Episode 21 of Discern Realities is here! This one wraps-up (for now) our story of Domenico Castafiel with an extended AP segment.
As a reminder, the custom move contest is ongoing. You can paste the text of your entries here in the comments.
Here are the time codes:
What Happened Here Recently?
The death of Rook the Halfling Thief (00:55)
What Here is Useful or Valuable to Me?
The Elder God’s Pit custom move by Logan Howard (05:08)
What is About to Happen?
Our ongoing ‘comic strip’ AP featuring Domenico Castafiel (13:03)
Gravid with godlings! (13:54)
Maggot’s miasma (15:04)
The vault (18:58)
The guard (20:55)
The situation (23:29)
The trans-dimensional egg sac (25:39)
“Accept your master, beast!” (27:05)
Yay, body horror!
Yay, body horror!
EAT BEAST!
EAT BEAST!
I just re-listened to the AP on this one. I’m hesitant to brag about something I was directly involved in, but I’m really happy with how this one turned out. David is great at improvised play. I mean, I already knew that, because I’ve played in numerous games with him, but it really comes through nicely on this one.
I just re-listened to the AP on this one. I’m hesitant to brag about something I was directly involved in, but I’m really happy with how this one turned out. David is great at improvised play. I mean, I already knew that, because I’ve played in numerous games with him, but it really comes through nicely on this one.
glowing with self satisfied glee
glowing with self satisfied glee
My players are being pursued by an enemy that’s something of a mix of John Carpenter’s Thing, Stephen King’s It, and an H.P. Lovecraft elder god. Here’s the dungeon front I tried out on them last night which ends with a custom location-based move. The idea is a kind of twisted flashback episode where the player’s answer questions about their PC’s past and their answers are used to fuel dark visions.
This is really my first time using a formal Front, as I usually just jam off what’s in my head with what the players do, would appreciate feedback.
Campfire Tales (Outdoor Dungeon Front)
The Darkness invades the minds of the party while they are making camp and tries to sow fear and dissent in the group.
Cast: The Darkness in many varied guises
Stakes: What will we learn about each PC’s past and motivations? Will any of them succumb to the Darkness’ influence?
Danger: “A Touch of Evil” (Chosen One / Force of Chaos)
Impulse: To terrify and confuse with visions and quietly invade minds for later subjugation
Portents:
– The sky darkens and the fire flickers with an eerie blue light.
– A thick fog fills the night air, a thin mist coating the camp ground, as a feeling of oppressive evil falls upon the camp
– PCs on watch see ghastly shapes in the mist that disappear quickly. Eerie and unearthly shrieks and howls fill the night air.
– Sleeping PCs suffer terrible nightmares of terror, pain, and powerlessness that are difficult to wake from.
Impending Doom:
When you finally see the rising sun after a fitful night of dark visions, roll+WIS. On a 10+, you shake off the dread and steel yourself in the certainty that you can face any danger and overcome. On a 7-9, choose one:
– You are shaken by what you have experienced, choose a new fear for your character and describe how they express it.
– You see the others in a new light, describe the difference and how it will affect how you interact with them.
– Your sense of your own purpose has shifted, describe the change and how it will affect what you do from now on.
In the end, all but one rolled 6- (the last rolled a 10+) but I decided to have them choose instead of making a hard move off my own.
My players are being pursued by an enemy that’s something of a mix of John Carpenter’s Thing, Stephen King’s It, and an H.P. Lovecraft elder god. Here’s the dungeon front I tried out on them last night which ends with a custom location-based move. The idea is a kind of twisted flashback episode where the player’s answer questions about their PC’s past and their answers are used to fuel dark visions.
This is really my first time using a formal Front, as I usually just jam off what’s in my head with what the players do, would appreciate feedback.
Campfire Tales (Outdoor Dungeon Front)
The Darkness invades the minds of the party while they are making camp and tries to sow fear and dissent in the group.
Cast: The Darkness in many varied guises
Stakes: What will we learn about each PC’s past and motivations? Will any of them succumb to the Darkness’ influence?
