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Messages - coyotebsensible

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1
Monsterhearts / Re: When you clobber someone from behind... [custom move]
« on: February 26, 2013, 06:25:28 PM »
Despite the fact that writing up custom moves is wicked fun, thanks to feedback here and on Story Games, I've come around the other side on this.

When I was writing the monster section for Hobomancer, I got into a debate with one of my co-writers regarding trolls turning to stone in the sunlight. He thought it should be a round-by-round process to avoid an instant kill. I argued (and won) that if the heroes can manage to trick the troll into the sun, then they deserve the instant victory. The drama comes from setting up the monster for failure.

It's the same situation here. The drama and challenge comes from setting up a opponent so that they are in a vulnerable position where they can bonk them in the hid or shiv them in the ribs. If the PC can orchestrate another character (an NPC at least) into such a vulnerable position, using a variety of available moves and strings, then they deserve the "instant kill."

For PCs, I can just use strings, like I originally did. "I'll give you an XP if you let me clobber you unconscious." My initial problem was trying to figure out how to use "emotional leverage" to explain this, but now I realize it's a matter of knowing what it would take to get this other guy to let his guard down.

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Dungeon World / Re: Artillerist Class (first draft)
« on: February 25, 2013, 05:25:11 PM »
Thanks for the input, gang. I've made some changes to the class based on the feedback here and the DW Tavern on Google+

*I changed the Gnome racial.

*Class damage is now 1d6. The "Gunslinger" starting move lets him do 1d10 with his gun.

*"Gunslinger" and "Dedicated Gunslinger" have become "Deadeye" and "One Shot One Kill." These boost Volley damage (including bows and stuff) and doesn't mess with Hack and Slash damage.

*I reworked "Da' Bomb" and "Big Badda Boom" a bit, reducing their damage slightly from (b[2d10] and 2[bd10]+6 ignores armor) to (1d10 and b[2d10] ignores armor). I could be convinced to switch it back.

I also put this in with Da'Bomb:
If you roll a 7-9 on a volley with a bomb, choosing the “You have to take several shots...” option indicates that one of your bombs was a useless dud.

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Dungeon World / Re: Artillerist Class (first draft)
« on: February 25, 2013, 02:12:39 AM »
Those are all good ideas. I'm sure there a couple places besides AP Rounds and Da' Bomb that need the syntax cleaned up a bit.

The Gunslinger moves were a couple that I was concerned about. I think I like your solution. That way the Artillerist just gets better without making anything worse. Just saying "You do 1d10 with the gun" hadn't occurred to me.

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Dungeon World / Artillerist Class (first draft)
« on: February 24, 2013, 05:18:58 PM »
I love me some fantasy firearms. The Artillerist is a mixture of the Hunter/Engineer from WoW, fantasy alchemist, and any given Clint Eastwood Character.

I'm not 100% solid on some of the advanced moves.  Any feedback is appreciated!

Artillerist on Google Docs

Artillerist on my blog

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Monsterhearts / Re: When you clobber someone from behind... [custom move]
« on: February 24, 2013, 04:34:09 PM »
The "knocked out cold" condition didn't occur to me. To be honest, that sounds awfully powerful for a simple condition. It seems like that's just a step away from the condition "dead."

My main goal with the custom move was to reward the victim for putting themselves in extreme danger. Getting knocked unconscious by another character (at least in my game) seems dangerous. It's a good set-up for stone-cold murder.

I wanted to give the victim the option--their choice--on whether or not their character falls unconscious. And if they still decide to put their character in that kind of danger, I figured an XP reward was warranted.

This could certainly be accomplished with strings, but it just didn't "feel right" when we did it at the table.

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Monsterhearts / The Sexy Teenage Monster Show [Campaign Overview, AP]
« on: February 24, 2013, 12:27:49 AM »
Not so much an actual play as much as an overview of our game so far.





We've been playing Monsterhearts for several sessions, and it's been a blast. Our love of supernatural drama mixed with our general dislike of teenagers has let us orchestrate a glorious mess of sex, murder, betrayal, and chaos. We envision the game as a screwed up TV show and informally call the game The Sexy Teenage Monster Show.

Our next session will be our season finale. We plan on continuing for at least one more season. We're also going to do a spin-off series set in college. One of my players is going to run that, so I can get a chance to be a player.

