I thought Sarthel stayed with Rankev? They said they'd go with anyone working over the villagers, in memory. Why is she involved with the knight right now?
Wasn't clear to me from the posts, Sarthel, feel free to join either scene.
I said that if anyone else wanted to go bolster the villager's spirits, I'd go with them. I really didn't think that putting them to work would help, so in my mind I went with the Knight. Sorry for the confusion...
Update coming over the weekend. Crazy busy at work this week,
Atlas, I'd expand on that - giving details feels even better...
I find the bejeweled ancient Sword of Power that grants me rule over all the lands! Because of the ancient traditions, all automatically recognize my authority...
...and I now have +3 to *all* my rolls... ;)
Seriously, tho, we might be the *only* game he's GM'ing (which would be good, it means his time's not divided up amongst a lot of games).
I've sent him a PM asking how he's doing...
Alas. Ah well - a pleasure playing with you all!
First of all my thanks for your continued patience with this.
Secondly, my apologies for such a slow campaign.
Thirdly, I am alive, and not invested as a GM in anything else at the moment.
But finally, the first quarter of 2017 has seen me lose two grandmothers and a beloved family pet, and helping my family through all of this. In addition, my real life responsibilities have been escalating due to increasingly frequent weddings, new babies, and the personal crises of many of my friends.
These are what has been taking preference over GMing and RPing. Although I am sorry that I haven't been able to run this game like I dreamed, I believe my priorities are in order.
So I see three options from here.
From there, you each answer a final round of questions which you would tell me what your character went on to do.
As a final gift, I'll 'give up the ghost' on what was planned for the campaign and endeavour to ask any questions.
Thanks again for all your patience and understanding. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
My condolences on your losses. I totally get RL coming first! I hope things improve for you going forward.
I don't have the bandwidth to GM, sadly. I'll happily keep playing if someone else wants to take over; failing that, the "relay finale" sounds like an improvement over just stopping to me.
Also: thanks for the effort you put in to this!
Sorry about the stuff happening IRL, hope things settle down soon.
I'm almost of the opinion that *some* game is better than *no* game, but I think that would be up to you - how often do you realistically think you could post? If less than once per week, it's probably better that you step down as GM, and take care of RL.
I'm also almost interested in taking over as GM (I have the time, and I've GM'd on and off in several systems for decades), but I'm so new to the Dungeon World system and its totally different style that I'm kind of still daunted by it.
If it comes down to it, the "relay finale" would be great, thanks for offering to put in the time to do it!
Ohh, it's an unfortunate thing you're dealing with, but nonetheless, I doesn't diminish what you've already done. You did more than great for everything you've been dealing with.
Go on and get your life sorted. Whenever you come back, we'll be happy to see you.
And Sarthel? I say go for it. Best way to learn is by doing it, and hell, you'll even have materials to work with right off the bat that'll help you. If you're interested, then just do it. I'll be right behind you.
Seriously, if your experience ends up anything like mine, you won't regret it. Might not be the easiest thing, but you can say that about anything, really.
Go on, you know you want to!
If nobody takes over, then the relay finale's what I'd opt for. I'd be fine with the slow place if things continued as is, but I don't think our excellent DM needs anything else on their plate right now.
Thanks for being awesome humans everyone.
I am happy to pass the reins to Sarthel if you all are. The real fun of RP is in the actual doing of it, not the resolution of it. (journey>destination etc)
Sarthel, I've written some notes to support the campaign and nailed down the fronts I've done (albeit in a modified style). I hope that these serve as inspiration and direction in terms of where we would have gone together.
I would encourage you to seek a new player or two, and not to retcon Sarthel herself out at all. We love the unique character you developed.
If you have any concerns over GMing Dungeon World, I know Laguna is currently running a very active campaign, and I frequent the Dungeon World subreddit.
If you tell me you're down for this adventure and ready for the fun, I'll send you the notes via PM :)
If *all* of the current players are still interested, I'd be willing to try and take over for Lichkicker, despite my reservations.
So, Teren and Rankev - what say you?
Seeing as there's only 3 players (not including Sarthel, who'd stay on as an NPC), I'd probably also open up Recruitment again. Unless some of you can think of someone who'd might be interested...
I'm in.
Ok, so Lichkicker, if you'd PM me all of your scenario's notes, I'd really appreciate it.
Laguna, any ideas?
If you're asking about getting players, you're free to go to my campaign to recruit. One more is probably enough, though definitely don't go higher than 6 players total in the campaign.
Otherwise, I don't know what you want to know from me. Got to remember I'm still a player.
