GM improvements

Ok I think I just leveled. Some things I am learning and hoping to implement in my next Dungeon World game.

Zooming in and out. This is always tricky, as I don't want to lead the players around and genuinely want to play to find out what happens. But battles tend to drag on for a while in my game, which is my turn off of traditional games with grid based battle mechanics. So what's the solution?

I think part of it is giving the players actions more weight. So when Irv the frog man jumps down upon 4 goblins poised and ready to battle, just go ahead and let his damage spread across them. When he rolls 9 damage, he kills 3 goblins, why the fuck not? He's the hero.

I think part of introducing interesting elements I have planned is to bring them to the characters. My characters were headed toward a colossus looking for a fight and I totally steered them away from it because I was trying to move a pre-planned adventure along. I didn't even mean to pre-plan it, but I did and I was fucking with the flow and the fiction (not to mention with the agenda & principles of the game). Their treasure was being held by goblins but they wanted to fight the golem; I should have let them. Boy wouldn't they have been surprised when the colossus didn't have the thing they were looking for, but now goblins are jeering and screaming at them! I fucked up, it would have turned an ok session into a kickass one. I forgive me though.

This goes back with my trouble with fronts. How do you plan dangers without preplanning the adventure? I think bringing the dangers to the characters is the real trick there. Robert pointed that out to me after, and I think I have a good handle on it now.

We'll have to see how next session goes! Rare is the session I walk away from without some regret, or seeing some crazy thing I did wrong, but hey. Uh. I don't know. Live and learn. Plus it's just a game!
Plus I just leveled up and I'm taking some sweet move.

When you're DMing and you bring your dangers to the players, roll +improvise. On a 10+ It makes perfect sense in the fiction: it's like you wrote it that way. On a 7-9 you choose: it seems out of place or it's too hard a move and the players are in over their heads. On a miss you kill one of the PCs by accident (it would be our third).

God, I'm such a fucking nerd. Here Are my GM stats:

Engaging +1
Descriptive +1
Improvise 0
Funny +2
Poignant -1
Multitasking +1
When you're 2 beers In take -1 to multitask but +1 to funny

I should probably stop I don't even think this is healthy.

AP: Dungeon World Session 3

OKAY! This one is a bit hazy as the session was like 2 weeks ago and I wasn't feeling 100% focused while running it. But here's what I remember.

So the party took the goblet of Peldura, the Swamp Goddess, from the frog priest who in turn held on to Bengi's horn.

Poor old Humble Jack was melted to the cave floor. The priest laid claim to the gold inside the treasure chest the party had taken from the Kobolds and Whelp. The frogman who had helped them brought the gold to the village's keep, but took a few pieces for himself. He also helped himself to the best armor and weaponry the keep had to offer a frogman, and vowed to protect Bengi and the Goblet. His name is Irv.

The party embarked back toward town with their new member. Their first stop was a small fishing village at the ends of the swamps, called Silverbrook, which has a trade road leading back to town. There they rested and licked their wounds. They were put up in the tackle shed, and Clovis slept in the nude outdoors.

The next morning, as they set about their activities and prepared to embark through the mountain pass toward Delilah's Post, where the nobleman's son lay sick, A group of frogmen approached in the stream leading into the small pond where the fishermen make their livelihood. They began to bag the fish and make threats to the villagers.

Irv pleaded with them, buy the fish! Make Trade! They will tend to the fish and ensure their numbers, that you may always be able to trade for them in the future. Celion was standing nearby, enforcing everything Irv said with her fierce jungle cat at her side, more interested in the safety and well being of the fish than of the livelihood of the villagers. The frogmen agreed, though they made Irv pay their share for the first load. Weapons were raised but never clashed and the frogmen returned home, leaving the village safe.

The party ventured through the mountain pass, where they came upon an ogre guarding a narrow tunnel in the path. It was big and mean looking and stupid, its skin thick with the They murdered him good. I believe part of that involved Clovis creating a rockslide and burying the thing. They found some gold he'd been collecting from tradesmen.

