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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 17, 2016 21:58:08 GMT 1
Southpaw Hare's Dungeon World CampaignI have become interested in running some form of extended online roleplaying, and have decided on the method of hosting a play-by-post campaign on these very forums. Anyone is free to join, and I will be accepting up to a maximum of 5 players (not including myself as game master). The system I will be using is Dungeon World. It's quite popular and well-received among new, indie-style RPGs, but for those unfamiliar, allow me to give a little pitch. Essentially, it is a game that has a lot of the superficial trappings and appearance of D&D (especially 3rd edition), but plays much, much more simply. It has the same classic six stats (STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA) and involves choosing a class from familiar choices (Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, etc), but the mechanics that use these things are very much boiled down to their basics. Virtually all rolls follow the following formula: Roll 2d6 and add the modifier for the relevant stat. If the result is 10 or higher, the action is a complete success. If it is between 7 and 9 inclusive, the action is a partial success that involves some complication. If it is 6 or lower, the action fails and something bad probably happens. Essentially, whenever you want to make a check, it is like a stat check in D&D with whichever stat you think is relevant. Need to break open something? roll+str. Want to recall knowledge? roll+int. Want to perceive the situation? roll+wis. And so on. The game gives a list of potential actions with names and suggested results that are a bit more detailed, but are still just variations on this pattern. For example, when making the "Discern Realities" action - the game's take on a perception check - success grants you the ability to ask the game master for truths of the situation at hand, such as "What happened here recently?" or "Who is really in control here?" Dungeon World is also intended to be very free and open for the players to contribute their own ideas to the story and world. Unlike many RPGs in which the game master makes up all the details of the world and feeds it to the players, it is encouraged that players fill in blanks as well. Unless something that a player decides contradicts what has already been established or is otherwise unreasonable to the group as a whole, they are allowed to add their own facts to the lore of the world as they go. While all RPGs are some form of collaborative story-telling, Dungeon World's more improv-style system makes it more collaborative than most. The game normally uses no turn-tracking or initiative. Players are allowed to take act whenever they choose, in whatever order and however often. As the game master, I would generally stay out of the situation so long as the players are running it smoothly themselves, and would only step in in order to answer questions directed toward me or to give the results of a roll. However, I also get to step in and cause conflict under these circumstances: - If the action is slowing down and I decide to inject drama
- If the players look to me to do so (metaphorically, being online)
- Any time a player fails a roll of any sort
When these things happen, it is my job to jump in an make my own sort of actions. They have names too, though I am to never actually refer to them as such. Basically, stuff happens, and now you have to get yourself out of a mess. The fact that a new problem can result from failing a check to solve a previous problem (resulting in now having two problems!) means that things can snowball (very much intended by the game's design).
So that's the general gist of the game. The full rules can be found here: www.dungeonworldsrd.com/introduction
As for the instance I want to run... Well, the exact nature of it is indeterminable as, being that Dungeon World is a game in which the world and story are as much determined by the players as the game master, I cannot really come up with any sort of story or universe ahead of time. My general preference for RPG settings is one of relatively low-fantasy and low-magic - one dealing with the struggles of very mortal individuals, and where the supernatural is kept as something truly special and mysterious. With this in mind, all of the classes and concepts including magical ones would be allowable and not limited in their effectiveness, just with the understanding that they are exceedingly rare, one-in-a-million kind of people with no real societal precedence.
So that's it. Sign up here. Or ask questions, or give other indications of interest, or what have you.
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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 17, 2016 22:03:36 GMT 1
Current Players & Characters:
Table of Contents
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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 17, 2016 22:03:55 GMT 1
Reserved
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bbobjs
Member
But I'm the Priest!
Posts: 82
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Post by bbobjs on Sept 17, 2016 22:32:56 GMT 1
OK so, I'll play, but my assumption is that you'd like players to treat the game with respect an avoid trying to break it, correct?
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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 17, 2016 22:44:34 GMT 1
OK so, I'll play, but my assumption is that you'd like players to treat the game with respect an avoid trying to break it, correct? Indeed. While Dungeon World tends to lean toward somewhat silly scenarios due to the input of so many people, I am still looking for a relatively serious game. No breaking the mechanics for a laugh. Use the mechanics to facilitate a fun and interesting story.
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Post by snoc on Sept 17, 2016 23:23:39 GMT 1
what yes ok I'll try if only because it'll motivate me to actually check these forums and I need a break from my 5e D&D CROZDAR THE STRONK SMASH EVERYTHING character in my irl/skype campaign
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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 18, 2016 1:27:26 GMT 1
I just want to say that, due to the freedom the players have to determine the game world through their consensus, as well as knowing this community...
