So, I'm trying to do some internal preparation for running a Dungeon World game soonish.  I feel like I'm having trouble getting into the right mindset.

The idea I have right now is to run the players through a classic dungeon crawl.  Something a little incoherent, with rooms deep inside caves that are full of wolves for no reason.

If that was your goal, to run a classic, slightly incoherent, dungeon crawl how would you prepare for that day?  What would you do before you get to the game?  What questions would you ask during character creation?

Imagine this is Iron Chef.  The Chairman has just pulled away the lid and revealed the secret ingredient ("CLASSSSSIIIIIIC DUNGEON CRAAAAAAAAWL!"), make a meal to wow the judges.  Stay away from the ice cream maker, for that is a trap to lure you into flying too close to the sun.

When you post to a roleplaying game forum while at work, roll+INT.  On a 10+, choose one.  On a 7-9, choose 2.
- Your post is garbled or lost
- You gain unwelcome attention from your boss or a coworker
- You lose track of time and are late for your next appointment.
- Your computer crashes once the post is completed.

When you watch the internet hoping someone finally replies to you, roll+CHA.  On a 10+ choose 1.  On a 7-9, choose 1 and have the GM choose 1:
- You get a response that is unrelated.
- You get a response that is moronic.
- You get a response only after an incredibly long period of time.
- You get a response that is illegible.

Quote from: noofy on July 20, 2012, 08:38:18 AM

Gadget Girdle: You have a gadget belt that contains various arcane gadgets. When you use one of your arcane devices to get out of a tight spot, tell us what it does and roll +INT.

On a hit, choose 3
On a 7-9, choose 1
* the gadget works as expected
* You don't expend 1-charge.
* Your gadget is undamaged
* You avoid unwelcome attention

Hey, that's a really clever way of making less specific, I like it! I'm already using Nathan Wilson's non-spell-dependent Sorcerer instead of the Wizard, so this makes more sense...

Personally, I think you should have the player choose 2 on a 7-9.  Otherwise, they will almost always choose "the gadget works", making the other things false choices.  Obviously the player wants the gadget to do what he says it does... that's why he did the move.  And now that he's Hit he has to decide between "I succeed and a bunch of bad things happen" or "I fail AND a bunch of bad things happen".  That's not a very nice hit.

If you let them choose 2, they can succeed AND decide what sort of problems they'll be facing.  Is it better to have my device remain intact, keep all of my precious charge, or keep the element of surprise?  And if they're REALLY in a tight spot, they can even drop their success to try and save their bacon.

 

Sick! Thanks.

Remember, Hack and Slash is only for when battle is being done.  It's when you and an enemy are trading blows in pitched combat.

When someone is 'Surprised' (i.e. you've just jumped out of the cupboard and stabbed him with his own breadknife) or 'Defenseless (i.e. you've tied him up with his own rope, stuffed him in the cupboard, and are about to stab him with a bread knife), you're not in pitched combat, you're not Hacking and Slashing.  What you ARE is the Fogbottom Strangler, and if you don't leave I will certainly call the police.

Generally, one of two things happen: if it's the sort of situation where you'd get one hit which may or may not be fatal (jumping out of the cupboard), you automatically deal damage.  However, if you're in a situation where this one hit will kill your foe (i.e. you put a crossbow to a guy's head, he's not Jackie Chan, and then you pull the trigger)... well, he's dead.  

This is true for any class...  Backstab just gives you extra options.

So, I’m not in any way sure that this is the best way to do this.  The more I look through various settings and add-ons for Dungeon World, the more I start to feel like I’m adding all sorts of useless-doohickies to something that doesn’t need the added complexity.  Also, I’m getting that “Making things that neither I, nor anyone else, will ever use/wasting my time/should just go eat fudge” feeling.

Anyways, my delving into the Psion has made me look back at Eberron and remember just how much I enjoy that setting.  Now, there’re a lot of complications that Eberron includes that wouldn’t be particularly Dungeon World-esque… over-complications, if you will.  But you can’t run Eberron World without including the Dragonmarks in some way.  So, here’s my little idea.

-   - - - - - - -

In order to take a Heritage Class, your history must include some prerequisites.  If you are qualified to take a Heritage Class, while in character creation, you may replace your Racial Move with a Heritage Move.  Characters with a Heritage Move can then take a number of other Heritage Moves as if they were class Moves whenever they level up.

Example Heritage Class:

THE DRAGONMARKED
You are the scion of one of Eberron’s great Houses, gifted with a birthmark that pulses with arcane might.  In order to be Dragonmarked, you must be the child (legitimate or otherwise) of a member of one of the Dragonmarked Houses.  When you choose this Heritage Class you may replace your usual Racial Move with the following Heritage Move:

LEAST DRAGONMARK
You gain a magical birthmark of twisting, scintillating lines.  This birthmark marks you as an important person in the world of Eberron, a scion of one of Khorvaire’s great economic powers.  Choose one Mark and its associated move.  Make sure that the Mark and its associated House fits with your race/family/history (the complexities of which are too much for this fan-conversion):
-   Detection – see something hidden.
-   Finding  - discover where something small is.
-   Handling – calm an animal.
-   Healing – cure a sickness.
-   Hospitality – make a small meal.
-   Making – fix a small broken object.
-   Passage – find a shortcut.
-   Scribing  - instantly write a message.
-   Sentinel  - spot danger.
-   Shadow – hide in darkness.
-   Storm – create a burst of wind.
-   Warding – protect a person from harm.

