Thank you for an excellent post, Noclue, I'll be sure to include your advice further.

At least Munins excellent and comprehensive advice let me have two sessions in which the fighting worked better.

So yes, I played two sessions before I replied, but the fighting in the first were very short, and we've had difficulties in finding gaming time.


They dealt with among other things a "werewolf blessing/curse" that the Paladin sort of say "took over the mantle" from the Wizard by ways of a ritual that included an acolyte from a temple to Lunetica, the first sign of "The Ærea of the Necromancer", and they ruined one of Eigirs hidden libraries.


















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The fight - was the GM dogpiled?

Zorica - God of Bloody Conquest - only main God! (all others are killed, but she didn't catch all skulls, which she keeps ever-burning in the conquested library of Eigir)

Eigir - god of knowledge and secrets

Zolara - The Daughter of Zorica (simply the Sun)

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The Adventurers (A Paladin of Zorica, a Cleric of Zorica and a Wizard, actually newly converted to Zorica) walk together with a NPC Question knight of Eiger in the mountains, when they come over some waves of green creatures (totalling aprox.300) attacking some 20-30 grey, steel-clad heavy, but short, bearded warriors circling a wagon.

The Paladin asks "what here is evil" and the greenskins and something in a large cauldron on the wagon screams/glows evil!

The Paladin, who has become more "good" than "lawful" scream "For Zolara!" and charges (from 200 meters), The Cleric really isn't happy, but an internal monologue by The Paladin surmises that Zolara is still essensially part of Zorica and the best god for Paladins, and his newly aquired Blade of Zolara lights up!   ...  and this spurs me making a move were Zolara talks directly to him in her radiance! And he can write a bond to Zolara... which has the penalty to use the sword at only -1.   *GM grins*

So, the two knights charges while the Wizard starts to shoot fireballs, but then has to move forward since I enforce the limitations of spells (in this case range). The Cleric Discerns realities and will during the battle move a little forward, taking out positions closer to the Paladin. She get's to know that the [goblins] have trickeries up their (proverbial) sleeves and that they behave really crazy (for a reason)!  Note that two are islanders and the third is from Coldstern, a city of towers with wizard-astrologers who really don't take any part of life, so they have never seen goblins* or the [undermountains-Dwellers]*, though they have seen the workmanship of the latter.

* goblin and dwarf analogies, but both are special - and the goblins are yet to be revealed



The Paladin fights with the goblins, and his +4 armour makes him nearly invincible, since I'm using the old rules for multiple monsters, but they try and wrestle him to the ground and he also defies danger when trying to help the [dwellers]

The Wizard pumps fireballs until he loses the memory of it, and when goblins suddenly break away from him he smiles and utterly fails his magic missile-spell. The Goblins smile wickedly and in the setting the tactic of attacking the wizard is settled. The goblins move threateninly forward, knowing they have the The Wizard, but he disappears (invisibility) and then they move as calls of celebration sounds.

It went much better, by mainly focusing on breaking the pace by reiterating statements, asking everyone what they do and then moving slowly, adding both colour and moves in between. I'm not sure I can do this all the time, but I will work on doing it. It really helps ground me to the action when someone Discern realities!

So, this is actually becoming a problem in the Dungeon World™ campaign I'm a GM/MC/DL for.

Yeah, I should make moves when the players look to me or they fail, but what I'm experiencing is that the players are thrilled (and a little apprehensive about the dangers it brings) so they will just start making moves like 3 at a time, often making the monster dead/defeated before it has done anything og significance.

Now, I love that the players are enthused, and in the one fight I remembered to be assertive and always demand descriptions of their climbing (instead of their spell-casting) on player admitted to beeing so excited he had difficulties remembering the fight properly. However, last time they kind of complained that the skeleton was kind of though.

Yeah, it probably was, for a skeleton - but not for a mummy! (They had set it up themselves, in the conversation.) However, the three players, even the one not in the scene dogpiled on it/(the fictuion)/(me) and trashed it before it did ANYTHING COOL (except relinquish an artefact sword). I mean, even if the magician was on another level due to the guardian wanting him, he intuitively reached out with a ring filled with a necromanticer's blood and made it crumple in a corner. Now, I know enough of my movie history to make the mummy follow them, stalking in the night, cursing their compatriots, but I'm wandering...


