Getting Rid of "Raw" Scores

Totally as an interesting aside and while I'd hate to add in an additional stat, what if each level you got a point of stat X.  Raising a stat from -3 to -2 costs 3 points of X, -2 to -1 costs 2 points of X, -1 to 0, and 0 to +1 each cost 1 point of X.  Raising a stat from +1 to +2 costs 2 points of X and raising a stat from +2 to +3 costs 3 points of X.  This way, its hard to raise your low stats and hard to raise your high stats...

that just seems to make things more complicated....

anyway, the difference between DW and AW in regards to stat progression. you nailed it on the head mr. pfaff, in AW each job is very regulated in what it can and cannot do. it has fewer moves and a fairly limited advancement progression in regards to upping your stats. DW gives the player a lot more freedom to do what they choose, something i personally like. in exchange for this, you need to define you character to some degree when you create it. the way this seems to be done, not counting bards starting moves, is by which stats you choose to be good at. if you just go by the bonus, it would take you three stat increases to go from -1 to +2, while with the stats it will take you four. the stats are there to slow down the progression of the characters.

the advancement system on AW and DW also differ to a significant amount. there are no advances in DW like there are in AW. you get a move every level, period. in addition to this every 3rd level you get to up a stat by two. in AW you need to specifically pick to up a stat and forgo any other advantage you could have gained.

They are there for the similarity to the base material. Adam and I have discussed the same thing at length. For this particular game, given it's position and audience, there are some sacred ideas that we don't want to mess with.

That said, I do want to make the score more useful. The fact that the rules used to say "okay, you won't use your base score anymore" is a bad sign. If we're going to keep them, we should make them interesting. I wonder how we can do that...

The raw scores are certainly nice in that if two people want the same playbook, one can up the ante by offering to roll their stats, leaving the other to either let it go or ante further by offering to roll their stats in order.  Is there something you can tie directly to raw scores? Perhaps a move that uses the difference between people's raw scores as a modifier or an item that gives a bonus to a raw stat?

The problem with comparing raw scores too often is that it's overly fiddly and (I think) messes with the flow of the game. The Requires tag is a good start, maybe even tying Load to Strength, not the Str mod.

It's both a nod to our roots and a mechanical standpoint - losing a single point from a stat is less impactful than losing a whole +1.  This way, we allow for monsters with stat-draining moves, slow-increase stats (by way of magic or levelling) and, as was pointed out in this thread, using the stats as a requirement or trigger for other conditions.

It's both a nod to our roots and a mechanical standpoint - losing a single point from a stat is less impactful than losing a whole +1.  This way, we allow for monsters with stat-draining moves, slow-increase stats (by way of magic or levelling) and, as was pointed out in this thread, using the stats as a requirement or trigger for other conditions.

Stat draining is actually a really good point.

When I'm writing special moves I'll often put consequences in terms of either raw stat loss or penalties on rolls (or gains).  It's good to have some variety.