Daniel Fowler – Page 8 – The Gauntlet G+ Archives

Title

Distraction Dance:

when you are otherwise useless, do a dance, sing the song of your people and roll + CHA

10+: chose 3

7-9: chose 2

6-: DM chooses 1 and tells you what happens

you do not look foolish

you get the complete attention of the room

your actions actually disturb, unsettle or anger your audience

“And that was only one of the many occasions on which I met my death, an experience which I don’t hesitate strongly…

“And that was only one of the many occasions on which I met my death, an experience which I don’t hesitate strongly to recommend.”

—Baron Munchausen

Adventures happen when plans fail and people find themselves out of their element. In dungeon world, and role playing in general, you should never worry about failing a roll. Out of character we can all calculate odds and say that the barbarian should always step aside and demand that the thief check every door, chest, square foot in a dungeon. but would the barbarian do this? Is this fun?

I remember a D&D mechanic called “taking 20” that simply represented your character repeating an attempted action until it succeeded, thrilling. We could assume our characters strategize take their time and leave nothing to chance. they succeed at everything and avoid any chance of failure or danger. we can summarize this by having the DM specify a length of time, probably in days, that a specific dungeon requires to complete without risk. Sounds fun right, make sure you bring a lot of rations.

alternatively your barbarian can kick in that door. sometimes he startles goblin guards and gets a free attack. other times the door explodes into flames and he must decide if he should charge through the flames or try to shield his companions. In DW he also gets an XP. Maybe the thief writes down a new bond “Grognar the Mighty is dangerous if left alone” and that changes their relation ship. stuff happens!

do not be afraid to fail. it won’t cause you any real pain and unless your character is really unlucky, they will probably survive. not all failures cause damage, not all failures even affect your character. In DW your character won’t grow without failing a lot of rolls. even if your character dies, you get a last breath roll. some of the most epic situations I have witnessed revolved around a player dying, or almost dying.

It also doesn’t always make sense for your character to avoid certain actions. sure your ranger never attended an arcane university and wont even attempt to identify the function of a magical animated machine with rune inscribed planets orbiting a glowing crystal. But he might recognize a gently humming bow from legends he heard from old hunters about the song-tree Elves. the druid might have higher wisdom but if someone has to discern realities about a battlefield or fortress or spout lore about a siege engine, the fighter might be the guy to look to.

Your character should always do what make sense for your character to do in light of who they are and what they know. Its actually rare for a real person to really understand their short comings. we don’t know our exact stats or the potential outcomes of particular actions. we do our best and generally hope for success. I have no hope of lifting 400lbs but I might stand up to some jerk who can. not everyone can program in C but they can tell me that they think my program is messed up because of what they observe it doing. they might be totally wrong (I never make mistakes) but they are making a valid attempt.

Sorry for the rant…

I am proud to announce the October release date of the Gauntlet’s first premium services. Like many other exciting…

I am proud to announce the October release date of the Gauntlet’s first premium services. Like many other exciting gamming communities, the gauntlet will be offering exclusive benefits to paying Gauntleteers. While we will always value every member of our growing community, we will value these members just a little bit more.

Starting packages include:

Bronze Gauntleteer:

Double Dungeon World experience for one month

($5.99)

Silver Gauntleteer:

*Double Dungeon World experience for three months

*15 free Dungeon World experience

($15.99)

Gold Gauntleteer:

*Double Dungeon World experience for 6 months

*25 free Dungeon World experience

*An exclusive Cave Scorpion pet (see ranger animal companion starting move)

($30.99)

Demonic Gauntleteer:

*Permanent, unrestricted access to all starting Dungeon world character classes including original Mage and Cleric.

($10.99)

Satanic Gauntleteer:

*Access to exclusive Dungeon word Bonds and Alignments including:

“___ is super jealous about how much richer I am”

*“I wish __ wasn’t such a noob, He is only level __”

*Wallet Warrior: spend real life money to change an outcome

*Grognard: Correct the DM when they do not follow the rules

*Meta-Gamer: Use out of character knowledge to avoid an in game problem

*Psychopath: Kill or watch your party members die because you don’t care

($20.99)

Thank you for your support!

I have been thinking of good DW style cursed and/or dangerous items.

1. The Fist of Ankpray. Something interesting: legend says that Ankpray was a mighty warrior with the strength of ten men. Removing your hand and replacing it with the Fist of Ankpray will grant you his strength. Something useful: Ankpray is pig Latin for prank.

2. Potion of Absolute Proof (1 uses). something interesting: created by a powerful wizard seeking to understand Divine magic, this potion grants you an immediate audience with your maker. Something useful: Immediately take a last breath roll. If your character survives he may take the starting priest or cleric moves.