So here's how the Sexy Teenage Monster Show sits right now.

Shermer Heights, WV
The Sexy Teenage Monster Show is set in a small West Virginia coal-mining town named Shermer Heights. The hills to the north are riddled with mines, some in use, some long abandoned. Shadowy monsters lurk in the darkness of the deepest mine. To the south lies thick, mostly unspoiled forest and Adalwulf Lake. Train tracks run through the town, dividing it into good (east) and bad (west) sides. The local teens enjoying hanging out at the nice new mall, the crappy old strip mall, the skate park, or Platinum, the way-cool teen club. The Shermer Heights High School team is the Dire Wolves (“A winner is coming!”)

Caleb, the Werewolf
Caleb's family has been in Shermer heights for generations. One of the founding families, they own most of the land in town and almost half the town pays rent to them. Their long residence and interest in the area has granted his family a powerful spiritual connection to the land. Werewolfism is a genetic gift, running along paternal lines. His parents are both werewolves, withhis mother belonign to a different bloodline.
While in control of himself, Caleb can take the form of a normalish wolf or a balanced hybrid wolf-man form. But when he becomes his darker self, the wolf takes over and he becomes a munderous horse-sized beast of fangs and claws.

Caleb has been working to build his spiritual powers. He can partially enter the spirit plane and walk through walls, and can curse people with hexes.

Caleb is in love with Lacuna, and has finally started a relationship with her. He has teamed up with Gabriel on past monster-hunting missions.

Lillith, the Fae
Lillith's mother was a low-caste fae who begat a her to a noble sidhe. Exiled, Lillith's mother took Lilly to the mortal realm and started a life for them both in Shermer Heights. Lillith's mother runs the Wolf Whistle strip club. The club also functions as a kind of way-house for traveling and exiled fae. Lillith and her mother make their home in an old, overgrown gothic mansion deep in the woods. Lillith's mother hosts all manner of weird guests.

Lillith recently discovered that her father wasn't merely a fae noble, but was in fact, the Faery King himself! Lillith is obsessed with Caleb, and used her father's faery magic to disguise herself as Lacuna to seduce him.
Lillith has proven herself to be petty, spitful, and dangerously impulsive, more than willing to sleep and murder her way into control. She currently has several classmates bound to her by promises. He favorite is “promise you will always protect me.”

Gabriel, the Chosen
Gabriel's family has recently advanced into a higher income bracket and moved to the good east-side of town. They are respectable hard-working people. Gaberiel has been marked by god for a higher purpose, and his secret monster-hunting exploits are starting to bring unwanted scandal upon his family. Gabriel has recently discovered that he can come back from the dead, his wounds healed over with glowing angelic script. This caused no small amount of confusion when he was dead body was found in the middle of his school and taken to the morgue.

Gabriel is good friends with Caleb but has a massive and tragic crush on Lillith. He sees Lacuna as his foreign-born sister.

Lacuna, the (former) Angel
Lacuniel was left behind. After the Creation, god left her trapped underneath a mountain for thousands of years. He never told her why. She could hear the mortals above her, but could never see or interact with them. Recently, humans dug too deep into the mountain and freed the angel in a flash of light. Her essence settled into the body of a recently-arrived Spanish exchange student. She doesn't know what happened to the poor mortal's soul.

Lacuna lives with Gabriel's family. She can see God's imprint on Gabriel, and is obsessed with finding out what it means. Since she is unfamiliar with human emotions and interactions, Lacuna comes across as having massive Asperger's Disease. She keeps notebooks about everyone she knows in Shermer Heights.
Lacuna recently discovered that her imprisonment under the mountain actually served some purpose. Her presence kept the strange shadow monsters there trapped safely under the earth.

In the penultimate session, Lacuna apparently trespassed against God one too many times. In a stroke of lightning, her angelic nature was revoked, and she became Hollow.

The Fectori
The strange shadowy creatures from deep within the mines are responsible for a number of murders plaguing the town. They are mostly shadow, but have been gaining more and more physical substance with each kill. They fear Lacuna the Angle, but are fascinated with Gabriel. They desperately want Gabriel to become their new leader, their “Chief-Priest” as they call him. They have offered him all manner of gruesome aid and gift.