Oh, and ah...the class I'm playing currently is a personal concoction, so I'm going to need to introduce you to that properly.
Ok, so Lichkicker, if you'd PM me all of your scenario's notes, I'd really appreciate it.
Laguna, any ideas?
I'll do so when I get in to work tomorrow. About 18hrs from this post.
I'll be lurking every now and then to keep tabs
To assist, I'll also let you know what I had planned for the next few scenes. That should be enough to get you up and running.
Lichkicker - thanks for the info!
Laguna - can you please PM me all the background about your custom-made PC? And thanks for letting me recruit from your campaign.
ALL - I'm going to take a day or two to absorb all the info, and see if anyone else wants to join, then pick up where we left off...
Well, no one's responded from Laguna's game, so I'm going to re-open Recruitment for a few days...
(Rankev, I'm working on that now...)
AFAICT, in DW the DM interprets all your rolls, providing the story based on the results of those rolls. But, considering my newness to DW, I would like to suggest the following change : *you* narrate the results of your own rolls!
On a 10+, you describe how you achieved your success, and include any weapon tag results from a Hack&Slash or spell.
On a 7-9, you come up with your partial success (or added complication), if it isn't already described by your Move.
On a 6-, you describe how you fail.
When it's my turn to narrate, I would add a soft move on a 7-9, and a hard move on a 6-.
What do you all think of this approach? Please be honest (but gentle...).
BTW, we've got a new player playing a Barbarian, he should be ready in a day or two.
I think this is going just a little far? I mean, essentially, we end up doing the majority of the DM stuff...which is probably the point, but it leads to either you doing a fairly negligible amount in the role you're supposed to take, or you end up compounding our described issues in anything but a success.
Issues in how the game is run aside, it's also a very good way to stifle your development as a GM. You're going to learn far, far less about how to run the game, and probably end up frustrated with the lack of influence you have.
I'd say if you want to do something like this, then take a look at this:
When you act despite an imminent threat or suffer a calamity, say how you deal with it and roll. If you do it:
by powering through, +STR
by getting out of the way or acting fast, +DEX
by enduring, +CON
with quick thinking, +INT
through mental fortitude, +WIS
using charm and social grace, +CHA
✴On a 7+, you do what you set out to and the specific threat you initially rolled to avoid doesn’t come to bear.
✴On a 7–9, describe how the situation worsens for your character, the party, or the world. If the GM is impressed by your creative masochism, mark XP.
You seen this before? It's an alteration to Defy Danger which has a player detail their own consequences for 7-9 rolls, which I've seen employed well in one of my prior campaigns. Statistically speaking, 7-9 rolls are the majority of rolls, and Defy Danger if the move that gets the most mileage. It eases your load notably and encourages us to make life hard for ourselves, while not making you largely superflous.
If you want to make things easier while you're learning, I'd suggest that...just not having us adjudicate everything.
Your call of course. When I started my campaign, I deliberately chose not to use that version of DD so as to help me learn to GM well by making sure I got familiar with how to make moves and all that stuff.
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You don't need to worry so much about GMing for the first time. The one thing I'd definitely suggest is giving the GM info a very good read. A few times to help learn properly, preferably.
(Both sites contain the same info. It's just a matter of preference which you use.)
Being familiar with the GM rules (and yes, they are rules, and not guidelines), and being aware of the fiction will make life a lot easier when it comes to making moves. Many of the player moves already give you guidance on which moves to make, so that helps too.
Whatever you do...please not this. It feels like a bit of a kneejerk reaction born from being a tad too nervous.
I don't care if things are a bit questionable as long as you keep learning, and things aren't boring.
Relax, alright? You'll do fine.
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Imma ditto what Laguana said. If I'm running my character and I'm my character's DM, then the DM is just telling me what rolls to make, and is kinda passive.
Also, I have no idea what a "soft move" is. No, no don't tell me, I wouldn't understand. Nor, I think, would many of us. Or we'd do it, but not the way you wanted us to, so that would be another problem.
[Mind you, I don't even understand the logic behind the soft move. Seems kinda treadmill-y.
line 10: DM: You are IN DANGER!
line 20: PC: I roll <a 7-9>!
line 30: goto 10.
And this continues until a 6- is rolled <take damage!> or a 10 is rolled <end of line>.]
Anyway, yeah, by giving us that power, you are giving power to people who don't understand it.