When they got to town, they barged into the Nobleman's house, and quite offended the butler as they made their own way to the sick child's room. Edwyn Randolph lay in his bed, pale with a bucket of sick on the floor beside him. Bengi filled the goblet with swamp water from his waterskin and the murky water began to glow green and bubble and steam. As Edwyn breathed the vapors he was revitalized, color returning to his face.

His father, Lord Gregor Randolph, was ecstatic and announced a feast in honor of the fine adventurers to take place that evening. The Lord's Brother, whose dubious dealings and idiotic gambling are well known through the lands, approached Bengi as the rest of the party headed out to town. He asked about the frog eggs that Humble Jack and Bengi were supposed to procure for him. Bengi, remembering how the eggs were with Jack when he was sizzled and mutilated, said "Ahh yes, of course I have them. But not on me, here, no no!" (Lies.) They agreed to meet again after the feast.

The feast was dragged out with long boring ceremonious proceedings, and Irv did snatch food from the tables with his big gross tongue. Clovis, who had already raided the kitchen of the Nobleman's house, slept through the proceedings and snored loudly. When the speeches and such were coming to an end, the Nobleman gave a fat pile of gold to the party. Clovis and Irv put their shares toward knocking the feast up a serious notch, and much drinking and debauchery did ensue. Throughout the party, they learned of a floating city to the west rumored to contain beautiful treasures and items of mystery and magic. They also agreed to bring Edwyn with them on their travels that they might toughen him up and expose him to a life of adventure... great, a babysitting job.

Next day, the crew sent word through the town that they were looking to hire, offering a share of the treasure they'd find. They found Nora, a suitable priestess of the God of Trade&Commerce to accompany them and offer first aid in their travels. They embarked to return the goblet, with Edwyn and Nora in tow. As they came up through the mountain pass, they saw 3 ogres standing where they had had fought but one the day before. The Frogman lept into action but was snatched out of the air. Bengi bellowed a sharp note that confused one of the Ogres, and it slammed its cohort with its mighty club. Our fearless druid charged into the situation, morphing into his Mammoth form on the way. He engaged the Ogres and bashed and slashed them with his tusks. He gored one just under the ribcage, snapping all its ribs and tearing its arm from its socket in a single thrust. But sadly, the last remaining ogre got hold of one of Ajax' tusks and ripped it forcefully straight from his jaw. Ajax collapsed and withered back to halfling size, taking his last breath. At death's gates, Death told him he still had much work to do on the plane of the living. "You can return," Death told him, but "you'll remain in the last form you shifted into until you have proven your time on earth worthwhile." Ajax did not believe in returns from the black kingdom of death, tough, seeing them as a defiance of the natural order, and him being all nature-y and shit. So he stayed dead, appeased with his badass, viking death.

The rest of the party tussled with the remaining ogre, who slammed a club into Bengi, sending the goblet skittering across the mountain pass. It teetered at the edge of a cliff face, and Irv leapt over the ogre in an attempt to retrieve it, but failed. Pretty sure Clovis killed the thing, though I kind of forget. I didn't say much about Celion or Emory in this recap... yeah, they probably killed it. I know she was shooting arrows and shit, and Emory is a pretty fierce cat.

Will the party find the Goblet? What will become of meek, young Edwyn? Can the Priestess put up with the party's insane antics? Why is Clovis always naked?  These... ARE QUESTIONS!

Swamp Hag & Frog Priest

Some character drawings from session 2 of our Dungeon World game.

Dungeon World: Custom Moves

Here's some custom moves I've made for my game.

This one never saw play, but it was a potential move for Humble Jack, if the party managed to revive him:

When you slip past the black gates to leave Death's domain, roll +dex On a 10+ both, on a 7-9 pick one On a miss, neither
• You take something quite interesting with you on the way out
• Death doesn't notice your escape

Some custom animal moves for our druid of the frozen north:

Moose: Large animal, range of Close or Reach Antlers.
Charge—with a running start, bowl through multiple creatures
Mammoth: Huge Animal, Range of Reach with tusks and trunk
Trample—incapacitate multiple creatures in one pass
throw—grab a creature and toss it with your trunk
Walrus: Range of Close, tusks.
Traverse water—pass a considerable distance through or under water
Snow Tiger-Range of Close
Stalk—follow your prey in silence
Pounce—close the distance between you and an enemy
Bear-Large Animal, Close or reach
overpower—pin a single creature