Dwimmerlaik, the Faery King
Lord and master of the alien Fae and Lillith's Father. He helped his daughter seduce Caleb by gifting her with Medea's Veil, allowing her to assume Lacuna's appearance. Dwimmerlaik has some unknown plans for Caleb and wants Gabriel “removed” so he cannot interfere with his machinations. He was unaware that Lacuna was an angel until Lillith told him.

Previously on The Sexy Teenage Monster Show...
At the end of our penultimate episode, Lillith, Lacuna, and Caleb were naked and bloody in the forest, Lillith had turned on her father, Lacuna had been smote down to mortal, a police detective had been murdered and his body taken somewhere, and Gabriel was in bed with his kinda'-sorta-not-really girlfriend.

Man, I love this game.

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Monsterhearts / When you clobber someone from behind... [custom move]
« on: February 20, 2013, 07:35:08 PM »
So this came up two or three times in my last Monsterhearts session. The PCs wanted to clock someone in the back of the head and knock them out without having to bring them down to 4 Harm and probably kill them. (I know that just "safely knocking someone out" in real life doesn't happen, but... )

Once it was a PC wanting to KO an NPC, but before we could really figure out how to resolve it, the Fae just went and killed the NPC with broken promises. (The fact that I can write the phrase "kill with broken promises" is one of the reasons I love this game).

Another time it was between a PC and another PC, and after some dithering, the one PC just spent a string to bribe the other PC into letting her knock her out for an XP. This worked okay but didn't really feel satisfactory.

So, I thought on things for a bit. Two or three times in one session indicated a possible pattern of behavior, and yells "custom move time" to me.

When you clobber someone from behind, and they aren't expecting it, roll +cold.

10+ They chose one:
*They gain the "Concussed" condition.
*They are unconscious and mark XP. The MC will tell them when they awake.

7-9 You choose one:
*They take 1 Harm.
*They take -1 Forward.

On a miss, you have left your self wide open and vulnerable.


I haven't had a chance to use the new move yet. I'll hopefully present it to my players this weekend.

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Dungeon World / Re: Adventurer's Gear and other Abstractions
« on: February 17, 2013, 01:00:12 AM »
It depends on the character, and I'd go back to the old "ask questions" routine.
I can totally believe the Thief would have an extra vial of poison, but he'd have to tell me about the misadventure he had in his past that thought him to stash an extra bottle of black lotus in his shoe.

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Dungeon World / Re: Ranger Called Shot example in Dungeon World Guide
« on: February 13, 2013, 05:41:13 PM »
Keep in mind too that the fighter got the ersatz benefit of a Called SHot because he rolled a whopping 9 damage. If he only hit for 2 points, he probably wouldn't have saved the wizard.

On the other hand, a Ranger making a "real" Called Shot would have made the automaton drop his friend, even if he had only hit for 1hp.


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Dungeon World / Re: Adventurer's Gear and other Abstractions
« on: February 13, 2013, 05:39:10 PM »
The way I play it is that each "use" of Adventuring gear isn't a strict "use." It's a blank spot in your inventory that you can fill in and define as you need it.

So, your character needs a rope? Cool, mark off one "use" and now you have a rope for the rest of the adventure (unless the rope worms eat it) and four more blank slots to fill. A couple hours later when you've defined your Adventuring Gear as rope, chalk, mirror, lantern, and towel, and you really need an iron spike, then you're out of luck.





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Dungeon World / Re: Post your Monsters
« on: February 13, 2013, 06:32:56 AM »
I created these guys to occupy a map I made.

Sludge Dwarves
Cautious, Intelligent, Organized
Sludge Thrower: (1d8 damage) close, near
6 HP
3 Armor

The Sludge Dwarves plumb the poisonous depths of the Deep Down Bellow, mining, collecting, and refining the most noxious and dangerous of alchemical substances under the earth. They sell these chemicals to the various factions of the Deep Down Bellow as well as evil wizards and alchemists on the surface world.

Sludge Dwarves are thinner and more wiry than other dwarves, with greasy green-black beards and hair. Their gray skin is mottled with scaly patches and unhealthy purple lumps. Their clothing and gear are perpetually covered in gritty brown slime. The sludge thrower is disgusting hand-held weapon connected by a hose to a tank full of caustic slime worn on the user's back.