Danger: “A Touch of Evil” (Chosen One / Force of Chaos)
Impulse: To terrify and confuse with visions and quietly invade minds for later subjugation
Portents:
– The sky darkens and the fire flickers with an eerie blue light.
– A thick fog fills the night air, a thin mist coating the camp ground, as a feeling of oppressive evil falls upon the camp
– PCs on watch see ghastly shapes in the mist that disappear quickly. Eerie and unearthly shrieks and howls fill the night air.
– Sleeping PCs suffer terrible nightmares of terror, pain, and powerlessness that are difficult to wake from.
Impending Doom:
When you finally see the rising sun after a fitful night of dark visions, roll+WIS. On a 10+, you shake off the dread and steel yourself in the certainty that you can face any danger and overcome. On a 7-9, choose one:
– You are shaken by what you have experienced, choose a new fear for your character and describe how they express it.
– You see the others in a new light, describe the difference and how it will affect how you interact with them.
– Your sense of your own purpose has shifted, describe the change and how it will affect what you do from now on.
In the end, all but one rolled 6- (the last rolled a 10+) but I decided to have them choose instead of making a hard move off my own.
The Eternal Sea
(a location(s) move; yes, it’s long)
Description:
It is every sailor’s nightmare to be becalmed at sea far from friendly shores. To be stranded at sea, subject to the mercy of the elements, is frightening enough; yet some old sailors whisper of an even more terrible truth. A becalmed ship may lose more than the wind; it may lose the world itself. When the skies are clear, and the air is still, and there is nothing but blue from horizon to horizon, place may forget itself. Reality subsides to the dream-time, and a ship may find itself floating in the memory of the great primordial sea without end, from whence the waters of the great flood sprang and to which they returned. If the rumors are true, the ship cannot find the world’s shore by navigation alone. Its crew must convince the Eternal Sea to release them — however or why ever that may occur. Otherwise they will sail on till their deaths, never reaching home.
Mechanics:
>When you find yourself in the Eternal Sea, begin by rolling 2d6. Put the result on a d12 and place the d12 in the middle of the table. It is the Foreboding Doom Die.
>Find a pool of objects to represent Tension tokens. Everyone starts with 0, and the MC starts with 0 for the (non-player-character) crew. When you roll to Aid someone on the ship to reach your common goals, take -1 for each Tension token you have. When you roll to Interfere with someone on the ship acting against your common goals, take -1 for each Tension token they have.
—
For each time increment the characters can perform the following moves to gain hold:
>When you rely on luck, your leader rolls +CHA. On 10+, gain 1 hold. On 7-9, nothing. On 6-, lose 1 hold.
>When you find a way to propel the calmed ship — be it by rowing, by magic, or otherwise — gain 1 hold. When you bring yourself and the crew to exhaustion propelling the ship, they are exhausted, but you gain 1 additional hold. If you try to push your crew again while exhausted, it may fail, and the MC will take 1 Tension token for the crew.
>When you attempt to preserve rations by limiting consumption, the character with the most Tension tokens (the MC choses in case of a tie) rolls +CON (the crew rolls straight 2d6). On 10+, gain 2 hold. On 7-9, gain 1 hold. On 6-, nothing. Regardless of what you roll, you must add the following to your options for spending hold:
* Tempers do not run high among the crew (otherwise they do, and the MC takes a Tension Token for the crew).
>When you devise a way to scout ahead — such as through smaller craft, magic, swimming or flight — the scout (or the scout’s master, for an animal companion or spell) rolls +WIS. On 10+, gain 2 hold. On 7-9, gain 1 hold. On 6-, nothing. Regardless of what you roll, you must add the following to your options for spending hold:
* Your scout returns without harm or injury (otherwise the scout is injured, shipbound, incapacitated, or killed).
>When you find a way to navigate — be it by magic, by knowledge of stars, or by trained techniques — the navigator rolls +INT. On 10+, gain 2 hold. On 7-9, gain 1 hold. On 6-, nothing. Regardless of what you roll, you must add the following to your options for spending hold:
* You do not encounter a peril while navigating (otherwise you do [see the inspiration tables]).
