Twitter Pitch
Distorted reality world-building survival game using hacked Funnel World (derivative of Dungeon World) ruleset.
The story begins…
You are a group of villagers struggling to survive after a mysterious event which has put the whole of the cosmos in a state of flux. Now, the very laws of physics fissure and fracture moment to moment until suddenly, at seemingly random intervals, the cosmos BEATS like a living heart, and reality reasserts itself. Some of you remember a scientist… or a sage… or a hive mind named Heisenberg who had a theory that reality is an array of dimensions plucked from probability by those observing it, and that it only exists by consensus. Something has happened to cause this instability, and you’ll get to the bottom of it… just as soon as your friends stop dying.
Beats
For the purposes of forum play, I’ve come up with this system:
Some GM posts will begin with [BEAT]. Between this post, and the next [BEAT] you are allowed, and encouraged to make three (3) rolls without being prompted. Think of them as your hands, head, and feet. In games like pathfinder and DnD, they would be Major, Minor, and Move actions, respectively. Feel free to self-DM these rolls within your post. Because of the way [BEAT]s work narratively, when I post, I will make any corrections needed. This game is practically about retconning.
Feet: This will usually be a Defy Danger roll, and usually with DEX. If there is a threat between you and what you want to do, or you want to get out of danger before or after your main action, that is what this roll is for. It’s especially useful for melee attackers who need to get into and out of range for their weapons.
Head: This is any of the mental stats, Spout Lore (INT), Discern Realities (WIS), Parley (CHA). Some classes will have moves that use other stats, but make sense as Head actions, like the Barbarian’s “What are you waiting for?” All of these moves are usually utilities.
Hands: Usually your physical stats: Hack and Slash(STR), Volley(DEX), and Defend(CON), there will be tons of moves that make sense here that use other stats, especially those moves that say you can Volley or Hack and Slash with another stat.
There is a lot of lenience here, and mostly I want to allow posters who aren’t on-board often to get the most out of one post. Feel free to spread your rolls out over more than one post, especially if you want feedback on a Discern Realities before you pick a target or something.
What this means is, you can post your character’s intentions in full without fearing that you’re over-reaching, or worrying about whether or not a move will trigger. Characters can pop in and out of existence randomly, time can flow at different rates for different characters, and all of it neatly explained by the [BEAT]s.
The [BEAT] will generally come on Fridays or Saturdays. If everyone has made a move, I might post a [BEAT] in the middle of the week as well. When things get slow, feel free to rp and develop backstory. It will keep the forum active. Flashbacks to camp are great.
Death
Funnel World is built for death. Until you reach level 1, you don’t get a Last Breath roll. When you do die, your character will be reincarnated. You’ll get to keep a number of stats, attributes and/or moves equal to your level, but everything else is re-rolled and you start back at level -2. It’s up to you if you want to keep the same alias or make a new one.
Rolls and DM Fiat
I have final say on what stat a roll used, or whether a roll was even triggered. If you aren’t sure if what you did counts for a roll, or what stat to roll, but you’re willing to take a risk to get things done, drop a 2d6 roll at the end of your post and I’ll figure it out. If you want to be sure that you are not taking risks, just don’t post a roll. Rules-as-written, it is my job to tell you when and what to roll.
Because you can technically see your roll before you submit your post, we are going to embrace that as a mechanic. Successes will be what you want, failures are the only way to advance, but don’t be afraid to leave a 7-9 in your post, I will always give you a choice on what will happen with at least one “out”. I’ll also do everything I can to make sure you get some use out of the +1 Forward from Discern Realities.
Multiple choice moves
If you can choose more than one, you can always choose the same thing more than once, either for different reasons, or to double the effect. This is especially true of Discern Realities and the question “what here is useful or valuable to me?” or Defend and the “deal your level in damage to the attacker.”
Spout Lore
I do Spout Lore a little differently than most DMs. Before you roll, your character literally says what they remember. This is your opportunity to make something up about the world without me asking. If I decide the move triggers (I like the idea, but want to leave it to chance, or introduce a twist) a 10+ means that what they said is totally how this world works. On a 9 or less, someone else in the party remembers differently. (That doesn’t mean either of you are right.) If I decide the lore spouted is too big a change, I will probably require multiple rolls (breaking the lore down into smaller parts), but there is a small chance I just won’t trigger the move. Usually it will be because I like the idea so there’s no ‘risk of failure’. If you don’t have an idea and just want info, you can have your character trail off… I’ll fill in the facts as normal. I will not override a Spout Lore just because it contradicts my prep or even canon. Although, if it’s a big change to recent canon, you might need to Defy Danger CHA to convince the rest of the party that they’re remembering it wrong.
