Disarming...for reals...

There was a post about this a little while ago but I couldn't actually find an answer to what happens, mechanically, if someone or something is disarmed.  Damage is based on class, not weapon.  So what good does disarm do?  Do players lose the ability to do hack n' slash until the weapon is recovered? 

You go by the fiction, of course.
I mean, that's a copout answer, but until it clicks the game won't make much sense.

Can the player (or NPC or whatever that was disarmed) bring their, say, fists to bear?
Would bare fists even hurt the enemy they're fighting?
If so, yeah, they can of course hack and slash.
If not, then they can't.

At the very least, they're suffering a range/reach problem as opposed to almost any weapon (except maybe a small dagger), so getting in close might be hard. And anything with significant armor probably won't worry much about a punch, but soft squishy things might.

There's also a psychological issue for some players which helps (from a GM perspective).
But, I don't think anything happens mechanically. Why would it?

- Alex

It just struck me that a warrior shouldn't be able to do the same amount of damage with a sword as he does with his fists.  I like the Hack n' Slash rationale.  If you can tag a bad guy with your fists and have it do significant damage then allow the Hack n' Slash.  It just seemed like such a classic move to me and I wanted to be clear on how I would handle it, particularly if it happened to a player. 

It just struck me that a warrior shouldn't be able to do the same amount of damage with a sword as he does with his fists.

Depends on the warrior, doesn't it? And the foe?
You could write up fists as a weapon, of course: "-1-damage intimate attached".
I don't think DW really has the intimate range? I don't have the book in front of me.
But, it means "shorter than hand range", like really up close.

Then you could build different weapon profiles for a dedicated brawler / martial artist (this was floated around here before, either in the DW forums or AW proper).

- Alex

I agree.  Making a martial artist would certainly allow the damage to remain in which case you would have to get a lot more creative with the disarm maneuver! 

Also, do you use weapon ranges to guide whether hack n' slash can be done?  If you have a knife and your opponent has a spear (or a bow) and you are trying to stab him do you have players roll a Defy Danger prior to a Hack n' Slash to try and get into range to use their knife? 

Yeah, that's exactly how I work it. Pretty sure that's by the book, too, but I don't have it in front of me.
Weapon ranges are a key bit of fictional positioning (must... resist... urge... to... flood... thread... with... theory... talk... XD)... well, I'd say they're one of the best/easiest examples of how you can let the fiction lead things.

It actually reminds me of the old story of the gazebo (http://www.comedycorner.org/90.html)... you can't hurt it with an arrow, even a +3 one, but you could with an axe or fire. Of course, this is more "damage type" then range, but it's really a similar idea. :)

Oh!
But, I don't just have my players roll defy danger right out. I mean, sometimes I do, but that's lazy and against the rules! I try not to.

What I do is, I tell them what's up and ask, like "He's not gonna let you get anywhere near him with that knife, and he's got the reach to prove it. What do you do?". Now, they might duck and weave to get in close (defy danger with dex), they might try to create a distraction or feint (probably defy danger with cha), they might go full bad-ass and be like "Alright, let him stab me. I'll roll to take it in the shoulder, then go right for his throat.". Then they just trade damage, I'd say, and then maybe the player would need to defy danger (maybe with con?) because of, you know, a spear in his shoulder.

Of course, there's all sorts of other things they could do, and that's the point. But, yeah, for the typical case of "Get close and try to avoid the spear.", it's a defy danger with dex. Please note that, unless the enemy has another weapon, the follow up isn't hacking and slashing (since, once the player is close, they can't bring the spear to bear properly), it's just do damage.

- Alex