Inb4 someone decides to make the Evil Wizard Sirlion the main villain. Or possibly the once-honorable-but-now-cruel Knight, Sir Lynn.
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Post by Caphriel on Sept 18, 2016 19:07:23 GMT 1
Yes. In. I've played Dungeon World before (or rather, GM'd) briefly, and it's easily my favorite tabletop RPG system. I have a little bit of concern about game flow, but we'll see how that goes. I'll give it a try, and I'd like to see it succeed.
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Post by hamvvar on Sept 18, 2016 20:15:47 GMT 1
ok SPH I'll try it
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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 18, 2016 21:08:29 GMT 1
Alright! Looks like we have bbobjs snoc Caphriel and hamvvar , and that's a good group of four! I'll leave open the possibility of adding one more while we move on with character generation. So, everyone is going to need to pick a class. The official list can be found here, which I recommend using, although I probably won't stop you if you want to use some kind of homebrew option. Unlike a lot of RPGs, in which it's recommended that you come up with your character details and backstory first or early, Dungeon World suggests more that you leave blanks in those areas. It's okay if you don't even necessarily know your own character yet, because we'll be figuring that out together. Each character will need to be of a different class, as the rules say that every character is one-of-a-kind in their move playbook. We've already covered how special and rare wizards and the like are overall, but even moreso, no other wizard in the world would be quite the same as the wizard PC class either. Try to coordinate among yourselves who will play what class, though you don't particularly need to worry about party balance. If you are worried about balance anyway, allow me to assure you that I think that all the classes really balanced at least in the area of giving everyone a chance to feel useful. From what I can tell, they avoid some of the classic pitfalls. For instance, in some D&D games, the Ranger and Druid can have their effectiveness limited due to requiring specific natural, forest-like surroundings to function. Here, their powers are more generic and apply to almost any adventurey location that isn't a city, meaning that they'll always find some use. Thieves/Rogues sometimes also have issues with creatures that are immune to their sneak attack or such, which also is much less likely to happen here. Some people have accused the Paladin in this game of being actually OP, since he has some pretty astounding powers for tanking and avoiding damage, including limited invulnerability to an entire type of damage, and the ability to shrug off any single hit for a lesser debuff. It is pretty good stuff, but keep in mind that it is more of a faithful recreation of Paladins from the early days of original D&D - they're deliberately extra-powerful, but as a reward for the cost of having a lot of honor code stuff to worry about. Also, their ability to negate damage may not be quite as powerful as you think, as it only applies to when damage is actually dealt as a mechanic in the game - as per the Chunky Salsa rule, some things are actually so deadly that they don't do damage, which he is still not immune to, making some kind of vague upper-limit on how "invulnerable" this invulnerability really is. Anyway guys, start generating the character details as listed in the character creation section. When you're all done with that, we'll start doing some collaborative backstory stuff.
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Post by Caphriel on Sept 18, 2016 21:37:57 GMT 1
Actually hang on. This is going to be a roleplaying/storytelling campaign, right? With a fair amount of non-combat stuff? Because that's what Dungeon World is designed for? I am a little concerned by your focus on "balance" and combat utility.
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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 18, 2016 21:51:04 GMT 1
Actually hang on. This is going to be a roleplaying/storytelling campaign, right? With a fair amount of non-combat stuff? Because that's what Dungeon World is designed for? I am a little concerned by your focus on "balance" and combat utility. It is, yes. The game will very much be a story-focused game. I do not believe I actually am focusing on combat utility. In fact, I specifically said not to worry about it too much. I only mention it in order to relieve concerns that I feel are common with other RPGs - ending up with characters with abilities that are cripplingly situational and thus feel useless. This applies just as much to out-of-combat situations as otherwise. For instance, it's a common complaint with D&D Rangers that they never end up in environments that actually let them use their Ranger powers, and thus just feel like a lamer agile Fighter. This is a concern of balance, but not one relating to combat - it is a concern that comes up in overall character impact to the story and general feel-good action. I simply want to make it clear that Dungeon World is very good at avoiding problems like this one.
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Post by Caphriel on Sept 18, 2016 23:16:26 GMT 1
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Post by hamvvar on Sept 19, 2016 1:03:24 GMT 1
name: Ahmvvar Fighter Eager eyes (medium blue) Shorn hair (dusty grey blond) Calloused Skin Ravaged Body Human Male Age 41 Spear -Reach -Sharp -Perfect weight -Ornate (Charging ram in bronze upon spear's ferrule) Good Chainmail Antitoxin/herbs Healing Potions HP: 25/25 Base Damage: d10 str: 13 (+1) dex: 16 (+2) con: 15 (+1) int: 8 (-1) wis: 9 (+0) cha: 12 (+0) and here's a sketch of my character: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fRTFB3eZRqcG1lke3xfOgHweWKenDyY_oIKFUH1T8GE/edit#gid=0 spreadsheet version
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bbobjs
Member
But I'm the Priest!