Whenever you Make Camp lose any previous Hold and Hold 1.  You may spend that Hold to activate your Mark’s move as if it were a monster move.   You may also spend this Hold to activate a Dragonmark-activated item.

Once you’ve taken the Lesser Dragonmark move, you may take the following moves whenever you level up as if they were part of your class’s move list:

CHARGED DRAGONMARK
 Gain 2 Hold when you Make Camp, instead of 1.

SPLIT HERITAGE
Gain your class’s Race Move.

LESSER DRAGONMARK
When you use your Least Dragonmark move, you may alter the move.  Choose one of the following:
-   Add the word “large” to the move or change the word “small” to “large”
-   Add the word "many" or change the word “a” to the word “many”
-   Add the phrase “far away”
For instance, when using the Mark of Scribing, you could use your Lesser Dragonmark power to “instantly write many messages”, “instantly write a large message” (a book could be considered a large message), or “instantly write a message, far away”.  You may only make one of these changes with any usage of the Least Dragonmark move.

GREATER DRAGONMARK
Requires:  Lesser Dragonmark
When you use your Least Dragonmark move, you may add any or all of the changes from Lesser Dragonmark.

I agree with the inestimable Mr. Harper.  Suddenly my mind is filled with Underwatch adventures of an almost Ankh-Morporkian bent.  I've never thought to use DW for a game like that, so I'm not even sure how to decide whether it would work or not.

Note:  I think I'm going to give all Psionic Powers a Range of Near unless otherwise mentioned, with an Advanced Move to pump them up to Far.

Clairsentience: When you manifest Clairsentience Hold 3.  Spend your Hold to:
-   Enhance one of your senses
-   Share another person’s senses
-   Get another chance.
When you enhance a sense, its distance, clarity, and power are increased by a factor of 10, giving you the eyes of a hawk, the ears of an owl, the nose of a bloodhound, the tongue of a snake, or the touch of a… mole?  Mole’s are good at touching, right?  Sure, we’ll go with that.  This sensory burst lasts for only a few moments.

When you share another person’s senses, you can sense what a person in range can sense.  Your target can feel you watching from inside his mind, but can only sense what you do if you allow them to.  Unlike many manifested powers, you may share senses over a period of time.  Take -1 Ongoing on all rolls as long as while your senses are linked.

When you get another chance, peer into the future and make a different choice than the one you were going to make.  You may reroll one roll that resulted in a 6-.  You must take the second roll, you only get one other chance.  Take -1 Forward, as your mind grapples with what is and what could have been.  

Astral Projection:
When you manifest Clairsentience, add the following to your list of options.
- Leave your body behind.
When you leave your body behind, your consciousness abandons its physical prison and walks free, like a ghost.  While you’ve left your body behind, you are intangible and transparent but not invisible.  You cannot be heard by anyone who is not tuned to ethereal frequencies.  Your body remains behind, connected to your astral form by an ethereal silver cord, an empty meat sack, still alive, waiting for your return.  All rolls are at a -1 Ongoing while you maintain the concentration needed to remain a spirit.

As an astral projection, you can perform purely mental actions, like Spout Lore, but you cannot exert any physical force on the real world.  You may not use psychic powers or moves relying on Focus while you’ve left your body behind.  You can move through walls and other obstructions.  You can interact physically with any magic or material which can interact with ghosts or other immaterial beings.  Your astral body must remain within range of your body at all times.  If your body is threatened or injured, you may Defy Danger using Wis, to attempt to notice the danger and return, instantly, to your body.  If your body dies, so do you.

Astral Adept Requires Astral Projection
You may manifest psionic powers and non-physical Focus-based moves while astral projecting.

Astral Traveller:  Requires Astral Adept
When astral projecting, you may travel further afield.  You may travel anywhere within a radius of 1 mile per level.

Additionally, you can spend 1 Hold at any time while astral projecting to leave the mundane world behind and travel into the Astral Plane, the realm of pure mind.  The Astral Plane is a strange place, full of wild thoughts and connections to the psychic realms that penetrate and intertwine with all thinking beings.  It is also a dangerous place:  astral bodies act as if completely physical on the astral plane, your ghostly intangibility will not protect you from the strange and terrible hunters of the Silver Sea.  Once you’ve left the physical world, you are no longer bound by rules of distance – you may travel as far a field as you wish while travelling through the land of thought.  But this is a mixed blessing, you can no longer Defy Danger to instantly return to your body or Detect Danger to it; you must trek back along, following your silver cord back to yourself.

Astral Guide:  Requires Astral Traveller
When you leave your body behind, you may spend 1 Hold to bring up to your level in other willing people along.  All members of your astral expedition must be touching in order to abandon the corporeal.  While other characters can use Moves and powers while astral projecting, the effects of those powers are ethereal.  An ethereal magic missile can only affect intangible foes; an ethereal domination spell cannot find purchase on beings still tied to the world.  If you choose to travel into the Astral Plane, you may bring none, some, or all of your expedition with you.  Without your assistance, people without Astral Traveller cannot enter the Astral Plane.