How do you guys deal with DW moves like Bloody Aegis, Armored Mastery and Shed? Given that they negate all damage from an attack, I find them ridiculously overpowered, so I was wondering if there was a better way of restricting them.
How do you guys deal with DW moves like Bloody Aegis, Armored Mastery and Shed?
How do you guys deal with DW moves like Bloody Aegis, Armored Mastery and Shed?
I use them as written, and do not find them ridiculously overpowered. All of them have a drawback. There is more to monsters than damage.
I use them as written, and do not find them ridiculously overpowered. All of them have a drawback. There is more to monsters than damage.
Go hard on failures, don’t let up on the danger. You can always challenge PCs if you’re clever. Have them fight something who’s attack defeats armor like a wraith, put them on a shaky coracle in a storm, attack them with swarms of tiny, low damage opponents. Let the moves feel epic when they go off rather than resent them, but put them in situations that demonstrate the weaknesses of their class.
Go hard on failures, don’t let up on the danger. You can always challenge PCs if you’re clever. Have them fight something who’s attack defeats armor like a wraith, put them on a shaky coracle in a storm, attack them with swarms of tiny, low damage opponents. Let the moves feel epic when they go off rather than resent them, but put them in situations that demonstrate the weaknesses of their class.
I agree with Lester Ward. They only eliminate HP damage. Monsters have all sorts of moves beyond HP damage.
I agree with Lester Ward. They only eliminate HP damage. Monsters have all sorts of moves beyond HP damage.
Yeah, I agree with Lester Ward. It’s the second thing today where I see someone having an issue with perceiving something as OP and I don’t feel that’s a thing in DW at all.
If you experience something as powerful in your DW campaign it is probably worth centering arcs of the story around it. Examine it through different perspectives using NPC/world/antagonist reactions. Ask leading questions.
This is how you end up exploring characters that are like Siegfried who bathed in dragon blood to become invulnerable (except for that leaf that had stuck on his shoulder) or Achilles who got that heel named after him.
Yeah, I agree with Lester Ward. It’s the second thing today where I see someone having an issue with perceiving something as OP and I don’t feel that’s a thing in DW at all.
If you experience something as powerful in your DW campaign it is probably worth centering arcs of the story around it. Examine it through different perspectives using NPC/world/antagonist reactions. Ask leading questions.
This is how you end up exploring characters that are like Siegfried who bathed in dragon blood to become invulnerable (except for that leaf that had stuck on his shoulder) or Achilles who got that heel named after him.
Those moves have a cost associated with them. its up to the GM to make that cost important enough to have meaning.
For Bloody Aegis the cost is debilities which weaken the character and are hard to remove. remind the player that their hand is crushed, they can barely stand, they are not able to focus. What they can fictionally get away with follows from those limitations.
For Armored Mastery the cost is armor, unless your wearing plate then most armor is gone after one use. armor and shields should not just be laying around. If your player tries to buy 20 shields then just tell him to stop.
Shed is a little tougher. I remember talking with another player if this meant he had a human arm after losing an animal arm and shedding.
or leaping off a cliff and changing to a person instead of splat-ing. or a tiny mouse being crushed by a giant rock turning into a person and being ok? Exactly what it means is up to you but it should still be bad to suddenly be forced out of your animal form.
I think its important to remember are that the game is not necessarily meant to be “fair”. each player should be able to be extraordinary in certain ways. also its not really a competition, that other player has a neat ability, that is great for you and the story, now figure out what you can do…
the other thing to remember is that whatever happens, the action continues. you just ignored that attack, awesome, but now the monster is raising its club for another strike and you are to “weak” to raise your shield, or your shield has crumbled to pieces, or you are suddenly not a giant bear and no you cant just jump back!
Those moves have a cost associated with them. its up to the GM to make that cost important enough to have meaning.
For Bloody Aegis the cost is debilities which weaken the character and are hard to remove. remind the player that their hand is crushed, they can barely stand, they are not able to focus. What they can fictionally get away with follows from those limitations.
For Armored Mastery the cost is armor, unless your wearing plate then most armor is gone after one use. armor and shields should not just be laying around. If your player tries to buy 20 shields then just tell him to stop.
Shed is a little tougher. I remember talking with another player if this meant he had a human arm after losing an animal arm and shedding.
or leaping off a cliff and changing to a person instead of splat-ing. or a tiny mouse being crushed by a giant rock turning into a person and being ok? Exactly what it means is up to you but it should still be bad to suddenly be forced out of your animal form.
I think its important to remember are that the game is not necessarily meant to be “fair”. each player should be able to be extraordinary in certain ways. also its not really a competition, that other player has a neat ability, that is great for you and the story, now figure out what you can do…
the other thing to remember is that whatever happens, the action continues. you just ignored that attack, awesome, but now the monster is raising its club for another strike and you are to “weak” to raise your shield, or your shield has crumbled to pieces, or you are suddenly not a giant bear and no you cant just jump back!
Don’t make the GM move Deal Damage. Make other (more interesting) GM moves that happen to also involve dealing damage. Then the ability to shrug off damage (at a cost) isn’t as disruptive to the game.
Relevant:
plus.google.com – Deal Damage is a Crap GM Move slightly heretical musings When I’ve played DW…
Don’t make the GM move Deal Damage. Make other (more interesting) GM moves that happen to also involve dealing damage. Then the ability to shrug off damage (at a cost) isn’t as disruptive to the game.
Relevant:
plus.google.com – Deal Damage is a Crap GM Move slightly heretical musings When I’ve played DW…
Jeremy Strandberg I want to immediately disagree with the title of the post you linked but I’ll read it and see.
Jeremy Strandberg I want to immediately disagree with the title of the post you linked but I’ll read it and see.
Never mind, I thought you were saying that HP damage was not interesting. which I have not found to be the case, many players get really worked up about their diminishing HP and their eyes fill with dread when i show how lethal getting hit by the monster is. But I can see the temptation to be lazy and just say “you lose X HP”. I really like your suggestion of always using another move and also dealing damage when appropriate.
Never mind, I thought you were saying that HP damage was not interesting. which I have not found to be the case, many players get really worked up about their diminishing HP and their eyes fill with dread when i show how lethal getting hit by the monster is. But I can see the temptation to be lazy and just say “you lose X HP”. I really like your suggestion of always using another move and also dealing damage when appropriate.