Posts: 82
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Post by bbobjs on Sept 19, 2016 1:24:15 GMT 1
Wizard or I feed! I am he who has entrusted his soul to the internal vortex of time, ye know me and ye who do not shall be made to know me! It shall be engraved upon thy very soul! Lezard Valeth! Crazy Eyes Styled Hair Strange Robes Creepy Body Human (LV5 Cleric Spell, Trap Soul added to spell list) Evil Stats - Str 8 [-1]
- Dex 9 [±0]
- Con 15 [+1]
- Int 16 [+2]
- Wis 13 [+1]
- Cha 12 [±0]
HP 19 Damage d4 Ritual - First you must learn and recite a complex incantation.
- You'll need help from an elf.
- You and your allies will risk danger from Hrist.
- You’ll have to disenchant the philosopher's stone to do it.
- It’s going to take days/weeks/months.
- It will require a lot of money.
- The best you can do is a lesser version, unreliable and limited.
Gear [5/15]
- [1] Spellbook
- [1] Dungeon Rations (5)
- [2] Bag of Books (5)
- [0] Healing Potions (3)
- [1] Staff (Close, 2 Hands)
- [0] Antitoxins (3)
Bonds (I'll fill it out when I know what everyone else is) - ____ will play an important role in the events to come. I have foreseen it!
- ____ is keeping an important secret from me.
- ____ is woefully misinformed about the world; I will teach them all that I can.
Spellbook - [0] Light
- [0] Unseen Servant
- [0] Prestidigitation
- [1] Magic Missile
- [1] Invisibility
- [1] Contact Spirits
Moves - Spell Defense
- Cast Spell [int]
- Hack and Slash [str]
- Volley [dex]
- Defy Danger [any]
- Defend [con]
- Spout Lore [int]
- Discern Reality [wis]
- Parlay [cha]
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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 19, 2016 2:05:37 GMT 1
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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 19, 2016 5:11:35 GMT 1
Quick note: Although it's not mentioned in the character creation rules, please be sure to mark your sex and age as well, please.
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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 19, 2016 5:14:15 GMT 1
Also Caphriel , please note that the starting stats on the sheet you're using are wrong, and are slightly different than the ones on the rules wiki. Please use the latter (it won't change much).
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Post by Caphriel on Sept 19, 2016 5:30:46 GMT 1
Ah, bother. I knew a bunch of stuff there was out of date, but I missed that one. Thanks!
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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 19, 2016 5:32:50 GMT 1
Ah, bother. I knew a bunch of stuff there was out of date, but I missed that one. Thanks! No problem. Really, I'd recommend just erasing all those "choices" stuff on the right after you're done with them anyway.
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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 19, 2016 8:54:09 GMT 1
name: Ahmvvar Fighter Eager eyes (medium blue) Shorn hair (dusty grey blond) Calloused Skin Ravaged Body Human Spear -Reach -Sharp -Perfect weight -Ornate (Charging ram in bronze upon spear's ferrule) Good Chainmail Antitoxin/herbs Healing Potions HP: 25/25 Base Damage: d10 str: 13 (+1) dex: 16 (+2) con: 15 (+1) int: 8 (-1) wis: 9 (+0) cha: 12 (+0) and here's a sketch of my character: Good stuff. Try to put this in Google Docs, or some other form of remote sharing. It'd be more convenient that way. There are pre-made spreadsheet character sheets on the site, or you can make your own, or whatever.
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Post by banewlf on Sept 19, 2016 10:16:26 GMT 1
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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 19, 2016 17:47:51 GMT 1
Looks pretty good to me! Be sure to add age and gender to the sheet, and also delete some of those "choices" notes on the right now that you're done with them.
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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 19, 2016 17:52:06 GMT 1
Wizard or I feed! I am he who has entrusted his soul to the internal vortex of time, ye know me and ye who do not shall be made to know me! It shall be engraved upon thy very soul! Lezard Valeth! Crazy Eyes Styled Hair Strange Robes Creepy Body Human (LV5 Cleric Spell, Trap Soul added to spell list) Evil Stats - Str 8 [-1]
- Dex 9 [±0]
- Con 15 [+1]
- Int 16 [+2]
- Wis 13 [+1]
- Cha 12 [±0]
HP 19 Damage d4 Ritual - First you must learn and recite a complex incantation.