>When you perform a shamanic ritual [for examples, see the inspiration tables] roll +STAT. On 10+, gain 2 hold. On 7-9, gain 1 hold. On 6-, nothing. Regardless of what you roll, you must add the following to your options for spending hold:
* Whoever performs the ritual completes it safely (otherwise the ritualist returns sickened, incapacitated, or dead).
>If the shamanic ritual is magical, symbolic or metaphysical, such as a dream journey, the MC will tell you whether to use INT, WIS or CHA. If the ritual involves a literal physical journey, the MC will also require you to make additional rolls to represent that journey, and will give you additional hold equal to the minimum number of successes that it would take to complete that journey.
—
After rolling to gain hold, the shipmates go around choosing options to use their hold. Leftover hold is retained. Each player chooses only one option on their turn. Turn order by number of Tension tokens held, from most to least. If the MC holds any Tension Tokens for the crew, put the MC in the rotation. If the MC holds the most Tension Tokens, the MC starts by taking two turns.
Hold can be spent on the following (don’t forget the options added based on character actions):
>Concerning Time:
Spend 0 hold to consume a quarter of your initial rations. Spend 1 hold to consume an eighth. Spend 2 hold to consume a sixteenth. This represents time at sea.
>Concerning Foreboding Doom:
* The Foreboding Doom Die does not decrease in value by 1 (otherwise it does).
* There is not an Ominous Portent and the MC does not roll 1d6 against the Foreboding Doom Die (otherwise she rolls to see if the result is higher than the Foreboding Doom Die [see the inspiration tables if it is]).
* Re-roll the Foreboding Doom Die. You may select this option only once you make dry land.
>Dry Land:
* You find an island, and add the following options to spend.
* There is substantial and safe food (otherwise food is sparse, dangerous to gather, poisonous, or something else).
* The inhabitants are helpful (otherwise there are none, they are hostile, they will prevent you from leaving, or you will inevitably offend them).
* There is something on the island that is helpful to you in escaping the Eternal Sea, such as knowledge, supplies or magic.
>Plunder at Sea:
* You encounter sea life that you can try to kill for food.
* You encounter another sea vessel that may have supplies, information, and people — whether hostile, friendly, dead, or undead.
>Escape:
Spend 10 hold to escape the Eternal Sea, but lose your ship, your supplies, and some or all of the (non-player-character) crew.
Spend 20 hold to escape the Eternal Sea, but lose either your ship and supplies, or you crew and supplies.
Spend 25 to escape the Eternal Sea without further loss.
(The Escape numbers may have to be adjusted based on the size and competence of the party, the level of desperation to be induced, and the amount of time to be spent.)
—
Whenever another player picks an option to use hold on, you may express your disapproval by taking a Tension token. If you complete an iteration of this move without discussing what to choose, other than by taking Tension tokens, gain 1 additional hold.
Tension tokens can be removed as dictated by the fiction when in an area of safety (or perceived safety).
—
Inspiration Tables:
>Shamanic Rituals
1: Dive to the depths of the sea to retrieve a handful of magical earth.
2: Ascend to the heavens and capture the spirits of the winds from their keeper.
3: Dance with the stars until they take the proper places they have in the true sky.
4: Follow the wave spirits to their cloud cocoon where they transform into river gods.
5: Whisper to the Sea as many of its true names as you can discover, and calculate every way to combine them according to the mystical formulae.
6: Descend to the Black Gates of Death’s Kingdom and retrieve the proper secret or tool.
>Island Hazards
1: The fruits borne on the island cause all who eat them to fall into a helpless stupor and do nothing but continue to eat.
2: The island is filled with cannibalistic giants.
3: The island contains a fountain of youth. It’s people have lived forever, but will crumble to ash if they leave its small confines.
4: The island is home to a sea nymph, queen, or sorceress who will entertain visitors lavishly, but ferociously pursue anyone who tries to leave without her permission. While her anger endures, her island may appear again and again on the horizon.
5: Hidden among the useful plants or animals on the island are their cousins who are sacred to some god. To kill or take them will bring a great curse, and to separate them from their mundane cousins will take great effort.
