Author: Daniel Fowler

Some thoughts on the Defend move and outcomes in general

I have been thinking about the Defend Dungeon World move recently and I read something that changed the way I think about it.  I would normally roll+CON and get some number of hold or fail.  In a few situations this can be very useful like pulling attacks away from a wizard performing a ritual or a thief securing an escape route.  But at best you get 3 hold and the actual timing of when to roll, and weather you can roll again or get to Hack and Slash as well, has always been a little unclear.  Most players will just try to Hack and Slash away their opponents as quickly as possible before to much damage is done.  Alternatively they create some fictional circumstance to draw attention, like covering themselves in cows blood or making a lot of noise.  These are both good strategies but I felt they left Defend a little lame.  

I was browsing around in the Dungeon World Tavern and someone mentioned the difference between the 3 outcomes in reference to defend.  Normally a 10+ is a success, your character does whatever he set out to do. A 7-9 result is a success with complication.  The Defend move is triggered “when you stand in defense of a person, item or location under attack”.  So on a 10+ it seems like you should succeed in defending your target in addition to getting 3 hold.  On a 7-9 you still defend the target but there is a complication and you get 1 hold to deal with it.  

This makes the most sense if you are trying to accomplish something with your defense other than redirecting attacks.  Say you want to keep a bunch of monsters out of a room or from crossing a bridge, so you plant yourself in the way.  Whether or not they get by you is based more on the outcome of the roll then on how you use the hold.  Or you are trying to draw fire, your roll determines if you succeed and your hold helps you weather the consequences.  This approach kind of turns Defend into a special form of Defy Danger with CON.

Unfortunately the redirect an attack from the thing you defend to yourself hold option does seem useless in the 10+ success case.  You have completely succeeded at defending them so there shouldn’t be an attack targeting them.  This may be an indication that I am trying to use Defend in the wrong way.  

What do you guys think?  Is this the wrong idea or a step in the right direction?  Do you feel Defend is already super useful or a bit hard to use?  How about other moves with hold options?  Is getting less hold or having to spend an ammo enough on its own to count as a success with complication?

Endless uses for a ring of keys

I like to pick up everything the DM give me even when it’s a crate of useless junk.  A large part of the fun i get from RPGs is figuring out how to solve problems in unexpected ways.  As an example one of my characters recently pocketed a set of keys and i was asked why.  Without much thought i adopted a hurt tone and said that there was a thousand possible uses for it.  

I am imagining the large iron ring you see on the belt of the dungeon jailer in a fantasy movie.  there is probably a couple dozen crude iron keys on it and it makes a good jingle as he walks.  Most any fantasy castle should have at least one giant ring of keys laying around somewhere.  as an adventurer this may seem like a hunk of junk or useless room detail but things like this should be your jam.  here are some obvious and less obvious uses for a ring of keys. Hopefully this will also inspire you to pick up other seemingly useless junk.

1. Opening and locking doors: of course this is the obvious first use and could even justify multiple uses for each key.  Maybe there are more keys than doors in this dungeon, what do the others unlock?  does each key only unlock one door or a set of doors?   (that’s between one and Infinity uses already)

2. Maybe taking this ring of keys prevent other people from locking or unlocking doors in the future? (that’s at least two uses per key)

3. Sell it:  at worst it’s a hunk of iron, at best some local thieves will be very interested in it.

4. blackmail:  It won’t look good for the jailer if the local thieves get a hold of the keys he was entrusted with.

5. weapon: a bundle of car keys makes a decent weapon in a tight spot, imagine what a few pounds of iron keys could do to some goblin’s face.  they could also be used as a tossed or launched weapon.  bonus xp for anyone who beats a mimic to death with an iron key ring

6. distraction:  of course they make noise and are hefty enough to be thrown.  they could also be used to attract attention as part of a trap.

7. disguise:  a big enough ring of keys is sort of a badge of office.  that guy must belong here, otherwise why does he have the keys to the place.

8. material properties:  some keys are made with silver or possibly other materials.  I’ve heard Fey creatures don’t like iron.

9. choking hazard:  it’s about the right size and shape to be a serious choking hazard for a large but not gigantic monster.  also hazardous to any clockwork automatons.

10: individual keys:  use them as trail markers, sell them as lucky charms or leave them as your signature calling card at the scene of the crime. (see #4)

11: bluff: convince someone that they are more important than they actually are.  it’s not like the palace labels one ring “treasury” and the other “cleaning supplies”

12: magical properties?:  these keys have been present to years of human suffering.  many people have probably spent their last moments wishing they had these.  that has got to have value to someone who practices the darker arts.  maybe as a ritual component?  certainly any spell that concerns that castle from a distance could use them to make a connection.

13: enchant them:  who doesn’t want magical keys

14. its heavy:  sometimes you just need ballast, break a window or replace something sitting on a pressure plate..

15: its conductive: maybe this should go into material properties but i can’t think of a better way to mess up a chain lightning attack.

16: Rust Monster snack:  rust monster terrify role players, won’t you look smart when you lead them away with a trail of delicious snacks.  maybe you can get them to perform tricks like roll over and play dead.

17: cool signature arrowheads: magical or otherwise

that’s a bunch off the top of my head.  can you think of more?  Or give a good example of using something you thought was junk in an interesting way (or regret not picking up that junk when you had the chance).