- You'll need help from an elf.
- You and your allies will risk danger from Hrist.
- You’ll have to disenchant the philosopher's stone to do it.
- It’s going to take days/weeks/months.
- It will require a lot of money.
- The best you can do is a lesser version, unreliable and limited.
Gear [5/15]
- [1] Spellbook
- [1] Dungeon Rations (5)
- [2] Bag of Books (5)
- [0] Healing Potions (3)
- [1] Staff (Close, 2 Hands)
- [0] Antitoxins (3)
Bonds (I'll fill it out when I know what everyone else is) - ____ will play an important role in the events to come. I have foreseen it!
- ____ is keeping an important secret from me.
- ____ is woefully misinformed about the world; I will teach them all that I can.
Spellbook - [0] Light
- [0] Unseen Servant
- [0] Prestidigitation
- [1] Magic Missile
- [1] Invisibility
- [1] Contact Spirits
Moves - Spell Defense
- Cast Spell [int]
- Hack and Slash [str]
- Volley [dex]
- Defy Danger [any]
- Defend [con]
- Spout Lore [int]
- Discern Reality [wis]
- Parlay [cha]
This looks good, too! Same with the other guys - put age and gender on there somewhere, and also get it in some form of Google Docs or other shareable, linkable form. Oh, and BTW, I don't think you're supposed to choose those Ritual things right now. It's supposed to be different for every ritual you try to cast (and I think I choose for you as the game master, in order to make your life difficult). That is, unless you have some kind of ongoing quest that you want to be relevant to your backstory, in which case I can totally find a place for that. Also, you'll fill out your Bonds in a coming step based on some questions that get asked, not on your own. And you won't necessarily use them all either, nor do they necessarily have to follow the examples given.
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Post by Caphriel on Sept 19, 2016 18:08:05 GMT 1
Yeah, that's not how Ritual works. The GM chooses it for each ritual the wizard attempts, at the time the wizard attempts it. Similar to the Paladin's Quest.
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Post by banewlf on Sept 19, 2016 21:00:39 GMT 1
Hey Caph, I see a bunch of Basic Moves listed on your character sheet. Where do those come from? I was just following the wiki and there's no mention of anything like that.
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Post by Caphriel on Sept 19, 2016 21:27:14 GMT 1
Hey Caph, I see a bunch of Basic Moves listed on your character sheet. Where do those come from? I was just following the wiki and there's no mention of anything like that. www.dungeonworldsrd.com/movesEveryone has access to the same Basic Moves, they're most of what you'll do. They cover the general behaviors of an adventurer. Hack and Slash is your default combat action for fighting in melee. Volley for ranged. Defy Danger covers a pretty enormous range. Basically if you're ever in danger from anything (enemy attacks, traps, natural disaster, complex social situations), this covers it. Defend is the catch-all "protect something other than yourself" from danger. Parley covers all the social interaction when you're trying to do more than just talk someone into something. Spout Lore and Discern Realities are great moves. My Paladin is unfortunately bad at both of them. Maybe I should play a Cleric in the future Spout Lore and Discern Realities are moves where the players and/or GM make up facts about the game world on the spot. They cover the player investigating the environment or consulting their experience. Aid/Interfere covers the players working together or against each other in a simple concrete mechanical way. There are also a bunch of advanced moves that are mostly party moves that cover a lot of the stuff that's pre- or post-session. A notable exception is Last Breath, which is what happens when a character is otherwise mechanically dead (no HP left, or whatever). Characters in Dungeon World are heroes and paragons of humanity, and won't die so easily.
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Post by Southpaw Hare on Sept 19, 2016 22:25:01 GMT 1
Spout Lore and Discern Realities are great moves. My Paladin is unfortunately bad at both of them. Maybe I should play a Cleric in the future Spout Lore and Discern Realities are moves where the players and/or GM make up facts about the game world on the spot. They cover the player investigating the environment or consulting their experience. Spout Lore is amusingly often misspelled (unintentionally or as a deliberate joke) as Sprout Lore, as if you were budding lore out of your body like a plant. This has led to some amusement that there is a sproutlore.com.
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Post by snoc on Sept 19, 2016 23:12:34 GMT 1
Yo I'm going to be a bard following the party round ready to sing tales of our collective valour, bravery and adventures (or whatever else befalls us all). I'll put together a character sheet in the morning (~12 hours from post time) but I've been busy househunting today. Sorry for being a bit behind!
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bbobjs
Member
But I'm the Priest!
Posts: 82
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Post by bbobjs on Sept 20, 2016 5:02:20 GMT 1
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