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MadRhetoric posted:This is actually the biggest falling down point with Powered by the Apocalypse games for new MCs: the long and short of it is that there are no real hard and fast mechanics for what you do in this situation. It's all up to what you feel is appropriate. Once you get into the swing of things, it's excellent, but you're making up what happens ad-hoc on the spot. That's overwhelming as hell, especially if you don't have a storygaming or improv background. Deal damage Disability Disable the targeted limb Commence grappling Infect with disease Damage is almost a must, and making the victim Weak or Shaky in addition to situational difficulties using both hands conveys the idea conveys the idea of a damaged limb. Having a jaw clamped onto one's arm leads into future actions, and of course they're diseased until they get help in the form of holy water, a magic dispelling ritual, a year-long quest for the Curing Stone or whatever seems appropriate. Maybe I've been reading too much The Walking Dead, but I feel like a bite from a zombie should be more interesting than just doing damage; that's why I would want to make such a hard move. As a consequence, I would probably not go straight to the bite on the first failed roll. First I would telegraph the danger of engaging zombies in melee, then have the zombie grapple the player (and do damage), and if the player failed to escape then I'd follow up with the bite. If I wanted my zombie bites more commonplace, I'd restrict it to just rolling damage and maybe add a "Sick until cured" effect (and jaw-grappled).
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Sep 17, 2013 14:08
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Does anyone have suggestions for movies/books/graphic novels to help me fill my head with ideas for future GMing?
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Sep 19, 2013 00:38
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mllaneza posted:Raiders of the Lost Ark. That movie is the textbook example of 7-9 results; just look at the truck chase sequence for how you can avoid one danger only to somehow be in worse trouble. The whole pacing of the movie is perfect and should inspire any PbtA GM.
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Sep 29, 2013 21:04
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So, I finally got to actually run this beast with a few coworkers: a couple folks who have played DnD in years past and someone altogether new to the RPG concept. It went reasonably well; I ran the Heart of the Minotaur dungeon, because I liked the concept and I wanted to have the comfort of plenty of material to throw around. It might have backfired though. I may have railroaded the players a bit too much, partly because I had trouble drawing out good ideas from the players and using them on the fly. It turned into a bit of a slugfest, mainly because the Bard kept failing music roles and I couldn't think of consequences more interesting than, "well, somebody probably heard that!". Anyway, the worst part is that everyone had fun and we discussed playing again, so I have to think about some more adventures. I read through the Fronts section of the rules, and the guide, but I'm trying to think about them in the context of 2-4 3hr sessions. Mainly what I'm wondering is, should I even bother fleshing out a full front or two? Or should I just skip that and treat these future sessions as more one-shots? I think the answer is to make the fronts and just see how far we get in a few sessions, but I'm wondering what other people have done.
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Dec 6, 2013 00:44
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Nf3 posted:How do-able is playing Dungeon World in a almost completely non magical (Tolkien-esque) setting? Wizards won't be allowed and probably the Paladins and Clerics too. Perhaps the Bard could stay with some adjustments.
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Dec 7, 2013 21:13
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Like so many people, I ran my group through the Heart of the Minotaur, and with my group's bard being such a terrible person, things took their natural course and he's now a minotaur. My initial thought was, "you walked up to a prostrate beast begging for mercy and stabbed him in the throat for money, gently caress you sir!" But later I tried to think of creative ways to keep him around in a way that is fun, but also has consequences, without making him the focus of the game. Maybe something like a cursed minotaur racial move, where he can hulk out but has to pass a death check after. Does anybody have good stories about cursed characters and how it played out?
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Dec 30, 2013 18:07
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ritorix posted:Nope, I've run it several times now and every game turns into a failure cascade as the new minotaur goes into a bloodrage, gets killed by someone else, then another, repeat until party wipe. Just as intended.
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Jan 4, 2014 18:20
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Fenarisk posted:It was an off week from the unusual DW game, and a player wanted to run a game but wanted something very simple, so we use World of Dungeons. One of the players inquired "Couldn't you just run this with no stats and just use skills instead kind of like FATE?". It got me thinking it could work in something like World of Dungeons that doesn't use "moves" per say, because so far the only complaint my players have with DW is remembering all the possible moves and bonuses they get depending on what they do (they have a problem with fiction first, always have).
