August 2025 – Mister Monster's Workshop

Moves, moves, moves!

Edited to add:

Hello, everyone who keeps visiting this ridiculous nothingburger post that’s for some reason the one that keeps getting hits! Like, seriously, half the hits for this blog is this boring post where I drone on about mechanics for a port I’ve long since scrapped for being too complicated, and I can’t figure out why – I guess because someone with a more popular blog commented on it and some algorithm grabbed hold of that, or it’s left a link somewhere? Anyway, could I possibly interest you in some things I’ve put some actual effort in? You might enjoy them!

Here’s my Vampire: the Masquerade first edition readthrough where I wallow in fanboyism for what White Wolf started out as . Here’s my complete Aberrant readthrough where I lament what White Wolf eventually turned into. Here’s my Torg first edition readthrough, for a different but also very 90s experience. Here’s my early editions of Dragonbane readthrough, where I wax nostalgic for my lost youth. Here’s my more detailed (and more vitriolic) readthrough of the abomination known as Daggerheart where I berate those damn no-good kids today. And here, if you really want to make me smile, is the posts I’ve made about my original game, Monstrous Mishaps. I can haz clicks? Pleeeeeeaaaase?

Well, I figured I might as well try. Now I’ll return you to (sigh) the post you actually came for…

I have been hard at work with my Dark Heresy port this week, and I think I’m actually getting somewhere. I’ve edited the basic moves so that they amount to something comprehensive (which forced me to add even more of the damn things, but screw it, at this point I am making a complete mockery of the whole “rules-light” nature of PbtA anyway, so I might as well go crazy), moved more of the combat rules out to the weapons section, and begun editing the Careers and their lists of Advances again. This time I’ll turn it into something that’s easy to play! Yeah, I know I’ve said that before…

Anyway, here are the basic moves as they stand now. Aside from editing them a bit, I also arranged them by type so they’re easier to keep track of.

COMBAT MOVES

MELEE

When you bring down the hammer, roll +Weapon Skill. 10-14, you achieve a Basic Success. 15-19, you achieve a Major Success. 20+, you achieve an Absolute Success.

Basic Success: choose 1 option below. You may spend Righteous Fury to choose additional options, 1 for each Righteous Fury spent. Each option can only be chosen once. If you have training in the weapon you are wielding, you also hold Righteous Fury, which can be spent now on additional options or saved for later.
- You inflict a hit on an enemy within range of your weapon and do damage according to your weapon and the enemy’s type.
- An enemy who has you within range of their weapon does not inflict a hit on you.
- You occupy the enemies within range of your weapon and keep them from engaging your friends. Hold 1 that can be spent on nullifying a hit from one of those enemies on another player or NPC. You may not deflect hits against yourself this way.
- You push an enemy back to the range of your weapon or keep them from getting closer than that.
- You knock down an enemy within range of your weapon or keep them from getting back on their feet.
- You gain or maintain a grappling hold on an enemy within hand range.
Major Success: the same, but also hold Righteous Fury, which you can spend on an additional option now or save for other purposes.
Absolute Success: 20+, the same, but select 2 options.

Examples: Exchanging blows, tackling an enemy, giving ground while looking for an opening.

RANGED

When you unleash the fire and fury, roll +Ballistic Skill. 10-14, you achieve a Basic Success. 15-19, you achieve a Major Success. 20+, you achieve an Absolute Success.

Basic Success: choose 1 option below. You may spend Righteous Fury to choose additional options, 1 for each Righteous Fury spent. Each option can only be chosen once. If you have training in the weapon you are wielding, you also hold Righteous Fury, which can be spent now on additional options or saved for later.
- You inflict a hit on an enemy within range of your weapon and do damage according to your weapon and the enemy’s type.
- You cause all enemies within range of your weapon to fall back, get in cover, or stay in cover.
- You establish a kill-zone within the range of your weapon. Hold 1 that can be used to inflict an automatic hit on an enemy moving into or through that zone while you continue to cover it. The hit does damage according to your weapon and the enemy’s type. You immediately lose the hold if you take your eyes off of the kill zone.
- An enemy who has you within range of their weapon does not inflict a hit on you.
- You are not driven back, pinned down, locked into melee, or otherwise have your freedom of movement confined. You may also, if you so choose, alter your distance to the enemy closest to you by one category, e.g. from reach to close or from short ranged to long ranged.
- You do not need to reduce your Ammo by 1. This cannot be chosen for an Ammo-S weapon.
Major Success: the same, but also hold Righteous Fury, which you can spend on an additional option now or save for other purposes.
Absolute Success: the same, but select 2 options.

Examples: Charging in guns blazing, laying down fire to cover your escape, taking aim from a sniper nest.

TRAVERSAL MOVES

DODGE

When you make a tactical withdrawal, roll +Agility. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: you escape whatever you were fleeing, but terror leaves its mark on you. Gain 1 Insanity Point.
Basic Success: you escape whatever you were fleeing with enough margin that you feel merely a passing fear.
Major Success: you either escape with a comfortable margin, or you manage to snatch something useful or valuable up along the way at the cost of gaining 1 Insanity Point from the heedless risk.
Absolute Success: you escape with a comfortable margin and also manage to snatch something useful or valuable up along the way.

