West Marches--DW Style

Hey, everybody!

So on the first Sunday in June I'll be running the first session in a West Marches-style Dungeon World campaign.  The ease of character creation, including Bonds, seems to make it a nice fit.  As I run around with some adaptations, though, here are a few questions on play.  Some are generic.  Some fit specifically into West Marches play.  I'll try to separate the two.  If the answer to any of them is "Join the Adventurer's Guild already," well... First Monday in June (after I write up the AP).

• How will Hack and Slash be fixed?  I'm liking how Volley looks--something similar?  Choose to take damage on a partial hit?
  
• Why is "How effective would x be?" from Spout Lore not open ended, like its Read a Situation counterpart?  That seems to decrease its value quite a bit--was that intentional?
• How do you handle Undertake a Perilous Journey for Groups?  Ranger's Guide seems to suggest you roll individually, but that seems un-fun if parties keep getting split up.  Without a Guide, lowest Con rolls?
• What does it mean to "fulfill a petition", especially on the personal victory petition?  Commensurate with the boon, I'm assuming, but that suggests to me that you could build a cleric who's going to be getting boons every time he turns around.  I'd like to keep the boon something cool (in part to save my own creative juices).
• Do more intelligent undead get a save somehow vs. Command Undead?  "Hey, Boss Vampire--go jump in a running stream!"
• Dictum and the Chaos one affect Lawful and Chaotic beings, but the Law and Chaos axis isn't very heavily hyped (Paladin and Ranger, am I missing any?).  Does this make those spells very powerful?  Or very weak?
• Paladin and Ranger both have Command moves, but their very different.  Maybe change Paladin to "Bark Orders"?
• For Undertake a Perilous Journey, what's the going house rule on what counts as perilous?  I ask in part because of West Marches, because they're potentially going to be travelling long distances--high enough to autofail UPJ, perhaps, with all the rations they'd need.
• What's the benefit of Hunter's Sense?  Is standard Favored Enemy a binary "they are/n't around," and Hunter's Sense is "they're two rooms west of you, gearing up for a fight"?
• Is Open Book meant to offer creative control?  I'm trying to figure out why I'd ask a Bard one of the Spout Lore questions about himself and can't, so is it supposed to be about the item, gaining back a little of AW's question-asking?
• Oh, and the Cleric: Is the difference between Righteous Fury and Religious Studies the ability to ask the questions for free versus having them put on the list?

I'll post in a while with the West Marches specific questions, which I'll be trying to brainstorm answers for.  That's more of the fun "hack the hack," and I thought you guys might like to see it (and I'd certainly love your advice).

Thanks!

P.

Hey Parker,

I'm running a West Marches style game right now - we're 8 sessions in I think - the characters are all level 4 (except for one who's only made 2 sessions). 

Obsidian Portal link if you're interested (adventure log a couple sessions behind - the map is a bit behind as well):
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/explorethefrontier

For Undertakea  Perilous Journey, I have them roll if they're moving through unsecure ground.  For instance, the Eldar Plains in our campaign is probably the only area that is safe and I wouldn't have them roll.  If they took out the bandit mercenary company they know is making camp in the Unnamed Valley then that would perhaps become safe as well but they haven't quite done that yet. 

I usually have them roll for the entire journey up front (so if they're travelling through 3 areas it would be one roll).  I typically make them use up 1 use of food per area as well.  If they fail the roll and I choose the "use up their food option" that typically is either 1 whole ration (all of its uses) or all the rations they're carrying on them (they usually have a horse and cart with extra supplies for long journeys and I don't use those up typically). 

If you have any specific questions on how we're handling things  ask away. 

So here are my WM-specific questions I'll be hacking on. No formatting this time, since I'm on my phone.

-Does Carouse fit as written in a WM setup, with quiet NPCs? How can it be hacked, becaus it's awesome, but they are living in a reaaaly small town.
-See above for Outstanding Warrants, Familiarity, Veteran... Have these moves just been nerfed, or is there a way to keep their awesome?
-Same thing, ish, for Bardic Lore (are there songs about this land?) and Well Travelled.
-How will UPJ work when theyre seeking the unknown and exploration is a part of the fun. Should I make a "when you wander a hex..." move? Or reinstitute Adventure Hook?

I think that's about it. I'm in the very basic steps of world creation at this point.