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Jan 6, 2014 18:10
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ProfessorProf posted:I remember there was a really popular one-page dungeon written for Dungeon World a while back, centered around a minotaur and an awesome twist ending. Does anyone still have a link to it? I can't find it anymore. Heart of the Minotaur from the One Page Dungeon Contest: http://campaignwiki.org/wiki/DungeonMaps/One_Page_Dungeon_Contest_2011
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Jan 6, 2014 18:25
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I guess I haven't played enough to come across a situation triggering four advanced class moves.
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Jan 6, 2014 20:23
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:I would make the downsides to him failing hack and slash rolls do nasty things to him all the time. Throw him across the room, make the force of his attack collapse the floor, trip him, make him lose grip on his weapon.
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Jan 7, 2014 20:40
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:Punishing hubris is the best thing about being a GM, in any game.
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Jan 8, 2014 00:52
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Handgun Phonics posted:The problem with a lot of the default playbooks is that they're fairly bland, and quite often just not all that fun to use, compared. Of them, the Druid is probably the best, and also bears the least resemblance to its D&D counterpart. The Fighter is a little bland on its own, but with Improved Fighter to patch it up and a bit of imagination, you can make plenty of fun stuff. It's almost as versatile as the Mage if you want any sort of physical powerhouse, especially with the multiclass moves.
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Jan 19, 2014 16:52
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Has anyone played with the Sky Chain dungeon starter? I'm thinking about using it, and wondering what sorts of adventures other people have had.
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Jan 20, 2014 02:08
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gnome7 posted:It absolutely does. Have a single +1d6 somewhere isn't that bad, but when you get up to +4d6 or whatever the Paladin eventually has, literally everything falls before you in one or two hits. The HP in the game is not meant to be very high, and there is no scaling to speak of (which is part of the game's appeal).
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Feb 4, 2014 16:51
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Whybird posted:Two of the PCs in my current game are looking increasingly likely to come to blows. It's all healthy IC rivalry (and I am well aware of the need to intervene if they do find it spilling over to OOC) -- that's not my worry. I've not found much on how to handle PvP conflict in game mechanics though. How have other people run it?
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Feb 5, 2014 23:46
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Doodmons posted:Do you enjoy the idea of making characters inside of ten minutes, having lots of player input into the world, the plot and what's going on around them and rules-light, heavy on improvisation funtimes? If so, Dungeon World is probably the game for you. This might be the wrong thread to ask, but are there any good fantasy games in the Dungeon World genre that are less beholden to D&D tropes? Edit: VVV Oooh, Vincent Baker PerniciousKnid fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Nov 16, 2014 |
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Nov 15, 2014 21:55
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Fenarisk posted:Running an online campaign, looking for some cool ideas for a Vietnam level jungle of death. Anyone have any good ideas for customer moves or options for really hammering home a deadly, death world style jungle the players have to traverse through for a session? Death wears a star-spangled top hat, and sends the player back if they roll 6- on Last Breath.
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Nov 19, 2014 19:07
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Fenarisk posted:Running an online campaign, looking for some cool ideas for a Vietnam level jungle of death. Anyone have any good ideas for custom moves or options for really hammering home a deadly, death world style jungle the players have to traverse through for a session? My instinct is to mess with the Make Camp move a bit, to make spending extended periods in the jungle seem more treacherous. Maybe roll+CON to get your healing, add some appropriate scary 7-9 results to potentially pick up an exhaustion debility, or something similar that reinforces the stress of being in that environment.
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Nov 20, 2014 06:55
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Does anyone have a good monster reference book they like? The DW rulebook's monster section is fairly sparse, and I'm not creative enough to flesh out monsters on my own. I have the D&D Monster Manual 4E, which has pictures and some basic descriptions, but I'm curious if anyone else has favored reference material.
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Nov 29, 2014 00:09
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Ich posted:Here's the Dungeon World Codex. That's cool, but I'm really looking for depth, not variety.