I'd just end up making you mad anyway. =)
Of note, your Gameplay assessment of the situation is accurate, at least for Power. =)
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I'll generally agree with Laguna. I'd add a little more - I think the alternate Defy Danger works well, and narrating your own success on a 10+ sometimes works fine also, but (to me) the motivation for both changes is to help increase the pace of a PbP game by allowing more to happen in one round of posts, and both of those come with the caveat that the player has to have a good grasp of "a move that follows" - it's hard to do your own 10+ Discern or Spout Lore or Parley, and the 7-9 Defy only really works if the Danger has been clearly identified.
That said, I think it'd be totally fine to say "please suggest complications/setbacks on any 6-/7-9 in ooc text", which you could then use, adapt, or ignore freely, if you're worried about getting stuck creatively.
AFAICT, in DW the DM interprets all your rolls, providing the story based on the results of those rolls. But, considering my newness to DW, I would like to suggest the following change : *you* narrate the results of your own rolls!
On a 10+, you describe how you achieved your success, and include any weapon tag results from a Hack&Slash or spell.
On a 7-9, you come up with your partial success (or added complication), if it isn't already described by your Move.
On a 6-, you describe how you fail.
When it's my turn to narrate, I would add a soft move on a 7-9, and a hard move on a 6-.
What do you all think of this approach? Please be honest (but gentle...).
BTW, we've got a new player playing a Barbarian, he should be ready in a day or two.
Even I'm going to weigh in here.
The GM doesn't interpret all your rolls. The moves that people make have specific outcomes for success or partial success and allow you to suit those to the fiction. Sometimes even failure has specific outcomes in the move too. In addition, on a fail you get to make a GM move. It's hard or soft depending on how generous you are. DON'T give that up to the players, because you'll need it to balance the game.
You've gotta go with your GM instincts on these. But whether you make hard or soft moves in DW is at your discretion.
Look to the book as guidance
You make a move:
*When everyone looks to you to find out what happens
*When the players give you a golden opportunity
*When they roll a 6-
Generally when the players are just looking at you to find out what happens you make a soft move, otherwise you make a hard move.
...
When you have a chance to make a hard move you can opt for a soft one instead if it better fits the situation. Sometimes things just work out for the best.
Hello all. I am reporting for duty.
Ok, all, thanks for the feedback. I'll abandon that line of thought (altho I may use Teren's idea if I feel I'm getting creatively stuck).
Just everyone please be patient with me as I learn to GM the system, and don't hesitate to point out when I'm doing something you think is wrong (according to the rules) or sub-par (according to the fiction).
While Rankev has replied to my question in Gameplay about the summary of the current situation, I'd appreciate a yay-or-nay response from everyone, either here or there, thanks!
Zathra - how can an entire Elf clan be barbarians? And (maybe more importantly) *why*? How is being an Elf barbarian different than, say, being a forest Elf? How are you looked at by other Elf clans? Who specifically are you looking for, and why?
I realize that my background was a bit vague, but my thinking was that I would tie that into the Barbarian racial ability that talks about them being outsiders.
The short form answer is that Zakura is the Elven nation that is made up of all the riff-raff that don't fit into "REAL" Elven society. Basically, if you are enough of a wild child or criminal, you get removed from Elven society and sent to Zakura, which is in a forest near a mostly dormant volcano (it's the only forests that the other Elven nations still claim as part of Elven property, but in practice they don't care about at all.) While there are a good portion of Barbarians in Zakura, they are by no means the majority. The most common class in Zakura would actually be Immolator.
As for who I am specifically looking for, I'm looking for the tomb that contains the remains of my ancestral namesake (I am named after my Greatx7 Grandmother.) She supposedly was buried with her magical spear and helmet, the former of which allowed her to slow down time when in truly desperate situations, and the later of which represented a major favor owned to the wearer by Kathandrax, an ancient red dragon. Not trusting red dragons (because, you know, they're evil), the helmet is tied to his lifeforce, so until the promise is fulfilled, the wearer is able to better harm Kathandrax. Zathra, being who she is, wants to get the spear and helmet and kill Kathandrax.
ZenFox42, I think your summary nailed the immediate issues.
Zathra - welcome! Glad to have you joining us!
(One minor note on your sheet - in Dungeon World, anything that uses the abbreviation for a stat means the modifier, not the 8-18 number, so your max load should be 8+2=10. I think HP is literally the only thing in the rules where the base number matters.)
There's one other place in memory. You get discounts equal to your charisma score on certain things - generally services. All it takes is a little haggling.
Zathra - one of the ways Dungeon World works is by my asking you questions, which help "fill in" the details of the world.
Your answers were great! But they lead to another...