6: The island is home to someone who will command a contest of strength and skill, but which will only lead to misfortune.
>Navigational Hazards
1: Your ship is colonized by shipworms, a species of clam which can destroy ships by boring holes into their wood. [It seriously disturbs me that this is actually a real fucking thing!]
2: You and your crewmates fall under an enchantment that leads you to take self-destructive action, such as crashing the ship on rocks. Only the character with the least number of Tension tokens is immune.
3: You are caught on a reef, and the only way off it is to pass through an atol that does not want to let you escape, a la the planctae.
4: You encounter a spirit or ghost who waylays and demands something of you.
5: You encounter a whirlpool, sandbar, or chain of barren islands that slows your progress and confuses your navigation.
6: You encounter an underwater volcano forming a new island. There is danger from heat, rock, and poisonous gas.
> Foreboding Doom (which will usually cause all hold to be lost)
1: All the winds are suddenly released from their keeper, and cause a great storm.
2: A sea serpent, kraken, or other leviathan attacks.
3: The island your ship docks at turns out to be a sea turtle, which then swims off without your ship. Best make contingency plans before it dives.
4: Mutiny, riots, or other disturbances break out on the ship and dealing with it takes priority over everything else.
5: You encounter another ship. It is better supplied; its crew is more hardened; it wants what you have; and it won’t give up without a fight.
6: Nothing. The Eternal Sea is unconvinced by your wanderings, and you find yourself, again, literally in the middle of nowhere.
>Useful Items (that can grant hold, or the ability to choose options without spending hold)
1: A magical talking keel.
2: A sail which shields your ship from prying eyes.
3: A conch shell that can summon schools of fish.
4: A bird with the eye of a goddess. Impress her with kindness when you don’t know who she is.
5: A pearl that brings good luck.
6: Magical implements of navigation.
The Eternal Sea
(a location(s) move; yes, it’s long)
Description:
It is every sailor’s nightmare to be becalmed at sea far from friendly shores. To be stranded at sea, subject to the mercy of the elements, is frightening enough; yet some old sailors whisper of an even more terrible truth. A becalmed ship may lose more than the wind; it may lose the world itself. When the skies are clear, and the air is still, and there is nothing but blue from horizon to horizon, place may forget itself. Reality subsides to the dream-time, and a ship may find itself floating in the memory of the great primordial sea without end, from whence the waters of the great flood sprang and to which they returned. If the rumors are true, the ship cannot find the world’s shore by navigation alone. Its crew must convince the Eternal Sea to release them — however or why ever that may occur. Otherwise they will sail on till their deaths, never reaching home.
Mechanics:
>When you find yourself in the Eternal Sea, begin by rolling 2d6. Put the result on a d12 and place the d12 in the middle of the table. It is the Foreboding Doom Die.
>Find a pool of objects to represent Tension tokens. Everyone starts with 0, and the MC starts with 0 for the (non-player-character) crew. When you roll to Aid someone on the ship to reach your common goals, take -1 for each Tension token you have. When you roll to Interfere with someone on the ship acting against your common goals, take -1 for each Tension token they have.
—
For each time increment the characters can perform the following moves to gain hold:
>When you rely on luck, your leader rolls +CHA. On 10+, gain 1 hold. On 7-9, nothing. On 6-, lose 1 hold.
>When you find a way to propel the calmed ship — be it by rowing, by magic, or otherwise — gain 1 hold. When you bring yourself and the crew to exhaustion propelling the ship, they are exhausted, but you gain 1 additional hold. If you try to push your crew again while exhausted, it may fail, and the MC will take 1 Tension token for the crew.
>When you attempt to preserve rations by limiting consumption, the character with the most Tension tokens (the MC choses in case of a tie) rolls +CON (the crew rolls straight 2d6). On 10+, gain 2 hold. On 7-9, gain 1 hold. On 6-, nothing. Regardless of what you roll, you must add the following to your options for spending hold:
* Tempers do not run high among the crew (otherwise they do, and the MC takes a Tension Token for the crew).
