Dungeon World (Nov. 27, 2024)
The site is coming along real nice-like. I still don't know what I'm doing but I'm taking it one step at a time and it feels okay. Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I will be seeing my family. Except I see my family once a week already during my local Dungeon World game where I am the GM and they are my freaking pawns.
If you aren't familiar with Dungeon World, it's an alternative to Dungeons and Dragons that encourages a dramatic narrative over lots of numbers and intense combat sessions. Don't get me wrong, the game also has numbers and combat, but it's less about figuring out what exactly your character can do numerically and more figuring out what they can do with their arms and legs and weapons in a situation. It requires a lot of trust in your GM that would probably intimidate traditional D&D players because if the creature you are fighting can rip off limbs with each swing, the Game Master can just claim it happens and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it.
Not to say that the GM can just do that and totally kill your favorite little character there, he can only do it if he is following the fiction. I'm not really the guy to explain the game now that I think about it, I'm not the best or goodest at these sorts of things.
Anyways, my players have acquired The Nightsider's Key from an evil necromancer. This key can unlock any door, so long as you don't belong in the place beyond it. The magic item is straight from the book, but I've tweaked it a bit to fit into my campaign. The evil necromancer that originally owned the thing used it to open the black gates of death themselves, and now the key keeps opening portals to the realm beyond death (which is bad). Here is the custom move I made for the dang old thing:
When you use The Nightsider’s Key to unlock a door you do not belong behind, roll+DEX.
On a 10+, the key unlocks the door, and you return it to the lead box before Death takes notice.
On a 7-9, the key unlocks the door, but something stirs in the veil between life and death. Choose one:
•A faint shadow escapes through the door, leaving behind an eerie mark. The area becomes unnaturally cold or unsettling.
•The Key’s power saps your vitality and you become sick. Take -1 ongoing to CON until you rest.
On a 6-, the key unlocks the door, but Death takes notice. The GM will describe the first sign of Death’s awareness—a whisper in the dark, a flicker of unnatural light, or a sudden chill.
I think it's pretty neat. I might post more custom content for Dungeon World on this site if I'm not gonna use it for much else.
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