Ring of shrinking: Something useful: This ring allows the user to shrink himself and all his equipment down to the size of a mouse. something interesting: the ring never returns to its full previous size. it is always slightly smaller (in proportion to the current size of its wearer). after 3 uses the ring cannot be removed without severing the finger. after 6 the finger starts to turn blue and atrophy

Please share your ideas for fun, dangerous items

Alignment vs Actions

This is another rant about alignments. Sorry.

I feel that some people view the alignment of their characters as a justification for unreasonable behavior and party in-fighting. It always brings the game to a screeching halt when someone says “my character is ____ so i do ____” or “it makes sense for my character to do that because he is ___”.

Your character should be a person, who decides upon his or her actions with a rational thought process. I suppose you might like the idea of playing an irrational character, “why did I stab that guy? because of puppys!” or “I flipped a coin, looks like i jump into the lava pit”, but you won’t make a good party member and the others should probably abandon you as fast as possible. Some say neutral characters can do whatever they want or might be totally nuts. but this is a non-reason. your character can not do anything because he is neutral. he doesn’t accept the idea that what he does is good or evil but he does it because he felt it was right/best/necessary at the time.

rational people sometimes do what they want and sometimes do what is necessary. They generally have a better, or at least more interesting, excuse then “I am one of 9 ethical/societal archetypes”. Your character has friends and family that were killed by goblins, so yes you kill that goblin child. Your character can even feel conflicted about it later. Your an evil scum bag and the wizard is holding all of the magical loot. you could slit his throat in the night and run off with everything but your character joined this group to stop a greater evil, or it would be suicide to run off alone, or the others might catch and kill you. either way its probably best to negotiate with the party. you’re an honorable knight of the white goddess of happy flowers, and the nasty self serving thief just got himself turned to stone. you could abandon him and probably no one would mind since he is such a jerk, but he is helping you on your quest and it seems kind of cruel to just leave him. Alignments or your characters ethical/societal beliefs affect how they view their actions and the actions of others. They do not physically stop or enforce your characters actions.

I think part of the problem may be the limited nature of selecting one of a small subset of choices. Some people might feel that they are obligated to follow that choice. I think it would be better to ignore the alignments entirely or invite players to write their own mottos or drives. Rather than “Good” a character “will always help those in need”. Instead of “Evil” a character “Always looks out for himself first”. Also the party needs to be held together by a common goal or even by friendship. A character might not like what another is doing but they are on a mission or he tolerates it because the other guy has saved his life several times. If your character simply cannot accept the actions of the others you should say “It seems like my character would abandon this party” and create a new one or do something else. equally if you notice a character in your party is having trouble accepting what you and the others are doing, maybe your characters should show some concern and dial it back. They know this guy and don’t want to chase him off.

Just try to play your character as a person and be prepared to justify your actions rationally in the context of the story. Don’t just say that you are ___.

I generally feel that board games should be fun and interesting. Theme, look and feel are as important as mechanics.

I generally feel that board games should be fun and interesting. Theme, look and feel are as important as mechanics. Some people might worry that I will only bring Ameri-trash games to the Board Game Monday Events but I welcome anyone to suggest and supply whatever they wish to play. I have also dug out my small supply of Euro-games and will be making events for them in the coming months.

Really the most important element is being able to have fun with the people you play with. The game, however mechanically flawed, is just an excuse to hang out.

Finally got my copy of Fantasy Hammer + sci-fi and ancient race manuals. It looks like a lot of reading but I cant…

Finally got my copy of Fantasy Hammer + sci-fi and ancient race manuals. It looks like a lot of reading but I cant wait to play with my bother. He plans to field a mixed Viking /samurai army and already has some cool conversions using Saga and reaper miniatures. I will be trying robot gunslingers. I have already converted a few Battletech minis with cowboy hats.

Ever wonder why the first chapter in every single rulebook for every single RPG, war-game and board game is exactly…

Ever wonder why the first chapter in every single rulebook for every single RPG, war-game and board game is exactly the same and covers some of the most obvious, why would anyone need this, information possible. Is it just to add 3-5 more pages or do some people really not understand what a d6 and d10 are? When the rule book refers to player one as “he” does anyone really think this means that the writers are sexist, or that only men can play?

1st chapter stuff:

1. what is a D6

2. when we say he, we mean he/she/it

3. definition of an RPG

4. the lists (ex: item weight) in this book do not include every possibility in the universe

5. The distinction between a player and a character. sometimes I think I am a 20th level barbarian dwarf playing a 300lb programmer

6. when rules miss something or conflict, just make it up.

7. unit of measure: I inch = 2.5 cm = 1 hex =…

Note: this list does not contain all paragraph titles from all 1st chapters of all books.

Did I miss any? where you ever given new insight by these introductions? have you ever had a dispute with another player that ended when you pointed them to one of these paragraphs?

http://www.ninkasibrewing.com/beer-detail/critical-hit-2010-reserve/

my RPGing / beer drinking friends might find this interesting. just heard about it on nerd poker podcast

http://www.ninkasibrewing.com/beer-detail/critical-hit-2010-reserve/