Breaking down doors

One thing that PCs are likely to encounter in D&D are locked or jammed doors. The thief might pick the lock or they might force the door. How would I do this in DW?
Lets say that the party is exploring and they come to a strong door that is barred from the other side. They must either turn back or break it down.

The only move I can see is the Fighter move, Bend bars lift gates. This move appears to presuppose success at breaking the door down. And anyway my group doesn't have a fighter.

I feel I may be looking at this wrong and that this isn't in the spirit of AW, but I feel it is in the spirit of D&D and wondered how to deal with it.

Would it be AW, I'd obviously suggest "roll Under Fire". In this case I'd roll +Con, but looking through the moves I don't see any general one that applies here.

Perhaps a custom move?

When attempting to break down or force open a locked or barred door roll+STR:
On a 10+ choose 3, on a 7-9 choose 1.
- you open the door quietly
- you open the door quickly
- you don't break anything of value in the process
- you don't take harm

This allows for failure to open the door; On a 6- the door remains closed.
On a 7-9 you must decide your priority, if you don't want to risk breaking your weapon or taking damage then pick one of the last two - though this would mean you fail to open the door.

How's that? Or is this covered by another move already?

What's on the other side of the door? Do you -care- if the PCs don't get to it?

I'd say, either there's a key farther into the dungeon and they can get the key or they can forget it. Doors that you can -maybe- open suck. Doors that you can open later are all right.

What's on the other side of the door? Do you -care- if the PCs don't get to it?

I'd say, either there's a key farther into the dungeon and they can get the key or they can forget it. Doors that you can -maybe- open suck. Doors that you can open later are all right.

Shreyas, I think there's a time when doors that *maybe* open *now* are pretty cool, but I think it's not all often. The situation I'm thinking of is, like, you're trying to escape a room full of monsters; you either need to go out the door (which is stuck, so maybe you can't at all or maybe it'll take some time, plus who knows what's on the other side) and hope to escape, or try to fight your way through the mob to the other side.

Really, anything time based, where the question is "Do we get through now, do we get through in 5 minutes, or do we get through in an hour (with the key)?". I think those situations, doors that maybe open are okay.

- Alex

That's Defy Danger, isn't it?

I mean maybe thw question isn't "is there a move for this?" but rather "Hey, help me remember to choose what response is appropriate in-play, contextual to the fictional situation at hand." which isn't a question at all.

Oh, yes, probably defy danger could work.

Maybe the question is "In what cases are a custom move more appropriate, needed, interesting, or enjoyable than one of the basic moves?". I think that's nearly always the question.

Maybe you *can* use Defy Danger, sure, but would it be more interesting to handle it some other way? I don't know, maybe not.

Initially I would think the Bend Bars, Lift Gates move that the Fighter has would be used for this. If you don't have a fighter then I would default to Defy Danger using (str) as the stat. Stinks that you don't have a fighter. :)

On a failure, you would probably want to ensure some alternative way of opening the door. Maybe they make too much noise and they hear goblin voices down a side passage and they find an alternate way in. Or maybe a hard move (it explodes and causes damage--a spell being triggered on a forceful entry)

Anti, my thoughts about moves are pretty conservatist; if you can handle it with a basic move, you probably should.

I think your question about time-constrained action is a pretty good one and maybe it's one where a new move would be useful; maybe an Int move for rushing a process?

When you work with what you've got, roll+Int. On a hit you can do it, on a 7-9 the MC chooses 1:

- You need a thing you've got to backtrack for
- It takes longer than it should
- um more stuff

Tell them the possible consequences and ask.

I was going to write examples, but you can probably guess them.

Maybe the question is "In what cases are a custom move more appropriate, needed, interesting, or enjoyable than one of the basic moves?". I think that's nearly always the question.

I think the answer here is, custom moves are more appropriate, interesting, and enjoyable when they are part of GM prep.  If, ahead of time, you've thought, "I'd like to have a door for them to bust through," and written the custom move so that you can just show it to them at the right time - perfect.  If not, then defy danger to jimmy the lock or shoulder the door in time.  Alternately, give it some hit points and the instinct to stay shut and let them take a swing at it to break it down.

Wooden Door
Once quite rare, wooden doors are now ubiquitous in subterranean areas.  Some even blame the spread of wooden doors to the growing incidence of dungeons within the realm.
Instinct: Stay shut
-Shudder mockingly
-Jam when lock is forced
-Squeak loudly
Level 1, 3 HP, 1 damage (splinters)

Mease - I like that! Making the door in to a 'monster' seems like a good solution to me. If they want to open the door the are encountering a threat - one that might alert enemies, cause them damage (in the process of opening) - some monsters do a similar job.

I get what people have said about not wanting to have a door that blocks the path to the fun stuff, but I was thinking of the players exploring an old-style dungeon. There will be multiple routes and some of them will involve sealed doors.