Here's a question specifically for you, Agony. How much of the shared/improv worldbuilding have you kept? Have you gone West Marches route of knowing the history and statting honestly? Or has it been more improv style?  Do you use random encounter tables?  I really like some of the work Zak S. over at DnD with Porn Stars has been doing, and I'd like to incorporate it if possible.

-I think Carouse, etc. work as written.  Our town isn't small, but we don't really adventure in it - we stick to exploring.  There's probably a couple thousand people in Castitia - which functions as the party's base.  They bought the tavern where their guild house is and that's where they party and talk up their adventures.  You really only need about 30 people binging to Carouse (IMO).

I have a couple settlements outside the main town for variety.  Ravencamp is a small adventurers camp of 40 or so people in a somewhat dangerous land (vermindown).  I would use oustanding warrants there or Carouse - why not?

-Bardic Lore was weird at first.  Our continent is new and unexplored so how does the Bard know things he shouldn't?  Well - we first said the continent was discovered a couple years ago and the bard has been here since it was first discovered.  That way, when they go to a new area he can say he's been here before if he wishes.  We kind of play this fast and loose.  He could also say he's heard about the area through song. 

We handle Research the same way - a guild in Castitia known as the Librarium has been collecting information on the Frontier (our continent) and hoarding it in a library.  They will allow the Wizard to study for a fee.

-When the PCs travel to the unknown in our game I still have them roll UPJ as normal.  Then I describe the new area they're in and usually give them an encounter or two which leads to a dungeon.  Sometimes they go to areas they hear about through rumors so the area is already on the map before they go there. 


As for the specific question for me - I know the history to a degree - I've left it open generally.  I stat and prep the area where the PCs want to explore.  I send an email to the group saying I can hang out and run DW on say Tuesday and Saturday, who's in and where do you want to go, what do you want to do? 

They'll come back and say, "I'm in, I really want to head back to the grave of words and check out the second level."  Or "I want to follow up on that rumor about the Orb of Power on the Wild Coast before we go back to the Grave."

Then I prep for what they want to do.  I stat honestly and don't pull punches but we've only had 1 PC death so far.  They've taken on monsters twice their level without incident, nearly all of that is due to our Fighter and balance issues which Sage has been correcting.  Our Fighter was doing 50 damage at level 3, now he does about 14. 

Thanks for the insight, Agony!  I haven't quite had a chance to digest it all, but it looks like a lot of good experience.  Your threads here and on Obsidian Portal have helped me figure out what I can expect and how I want to set this up.

Here's one thing that I have thought about--I'm going to be sticking pretty close to the original West Marches's conceit that the PCs are the baddest asses around.  Carouse has two options that make me a little uncomfortable.  Befriending a useful NPC would lead to rehashed ground pretty quickly, I think, in a town of about 100 people, and nobody around Landfall is going to be ensorcelling them, and I can only do so many "the farmer's daughter thinks your cute" results.  In such a small town, people tricking our entangling is going to get real messy real quick.

So I've written a custom move to replace it.  This is actually the first custom move I've ever written, so let me know what you think:

When you throw a party at the Sainted Yarlow to celebrate your victory...
Mark XP and Roll+Con.  10+ 3, 7-9 1.

• Someone tells a story you're unfamiliar with--the GM will tell you how it affects your map.
• Your tales attract a follower--take a hireling of your choice and consider his first Cost paid
• You don't make a brash promise or bet.
• You had a good night of gambling.  Win Lvl+Cha gold.

I like Carouse as written just fine for larger communities or those with more badasses around, like your Ravencamp, Agony.  If something like that ends up getting founded, I'll definitely include it.  It just doesn't feel right for this little farming town.

i really like the "you dont make a brash promise or bet" option you came up with. i think it could potentially give the players a lot of fun room to make stuff up to propel the action in a direction they want.

Yeah I agree with Ben, your Carouse rocks.  I'd be tempted to just use that for our game but I think my players want some urban conflict/adventuring evne if its very minor.

When you throw a party at the Sainted Yarlow to celebrate your victory...
Mark XP and Roll+Con.  10+ 3, 7-9 1.

• Someone tells a story you're unfamiliar with--the GM will tell you how it affects your map.
• Your tales attract a follower--take a hireling of your choice and consider his first Cost paid
• You don't make a brash promise or bet.
• You had a good night of gambling.  Win Lvl+Cha gold.

I like Carouse as written just fine for larger communities or those with more badasses around, like your Ravencamp, Agony.  If something like that ends up getting founded, I'll definitely include it.  It just doesn't feel right for this little farming town.

Dude! I love this!