this particular character? Ouch.
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Yeah probably. 2d10 for each minion is just sick.
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Yeah probably. 2d10 for each minion is just sick.
Well it's not really 2d10 for each minion, 'cause you only use the highest roll.
(I love that rule because you can totally mob a PC, and know that they can handle it)
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It's not about balance, it's... 16d10 in a single roll!
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It's not about balance, it's... 16d10 in a single roll!
Sounds like Exalted World to me :D
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It's not about balance, it's... 16d10 in a single roll!
Ooooh gotcha, hahaha. Yeah, I would roll 4 or 5 dice Max, there. Otherwise you can safely assume there will be on 10 in there, so just call it ten damage and keep the game moving, haha
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The Defend move, p.54, has as one option the ability to deal damage equal to your level. A high-level PC whose class damage is usually 1d4 or 1d6 would thereby deal considerably more damage than an average Hack and Slash or Volley. This strikes me as an odd result, but YMMV.
The Aid or Interfere move, p.62, is rolled with "+bond." Is this defined? I take it as meaning that you roll with a modifier equal to the number of bonds you have currently with this person, plus the number of bonds you have resolved with this person. Which provides another incentive to resolve bonds, although over time might make the modifier very high.
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Bond is how well your character knows another character. You use Bond to aid another character or interfere with their actions. Bond is about knowledge and not about how well you get along or how similar you are. Bond may also be asymmetrical: the Fighter might know the Wizard very well, but the Wizard doesn't pay much attention to the Fighter. Your Bond with someone starts based on your history with them. Each class has starting bonds with blanks to fill in names. When you roll+Bond, count the number of Bonds you have with that person and add that to the roll.
p.13
I have always played this as current bonds (not resolved ones). This reflects how well you know the person now, as opposed to who they used to be.
With Defend, you have it right, but hey, they are high level characters, and you have to be fictionally defending something. To do it, you have to do it yeah? The move doesn't specify how you deal that damage. It isn't hack and slash, so it could be any appropriate fictional cause the player comes up with.
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There's no such thing as "resolved bonds" because once they're resolved, you cross them off. they're gone forever!
+bond = +1 for each time they appear on your bond list.