Spoiler Alert: Jack's player, George, Took over the Frogman that aided the party against the dragon whelp. (I'm actually a couple sessions behind on the AP posts) Here's what I came up with to make the race playable:

Frogman
You are amphibious. You move naturally in the water and can breathe indefinitely. However, when traveling in lands sparse of bodies of water, you consume double rations.
• Fighter or Thief: when you use your impressive jumping range to defy danger, take +1.
• Cleric: Your natural body chemistry makes you an adept healer. When you heal somebody, add 2 to the total damage healed.
Frogman Names:
Brawbitt, Bwag, Yebb, Croek, gGuirp
Hop, Skipper, Webster, Tad, Warts
Look:
Bulging Eyes, Wet Eyes
Warty Head, Spotted Head, Swamp-weed Hat
Green Skin, Yellow-Green Skin, Green-Brown Skin
Squat Body, Veiny Body, Slimy Body

Here's an add on move that Irv, our Frogman Fighter, is likely to take at his next level:

Tongue of Steel
Not just for snacking on fireflies anymore, your tongue counts as a weapon: Reach, Stun, Reload, No Handed, 0 weight.

AP: Dungeon World Session 2

The session started up with the party making camp, the watch order having been decided at the end of last session. On the second watch, Humble Jack the Thief, excuse me, Independent Enterpriser, Meets an old woman named Medlyn. She was a haggard old woman in rags missing d6 teeth with a shrill voice and Buscemi eyes. I couldn't have predicted how involved the group would get with this NPC.

Jack Parleyed with her to gain a guide to the swamp in exchange for a place to cook her cat and sleep for the night. Jack woke Ajax the Druid for his watch. Ajax didn't like her, the cooking of the cat, or any of it. But he was ignorant of the ways of the swamp, being from the frozen north, and so he parleyed with her, using his ignorant ramblings about swamp life, to gain information. He got more than he bargained for, though, as she unloaded the sordid details of her life, her shunning from society, her sexual discoveries. This was all glazed over, but Ajax can now spout lore about Medlyn in addition to the swamplands. Ajax woke our Bard, Bengi, but did not inform him of the exchange. Bengi made some poor choices and bedded the Hag in exchange for a guide the group had already gained. I'm just not even going to get into that.

When Cylion, our Ranger, awoke for her shift, she caught a nearby danger just in the nick of time. An assassin vine lashed out and swallowed a deer nearly whole. She woke the group and engaged the deadly plant in combat. Clovis the Barbarian hacked back at the thing with his Axe, and was knocked clean on his ass in the process. Ajax morphed into a snow tiger and pounced upon the delicate roots. He tore and dug and clawed at it. They found the soil surrounding the plant to be the types of soils that Kobolds would use to trap deadly plants.

A little searching by Humble Jack showed they had been camping on the entrance to Kobold Caverns this whole time. Clovis bullheadedly charged in, preparing to annihilate the first thing he found. He sprung a trap, surprise, and upon hearing the click of the trigger stone, he leapt over a spiked pit, but was slammed in the back by a heavy log intended to push him in. He rode the log to the other side, but found himself teetering at the edge of the pit, holding the log up. Humble jack clambered up and managed to crank the gears back to set the log in place, then jammed one of his throwing knives into the gears to hold the log steady. The party used the log to climb over the pit and continued. Medlyn tagged along, feverishly insisting that Bengi was her "new boyfriend." Bengi was trying to be cool about it, but we all know what happened, Bengi.

Anyway, Humble Jack managed to detect the second trap, which contained some sort of blinding explosive material, and the group carefully stepped over the tripwire. They stepped into a large, more open cave with 6 or so tunnels leading out. One of the tunnels had the glowstones they recognized from the Gelatinous Cube they had barely escaped last session. As they walked into the cavern, Sounds of combat could be heard echoing down from one of the tunnels, but it was difficult to pinpoint which. The unmistakable sound of the frogmen could be heard amongs the hissing and snapping of the Kobolds, and they were sure the Priest they seeked held quarters not far from here.