Aid Another
The statute of limitations on Aid rolls is the second [BEAT] after a move is rolled. If Jim rolls a 6 on Thursday, and the [BEAT] occurs on Friday, you can still roll to Aid that same move any time before the next [BEAT]. Just… don’t roll a 6-.
Loot
Beyond the objects described on a person or in a room, you can loot rooms and bodies by Discerning Realities and choosing “what here is useful or valuable to me?” if you get three choices on your roll, you can choose that question once, twice, or three times, and I will give you more or better stuff if it’s reasonable for there to be stuff to loot. I totally do nasty traps sometimes, so be careful. (I roll a lot of dice to help figure things out and to keep the variety of challenges fresh)
Loot will be a bit random, but all items you see on a creature you can grab without rolling, and all sweet loot that enemies carry they will probably use on you, but hey, then you’ll know what it does! Otherwise, you find out an item’s tags through use or by Spouting Lore. (Cursed items exist.)
Available Classes
We will be playing by the Dungeon World rules and working primarily with the Funnel World rulebook with an expanded set of tables. For advanced moves, the use of the core, Inverse World, and Grim World playbooks is acceptable and encouraged. Basically, if you have a playbook just PM me and I’ll try to make it work. Anything you can build with Class Warfare is game. I’ll even help you with theming. Feel free to cherry-pick moves.
Leveling is a tiny bit different. You’re starting at level -2. This will speed up initial leveling, and allow us to take single moves to build up to our classes before we reach level 1. Each level (in addition to increasing a stat by 1) you may gain one move (sometimes two or three, depending on requirements. I wouldn’t make someone take Spellbook, Prepare Spells and Cast Spells separately) So that at level 1, you will have a full complement of starting moves. Xp requirements are still 7+Level. This means that your first level costs 5 XP.
Don’t…. uh… don’t specialize too much on combat. It’s not going to be a focus of play.
The moves you choose should reflect your character’s resources and play. You cannot learn to Cast Spells until you have found a spellbook, Call Shots without a ranged weapon, or Turn Undead before you’ve found a holy symbol. I mean, these are strictly abstractions, and not specific requirements. The point is that your advancements need to be telegraphed in play. There will be plenty of stuff to pick up. I plan to leave you making hard choices between valuable artifacts and rations.
How do I start?
Your characters will start with an occupation. It comes with the following move:
Know Your Stuff
When you Spout Lore or Discern Realities about something related to your occupation, tell the GM why you deserve it and take +1 to that roll if the GM agrees.
In addition, when you have the resources (time, materials, etc.) to do something you know how to do, you do it.
Other than that, you will get your Stats, Occupation, Race, Gear, Personality trait, Physical trait, and Gender by rolling dice. You can take the stats in order, or rearrange them if you like, and you can veto any gender/trait/name etc. that you’re not comfortable with, but let’s see what the dice give us before we start making adjustments.
Go Here...
...and post on this forum a 3d6 roll for each stat, and a roll on each available table. The dice to roll are listed in the tab name. If you don’t want to look at the tables, just roll...
dice=Strength]3d6[/dice]
dice=Dexterity]3d6[/dice]
dice=Constitution]3d6 [/dice]
dice=Intelligence]3d6 [/dice]
dice=Wisdom]3d6[/dice]
dice=Charisma]3d6[/dice]
dice=Occupation]3d30[/dice]
dice=Race]2d13[/dice]
dice=Gender]2d4-2[/dice]
dice=Name, Quirk, Trait]3d100[/dice]
...and I’ll introduce you to your character.
This is a very, very cool idea.
Also, you should Freeze the first two rows on at least the Name sheet. It will make it way easier to keep your place while scrolling through.
I'm not sure I'll actually submit but let's see what the dice say.
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- Hunter! Not with that Dexterity, hah.
- Gnome.
- Masculine
- Urimop.
- Nearsighted Drunkard.
Forager
Gnome
Dandy
Zilmin, Morbid, Hirsute
So if I were to play this, I'd be a hairy gnome fop who's obsessed with death and picks mushrooms for a living.
Ehhhh, pass.
I'll throw my hat in, see how it goes
not hating this character, might be fun.
Dhampir named Imazael
Owns: woodaxe (close, 1 weight), 4 firewood (1 weight).
Racial move: A Nose for Death - When you are a Dhampir and test the air for decay, the GM must tell you if there are undead nearby.
to clarify... what time period is this?
I'm over extended but I will be watching this with interest. Your Beats mechanic is fascinating.
