New Attributes

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New Attributes
« on: January 05, 2013, 07:17:37 PM »
Truly loving dungeon world, but I don't think they went far enough.  Certain aspects of classic RPG's have been carried over that I think are outdated.  Damage with HP is one of those, but that's already been discussed in earlier forums and I agree that 2D6 determining narrative damage is a better method.  The other outdated stats are the Attributes, how does being Wise help you perceive your surroundings?  These attributes sound very similar to the previous stat line but how they are handled is not. I propose the following stats as an alternative.

Combat, Agility, Strength, Intelligence,Willpower, & Perception

Combat is how well the character is trained in combat, this means that a character that is trained in combat will know how to use swords as well as bows, their equipment will determine which attack they use predominately.  How much damage a sword will do is still affected by a character’s strength but whether or not they hit with it is not.  

Agility takes the place of Dexterity. It no longer determines how well a character shoots, but only how well the character is able to move with quickness and finesse.  In my opinion dexterity was too far reaching to begin with and still is an important attribute even without these affects.

Strength is no longer a measure of combat prowess; it deals only with physical strength, which is also combined with the ability to resist damage.  No more Constitution. This modifies rolls to deal damage (using the 2D6 alternative rules) and also to resist it.

Intelligence now deals with learning spells and interpreting puzzles as well as recalling useful information in the moment.  It is not however used to cast spells only to learn them.

Willpower is used to cast and resist magic and also to stand in the face of danger. A magic user may have the intelligence to learn new spells but they also must have the will to carry them out.  Also useful to those in combat to remain brave despite impending doom.

Perception, which takes much of what was left of the wisdom attribute, is used to observe one's surrounding, notice hidden monsters, and sense a person's motives.

This will require a complete overhaul of the moves (which I've done) but I think it makes more intuitive sense in the game - for those that aren't already deeply imbued in previous rule systems.

Please let me know what you think.
« Last Edit: January 05, 2013, 08:46:59 PM by ebade »

Re: New Attributes
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2013, 07:26:11 PM »
Sounds like an interesting proposal. One thing though: wisdom was always the perception stat, as far as I know.

Re: New Attributes
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2013, 07:34:45 PM »
Wow, huge oversight.  That makes a lot more sense.  Wisdom seems a bit of a misnomer. Perhaps the perception attribute falls more in line with what wisdom left behind.  though wisdom previously carried with it willpower which I don't feel is connected to perception.

*Updated above to avoid future embarrassment :)
« Last Edit: January 05, 2013, 07:41:58 PM by ebade »

Re: New Attributes
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2013, 07:43:56 PM »
Well, willpower could be connected to either Intelligence (knowing is half the battle) or Tact (a willful personality). I don't know, seven attributes seems like too many. Maybe that's just because I've mainly played d&d-like games.

Re: New Attributes
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2013, 07:52:43 PM »
I kind of agree that 7 is one too many, but I couldn't find Will going anywhere else.  I wanted to to represent power over mind and body.  Not in the intellectual sense and not by any type of personality.  The charismatic rouge is probably the first to run in the face of danger.  In the end I decided to stick with lucky number 7

Re: New Attributes
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2013, 07:58:01 PM »
Ok, fair enough. That makes sense.

Re: New Attributes
« Reply #6 on: January 05, 2013, 08:01:40 PM »
If I were to combine any tests it would be perception and tact.  As much of tact can be role-played.  What remains could be perceived (to perceive if the merchant is lying about a fair price for example)

In fact.  I like that...no more tact.

Re: New Attributes
« Reply #7 on: January 05, 2013, 08:03:44 PM »
Yeah, that actually works really well. Sort of a sense motive sort of thing.

Re: New Attributes
« Reply #8 on: January 06, 2013, 03:35:58 PM »
Question, though, what would you base the Bard on?

Re: New Attributes
« Reply #9 on: January 06, 2013, 04:15:03 PM »
This had troubled me at first, but then I asked myself.  Am I trying to play D&D with alternate rules, or am I trying to play a new game all it's own?  A bard like character could easily be used as a magic user that draws his power from the Arts or a cleric who worships a jester type deity  Which in my opinion makes more sense than a traveling minstrel who imbues powers through song.

Re: New Attributes
« Reply #10 on: January 06, 2013, 04:19:39 PM »
I realize this pretty much is the start of a whole new hack rather than a simple Dungeon World variant.  I'm currently working on my own rule set that keeps the flavor of Dungeon World but utilizes systems that I'm more comfortable with.  I'll post it when I'm all done.  I know changing a great thing like Dungeon World is probably not in most peoples best interest, but I can't help myself :)

Side note:  I've found many circumstances that have caused confusion can be easily answered with these attributes as alternatives.  A good example that recently came up in the forums is which stat to use in a disarm attempt, STR or DEX.  The easy answer....Combat.
« Last Edit: January 06, 2013, 04:41:09 PM by ebade »

Re: New Attributes
« Reply #11 on: January 06, 2013, 06:41:50 PM »
So I went ahead and started making my own hack.  Tales of Adventure.  Your all welcome to check it out. 

www.Tales-of-Adventure.weebly.com

If you are a designer of Dungeon World, please let me know if I'm crossing any lines by posting this website.  I'll be happy to alter it in such a way that it doesn't interfere with Dungeon World's success.  Thank you so much for such a great product that has sparked my motivation to create my own rendition.

*

noofy

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Re: New Attributes
« Reply #12 on: January 06, 2013, 07:37:26 PM »
Quote
Truly loving dungeon world, but I don't think they went far enough.  Certain aspects of classic RPG's have been carried over that I think are outdated.

This was a conscious design choice, It is Dungeon (from D&D) and World (From AW) after all. The nods back to the early versions of D&D are priceless for all of us who have a soft spot in our hearts and memories of early D&D play. It did take some shuffling to transpose the 6 stat paradigm to the AW model too, you can read early discussions back in the very first pages of this forum talking about these issues.

That said, your ideas are valid and will work, and there are a few other non-D&D inspired fantasy adventure hacks of AW that do this justice too:
http://www.story-games.com/forums/discussion/17802/fantasy-apoc-world#Item_6
 Tales of adventure has some good company.

Re: New Attributes
« Reply #13 on: January 06, 2013, 08:01:03 PM »
Wow, thanks.  Those are great.  I'm trying to keep my hack as vanilla as possible but these other hacks are going to fill me with some excellent ideas.  Thanks again.

Re: New Attributes
« Reply #14 on: January 06, 2013, 08:35:47 PM »
I am pretty sure they will tell you to hack away.

Dungeon World is strongly familiar and is what got me into it and made it easy to sell it to my players, as time passes I suspect I will feel more and more like you do, wanting to leave Dungeon World's anchor (with D&D) behind, the system itself is simple enough to be easily house-ruled and adapted, to make it an entirely new system though... I probably would just get lazy and not even try. ;)
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