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Nov 29, 2014 01:55
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Finally had the chance to play a second game, with one newbie whose prior RPG experience was a DnD bummer. I'm convinced we're not creative enough to really get the most out of D-dub. I particularly, as the GM, am prone to boring stretches of "OK now the monster attacks you". Nevertheless, we had a fun time, might get to do it again, and I think things will get better if we practice. It uses brain muscles I don't often use. I feel like I need to read/hear better examples of play in combat situations. I was proud of the penguin moves I gave the Druid, "dart swiftly through water" and "waddle frivolously".
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Dec 11, 2014 19:44
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You're not wrong, and I think this session went better than the last in part because we did a better job of that this time. On the other hand, the players came up with locations like "The North", "South", "The Flats" and "The Cave", so I think we need practice all around.
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Dec 11, 2014 20:43
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Auralsaurus Flex posted:Yes, gnome made such a playbook, called exactly that—the Guest Star. He even provided a nice preview for it. Yeah OK, I usually ignore custom classes but that's fantastic.
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Dec 15, 2014 20:26
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As might be gathered from above, I don't play much, so I don't need eight versions of the wizard or whatever people come up with. But the Guest Star is just a really cool concept, neatly integrated into the existing game.
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Dec 16, 2014 17:00
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Harrow posted:Does anyone have advice for keeping track of things in combat? I'm still dealing with a larger group than I'd like, so sometimes it's hard for me to keep in my head where everyone is, what danger characters are in, that kind of thing. Luckily my players have been doing a pretty good job of both keeping track of their own current situation in battle and being pretty proactive (except for two of the players, but there will always be quiet ones), but I still get lost in the flurry sometimes. I'm not a DW expert, but for RPGs in general I scale up the detail with complexity. If I have a complicated fight then I pull out markers for the characters (usually dice) and sketch a rough map. DW doesn't use a grid so I just drew on notebook paper.
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Dec 19, 2014 21:47
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Arashiofordo3 posted:A good idea is to look at the guest start playbook. Its the ultimate one shot, lots of death book. Plus it encourages multiple deaths to give other advantages. You should be able to find it on DriveThruRPG That was my first thought too. Maybe you can steal some appealing Guest Star moves and add them as racial or bonus moves to spice up the standard classes.
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Jan 23, 2015 16:26
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I wouldn't think "campaign", I find it distracting. It makes it harder to improvise moves in the moment. Play out a session with a focus on catering to the characters' interests (your cleric hates evil, maybe some cultists or demons are running around). After the first session, take the best parts and spin those into a campaign.
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Sep 9, 2015 23:08
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Bazanga posted:When you say "ask them questions about the world"? How often is too often? I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the "players have as much say as the GM" when it comes to storybuilding. I just want to make sure that I'm giving enough fluff/texture to the players that they can get inspired to make up some cool poo poo. My interpretation is that the players have a say in how the world appears to their characters. Their input should be tied to their characters. So I try to ask questions not like, "Are there trolls here?" but rather "what do you think of trolls/why are you fighting a troll?" If the barbarian has no interest in religion, he shouldn't be describing Temple politics (but the cleric might, or the militant atheist thief).
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Sep 10, 2015 19:36
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How about a hireling that builds hold by causing trouble (say, by satisfying an appetite), and spends it to aid characters? "Momo grabbed the shiny thing, give her a point of hold and make a move against the party. Momo spent a hold to pull the bad guy's cape over his eyes." I think that might work well with a player who only wants to interject occasionally. Edit: Could work without her having dice, if that matters.
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Sep 22, 2015 14:55
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You could do kind of like a druid, and outline a few moves she could spend hold on. If they're broad and obvious, she doesn't have to memorize them, but can review them for ideas/prompts. Aside from that, you're basically just imposing a Defy Danger - Partial Success style of risk-reward, right? But you're skipping the roll and going straight to offering an opportunity (hold) at a cost. Or maybe a druid shapeshift 7-9 is a better comparison here, but it amounts to the same thing. I would think of the mechanic as just doing that, repeatedly. And if she feels like rolling, you can make it like the full druid move; 10+ success gives 3 hold for doing animal-type things, 7-9 hold 1, etc.
