First trip to the Dungeon (World)
Dec 7, 2012 21:29:34 GMT -8
Post by HyveMynd on Dec 7, 2012 21:29:34 GMT -8
This is going to be a long post, as it's a combination of an actual play report, a brief (maybe) explanation of how Dungeon World mechanics work, and my thoughts on running the game.
So I finally ran a session of Dungeon World last Thursday night. I've MCed a few sessions of both Apocalypse World and Monsterhearts, but I've been itching to run DW for a while now. Both because it's one the easier AW-Powered games to get people to try (no Sex Moves, no over sexual overtones, and a well know setting/premise), and because I've wanted to stack it up against other fantasy RPGs (namely D&D Next).
Unlike other AW-Powered games, the first session of DW is supposed to start right in the middle of a tense situation. Other AW games say to do this, but the first session is usually spent setting up who the characters are, what their relationships with each other are, and most importantly what the hell is going on in the setting. In Apocalypse World that means establishing the little post-apocalyptic community the PCs are a part of, who lives there, who does what, how they all get by in the blasted wasteland, what kind of dangerous stuff is around the settlement, and so on and so forth. In Monsterhearts that means establishing the town or city the PCs live in, how the characters all know and relate to each other, their role in the high school they all attend, their home life (if they characters even have one), and all the rumors and gossip that is flying around about the other student in their homeroom. This can be done either through out of character conversations between the players or by "playing to find out what happens" with the players and MC making snap decisions about people and places as they are encountered or needed. While fun, I've had a few players feel as if they weren’t really “playing the game during” those first session.
Dungeon World avoids that, but also requires the GM to show up with an adventure (or at least the skeleton of one) all ready to go, much like a "traditional" game. So the night before our session I grabbed an old school D&D module, read through it, printed out its map, stocked the dungeon with some appropriate monsters and enemies from the DW book, and then made an Adventure Front with a few Dangers. In AW games, a Front is kind of like a plot thread. It's a situation that will grow and progress to eventually have an effect on the world unless the characters interfere with it. Each Front has a number of Dangers contained within it, which are the kind of the Big Bads or events that are pushing the Front forward. In the session I ran last night I created a single Front, The Cult of the Reptile God, which was composed of two Dangers, the Cult lead by an evil priest and the Reptile God.
Dangers come in a number of types, each with several subtypes. For example, the human cultists were an Ambitious Organization: Cult (duh), while the Reptile God was a Planar Force: God (even though the entity wasn't actually a god, but a naga posing as one). Selecting a type and subtype of Danger provides the GM with the Danger's impulse and a list of Moves it can do. These are simply fictional cues to help the GM decide what the Danger does when bad things need to happen. They're notes to keep the GM on track, rather than limiters that dictate things that must happen. So, with my Fronts, Dangers, map, and monsters ready, I was prepared to toss the characters into the thick of things.
Character creation took about 10 minutes. It consists of picking a class (no doubles in the party), choosing your name and appearance from the lists provided, assigning stats, choosing your starting Class Moves (if you have any choices to make), and selecting your gear. Everything is right there on the class sheet for you; you just tick off boxes or circle your selections. This is pretty common for all the AW-Powered games, and I really like it. After a brief explanation of how the Basic Moves worked, we were ready to go.
I started the 3 PCs (the Dwarf Cleric Bjorn, the Elf FIghter Cadeus, and the Elf Wizard Galadiir) hot on the train of the evil Snake Cult who had kidnapped several townspeople from the village they'd been passing through. They'd already investigated and ransacked the local temple, killing the priest who turned out to be part of the evil Snake Cult, too! (That adventure didn’t actually happen, but it added some context and a motivation to a situation the PCs would otherwise have no reason to get involved with.) I asked each of the characters a question about the Snake Cult to establish some fiction. I asked Bjorn "What did you learn about the Snake Cult from ransacking that corrupted temple?" He replied, "They have giant snakes! As big as your leg, laddie!" Pretty much a given, but it made sense. (This particular player always uses a bad Scottish accent for his Dwarves.) I asked Cadeus "Why did you swear revenge on the Snake Cult?" and got "They killed my sister." as a response. I asked Galadiir "What arcane knowledge did you learn about the Snake Cult?" and didn't get an answer. As the guy playing Galadiir the Wizard is only a casual gamer and the least familiar with RPGs in general, I told him he could hold his answer until he thought of something. Looking back, I wish I had come up with better questions (ones that front loaded more information) or followed up with more questions.
I explained that the journey through the stinking, fetid mire of the Rushmoor swamp following the trail of the Snake Cult would take two days. I told the players to make the Undertake A Perilous Journey Move. This required a lot of out of character explaining, as they needed to know what the three "jobs" of the Move were. They finally decided Galadiir would take the role of quartermaster, Bjorn would be trailblazer, and Cadeus would be the scout. This is one of the Moves that is kind of hard to "wrap in fiction", especially in the beginning. Once the players know they are going to travel through hostile territory and understand what the three roles of the Move are, I imagine it'll flow a bit better. All three rolled weak hits (results of 7-9) and the journey took the predicted amount of time, used up the predicted amount of supplies (rations), and nothing got the drop on them as they travelled. An uneventful, but wet, stinky, and miserable two days to the lair of the Snake Cult.