Out of curiosity, when you say: "don't be afraid to leave a 7-9 in your post" are you anticipating that people will reroll until they get the result they want (as a featured mechanic)?
This can only be good.
--- Why, hello there.
--- Pilgrim. Right.
--- Dwarven Pilgrim, even.
--- Dwarven Thug Pilgrim. I'm...confused about Thug being a gender. This a personality thing?
Muirkhom the Dark-eyed Gullible Thug Pilgrim.
Muirkhom the Dark-eyed Gullible Thug Pilgrim, carrying naught but a staff and his holy symbol.
I'm wondering how fun it would be to play him already.
Gulirk would make a passable Ranger. The possibilities for animal companion are rich with characterization. If you want to move to the discussion thread, my first question for you would be: What rare resource does Ms. Ketodur Scout for? What dangers does she keep a lookout for? What places are best avoided? (Yes, that's one question.)
Imazael can go a lot of places with her stats and race. The time period depends on the consensus we reach. There are a few occupations that would make that easier to establish. You're all members of a poor village with limited resources, whether it's medievil, third-world, or a colony depends on what kind of setting develops around the characters we roll. I mean, we would have a forest near the village because we have a woodcutter. Unless that's not what that means... If you want to move to Discussion, my first question would be: in relation to the village, where does Imazael(?) cut wood and what is the place known for?
McKaos: It's hard to articulate... it's possible to fudge the dice a bit on this forum, and I'm saying to go for it if that's how you want to play, but it won't give you an advantage in the long run. However, if you're going out of your way to avoid cheating, you're missing out on the ability to get creative with your rolls. Trying desperately to explain how you avoid a trap with not-dex, or describe in detail just how awesome your 12+ with max damage looked... I'm acknowledging the ways this differs from table-play and saying it's all good.
Muirkhom is a hyper-masculine dudebro/jock/manly man. Pilgrims travel tons. If you want to move to Discussion, my first question (is a tricky one) how did you get here? Answer as thoroughly as you can.
If you'd like to keep Urimop as-is, it looks like he used to be a hunter until he was crippled. If you want to move to discussion, your first question is, whenever he isn't drinking, what does Urimop remember about how he got crippled?
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Well hell here we go....
= cobbler
= Dhampir (Again with this!)
= Masculine!
Phraan(z), Dark skin and solitary
The dark-skinned and impressively muscled Phraanz (ya, here me now and listen to me later, leetle gurly mahn. *kisses bicep*) followed his brother Imazael as the woodcutter kept searching for the ever elusive cinnamon wood. Phraanz would often lecture his brother on the need to lift the heavy wood with his legs, and did the best he could to keep him in good shoes, so to have a stable base of support when lifting with the quads and gluts.
Phraanz often wants to set up his shop in town, where there might be more business, but whenever he sees small children, he just thinks about the epic pupitude he could give his biceps and triceps if he could just start to curl them, and for some reason people think that's strange, so he mostly just keeps to himself, looking for small animals to eat raw to get the most complete protein for maximum pumpocity.
(Congrats on the stats.)
And we have our first racial majority. Whatever's afoot (get it? Cobbler? Afoot? Hur hur hur) the living dead are a regular thing 'round these parts. If you're ready to take Phraanz to the discussion board, What is it about being a dhampir that gets Phraanz so pumped and which Imazael just doesn't get?
Meh, I'll pass - too many below-10 rolls. Are you going with the Funnel World RAW that HP=CON/4? Then I'd only have 2 HP!
(And Spwack, Krenin only has 1 HP!)
If you can hold on to him, Krenin will hold a lot of sway over the setting with that int/cha combo. If you'd like to take Krenin to discussion, my first question for him is: As a hitchiker, where is Krenin headed and why?
I cannot wait for Krenin and Muirkhom to talk about how the world is outside the village.
I'll put together a google doc for character sheets in case folks don't want to make an alias for a character with less than 6 hp.
I'm not sure if everyone's really on board, so I think we can afford to extend this invitation to one more.
Kyrillosr may not look like much, but dodging danger is all one needs when the ultimate goal is survival. Merfolk are somewhat rare (due to the way the table is set up) If you'd like to move to the Discussion thread, my first question is this: A river cuts through the forest and makes the village possible. What safeguards are in place to keep the water flowing clear?
The first gameplay post is up for those 7 of you with characters in the Character Sheets doc. Otherwise, recruitment is closed for now.
Open again! Read the first post and a bit of recent Gameplay, check out the docs, especially the character sheets.
Let me know if you want to take over an existing villager, or if you want to try the dice and ride in on a holy warsheep.