Clovis stepped forth to attempt to discern which tunnel to venture through, but he stepped onto another trigger stone (his specialty, apparently) and boulders rolled out in front of all of the exits of the cave. Dust and rocks shook loose from the ceiling, as it started to lurch and grind down, menacing to crush them. Medlyn's knowledge of the area and the habits of the monsters here proved useful, and she showed them which tunnel was the one to venture through (though it was now blocked). Clovis, not giving a fuck how heavy a boulder is, pushed it in and made an escape for everyone. The rest of the party scrambled through by the skin of their teeth, as Humble Jack spotted glint of gold from a false rock underneath.

Jack cussed Clovis out heartily, calling him tiny man, foolish, and "half-foot." They continued through a short tunnel into the next cavern. Here there was a pond, and the cavern swelled up around the pond with a narrow walk around, leading to an altar on the far side. There they found the Frog Priest, a particularly bulbous and warty frogmen wearing vestments of swamp weed and dragonfly wings. He had a protruding.. what do you call that big bubble a frog has in its throat? Well it was translucent, and swarming with tadpoles. The frogpriest was accompanied by 4 frogmen, and 2 dead. The party could see a kobold darting down the hallway. The frogpriest bellowed "After them, they have stolen my holy symbol!!!"

Jack the Thief tried to huck a knife at the kobold, but had to run to the mouth of the tunnel to line up his shot. He nailed the thing in the back of the head, and it twisted and dropped on the ground, pushing the kinfe through and out its gaping jaws. The Halfling Barbarian ran up to attempt to protect Jack from the 3 kobolds waiting at the far end of the tunnel with spears, but he failed and they both were barraged as the Kobolds tossed the things.

The frog priest was all fucking worked up, and he spewed forth tadpoles onto the cavern grown. The tadpoles bubbled and grew into 4 fresh, veiny and new Frogmen, fully capable albeit a little soft and new. 8 of the frogmen, weathered and newborn alike, charged down the tunnel, leaving the Priest in his cavern. The party followed after. The frogmen were already clashing spears with the kobolds, and suddenly a blinding, glowing green stream of acid issued out from above and melted the frogmen into the cavern floor, leaving but one alive.

The party looked up, and perched on a stalagtite was a dragon whelp. The battle was not pretty, there was much stabbing by the kobolds, and much acid breath by the whelp. Humble Jack shall remain Humble forever more, melted into the floor cave as he is. Clovis did a good number on the Kobolds, hacking up their spears and chopping off their arms. Ajax vainly attempted to bring his sheleighly to bear against the long and pointy spears of the kobolds, receiving many wounds. The Dragon was well pounded by the last frogman after the death of Jack, and crashed to the dungeon floor. Bengi was pinned by the thing, but it took an arrow to the eye from the ranger.

The sheer number of them caused the thing to attempt retreat, and the last of the kobolds attempted to follow with a large, heavy chest. Clovis decapitated them, and the Whelp clamped its jaws around the treasure and attempted to escape. Its greed was its undoing. Unable to turn its acid breath upon them, the thing was well covered in adventurers and did become stabbed and killed and such. The chest was brought to the frog priest, who laid claim to all treasures within and refused to share.

Ajax recognized among the treasure a goblet carved of swampland roots, adorned with bone, tooth, and golden trim, inscribed with the symbol of Peldura the Swamp Goddess. When filled with swamp water, the goblet is known to have great healing properties. Bengi spoke frankly with the Frog Priest, asking how they could possibly leave this place with the Goblet of Peldura. The priest said the goblet must be returned, and that he would take it only if Bengi released his treasured horn. Bengi agreed, and the frogman asked what it was Bengi desired most. Bengi explained his understanding of trust of the frogmen was his greatest desire at current.

As the party took stock and prepared to navigate out of the tunnels, leaving their melted comrade behind, Celion discovered the last of Humble Jack's coins. She could almost hear him screaming jealously and protectively as she pocketed the golden thing. They went to step out, and the Frogman who had aided in their defeat of the whelp and its kobold foot soliders said unto them "take me with you."

