As the player of the thief PC, Dirk Bravo, I can say the 2 sessions were lots of fun. When the GM told us that the first session would start with us having stolen a relic, of course I decided to be a thief. Plus it's one of the DW classes that I hadn't played yet. So far Dirk Bravo has stolen a national relic, killed a templar with poison, murdered a pimp by backstab, escaped the arch mage's tower, jumped ship before being beaten to a pulp by dwarf pirates, got re-captured by the arch mage, infiltrated the church's dungeon to rescue his companion the fighter, made some coin and recieved a magic rope as reward, escaped the city with a caravan of gypsies, and now is awaiting the results of a failed carouse roll...whew! All in a days work!

It's true that there were a few opportunities for the GM to go in a different way with the story that "might" have been more interesting, but by sticking to the Fronts and impulses of the NPC's, it allows the GM to see how things work in DW. With more experience, there will be opportunities to try new and different things. Having played DW a few times but never GM'd, I know that it can be tough to make things up on the fly and just "go with the fiction". It is much easier to look to your story and see what to do based on what's been written, but with practice I think it will become easier to "improv" and to move the story towards more interesting fiction. One of the great things about DW is that you really never know what's going to happen!

The way I've been interpreting Defy Danger is as follows:

If there is a danger or threat then the PC can:

a) Ignore it and do what he wants. This is a Golden Opportunity for the GM but the player can make his move. "You see a goblin aiming a bow at you." "I don't care about a goblin, I enter the room, look around and cast Magic Weapon on my sword." GM gets to make a hard move for the PC ignoring his threat but the PC can make his move as well.

b) Avoid it by describing how he deals with the threat or danger. This can be solved by the fiction by the PC just explaining what he does. "You see a goblin aiming his bow at you". "I shut the door." PC dealt with the threat with fiction, no move needed.

c) Act despite the danger because the PC wants to make a specific move without dealing with the threat. "You see a goblin aiming a bow at you". "I rush in and try to tackle him before he gets a shot off". The PC will have to roll a Defy Danger because he is acting despite the threat. Then he may or may not have to make another roll (maybe Hack and Slash) depending on his fiction.

Ignore, avoid, or act despite...those are the three ways I interpret threats and dangers.

I also think that carousing is too expensive. We played last night and my thief and a fighter were rewarded 75 coin each by an archmage for doing a job and in the very next scene we dropped 100 coin just to be able to roll Carouse. The dice came up snake-eyes and we ended the session there so I'm sure there will be some interesting developments, but I don't think the characters should have to pay for basically what amounts to getting a hook for the next session. I could have just role-played with the other player and GM and gotten the "rumor of an opportunity" without having to spend almost everything I have. At low levels, especially if there is not enough seeded coin, then it should not be a static 100 coin to roll Carouse. Maybe it can scale somehow to allow low level characters to be able to throw a party (maybe not as grand) and then at higher levels it costs more because the characters are earning more.

And I dislike the new pricing system. When I first started playing DW, plate mail was 50 coin, then in Beta it went up to 200 coin, and now it it 350 coin. I really think a Paladin should start with plate mail armor. Good thing my original character bought all those suits of plate mail early...he's making a killing selling them back at the higher price!

Anyway, I love DW but...

...I hate griping about wealth and value in RP games...

Huzzah! This is my first post on this forum, so hello to all. I've only recently been introduced to DW, and I have to say...me like! I'm actually playing in Josh Mannon's game Within the Devil's Reach as Elmore the Mage. But I missed the last game so today I will post an actual play report of my buddy Glenn's campaign Secret's and Lies. This campaign follows the exploits of Valdemaar the Vain (my character, a bard) and Red Creek Rufus (Iserith's character, a ranger) and his loyal coon hound, Belvedere.

The campaign revolves around the intrigue and machinations of three factions that vie for control behind the scenes: the Fey, the Fiends, and the Humans, who want nothing to do with either. We started as two penniless vagabonds in a a local watering hole. Valdemaar needed coin so he went onstage to read from a songbook written in a forgotten tongue. I tried to Fascinate the crowd, but rolled rather poorly. It turns out the songbook was in Elven, and those that were allied with the Fey applauded but those that were not threw rotten fruit at me. So while talking with the locals and gathering information about the town, we found out that there was a wizard named Malgore who lived in a green tower just outside town. Rumor had it that he was quite wealthy and didn't spend much time in his tower. So of course we decided it would be a good idea to loot it.

Valdemaar and Rufus were scouting out the tower when we heard some arcane words being spoken and saw a green doorway appear in the tower where before there was none. From it emerged Malgore the wizard, who was leaving his tower on some important mision. He didn't notice us, but Valdemaar managed to remember the arcane password he used to make the dooorway appear. After making a Bardic Lore roll and repeating the mystic word, we entered the tower.

Inside we saw that there was a circular staircase which wound up the inside of the tower. There was also a door on the bottom floor that had Belvedere's undivided attention. Of course, it was the kitchen and the broken down coon hound and his master, Rufus, decided to search it for food. Little did they know Malgore had left behind a few servants...and not the human kind. There was an animated scarecrow in the kitchen washing dishes and minding his own business. But it scared Belvedere and Rufus decided to take a shot at it with his bow. He lit his arrow in the fireplace next to him and sent a Called Shot Volley right to the scarecrow's head. It burst into flames and fell face first into the sink, the flames put out.

Meanwhile, Valdemaar snuck upstairs and found the wizards bedchamber. There was an animated broom the kept sweeping up and some unseen servant kept trying to take my cloak to hang it up and trying to take off my boots. I had to Defy Danger to get past it to make it up to the third floor. Rufus followed me after looting the silverware and pantry, but failed to Defy Danger on the animated broom and had to grab it and break it in half. He kept the shaft of the broom, claiming it to be a mystic cudgel (which he later lost in a crooked dice game).

On the third floor we found an extensive library and a desk surrounded by arcane dust in an intricate pattern. After searching around taking some rare books of the shelf and making Discern Realities and Spout Lore rolls, we realized that we were not alone. There was a little imp on one of the bookshelves observing us. He told us he served Malgore but wanted his freedom from the wizard and gave Valdemaar a bone ring, which he claimed would allow the bard to learn wizard spells(I had told the GM that I wanted to Multiclass as a wizard). The imp said the ring would allow him to find Valdemaar no matter where he was and that he would teach the bard the arcane arts...but at what price?

We then proceeded up to the roof where we found a beautiful garden, a telescope and a large birdcage with a large black raven inside. A failed Discern Realities roll meant that the raven, who was the wizard's familiar, gave us a frightening stare so we decided discretion as the better part of valor and made our way down the stairs and leave the tower before the wizard returned. Our buzz was wearing off by then anyways...

After some time at the tavern and a Carouse roll, we were told that Malgore the wizard was on the lookout for some thieves that dared break into his tower. Needless to say, we felt we had worn out our welcome in this jerkwater burg and decided to lay low in the forest. Little did we know there were some mischievous little fey and a racist druid in that forest...but that is a tale for another time.

Excerpt from the Saga of Valdemaar the Vain