Serpent Skull: Dungeon World Edition (Inactive)

Game Master Whack-a-Rogue

Amy and Silvio (the only surviving members of the original party) were on a boat cruise that shipwrecked. The NPCs are the other survivors. There's an overarching plot that involves some of them, but they haven't bit on any of the hooks, so I'm rolling with it. This IS Dungeon World, after all. ;-)

Posting again tonight when I get home from work. Was majorly sick yesterday, sorry.

Amy, I'm taking everything from your Island Goods list, except the Onate key and shackles, Small wooden model of the Jenevive inside a glass bottle, Five Dungeon Rations, and Four shovels.

Thank you :) I have update the list.

I don't understand the whole Bonds mechanic, and I may never get it. But I should really do it, because maybe I will. Mind you, of course the Artificer's bonds are crap, so I may need to wonder far afield with this.

1) Roman helped me with one of my projects. I owe them.

2) Fleet called me mad. Mad! I'll show them!

3) I trust Silvio implicitly; they are good and faithful.

4) Amy is in constant danger, I will keep them safe

Posted to all my games
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My work schedule changed, and my gaming availability has decreased significantly. To reduce my stress level and prevent burnout, I'll be reducing my posting activity until things get a bit less hectic. Don't worry - I'm not going anywhere. I'll just be updating things every couple days instead of my current rate. I'll still be able to check in and make short posts regularly, but my long plot-advancing updates will be a bit less frequent.

Shoot, just noticed that Silvio has 10/20 hit points. Did we regain any hit points between the pirate zombie fight and now?

We all regain any hit points after the zombie, so you should be 20/20.

Sorry about the delay, everyone. As a couple of you know, I'm having some RL issues right now. I'll update after work.

No worries. Take your time. RL > Gameing. Always.

Same here

As a few of you know, I'm really struggling with GM burnout right now. It's bad enough that when I asked myself why I run games, "It's fun" was my THIRD response. That's a problem. :-(

I'm aware of two contributing factors. First off, my work schedule recently changed, so I'm waking up crazy early and have a really long commute every day. I'm coming home exhausted every day. Also, the schedule change involved a location change, so I'm no longer able to make posts during the workday - which directly relates to the second reason....

Dungeon World works best with rapid-fire exchanges between the GM and players. IRL, I'm going back-and-forth with people constantly. Because I'm unable to do this throughout the day, I come home to find substantive posts from the entire party almost every day. Since DW also relies heavily on improvisation and shared-narrative power, this means I'm having to account for everyone's stuff at once. As the current scene reveals, this is a recipe for chaos and confusion. As it turns out, this campaign is the most time-consuming for me to run.

Anyway, enough moaning. How am I fixing this? First off, I've dropped a couple of my campaigns. Fewer games equals less stress for me. Depending on how that works out, I may be pausing this game for a bit until I get used to my new schedule. Less fatigue equals more brainpower for GMing. I'll keep you posted in that regard.
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In other news, my wife and I are leaving tomorrow morning for a cruise. We won't be back until early next week, so don't expect anything from me until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest. Hopefully a nice relaxing break will help cure my burnout. :-)

Congrats on the cruise, YBD. If that doesn't put in your head into a more gooder spot, nothing else will. ;)

Good stuff, Fleet. Glad we left this to the professionals. =)

I think one of the problems I've been having playing DW is that you're only rewarded for failing. My playstyle has been carefully honed to make sure that I only do things that will be tactically effective, or will somehow advance the situation, so I think I keep missing chances to get XP. I'm not sure if this means that I'm not very good at this game, but it certainly will mean that I'll be a weak link later on at higher levels (for whatever that phrase means in DW. =)
Just musing here. Not really asking a question, just having XP envy right now. =)

Enjoy your cruise! Thanks for sticking with the campaign, I'm really enjoying it and I think I speak for everyone in the party when I say that.

The cruise provided some much-needed rest and relaxation. Burnout's been delayed for the moment. :-)

@Hank: One of the perks of DW is that levels aren't particularly important. Your power level at Character Creation is pretty much where you'll stay for the entirety of the game. Your HP will only increase by a point or two, for example, and stat mods cap out at +3. Gaining levels will give you additional Moves, but those are just different ways you can affect the narrative. A level discrepancy makes no difference in this system; in fact, new PCs always come in at Level One and can contribute just fine. It's just a different way of looking at things. :-)

Welcome back! Good to know you got some quality rest :)

Agreed :) Glad your cruise has been beneficial, I thought it might.

Taking a 3 day weekend from posting today guys, I'm released early from work and it's too bright outside to sit at my computer for now. Might update tonight, otherwise have a good weekend and will update Monday!

I really should bother to read those pesky "rules" one of these days.

For all the DW that I've played (admittedly, it's not been a lot) I've never increased a stat from going up a level.

I, uh, I guess I should start doing that now. I hear that helps. ^_^

I will be out of town for the week. Will have limited internet access by phone. Will still try to post every day.

Site was down during the only time of day that I had free to write updates yesterday, which is why I didn't post anything. Too busy at work today to post a full update now, but I will be taking care of that when I get home from work tonight. Update coming in the evening! Cheers folks

I've been having quite a high workload at work at the moment which is keeping me from posting as often as I like. Just a heads up. I haven't gone away, I'm just pressed for time right now.

Happens to all of us!

Hmm... Any chance I can ride the zombie like a surfboard? :-)

Update Re: Silvio!