Will our heroes embrace this strange monster as a companion? What lies in wait for Humble Jack beyond Death's imposing Black Gates? Will Bengi retrieve his magic horn? Will the swamp hag Medlyn Fuck Bengi again? These…. are questions!

Some ranting about my shortcomings as a GM

I'm a big fan of the *World games because they are rules light, they put the emphasis on the story, and they allow that story to evolve and take on a life of its own. There's certainly something satisfying about playing out a scene as the GM and having no real idea or plan for how that scene plays out.

As much as I like the mechanics, the games can be a real bitch to run at times. Here's why.

The game is "rules light" in a sense. Any time the characters are doing something that would put them at risk, it likely counts as a move and they roll for it. The mechanics for the moves all follow a straightforward formula, you roll 2 D6 and then add an appropriate modifier. If you get a 10+ it's a strong hit (you get what you want), a 7-9 is a weak hit (you Almost get what you want at some cost or something close to what you want), and on a 6 or less you fucking blew it (so watch out). Simple enough, right? The catch is that there are lots and lots of moves, and each has it's own options to choose from, consequences on a soft hit, and some detail the consequence of failure and some don't. So on paper you're like oh cool look at all these fun moves! But at the table, it results in a lot of me flipping pages and trying to come up with consequences appropriate to the degree of success, that make sense with the fiction we're building. Sometimes I stall. Sometimes my group gets bored and I swear at them.

Another way that the game feels stuck between two worlds is in the prep. It is supposed to be prep light, and as GM you don't make a story line for your characters to follow. This has DEFINITELY led to some cool scenes and moments that I doubt any of the players involved would have thought up on their own. However, I also find myself grasping at straws at times. There is a system to create fronts: groupings of threatening elements that exist in the world the player characters live in that follow impulses toward some dark future. But the fronts are confusing to grasp and hard to make tangible. I've run probably 3 games of apocalypse world and am in the middle of a dungeon world campaign and fronts still give me a hard time.

I think, without planning a story line, there's some prep I can do to help me out a great deal at the table. For my next dungeon world session, I'm aiming to prepare a dozen hirelings with distinct personalities for the PCs to choose from, plus some cool treasure items. I may prowl the net to help me with the latter. I'd also like to draw some half-maps of areas that I think the PCs are likely to explore. The game instructs the GM to "Draw Maps, leave holes." I think I've been more on the side of Holes, so I'm going to try and set myself up for a bit more success next go around.

I've gotten better over time, and the moves all carry an inherent flavor to them which is what I love about the games. Still, the open-endedness of the rules can feel more like vagueness, and I've only grokked the flow of the game by lurking on the astoundingly helpful forums for... much time. Anyway, expect another AP post from Dungeon World soon, plus some custom rules and such I crafted for our campaign. Also, I might have to make another post to focus on all the things that draw me to Vincent Baker's Apocalypse World and its well fleshed out Hacks, because this post maybe came off as negative. BUT THE GAMES ARE AWESOME, I SWEAR!!!

AP: Dungeon World

I've determined that I ramble about gaming to my poor group too much for my own good so I should have a bush behind which to squat and push my thoughts out. This blog is that bush. This post is the first push. If that metaphor doesn't suit you, we are going to have an awkward ride.

I'll start by recapping the first session of Dungeon World that I GMed for my group. It's a bit hazy as it was almost 3 weeks ago. I have a recap that I brain dumped from session 2 so I'll post that later, when I've had time to comb it for... spellwrongings.

OK, so we settled in, Jon ordered pizza, we cracked a few beers, and Cody was wicked late. We did character creation at the "table" (our group doesn't really have a table) as per *World game tradition. We wound up with...

Clovis The Undefeated, the Halfling Barbarian, with his axe and wolf-pelt hood, hailing from the frozen north.

Ajax, the Halfling Druid, cousin or littermate or some shit to Clovis, who has the horns of a ram, one broken.

Humble Jack, the Human Thief Independent Enterpriser, whose clothes are made mostly of rags, but trim and fit and suited well, almost as if on purpose or as a fashion statement.

Celion, the Elven Ranger, with her trusty Emory, her trusted cougar, at her side.

