Clarification of Self-Powered (Wizard Move)

One of my players was thinking of taking Self-Powered for the Wizard but wanted some clarification about how it works. Specifically:

• Is this a one-off Move (like The Druid Sleep) which creates a Place of Power or
• If not, and this is my question, how long (in game time) would you wise folk require to create a Place of Power using this Move?

This seems to me to be the kind of move that is vague on purpose, with the expectation that it will vary from campaign to campaign.  Dungeon World has a lot of this sort of thing.  The short answer is: figure out what makes sense in your story, and go with that.

Personally, I would be inclined to handle it as particular kind of Ritual, and require that it takes months of preparation and construction and thousands of coin in materials to build the tower/cave/ritualarium, require a quest to retrieve a vial of Pure Chaos, and then a solid three days of active ritual.  But then, that might not jive with how magic works in your game.

Anybody have stories of a wizard in their game who actually did this? 

Yeah, I wasn't sure what that move meant to do at all.  Is it based off of a D&D spell?

Or it may be more awesome in your game to do it as a desperate race against time, the kind of insane lateral move that lets your heroes save the world when nothing else would have worked.  The wizard transcends time to a place from whence none can return unchanged, sacrifices an eye, a hand, and a permanent sanity debility, and gets the job done between swings of the Fighter's sword.

None of that's actually mentioned in the move description, but then, portray a fantastic world is the first priority in your agenda.

Yeah, I wasn't sure what that move meant to do at all.  Is it based off of a D&D spell?

I'm reading it as referring to the trigger for the Wizard base move Ritual, which says: "When you draw on a place of power to create a magical effect".  Self-Powered says: "When you have time, arcane materials, and a safe space, you can create your own place of power."

I'm reading it as referring to the trigger for the Wizard base move Ritual, which says: "When you draw on a place of power to create a magical effect".  Self-Powered says: "When you have time, arcane materials, and a safe space, you can create your own place of power."

That makes sense from the title - basically the Wizard is their own "Place of Power" so long as they have time, materials and are in a safe place. They then use it and move on (creating a new one later). This was how my Wizard player initially read it.

Upon reading it further however, the description then asks "what kind of power it is and how you're binding it to this place" [emphasis added] indicating that the "place of power" you create, is permanent. So assuming this power isn't a one-off, it can be used to litter the campaign setting with Places of Power.

EDIT: That's not necessarily a problem depending upon the game, but it is important to the player to determine whether they want to take the move or not.

 

Hm, interesting.  I had read it taking it for granted that it was an expensive, presumably one-time, "create a wizard's tower" kind of move.  But it could totally be read the other way, allowing the wizard to inscribe a pentagram (e.g.) to create a minor place of power whenever he needs one.  All you have to do is change your idea of what is enough "time and arcane materials";  minutes gives you one answer, and months gives you a different one.

These places don't have to be permanent if you don't want them to be -- they could just be sufficient for some finite number of rituals (such as "one") before they "wear out".  The move doesn't specify, so you can go with what makes sense in the fiction.

The move, as written, is all of the above.

So, you could do both - if a Wizard takes months inscribing runes and grinding crystals into the mortar as they build their tower, they create a permanent Place of Power. However, if they grab 30 minutes, some chalk and inscribe a pentagram on the floor of a taven room, then they create a "place of power" good for a one-off ritual.

Again, as is so cool in DW, it all comes back to the narrative and what seems appropriate.

So, you could do both - if a Wizard takes months inscribing runes and grinding crystals into the mortar as they build their tower, they create a permanent Place of Power. However, if they grab 30 minutes, some chalk and inscribe a pentagram on the floor of a taven room, then they create a "place of power" good for a one-off ritual.

Again, as is so cool in DW, it all comes back to the narrative and what seems appropriate.

Yep, exactly!  And the costs and dangers associated with each are going to vary.  Scale being what it is and all.