Well I've endeavored to make it a nonissue for Rudiger the Fighter. We started play tonight and I chose a Human Fighter with an Axe for signature. Chose range Close, and then versatile for Reach. Human has me covered on Hand. I should be good until someone starts flinging arrows! ;)

Alright, just finished our first play of DW and much fun was had by all! Here's the quick and dirty on what happened in game. We were hitting the Bloodstone Idol and my buddy, first time GMing (actually I was reminded that its his second, ran Og a while back), did a pretty sweet job.

Rudigar the Fighter, Pox the Thief and Siggrun the (Evil) Cleric are hunkered down outside the main entrance, scoping the place out. Two goblin lookouts appear to be the only obstacle but a Discern Realities later shows that there's some oil in the road, a potential trap. Not wasting much time Pox attempts to slip up on the sentries but fails and gets spotted by another lookout above who calls the alarm. Pox fires an arrow and drops one goblin while Rudigar and Siggrun charge to the doors. We notice the other goblin become terrified as 5 lizardmen coming swarming around an outcrop towards us and we all pile through the front door and slam it shut behind us, but not before Pox drops another goblin with his bow.

We're greeted by an insanely loud image being "projected" maybe out of a mosaic on the floor, greeting us all by name and essentially notifying everyone of our presence. After hearing some battle from one of the corridors we choose the other but not before we realize that our weapons are growing warmer. In hopes that it has something to do with the magics in the room, we move quickly into the corridor which solves the problem. With Pox keeping an eye out for traps we proceed down the corridor until we get to a door. A quick listen and lock pick later, we're in a room full of shelves...and spirits. Well, two of them. They're mumbling some stuff about "sunlight" and "kill the goblins".

Rudigar offers up that we're already working on the goblins, which really catches one of the spirits interest and he approaches to essentially beseech us to continue to wipe out the goblins. We promise to do just that and Rudigar even escorts the other spirit to the front door (more loud greetings) and sets the spirit free. Siggrun, back in the room, also gets the name of the other spirit's wife and a request to visit her and let her know that her husband has moved on to a better place. Meanwhile, Pox has searched the room over and turned up a nifty magical rope that appears to do his bidding. He's quite pleased.

Heading down the corridor Pox finally flubs a trap roll and we all fall for the old stairs-into-slide trick and get dumped in the mud in a strange room full of glowing veins of some kind of ore and big damn fireflies. Siggrun and Rudiger are happy enough to ease out of the room, leaving well enough alone but some failed Defy Dangers had us in a heap again with fireflies swarming down at us. Pox used his new rope and a Discern Realities to escape back up the slide while Rudiger and Siggrun dashed out of the room and made in a stand in the more narrow corridor beyond. Only 4 fireflies followed and it was a tough battle with both taking some heavy damage but surviving, while Pox hung back and waited for things to settle down. Some cure lights wounds and a quick breather and we're all plowing ahead again.

Next room is a weird looking parade of mystical creatures, blocking us from getting to the far side but a Discern Realities tells us that only the Goblins are real and that the others are probably illusions. Pox takes out the Goblins with his bow and a bunch of light hit Defy Dangers has us simultaneously stranded in the midst of the parade as Pox activates two of the "illusions" against us. Rudiger manages to take them out but not before being mind clamped by some weird force that keeps telling him to attack his friends. As his friends attempt to lasso him out of the parade with the magic rope, he is triggered to attack them but makes a saving throw and snaps out of it. We eventually safely cross the room.

Next room appears to be a small arena of some sort with obsidian statues. A failed inspection of the room sets off more loud "magic mouths" greeting us and essentially mocking our attempts to determine their purpose. Pox detects no traps around the back side of the seating areas and we all quickly leave this room behind us.

We enter the next room, and find an illusion of a man sitting at a desk writing frantically in a book. Rudiger doesn't trust the room at all, too many books, and is just telling the others this as they hear footsteps approaching from the opposite passage. Siggrun and Rudiger take cover against the wall next to the corridor while Pox ducks behind the desk. To our surprise, a man that looks just like the illusion strolls in and introduces himself as Grunloch. He offers us a partnership and requests our assistance in harnessing the Bloodstone Idol. We're pondering this offer when he proceeds to tell us that the alternative is dying here before him. This made the decision easy for Rudiger who answer with a shield bash to Grunloch's face, "No deal."

The battle is quick and furious with Rudiger and Siggrun bashing the wizard pretty good but Pox was really the hero, launching poisoned arrows from behind the desk. Grunloch got off one spell, sending Siggrun scurrying to the corner in fear but it was short lasting as Grunloch became a pincushion and a chopping block. We ended here.

Yeah, I don't know specifically about reach tags for creatures, not having looked at their listings. So that's interesting.

And I figured, if you utilize the range tags when they come up in game, it probably happens a lot. I figure there's probably tons of sword vs. dagger fights going down in DW, right? I was just wondering how often folks actually fictionally (which leads to mechanics, either you can attack or you can't) address it.

So basically it should be treated just like another obstacle or threat, to be utilized by the GM to make the characters lives exciting. Would you feel comfortable suggesting that, when different reached weapons are in play, that the GM utilize positioning as a soft move to set up that obstacle?

Weapon Lengths feel a little strange to me in Basic. Combat strives to be very loose and abstract but for some reason Weapon Lengths feels like it wants to get crunchier. Does this come up in your abstract fiction very much in play? I really don't have a good idea on how to use them. I certainly don't know enough about medieval combat to presume to know when certain weapons are unusable in combat.

So is it just a fiction thing and occassionally crops up? If it weren't for having a racial ability (Human Fighter) tied to it I probably wouldn't even think about it much. But tied to a racial bonus like that it gives the impression its maybe more important that I'm imagining. Thoughts?

Hey Sage, great example. Could that also be considered a Parley? Obviously the chain has an inherent meaning to the Ogre, possibly his training has taught him that defying the chain means pain. Seems there is some kind of leverage there and the character is using it.

Could go either way?

Definitely, thanks Noofy. I'm actually crossing the threshhold of information exposure now to where things are starting to click more. I was really hoping to be able to provide more feedback to Adam and Sage on how it all reads to someone completely from the outside with no AW world exposure. But I've already spent enough time discussing on here and asking questions and peaking at Beta updates that the fog is clearing a bit. But the down side is now I'm exposed so I can't give virgin feedback now! Blast!

But to your specific topic, yeah, I can see the GM's moves in within all the possibilities now. I still think it would have helped me to actually read the Bloodstone Idol, seeing the various dangers and the moves associated with them. Just seeing the breadth of narrative choices would have made it easier to grasp I think instead of just thinking about it in the abstract.

One of the moves that I really really like, in theory mind you, is tell them the consequences and ask. Its pretty much a "Yes, but...", reminding GMs to let the players go for stuff...even if there's no move there, don't shut it down but build on it. I think its the perfect answer to the scene in the example of the character beseeching the king without leverage. No chance at parley. But a perfect opportunity to let them charry the fiction and complicate the hell out of stuff at the same time. All of the moves are subtle reminders, well not even reminders so much as just requirements, that say do this thing and make it important.

I like that.

Same here probably. You go ahead and take first watch though in case I punk out and fall asleep anyway.

Got ya. Thanks iserith.