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Sep 22, 2015 19:25
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Whybird posted:Are there any rulebooks that are to do with the party spending money to build a fortress or thieves' guild or something like that? It was a pretty iconic part of oD&D, if memory serves, and I'd love for my group of players to have a big, tempting shopping list of money-sinks beyond the Carouse move. I'd prefer it not to be in playbook form if possible -- this is something that all the PCs will be contributing to, not just one. Would it work to just grab an OD&D guide to fortresses or whatever? If you're just looking for a price list, it seems like as good a source as any.
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Dec 3, 2015 02:54
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I think it's legitimate to say that if you think lots of dice rolling for result is exciting, like a game is craps, Dungeon World isn't the best at scratching your itch. In other games you just say, "we're hitting each other" and roll the dice a lot. I find it hard to come up with enough interesting prompts to get through a combat in DW, but I'd also say it's usually more interesting even when done at a mediocre level.
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Feb 2, 2016 20:40
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I actually get to play a one shot instead of running one this week, and I'm leaning toward wizard. Does anyone have cool ideas for places of power to inspire me?
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Feb 13, 2016 18:47
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Blasphemeral posted:For example, The Gladiator (I think?) is super combat focused, to the point of being kinda boring in a non-combat game. But if your game is going to be half-or-more combat, you'll probably be fine to add it (I never have). The corollary is that if Gladiator is made available, whether the players choose it tells you something about the kind of game they want to play.
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Jun 21, 2016 18:18
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Waffles Inc. posted:How do I do all of that while still weaving in the "draw maps but leave blanks"? I just think of fronts as a tool for organizing suggestions, akin to a list of premade names for NPCs and locations. When the players fail their negotiation roll with the mayor, it's convenient to fall back on those notes. "Sorry, I can't lend you my airship because" *looks at fronts* "I already gave it to Evil Cult so they can" *looks at agenda* "transport materials for their Great Ritual." If it were D&D you'd just be rolling to see how rude/helpful the mayor was while delivering your prewritten exposition. In Dungeon World you're constantly making moves in response to the players' improvisation, so it's helpful to have a few sources to draw from for inspiration (fronts, monster moves, dungeon moves).
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Apr 5, 2018 19:59
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Jimmeeee posted:(Defy Danger can still use any stat, I'm just as disappointed as you) What's wrong with that?
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Apr 21, 2018 21:42
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Overemotional Robot posted:After going back to the default harm clock from AW I def. Like it better than HP. My players definitely give a poo poo now before they enter combat because it can be so deadly. Should probably make it a torch or something though for Dungeon World.
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Apr 22, 2018 21:02
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Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:Well sometimes they want to stylishly breakdance out of the way using Cha - at some point you gotta make a ruling and depends on the tone of your game. I'm thinking something like a Star Lord dance-off or a crossdressing Bugs Bunny. D&D was lousy with this stuff, like a fencing class that let you Dodge with INT or whatever. Dungeon World is only as silly as you make it. Harvey Mantaco posted:"Sure, try to stop the rushing ogre by yelling STOP to surprise and confuse it for a moment or doing the 'ol point behind him and shout "look, an _____!", but if you fail and haven't tried to defend yourself... it's going to be rough" I think it could, if ogres are established as being particularly stupid in your world. Or maybe this is the roll that establishes it. PerniciousKnid fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Apr 23, 2018 |
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Apr 23, 2018 17:05
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Pollyanna posted:I’m considering GMing for the first time (I’m fairly new to TTRPGS), and I am thinking of running a Dungeon World one-shot. I have no idea if I’d do particularly well, but I’m mega curious so I figured I’d try. Personally I would not recommend using a pre-written dungeon. As an inexperienced improv-poor DM myself, I found it to be distracting as I tried to steer toward pre-determined elements. Instead, read/watch as much material as you can for ideas, and focus on building on your players' contributions. But, I'm not a terribly creative person at heart, so I feel like if I'm going to make Dungeon World's improvisational style work, I need to check my story prep at the door.
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May 3, 2018 17:29
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