Instinct: To spread foulness

  • Cause debilitating infection.
  • Resist poisons completely.
  • Present an organized front.

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Dungeon World / Re: Ranger Called Shot example in Dungeon World Guide
« on: February 13, 2013, 04:22:23 AM »
I'm inclined to think it went this way...

The fighter hit the automaton in the arm for a whopping 9 points of damage. That's pretty significant. As an added effect to such a forceful blow, the GM had the automaton drop the mage. However, if the fighter had only done 2 points of damage, the mage would still be trapped.

So it's not that the fighter made a free Called Shot. Freeing the mage was a happy accident in the fiction that rolled out of the mechanics that rolled out of the fiction.

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Dungeon World / Re: Post your Monsters
« on: February 09, 2013, 10:38:09 PM »
Another one that came from my blog...

The Skull Witch
Intelligent, Magical, Solitary
Evil Eye: (1d10 damage, ignores armor) close, near, far
16 HP
4 Armor

The Skull Witch (her true name is lost to history) was a foul sorceress in Times of Old. Upon her death she was rejected from Death's kingdom for being too unpleasant. She eventaully became mentor and lover to Radmanthus the Crimson Necromancer. When the necromancer was destroyed in his failed attampt at lichdom, the Skull Witch was heart-broken. Now she resides Radmanthus's former sanctum, lamenting her lost love and lashing out at interlopers.

The skull witch is always attended by her collection of flying skulls.

Instinct:  To bring misery.
  • Bind nether-spirits to her will.
  • Curse with a word.
  • Tear your skull right out of your head!


Flying Skulls
Horde, Tiny
Gnasty Gnawing Teeth: (1d6 damage) hand, messy
7 HP
0 Armor
Special Qualities: Flying

After the Skull Witch removes the skull of a victim, she binds into it a foul spirit from the Darkest Nether. The skull gains an evil cunning and vicious temperament  Flying skulls will swarm the Witch's enemies, biting, gnawing, and tearing at them with sharp, hungry teeth. 

Instinct:  To protect the Skull Witch.

  • Gibber horrendous blasphemies.
  • Dart through the air at dizzying speeds.
  • Gnaw your face off!

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Dungeon World / Re: Post your Monsters
« on: February 01, 2013, 05:57:47 PM »
I'm an unabashed fan of flumphs, especially the monastic flumph from AD&D 2nd Ed.
I just posted this guy on my blog.

Flumph
Group, Small, Organized, Intelligent
Acid-Laced Spikes: (w[2d8] damage, +3 piercing) ; Hand, Close
8 HP
1 Armor
Special Qualities: Floating

While the strange flumphs originated on a bizarre and distant world, they have since made a home for themselves on Dungeon World. These quiet, peaceful creatures resemble floating jellyfish with rubbery yellow-green hide, dexterous tentacles, and inquisitive eye stalks. They speak the language of men and elves in airy, sing-song whispers.

Flumphs have a contemplative, monastic lifestyle. Small groups will congregate in remote grottos or alien spires to contemplate their weird alien gods. If assaulted, flumphs will try to blind or repel attackers with a steam of strong, noxious ichor. If pressed, they will call upon the magic of their gods for defense. Only as a last resort will they attack with the needle-sharp, acid-laced spikes hidden within their tentacles.

Instinct: To contemplate the wisdom of the High Ones

  • Disable with noxious chemicals.
  • Float in absolute silence.
  • Call upon the blessings of the High Ones.

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Monsterhearts / Re: How long are your seasons?
« on: January 25, 2013, 06:15:13 PM »
We used the singleton rule (honest!)

But with every new scene, if there was a seducible person in the scene with him (usually another PC) he'd bring on the charm.

Not really a complaint, mind you. His character's kind of a slick dude, and it's been a great way to get strings. It's just been a big XP mill, too.

Having Cold highlighted in the same session didn't hurt him either. If he wasn't turning someone on, he was in their face shutting them down.

We've had another session between now and then, and the XP wasn't quite as fertile this time--a combination of  highlighting less-used traits and a slower pace. I think the session that prompted this thread may have just been an "on" session for some of the players. It looks like we're going to be able to get at least 5 sessions out of the season.

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