@ countercheck

I think of a Spout Lore interaction something along the lines of (1) the player wants to know something and wants to check if the character does, (2) make the roll, (3) GM generates some interesting or useful information on a hit.

That third step might be something the GM hasn't ever thought about or doesn't understand how it's relevant now. So the GM then turns it back to the player or players asking them to fill in the details, adding or modifying it as necessary to make it fit the established details of the world as needed.

To that end, I think it's possible to do what you're suggesting. I'd just rather do it in the order above rather than the way you mention. The players get that narrative control and shape the information into something that makes the scene cooler or gives them an advantage just the same.

I was in the same boat until recently - the people with whom I was playing not "getting" the game on one level or another and either not enjoying it or trying to force it to be more like other games with which they were more familiar.

I stopped running games for them and stopped playing in theirs. I got choosy about who I was going to play DW with and it made all the difference in the world. For my part, I was able to turn groups around the country on to DW and we're having a blast doing pickup games online whenever the mood strikes.

Except where negativity for negativity's sake was the issue, I don't blame my previous GMs and players. They just prefer a different style of game, and that's cool.

Couple of things:

Stealth: This is usually a Defy Danger with Dexterity if there is actually a danger.

Armor: I agree, there should be some difference between leather and chain, but it hasn't really mattered in games I've run or played in. Armor is like damage reduction in DW rather than "Armor Class." It works.

Druid: Available to you if you back the Kickstarter.

Low Rolls: Anything that's a 6 or less that isn't already specified is a Golden Opportunity and a good chance for the GM to throw in interesting complications.

It's pretty hard to decouple the mechanics and fiction in this game, at least, in practice. It's a pretty boring choice to defend most of the time, much less have 3, 4, or 5 people defending all at once. It's also based on Con which is not the best stat for every character, most likely. So yeah, go ahead everyone - Defend! *waits for someone to roll a 6-*

It's a rare group that can go completely freeform in my experience. And I know my spatial orientation is terrible, so having to come up with a coherent dungeon on the fly would likely be a disaster.

I think it's perfectly okay to draw up and prepare a location as long as you're keeping an eye on the Agenda & Principles. I'd add that less is more. A couple scant notes here and there, some impressions, maybe a couple of custom moves, and plenty of blanks is enough to keep it from being a railroad. The less you prep, the less motivated you'll feel to force those elements into the game.

Now, if you're talking about "I've created a dungeon and that's what you're doing tonight," well, that's a little different. I'd really want my players' buy-in on that, either by way of world-building or stuff they said they wanted to do as it came up in the fiction during a previous session.

I looked at all the Devious monsters and some do have the *w notation and some don't. So it looks like a change in design that hasn't been fully implemented across the board. I couldn't find any other elements that may have explained the difference.

I mean, that's my isolated experience and what works for me. I can't speak to whether it should go into the book, but I thank you for the kind words. One thing I forgot to add is that the one that comes up the least is Ugly Choice. When it does, it's obvious and you'll see it clearly. Worse Outcome and Hard Bargain tend to be the most common results.

Thanks for the AP, good read.

I have noticed that XP "slows down" around 3rd-level. So it's cool for getting some forward momentum in the beginning to keep things moving and make the players excited. As mentioned, it's an easy hack. XP-on-miss is probably one of the greatest things I've ever seen in a game. Every player I've run through the game loves it. The End of Session move is also so, so important. I definitely make time for it. The only thing I'm doing now is making the 3 questions at the end open-ended rather than yes/no. You get better answers that way. This conversation at the end of the game will really tell you what they found interesting and memorable about the game. That's gold for future sessions.

For what it's worth, this is the general go-to list I use for Defy Danger weak hits:

Worse Outcome: You're out of the danger, but now in a new one.
Hard Bargain: You're out of the danger, but it costs you something, right now.
Ugly Choice: You're out of the danger, but now you have to make a choice with no particularly good options.

The key thing is that they do what they set out to do, but... Also, I've noticed that if the danger itself is not well defined and the fiction going on at the moment not detailed and engaging, weak hit results on DD will be harder to arrive at. In pinch like this, I'll turn it back on the players. Someone will have a good idea if I don't.

Discern Realities and Spout Lore. I tend to look at these as fiction generation engines more than anything else (even more so than other moves). As I don't have a plot, they create new stuff rather than reveal something I planned beforehand. If it takes me more than a couple seconds to think of something, back to the players it goes, as appropriate. Like DD, if the fiction preceding the move isn't strong, it will be hard to come up with something on the spot. Another good reason to make sure the story is detailed and explored as you go. Could you give an example where Grimdrig thought SL and DR slowed things down? Sounds like an isolated case to me.