animal companion, labor & travel trainings

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animal companion, labor & travel trainings
« on: December 12, 2012, 04:56:42 PM »
So, in the command move it doesn't seem to be any roll to which it could be applied a travel or labor training bonus.

This came cause I was thinking about a Mule animal companion:
Ferocity +1, Cunning +2, 1 Armor, Instinct +1
Strenght: tireless
Trainings: travel, labor
Weakness: stubborn

but then, I realized that there's no actual option to use its trainings in the command move.

I would expect something like:
...and you undertake a perilous journey, add it's (???) to your roll.
...and you carry some load, add it's (???) to your load.

Has anyone ever had an issue with labor & travel? Has anyone ever took a mule as an animal companion?
Oh, the things we tell ourselves to feel better about the long, dark nights.

Re: animal companion, labor & travel trainings
« Reply #1 on: December 12, 2012, 06:18:11 PM »
So, in the command move it doesn't seem to be any roll to which it could be applied a travel or labor training bonus.

This came cause I was thinking about a Mule animal companion:
Ferocity +1, Cunning +2, 1 Armor, Instinct +1
Strenght: tireless
Trainings: travel, labor
Weakness: stubborn

but then, I realized that there's no actual option to use its trainings in the command move.

I would expect something like:
...and you undertake a perilous journey, add it's (???) to your roll.
...and you carry some load, add it's (???) to your load.

Has anyone ever had an issue with labor & travel? Has anyone ever took a mule as an animal companion?

There are no direct mechanisms for those, but you could definitely leverage them narratively.  Need something strong and hardy to pull some doors open for you?  Your mule is trained for it!  Need to pack the mule with stuff so you can carry your weapons and armor?  Done and done.

These aren't things that come up as part of a roll or mechanism, but are still hugely relevant to the fiction of the moment in which they might be required.

Re: animal companion, labor & travel trainings
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2012, 04:00:11 AM »
One thing that's important in Dungeon World is that mechanisms by large doesn't matter. Only the fiction matter. If an animal companion has some training in a field, then the owner can use it to affect the fiction in some relevant way.

Who really cares how much it can carry? It can carry whatever is needed to advance the story :)
I just recently started a blog on my gaming experiences on www.partialsuccess.wordpress.com

Re: animal companion, labor & travel trainings
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2012, 04:06:24 AM »
That said, adding the cunning of a Travel trained animal to your roll for undertaking a perilous journey is a great idea. I'd use that if it came up. An animal trained to guard could add to taking watch, too, if it doesn't already.

Re: animal companion, labor & travel trainings
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2012, 07:07:06 AM »
That said, adding the cunning of a Travel trained animal to your roll for undertaking a perilous journey is a great idea. I'd use that if it came up. An animal trained to guard could add to taking watch, too, if it doesn't already.

Both of these ideas are excellent.
I just recently started a blog on my gaming experiences on www.partialsuccess.wordpress.com

Re: animal companion, labor & travel trainings
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2012, 08:08:13 PM »
ok guys, thanks for the answers!

It's just that it seemed weird and arbitrary to me that, like, damage & fighting monsters is represented both fictionally and mechanically, while travel or labor don't give bonus to rolls. That said, I'm waiting to have an actual issue during the game before even mentioning the problem to the rest of the group.
Oh, the things we tell ourselves to feel better about the long, dark nights.

Re: animal companion, labor & travel trainings
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2012, 11:36:59 AM »
I think that comes more from the fact that failure in a fight has the risk of death, while travel and labor have a risk of failure that leads to different situations, but not death.

All in all it is a matter of focus, but I agree with you, giving some focus to these other situations is a good move.
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Re: animal companion, labor & travel trainings
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2012, 06:02:55 PM »
Well, no sir, the risk of death is something completely unrelated to monsters or travel moves or anything else. Whatever is considered lethal in the setting, it is. My current group is traveling across a glacier and the supernatural cold that envelops the environment threatened their life more than once, while the icy monsters encountered during the trip are just a minor nuisance (their main goal being the depletion of the party's resources against cold). Some time ago, the trailblazer fell down a cliff covered by bushes and they saved her just in time. But obviously there are a lot of other things that could take a life that are neither monsters nor hostile places!

That said, yes, probably it's just a matter of focus, but I still can't see why it's like this.
Oh, the things we tell ourselves to feel better about the long, dark nights.

Re: animal companion, labor & travel trainings
« Reply #8 on: December 14, 2012, 07:43:30 PM »
I still think we relate to death as a result of a direct conflict better than we would as a result of a travel though, dying during exploration, travel or labor would feel extremely arbitrary to the people I gamed with.

That said the people I gamed with have a strong classic rpg experience, and in those they actually don't see much risk on the game beside the actual combat.
I started a blog to share my pain: gmstruggles.wordpress.com

All my posts (unless stated otherwise) are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0