I'm currently on vacation up until the 12th of may. Normally that would mean a decrease in posting frequency, but since my job isn't getting in the way it will instead mean a slight increase! So I hope to be posting regularly the comming week and hopefully my workload will allow me to continue to do so even when I get back.

Sorry my posts are t3h l4me. My coherency with this character is starting to fray. I need to find an angle to re-calibrate it.

@Silvio: not a problem ☺

@Hank: You're an inventor with low Wis. Be the guy who's always full of crazy ideas. Sometimes you'll have a gadget that lets you pull off something genius. Often, though, your actions will have unintended consequences due to malfunctions or whatnot. Either way, it'll be awesome. ☺ Food for thought.

Huh. I guess I never read the Bag of Explosives carefully enough. I thought they were an item I could use three times. But no, I'm actually an archer, with three ammo of a Near ranged weapon to use in Volley. Ok. That makes sense now. Wait, that means that roll would've been +1 for DEX, not +2 for INT since it isn't technically a use of a Gadget. Alright.

@Hank: Based on your roll, you get to choose what happens. :-)

Option 1) use the normal Volley result and deal 5 damage. That will either obliterate a ghoul or seriously injure several.
Option 2) subtract 1 Ammo to affect ALL the ghouls (but deal less damage).

Normally I don't do this, but your excellent roll + the cramped confines of the tunnel makes it a possibility.

Ammo -1. =)

(And if it's less damage, it might not even affect Fleet's pet, zombies being zombies. =)

There won't be much activity from me until next week. I have a 15+ hour workday tomorrow, and then will be at MegaCon. On that note, if you happen to be attending, let me know so I can say hi. :-)

This will be very interesting. I've never seen NecroCurse used, and when I saw it I dismissed it...well, a little bit useless.

But there are many things that are different about DW that I'm still trying to get the vibe on. =)

I'd hoped it would be used at some point. NecroCurse is basically "create your own spell." Then I get to screw with it a little. The limit is Fleet's imagination. :-)

In-character I'm actually afraid to tap into the magic that is used in cursing. Raising the dead always seemed so much more comfortable and familiar to me, and the curse aspect of my school of magic's background was/is intimidating.

Still, I'll break out the curses when need arises.

I really am enjoying this system. I need to see if I can convince my home group to let me run a one shot with this.

I will be out of commission for the weekend. Will be back to posting on sunday/monday.

I'm a little unclear. Is the enchantment gone? The spell should have cleared his head. The glowing is a nice touch though.

Yes. Your memory of recent events will likely be a bit muddled, but the enchantment's gone.

I was on a 3 day weekend vacation yesterday. I'm trying to get caught up, but I've been struggling at work lately and it's killing my creative energy a little bit. Will post asap.

Hey all. Since you're all so patient with me (and I do very much appreciate that), I've made a decision.

Rather than half-ass this break and come back today, before I feel fully ready to, I'm taking the rest of the week off.

Updates will resume in full next Monday. I promise, I'll be fully 100% again by then, and my posts will continue as normal. Just need a bit of a break week to let my brain relax and re-gather some creative inspiration.

I'll be spending the free time this week reading, mostly, and collecting ideas that I can use in characterization, plot, and setting.

Thanks for your patience everyone.

Posting to all my games: I'll be leaving for a family vacation this Wednesday, and my posting will be spotty until I get back Monday. Feel free to bot me as needed. =)

I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but I'm going to have to end this game. With the start of the new school year, my schedule just got a lot more crowded, and I can't guarantee time to post during the day. Plus, as I've been learning, running an improv game via PbP is really difficult for me. As much as I've enjoyed this campaign, it's taking more energy than I have to give right now, so I'm going to call it here.

I wish everyone the best of luck and hope that you've had fun. I know I have.

Awwww! Sorry to see you go, YBD! Perhaps after this school year we can start up again??? =)

Well, it looks like there's just one thing left to do....

A large blue antiquated telephone box appears suddenly in front of Hank.

A swank hobgoblin steps out and offers his hand. "Mr. Rearden? We've been searching for you for some time. If you'll just enter here, I think you won't be disappointed."

The Gadgeteer cautiously enters the large blue box. From inside his voice can be heard, "Oh my. It's bigger on the inside...."

The box flashes a few times then disappears.

When a DM named Froggy ended his last game, Lord Borak was made The Doctor's companion. And now he has a companion. ^_^

That's a shame, YBD. But we understand. And good luck with school.

This has been a fun group. Would anyone be opposed to playing a new Dungeon World game with someone else as GM?

We...we could all start one.

Yep, this is crazy talk.

This completely unworkable idea has all of us, Wicked Raygun, Patrick Storm, and Rhovanor all start their own DW game. We all play in each others' games.

I don't think we've all DM'd much, so we'd all be learning together.

Yeah, this is nuts. I'm gonna drink heavily until I have better ideas. =)

I don't have any experience with it, but the "Mythic GM Emulator" supposedly lets you run a GM-less game regardless of the system.

Sorry to hear that YBD. We understand, best of luck. I had fun. Can you mark the campaign inactive?

Glad Hank Rearden was able to join Lord Borak and the Doctor :)

Ah, sad to see this end but I understand. Real life comes first. I wish you the best of luck with your school year!

I've had thoughts of trying to start a game when time allowed, and DW is high on the list along with the Shadowrun hack for DW, Sixth World.