The actual favor/promise owed to the wearer of the helmet by Kathandrax has long since been lost to the mists of time. Please name 3 rumors (passed along thru your family, or bard's songs, etc.) you've heard about what it is.
Not a problem:
1) The favor owed is his truename. In Elven magic traditions, Master mages can use a target's true name to bend it to the mage's will.
2) The favor that he promised what to prevent the destruction of the Elven nations. As long as they control the helm, he would never attack them.
3) The favor is one thing of the bearer's choice from Kathandrax's hoard, plus safe passage and non retaliation for the bearer and all of their descendants for a hundred generations.
Now now, he continues his use of the fox's visage to show his cunning! As a distraction from his surprisingly deadly nature! To let us all know that he would make an excellent pelt should we slay him and skin him!
...
Unless you plan to give us a dose of Tucker's Kobolds, but with foxes, perhaps a GM Alias would be best. I have a preference for specially designated aliases for such things anyway.
How does someone know if you're GM at a glance if you don't wear a funny GM hat?
It puts it in the thread header, but that's not really useful. I would recommend making an alt if you enjoy it, but I don't think it's necessary.
Now that it's been brought up, a couple of weeks ago I was wondering why people create the "DM xxx" moniker.
So, what actual functionality does seeing a message from "DM ZenFox42" vs. "ZenFox42" actually provide a player? I mean, ZenFox42 *is* the DM, and I don't make any other posts using that name, so...???
...ok, well, I *am* DM'ing two games - would DM ZenFox42 help indicate that the post is for *this* game? But doesn't the game's name also appear?
Basically, I'm confused about what advantage it provides the players.
I'll go with the majority vote, which right now is 2 to 1 for...
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Heh. I've actually done some thought on that.
Two points.
1) It makes it easier to search for a certain DM post if you need some data from it. If you can't find it on the 1000+ or whatever posts in the gameplay thread, you can just search the posts by the DM alias, which will only be a couple dozen, whereas a main alias might make many, many more posts.
2) It's all about "schema". That is "That a thing means the thing that we expect it to be." One of the reasons that Paizo is just better than playing on other PbPs, or, even, play by email, is that you -do- get a picture that conveys what you want to get across.
Tell ya what, here's an example. I'll put up three posts with three different alias. Try and point to which character it belongs to. =)
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"FOOL! I shall CRUSH you to a fine red pulp! Bards will sing of my victory in this battle! Your name will be FORGOTTEN, save as a story to scare small children, and as a word to mean the lowest FOOL who will soon meet a painful end! Your entrails will lay about thy broken body and your last thought will be a silent PRAYER for either something so sweet as mere PAIN or for the gentle release of DEATH to take you from the WRECKAGE that I will work upon thee!"
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"FOOL! I shall CRUSH you to a fine red pulp! Bards will sing of my victory in this battle! Your name will be FORGOTTEN, save as a story to scare small children, and as a word to mean the lowest FOOL who will soon meet a painful end! Your entrails will lay about thy broken body and your last thought will be a silent PRAYER for either something so sweet as mere PAIN or for the gentle release of DEATH to take you from the WRECKAGE that I will work upon thee!!"
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"FOOL!! I shall CRUSH you to a fine red pulp! Bards will sing of my victory in this battle! Your name will be FORGOTTEN, save as a story to scare small children, and as a word to mean the lowest FOOL who will soon meet a painful end! Your entrails will lay about thy broken body and your last thought will be a silent PRAYER for either something so sweet as mere PAIN or for the gentle release of DEATH to take you from the WRECKAGE that I will work upon thee!"
You find yourself in a port on Skylar IV. Your contact said to meet you at the Sweet Doomed Angel at 0900, so you've got two hours to spare. That's enough time to refuel the ship, or shop for parts, or roam about the station looking for trouble.
What do you do?
The head of Cuddles swivels about as the head of the automaton looks about the port, the sound of its metal feet making less sound than one would expect as they walk forward. They hadn't had their sentience long, but it was already seeing great use as they realised for the first time just how much went on in the worlds they visited...even if this was the first they would ever actually remember.
The animate armour stands in place for a moment, taking in the first world they'd ever visited with their newfound consciousness, before deciding they would do the supply run. Apparently, it wasn't uncommon for robots to be sent to do the shopping, with an internal record of prices and needed items. Many shopkeeps refused to even attempt to negotiate with them as long as the prices they had on record were reasonable, for few were the androids you could get to pay more than the prices they had on record, or to buy anything that wasn't on their list.
