Yeah. The theme of the curse is, I guess, greed (we haven't established the theme of the maelstrom yet, and I don't want to just invent it on my own)? I kind of envision it being like the Holy Grail from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: It seems super valuable, but bad things happen to those who have it. In my case, both mundane (others covet your shiny thing) and malestrom-ey ("I don't know, man, but ever since I got it, bad things keep happening."). The cost almost always outweighs the benefit, basically. I definitely want the bad tied directly to the stuff (as opposed to your Boney Downs, where they're loosely related).

I think rolling+weird is an interesting idea. That would definitely give it a more sinister and active feel.

As for the Burn Flats, I had intended for it to be able to cover more than just travel (like if you crashed a plane and were working on building a new one from the scraps or something). But one thing I really like about your wording is that it can expand and contract in time, like other moves. Hmm hmm.

Thanks for the feedback and ideas. Helpful food for thought so far. :)

Threat 1
IS CALLED: The Burn Flats
KIND: Furnace (Landscape)
IMPULSE: To consume things
DESCRIPTION & CAST: The Burn Flats are the waterless wastes around The Oasis (the Hardhold the PCs live in), which represents the only reliable fresh water for miles and miles around.
CUSTOM MOVE: When you spend 6 hours on the Flats, roll+sharp. On a 10+, choose 3. On a 7-9, choose 2:

• You're making OK time
• You're not lost
• Your water supply is holding up
• You come across something helpful

I'm making a Thirst-based Front, and I just put this Threat together between sessions 1 and 2 (the description is all stuff established in session 1). What do y'all think about this custom move? It's basically the seize something by force template. Is this maybe vague or confusing in any way? Some way I can punch it up, make it more interesting or just cooler?

This is great. Thanks so much for sharing!

Sorry if this is a duplicate topic, but Search didn't turn anything up for me.

Has anyone printed out the rules PDF and bound it in any useful way? My printer has a "booklet" setting that looked like it would be useful, but it prints it out like it'll be a few pages, rather than grouping them into several smaller pamphlets like a "real" book would. So now I have 2 pages per page, but I can't fold it in half.

I guess I could just print 2-per-page in normal order and flip through it that way, but I thought I'd ask what other folks might've done before I used any more toner.

Thanks.

Am I misreading the rules, or, uh... Don't you mark XP when you roll a highlighted stat? Not just when you make the roll? Under, of course, normal rules.

If anyone tries this proposed variant, I'd be interested in hearing how it went.

When y'all are thinking about stuff before session 1... building your aesthetic, as it says... How far do you go? For instance, if you thought I Am Legend was cool and had this vision of a holding barricaded in at night to keep the monsters out... Is that something you might try to work in? It doesn't really seem like the kind of thing that might otherwise come up, but I've never run a game, so I don't know. Is it going too far?

Also, how much authorial control of the world do you folks hand over to the players after session 1? The example in the book is asking the players "Where DO you get your food?" And, to me, it seems clear that during session 1, the players are intended to have wide latitude with world details well outside their characters. After that, do you reign it in some, or still take a lot of opportunities to hand world-creation back to the group? If it depends, what kinds of things do you weigh?

I don't really imagine these questions have "right" answers. I'm just looking to see how other folks have done it or think about it. Thanks!

Yeah. This is a super neat idea.