... how do people cope with players (beeing thrilled/enthused) dogpiling the Dungeon Lord™, making they be able to paint a story-background sheet and presenting cool and dangerous monsters? I mean, even if I'm a fan, they should experience adversary except by the dice?


(I've put it in the Dungeon World sub-forum, because I find that at least in ApW and MH the player characters aren't always in exact alignement for the (story) goals.)

After seeing The Postman (1998?) with Costner tonight, realized I'd see [playbook] turn into The Hocus. Maybe The Skinner, or The Gunlugger, or maybe The Magnificent Driver - they all could be the harbringers of hope, even if built on a lie?


I don't think one should plan for this, though: Play to find out.

In a campaign I MC'ed, the player of our Hocus talked about maybe going the Hardholder-route, but as play progressed she became disenfranchised with her Cult and even once left them (but came back, though). We played with the MH rule of "pick advance or don't gain XP" and the player deliberately  didn't gain XP because it was a difficult situation, but in the firefight, when she tumbled behind a car while her friends The Battlebabe and The Driver wasted a lot of bad folks (mostly cult-members) I asked her what she tought about the people around her as she rose as The Angel. "These scattered sheep?" she said with a fatigued sneer. "I have nothing but disdain for them."

Just remember that the player does not choose a move - then act. They act, then you choose [the most appropriate] move according to what you think. Play it out in the fiction, feel it out - makes everything more dynamic.

Also, and I'm saying this because my last campaign had both Hard+2 and Hard++3 characters; Seize by force really is a move that can't win you battles alone, even if you have two armour and can regulary choose to suffer less harm. If someone are acting as Robocop, by all means be a fan of the character, but remember that sometimes walking straight up and acting hard is really handing you an oppourtunity on a platter. Even a Hard+3 gunlugger will struggle alone using only Seize by force. Even if she can negate all the harm to the clock, even a 7-9 choice from the Harm-roll will present danger, and present cool oppourtunities (in/for play).

Also, always be fair and use the rules. If there's a small gang shooting at your lone Hocus, it's not like you as MC are to blame. Death, and the personal avoidance of it, is very much in control of the players. They can take Debilities and even at 12:00 they can cheat death (my players did it with a spirit walk were a much younger version of the deceased came back).

A battle is very much still a conversation! Remember that. Someone says something, maybe it (often it) results in a move - someone else says something, maybe another move, and then another move follows, etc... remember this and the players won't just take what they need with crafted moves.

Thanks Irminsul, that's a good catch - and also why writing hypothetical examples (on the go) issilly. (I always seem to write bad custom-moves as it is.) The gist of it is as Scrape is pointing out: "Why, what if and what if not - and who will react how"

I continue to stand by that the player's agenda is to figure out the "how", while the MC figures out the "what" (often inspired by the table's fictional space. "Oh, I really hope it holds a map to his underground bunker!").

Thanks for a great post!

My comment is that where's there's crosshairs looking at everyone, a certain immidiacy should permeate the economy. Especially one were induviduality is so profound.


I mean: Litts could be killed by an algea-infection within weeks, and anyone could be shot. Even the Hardholder might have a better position for survival for weeks/months, but stuff happens and it's not certain she can pay if the dangers are affecting her hardhold.

A certain immidiacy is good for play as well. I do love those moves, especially the Operator one.

So I play Burning Wheel, where you only got one test for sword (the best one) even if there's a long, drawn out fight (you can get tests for other skills/abilities). I believe Monsterhearts have a "one XP per scene", but I don't have my powered-by-ApW or even ApW for this (long)weekend and we're gaming monday.

Do I get an XP every time I roll a highlighted stat, even if it's just the same one?


Example:

Doberman, my gunlugger, assaults a factory with some bad guys to rescue a his pet dog or whatever. First Doberman captures the entry with a grenade, a couple of rounds and a Seize by force-move. Then he stealthily takes up a new position up high with an act under fire-move. There he's spotted, and as some bullet whistles past he opens his brain with the battle-hardened-move and learns that there's heated water in the pipes. Then Doberman begins the assault of the main part of the dog-nappers' gang with shooting up the steam pipes and rolls seize by force. While the last few stand amidst gusting bodies and shot up steam-pipes and threathens his dog, doberman shouts out threaths that involves both his guns and the slow removal of limbs and organs. The Go Aggro-move is successful, so he's the hero and makes his own day.

The question:

Assuming his Hard is highlighted, do he get 4 XP (or just one? ... or even 3?)