Bengi, the Elven Bard, A bit overweight, especially for an Elf, sporting a stylish cap of animal hides and feathers, who recites invigorating poetry after a blast from his stolen Horn.

Our heroes begin at the southernmost entrance to some sprawling swamplands. They'd been sent there to consult with the priest of the Frogmen, who is known to have an incredible talent for healing. The Lord of a nearby town has a son who is very sick.

Before them is a decently sized pond, maybe about 100 yards from shore to shore. On the far side they can see some rugged huts, those of the frog people. There are gnarled trees about and a crumbling castle or fort in the distance. To their right, a great cliff face known as The Whelp's Wall.

Clovis has no time to waste and decides the quickest way to the frogmen is to swim. He dives in the water, and Celion and her Cougar are not far behind. Ajax takes on his walrus form and splashes in after them. Bengi, not wanting to get too dirty, hops on Ajax' back. Ride the Walrus, Bengi! Humble Jack spotted a rickety old rowboat and took to that.

Clovis and Celion took the lead. Halfway across the pond, a swarm of eels started snapping and writhing in the murky water before them. Clovis powered through and swam like hell for the far shore, the eels twisted and a dark oil leaked out from them, which promptly set the water on fire in patches. Celion and Emory darted through the water, avoiding the eels and the flames. The rest of the group pussed out and headed back. Also I think maybe the old boat started taking on water or something.

Clovis and Celion were greeted by a gibbering bunch of Frogmen who threatened them at spear-point and demanded that the cougar be caged. Emory convinced them this was a bad suggestion by growling, baring her teeth, and being generally terrifying. The frogmen were cowardly and agreed to take them to the frog priest.

Meanwhile, Ajax took to his moose form to traverse the swampy marshes bordering the pond to the east. Bengi, having no shame whatsoever, hopped on the moose's back without a second though, much to Ajax' chagrin. Humble Jack was much more hesitant, but ultimately was less interested in wading through the muck. Halfway around, they were set upon by a group of screaming ekek, half man, half bird, all ugly, zero brains.

Uhhh... the battle went on for kind of a while but i forget the highlights to be honest. Jack did some cool backflips and climbed a tree. Clovis and Celion heard the cries and saw the ekek swooping from the sky and led the frogmen over to join the battle. The frogmen stood in the water and cheered as the ekek were murdered one at a time. Ajax was smashing shit up with his antlers. Bengi did a lot of dropping things in the mud and floundering about.

After this, The party followed the frogmen into the water to seek out the frog priest, with the exception of Bengi and Humble Jack. The two scoundrels began sloshing about in the shallows looking for frog eggs. They had a con running back in town, having convinced some rich shmuck the eggs are a potent aphrodisiac.

Ajax, Clovis, Celion, and Emory swam down after the frogmen, Ajax in walrus form and Clovis almost drowning in the process. They were led to a cave complex, entering via an opening underneath a large boulder. The caves were lit by strange glowing stones, and there were bountiful mushrooms and mosses growing on the cavern floors. The main cave opened out into 4 different tunnels, and the frogmen hopped about in a slightly confused manner. They picked a tunnel, and as the crew walked down, they realized the tunnel was strangely clean and devoid of growth.

Clovis looked up and realized that one of the frogmen was suspended in midair, almost as if it had been jumping and got stuck. It started to dissolve, first its clothes, then its skin. I forget exactly how this went down, but Celion took a massive scalding from the acidic juices of a gelatinous cube. The rest of them had to run and save themselves, but Celion ultimately was able to pull herself free.

They swam back for the surface without incident. The last remaining frogman with them waved them off and headed home. They met up with Benji and Humble Jack. Those who weren't fairly injured were at least filthy and tired, so they set to make camp. Jack found a good spot against a wall to the east of the froggy village. The wall cut through the swamplands north to south and  went a short distance into the pond before crumbling well into nothing. They camped against the eastern face of the wall, keeping it between them and the frogmen.

Will our heroes find the froggy priest? Will they get the help they need? Will the Lord's son make it through all this? Is there any smelly animal Bengi won't ride without hesitation? These... ARE QUESTIONS!