The adventurers found the entrance to the underground complex with no problem as the cultist weren't expecting to be followed and hadn't bothered to cover their tracks. They gathered just outside a rough tunnel with a slimy wooden staircase leading down into the soggy earth and discussed what to do. Bjorn, seeing the darkness they were about to descend into, found a rock and Cast A Spell to make it glow. The player rolled a weak hit (result of 7-9) and had to chose one of the following options; lose the spell until he was able to prepare spells again, distance himself from his god (taking a -1 to all Cast A Spell Moves until he was able to pray to his god), or attract unwanted attention. He chose the latter. I was kind of stumped about what kind of attention he had attracted for a bit. Looking back, I could've had some sort of nasty swamp denizen spot the party and set up an ambush or start to threaten them somehow. I thought that was a bit cheap though, and so decided the party had made enough noise preparing themselves that they had alerted the cultists at the bottom of the stairs to their presence. I told Cadeus, who was closest to the entrance, that he heard faint voices and the clink of metal coming up the steps of the tunnel. This was me making the Show signs of an approaching threat GM Move.
The GM usually has two types of moves in AW-style games; Soft Moves and Hard Moves. Soft Moves are things that are preventable, give the characters a chance to react or prepare, hint at things to come, or set up another Move. Hard Moves are unpreventable, come out of nowhere without time to react, have severe consequences, and can follow from an ignored Soft Move. So me alerting Cadeus to the fact that cultists were coming up the stairs was a Soft Move. The characters had time to react and prepare before the thing I hinted at came true. Cadeus relayed this information to his companions and then took up an ambush position on the opposite side of the tunnel entrance. Bjorn unslung his shield and stood in front of Galadiir , who was busy preparing an offensive spell. The only Move that was triggered was by Cadeus, who I had make a Defy Danger Move with either Dexterity or Intelligence, his choice. In this situation, the danger Cadeus was defying was being immediately spotted as the cultists came out of the tunnel. He nailed the Move with a Strong Hit (result 10+) and was essentially invisible. After taking up their positions, all three of the players looked at me expectantly.
When that happens in an AW game, it means it’s the GM’s “turn” in the conversation. It’s time for them to make a Soft Move. So I described a group of four cultists with scavenged, rusty weapons and black robes emerging from the tunnel entrance. Bjorn and Galariir had made no attempt to conceal themselves and were immediately spotted. The cultists rushed forward, eager to capture more prisoners for their god. Having taken my “turn” in the conversation, I asked the players what they did. Cadeus lept forward, sword in hand, and struck a cultist dead in a single blow. No dice roll or Move required. Normally when you engage in melee you have to make a Hack and Slash Move, but that’s only when the target of your attack is aware of you and capable of inflicting damage back on you. You wouldn’t trigger the Move when slitting the throat of a sleeping victim, nor when say attacking a child as those targets have no way of damaging you back. In this case, the cultists had absolutely no idea Cadeus was behind them and were not expecting the attack. Result? Instant death.
Bjorn roared “Norris!” and raised his hammer to crack the skull of an approaching cultist. The Cleric swung, but the cultist flowed sinuously out of the way causing Bjorn to strike the swampy ground, spattering fetid water everywhere. Blinded by the muck his hammer threw up, he felt the cultist’s dagger scrape across his shield. (The player got a miss on his Hack and Slash Move. I Put him in a Spot as my GM Move. I also rolled damage for the cultist, but rolled less than the amount of armor the character was wearing.) Galadiir stepped forward and sent a searing lance of white light through another cultist’s heart, leaving him a half charred corpse slowly sinking into the muck of the Rushmoor swamp. (The player rolled a strong hit on his Cast a Spell Move, throwing out a Magic Missile for 2d4 damage. Cultists have 3 HP and 0 Armor.) That left two cultists alive and headed for the blinded dwarf. Seeing that Bjorn and Galadiir were in danger, Cadeus ran to their aid. I told the player that would be a Defy Danger Move using Dexterity. The danger in this case was not being able to reach his comrades in time. The player rolled and got a weak hit (7-9), meaning I had to give him a worse outcome, a hard bargain, or an ugly choice. Cadeus rushed forward but stumbled because of the thick muck of the swamp, sending his sword spinning from his grasp. He could either reach Bjorn in time but engage the cultist weaponless, or check his advance to retrieve his sword. Like the heroic fighter he was, Cadeus continued forward to grapple the cultist. This flowed into a Hack and Slash Move, which resulted in a weak hit (7-9). Cadeus connected with a solid hit with his mailed fist, but the cultist was able to bring his sword to bear, doing a few points of damage to the Fighter.
Meanwhile, Bjorn attempted to shake the slime from his eyes while both avoiding the cultists and protecting Galadiir. He needed to Defy Danger, the danger in this case being the cultist who would easily take advantage of the situation. The player convinced me that he could use Wisdom to Defy Danger, as that is the perception related stat. I agreed, and the player got a weak hit. Time for another worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice from me. I told Bjorn that he could wipe the slime from his eyes but find himself a few steps from where he was, thereby exposing Galadiir to danger. Or he remain blinded and just raise his shield in the correct direction. He chose the latter. It didn’t really matter that much, as Galadiir let fly with another Magic Missile from his Cast A Spell Move and dropped the cultist with another smoking crater in his chest. Cadeus continued to grapple the cultist, suffering more damage from the foe’s scavenged sword (another Hack and Slash Move with a weak hit result). Feeling something slump near his feet, Bjorn finally cleared his vision and saw Cadeus locked in melee combat with the last cultist. Shouting “Norris!” again, he charged forward, grabbed the foe’s head, and snapped his neck with a sharp twist. This didn’t even require a Move, as once again, the last cultist was completely unaware of the attack and certainly wasn’t expecting one, as he was preoccupied with Cadeus. No chance of exposing yourself to danger or damage means no Hack and Slash Move; you just do it.
I'll continue this AP report/discussion later, and this has gone on way too long and the girlfriend is glaring at me to go out and do something. Tune in next time as our heroes (finally) delve into the Dungeon of the Reptile God!