>When you devise a way to scout ahead — such as through smaller craft, magic, swimming or flight — the scout (or the scout’s master, for an animal companion or spell) rolls +WIS. On 10+, gain 2 hold. On 7-9, gain 1 hold. On 6-, nothing. Regardless of what you roll, you must add the following to your options for spending hold:
* Your scout returns without harm or injury (otherwise the scout is injured, shipbound, incapacitated, or killed).
>When you find a way to navigate — be it by magic, by knowledge of stars, or by trained techniques — the navigator rolls +INT. On 10+, gain 2 hold. On 7-9, gain 1 hold. On 6-, nothing. Regardless of what you roll, you must add the following to your options for spending hold:
* You do not encounter a peril while navigating (otherwise you do [see the inspiration tables]).
>When you perform a shamanic ritual [for examples, see the inspiration tables] roll +STAT. On 10+, gain 2 hold. On 7-9, gain 1 hold. On 6-, nothing. Regardless of what you roll, you must add the following to your options for spending hold:
* Whoever performs the ritual completes it safely (otherwise the ritualist returns sickened, incapacitated, or dead).
>If the shamanic ritual is magical, symbolic or metaphysical, such as a dream journey, the MC will tell you whether to use INT, WIS or CHA. If the ritual involves a literal physical journey, the MC will also require you to make additional rolls to represent that journey, and will give you additional hold equal to the minimum number of successes that it would take to complete that journey.
—
After rolling to gain hold, the shipmates go around choosing options to use their hold. Leftover hold is retained. Each player chooses only one option on their turn. Turn order by number of Tension tokens held, from most to least. If the MC holds any Tension Tokens for the crew, put the MC in the rotation. If the MC holds the most Tension Tokens, the MC starts by taking two turns.
Hold can be spent on the following (don’t forget the options added based on character actions):
>Concerning Time:
Spend 0 hold to consume a quarter of your initial rations. Spend 1 hold to consume an eighth. Spend 2 hold to consume a sixteenth. This represents time at sea.
>Concerning Foreboding Doom:
* The Foreboding Doom Die does not decrease in value by 1 (otherwise it does).
* There is not an Ominous Portent and the MC does not roll 1d6 against the Foreboding Doom Die (otherwise she rolls to see if the result is higher than the Foreboding Doom Die [see the inspiration tables if it is]).
* Re-roll the Foreboding Doom Die. You may select this option only once you make dry land.
>Dry Land:
* You find an island, and add the following options to spend.
* There is substantial and safe food (otherwise food is sparse, dangerous to gather, poisonous, or something else).
* The inhabitants are helpful (otherwise there are none, they are hostile, they will prevent you from leaving, or you will inevitably offend them).
* There is something on the island that is helpful to you in escaping the Eternal Sea, such as knowledge, supplies or magic.
>Plunder at Sea:
* You encounter sea life that you can try to kill for food.
* You encounter another sea vessel that may have supplies, information, and people — whether hostile, friendly, dead, or undead.
>Escape:
Spend 10 hold to escape the Eternal Sea, but lose your ship, your supplies, and some or all of the (non-player-character) crew.
Spend 20 hold to escape the Eternal Sea, but lose either your ship and supplies, or you crew and supplies.
Spend 25 to escape the Eternal Sea without further loss.
(The Escape numbers may have to be adjusted based on the size and competence of the party, the level of desperation to be induced, and the amount of time to be spent.)
—
Whenever another player picks an option to use hold on, you may express your disapproval by taking a Tension token. If you complete an iteration of this move without discussing what to choose, other than by taking Tension tokens, gain 1 additional hold.
Tension tokens can be removed as dictated by the fiction when in an area of safety (or perceived safety).
—
Inspiration Tables:
>Shamanic Rituals
1: Dive to the depths of the sea to retrieve a handful of magical earth.
2: Ascend to the heavens and capture the spirits of the winds from their keeper.
3: Dance with the stars until they take the proper places they have in the true sky.
4: Follow the wave spirits to their cloud cocoon where they transform into river gods.
5: Whisper to the Sea as many of its true names as you can discover, and calculate every way to combine them according to the mystical formulae.
6: Descend to the Black Gates of Death’s Kingdom and retrieve the proper secret or tool.