Cuddles didn't have such things as most robots, of course, being more...primitive? That probably wasn't the right word, given the fact that there was no robot thus far made with true artificial intelligence. Nonetheless, they were rather different to any typical android, and for all they had that put them ahead they lacked other features that would be unthinkable not to include on automatons of this age. But perhaps, with some decent acting, they could pass themselves off as one of the automatons of this day.
Filled with unfamiliar feelings, Cuddles went shopping.
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Your ship, the Fluttering Petal, needs some new stabilizers, and a replacement for the main buffer panel that inexplicably flew off after getting shot three times in a scrape with some bandits. Your captain, Aterro, gives you a list of the shops that might carry such things. Your internal GPS sinks up with the station's internal servNET and off you go.
Some recent construction sends your GPS into a tizzy, but it's able to find an alternate route. You begin to doubt the directness of the route when you find yourself on a path with sparse traffic, but, lacking options, soldier on, determined to carry out your human-given mission.
"Save me!" she cries as she runs into your cold, metal arms. 'She' in this case being a scantily clad human female perhaps in her early twenties. She only wears what appears to be a nighty or satin dress, but it shows signs of recent violence, and the lower rear is completely torn away, revealing a lack of underwear.
"You must help me!" she yells again, her full, warm breasts pressing against your uncaring and cold chasis. "I...I had hired a ship," she stammers, "B-but the...the captain, he, he said the money wasn't enough and he-he tried to--"
"There you are, missy," and 30-ish year old derro says as he walks around the corner. Derro are dark-skinned humanoids with bone spikes poking out of their skin. They have a reputation as good mercenaries with much loyalty and little mercy. But as star-farers they are not known. For her to deal with their kind she must've been truly desperate. "Oy, good 'bot', jus' giv us the l'il bit an' we'll be on our way, yeah?"
Two more derros, leather-wearing and festooned with metal and bone bangles, walk around the corner, flanking their leader.
What do you do?
Unable to tilt their head for lack of a neck or neck-like mechanism, Cuddles decides tilting their entire torso slightly to the side will suffice for the purpose.
Internal Note: Get retrofitted with a neck.
They weren't quite sure what to do in this situation. They hadn't had much time to learn. One might expect gallant words, but the automaton's design meant they lacked the capability of speech. This was quite the dilemma.
Now, what had they learned thus far...?
Actions spoke louder than words, apparently. Cuddles found this quite the blessing, once they came to the understanding that the meaning of this was not literal.
Similarly, one's fists were one of the most suitable things to use when speaking with action, as many 'let their fists do the talking'.
Now understanding the appropriate course of action, Cuddles moved the woman out of the way, and gestured for her to run - though the less observant may have thought they were just shooing her off.
And then, Cuddles ran in and started punching.
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The derro wade into fisticuffs with wild abandon, not caring about tactics or guile. However, for whatever reason, these boys have grown fluffy, too long having fed on soft spacers without combat skills, or utilitibots without hardened battle fists. Your punches prove more than either their bone carapace or their simple leather armor can handle. With three sickening *cracks!* soon the floor is littered with dark-tinged blood and three unmoving figures. Your internal scanners could determine if they were still living...if you spent enough time on it.
"Oh no! We must away!" the girl cries earnestly, obviously having not run away and pulling on your steel arms. Her toned, shapely and quite bare buttocks waves about uncaringly in her thrashing to get you and her out of sight. "The SkyCorpCops will surely have detected the fresh blood and either they, or worse, more IronFang will surely soon show up. Oh my! Oh no! Oh please tell me that you have a ship! I can not stay here doubly now! Oooooh!"
You fear that given much more delay the soft, squishy human female will simply pass out, so great are her hysterics.
What do you do?
This is great! Don't stop! ROTFL! :)
Ok, I'll come up with another "DM" alias...
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The girl's impassioned plea hits the 'need' part of your programming, overriding the 'want' of the shopping list. Your inability (or, at least, great inhibition) to lie lets you tell her about the ship, and you eventually lead her to it, again, due to a lack of immediate options.
You enter the cargo area, and find the captain, Aterro, holding court in the mess area, along with the pilot, Jetwash...and the rest of the crew.
The captain looks up as you enter. "Yeaaaaarrr. Back ar' ye already? D'ya have the stab'lizers an' bmper' p'nel? We canna--" Just then the girl steps in behind you, disheveled and half-dressed.
"By Erlik's black toes what have ye there now? I dinna think that yer kind had appetite like that, but I s'pose a man robot has needs the same as a man. I jus' hope ya didna pay too much."
The girl's lip starts to quiver and her wide eyes seem to water at the inference that she's a common trull.
What do you do?