>Island Hazards
1: The fruits borne on the island cause all who eat them to fall into a helpless stupor and do nothing but continue to eat.
2: The island is filled with cannibalistic giants.
3: The island contains a fountain of youth. It’s people have lived forever, but will crumble to ash if they leave its small confines.
4: The island is home to a sea nymph, queen, or sorceress who will entertain visitors lavishly, but ferociously pursue anyone who tries to leave without her permission. While her anger endures, her island may appear again and again on the horizon.
5: Hidden among the useful plants or animals on the island are their cousins who are sacred to some god. To kill or take them will bring a great curse, and to separate them from their mundane cousins will take great effort.
6: The island is home to someone who will command a contest of strength and skill, but which will only lead to misfortune.
>Navigational Hazards
1: Your ship is colonized by shipworms, a species of clam which can destroy ships by boring holes into their wood. [It seriously disturbs me that this is actually a real fucking thing!]
2: You and your crewmates fall under an enchantment that leads you to take self-destructive action, such as crashing the ship on rocks. Only the character with the least number of Tension tokens is immune.
3: You are caught on a reef, and the only way off it is to pass through an atol that does not want to let you escape, a la the planctae.
4: You encounter a spirit or ghost who waylays and demands something of you.
5: You encounter a whirlpool, sandbar, or chain of barren islands that slows your progress and confuses your navigation.
6: You encounter an underwater volcano forming a new island. There is danger from heat, rock, and poisonous gas.
> Foreboding Doom (which will usually cause all hold to be lost)
1: All the winds are suddenly released from their keeper, and cause a great storm.
2: A sea serpent, kraken, or other leviathan attacks.
3: The island your ship docks at turns out to be a sea turtle, which then swims off without your ship. Best make contingency plans before it dives.
4: Mutiny, riots, or other disturbances break out on the ship and dealing with it takes priority over everything else.
5: You encounter another ship. It is better supplied; its crew is more hardened; it wants what you have; and it won’t give up without a fight.
6: Nothing. The Eternal Sea is unconvinced by your wanderings, and you find yourself, again, literally in the middle of nowhere.
>Useful Items (that can grant hold, or the ability to choose options without spending hold)
1: A magical talking keel.
2: A sail which shields your ship from prying eyes.
3: A conch shell that can summon schools of fish.
4: A bird with the eye of a goddess. Impress her with kindness when you don’t know who she is.
5: A pearl that brings good luck.
6: Magical implements of navigation.
The rope bridge across Buzzard’s Beak Canyon is older then living memory. Unfortunately it is the only way to avoid an additional seven day journey. When you cross the chasm, the bridge creaks ominously under your weight. Roll – Weight. on a 10+ the bridge creaks and sways but you make it across safely. on a 7-9 you make it across but must choose 1 of the following.
*some piece of your gear slips from your grip or your pack and is lost forever
*someone else must risk the bridge to help you across.
*You gain a fear of heights and will never again have the courage to cross the bridge.
The rope bridge across Buzzard’s Beak Canyon is older then living memory. Unfortunately it is the only way to avoid an additional seven day journey. When you cross the chasm, the bridge creaks ominously under your weight. Roll – Weight. on a 10+ the bridge creaks and sways but you make it across safely. on a 7-9 you make it across but must choose 1 of the following.
*some piece of your gear slips from your grip or your pack and is lost forever
*someone else must risk the bridge to help you across.
*You gain a fear of heights and will never again have the courage to cross the bridge.
Daniel Fowler GENIUS! May I steal?
Daniel Fowler GENIUS! May I steal?
Ari Black thanks, go ahead
Ari Black thanks, go ahead
Please tweak my move to your heart’s content! I just got back from a vacation and would love to hear Your ideas about how to make my move from this episode harder hitting. I think I tend to go easy on the players which costs me some potentially delightful drama. Teach me masters!
Please tweak my move to your heart’s content! I just got back from a vacation and would love to hear Your ideas about how to make my move from this episode harder hitting. I think I tend to go easy on the players which costs me some potentially delightful drama. Teach me masters!