Note: This move is triggered when you attempt to escape a location and its accompanying dangers completely. If you are just manoeuvring for a safer position within your current location, e.g. leaping into cover to avoid enemy fire or ducking under a sweeping blade, use escape a tight spot instead.

Examples: Racing to catch the last life pod, fleeing from a fight, getting out of the blast radius.

CLIMB

When you overcome an obstacle, roll +Strength. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: you make it through, but it leaves you exposed or vulnerable for a moment.
Basic Success: you make it through quickly and cleanly.
Major Success: you either make it through quickly and cleanly, or you allow yourself to be exposed or vulnerable for a moment in order to clear a path or show a way for the next person to follow you; if you choose the latter, you may allow one other player to share your progress without making a roll of their own.
Absolute Success: you make it through quickly and cleanly while also managing to clear a path or show a way for the next person to follow you; you may allow one other player to share your progress without making a roll of their own.

Examples: Pushing your way through a crowd, wading through a treacherous swamp, scaling an enemy fortification.

CONTORTIONIST

When you escape a tight spot, roll +Agility. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: you make your escape, but it’s a near thing; you lose 1 Wound and suffer the loss of one piece of gear of the GM’s choice.
Basic Success: you make your escape, but not unscathed; choose whether to lose 1 Wound or abandon one piece of gear.
Major Success: you make your escape in one piece.
Absolute Success: you make your escape in one piece, and you feel confident in your ability to slip free of any trouble; lose 1 Insanity Point.

Examples: Slipping out of someone’s grip, scurrying into cover, squeezing through a narrow gap.

SWIM

When you charge boldly onward, roll +Strength. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: you close the distance, but in heedlessly barrelling forward you exhaust yourself; take -1 ongoing to Strength and Agility rolls until you’ve had a chance to rest.
Basic Success: you close the distance with plenty of vigour to spare.
Major Success: you either close the distance with vigour to spare, or you exhaust yourself (take -1 ongoing to Strength and Agility rolls until you’ve rested) to arrive quickly enough to gain some sort of unexpected advantage or opportunity.
Absolute Success: you close the distance with vigour to spare and also arrive quickly enough to gain some sort of unexpected advantage or opportunity.

Examples: Swimming through an underground passage, chasing down a fleeing enemy, leaping a gaping chasm.

STEALTH MOVES

CONCEALMENT

When you find a hiding place, roll +Agility. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: you manage to find a hiding place that will obscure the subject for a while, but that will soon be searched in the ordinary course of things.
Basic Success: you find a hiding place that won’t be uncovered by anything but a thorough search.
Major Success: you either find a hiding place that won’t be uncovered by anything but a thorough search or a hiding place that will remain secure for the foreseeable future; however, the second hiding place also holds the risk of what is hidden there being in some way damaged or endangered before it can be retrieved.
Absolute Success: you find a hiding place that will remain secure for the foreseeable future, no matter how many people look for it.

Examples: Hiding behind some crates, burying evidence, smuggling contraband past customs.

SILENT MOVE

When you move unseen, roll +Agility. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: you make it across a stretch of territory unseen, but you have to take the long way around or remain in hiding for some time, costing you valuable time.
Basic Success: you make it to where you are going deftly and quietly.
Major Success: you can make it to where you are going deftly and quietly, but along the way you stumble on a chance to examine or overhear something along the way that others would have preferred to keep secret from you, at the expense of risking detection.
Absolute Success: you make it to where you are going deftly and quietly, and along the way you manage to examine or overhear something that others would have preferred to keep secret from you, without risking detection.

Examples: Sneaking up on an enemy, circumventing a sentry, making it through a secure area unchallenged.

RESISTANCE MOVES

CONTEMPT

When you armour yourself in contempt, roll +Willpower+your current number of Disorders. 9-, you suffer a Failure. 10-14, you achieve a Basic Success. 15-19, you achieve a Major Success. 20+, you achieve an Absolute Success.

Failure: the shock is too much for you, and part of your mind irrevocably shatters. Choose a Disorder.
Basic Success: while you hold on to your reason, you are deeply shaken. Choose a Trauma.
Major Success: you maintain a white-knuckle grip on your rational faculties.
Absolute Success: in a flash of clarity, you realise that death in the service of the Emperor is an honour, not something to fear. Hold Righteous Fury.

Examples: Encountering a grisly murder scene, facing a monstrous xenos, experiencing something unnatural.

CAROUSE

When you fight the effects of poison, drugs, fatigue, or extreme conditions, roll +Toughness. 9-, you suffer a Failure. 10-14, you achieve a Basic Success. 15-19, you achieve a Major Success. 20+, you achieve an Absolute Success.

Failure: you take -1 ongoing to rolls with one particular Characteristic until you’ve had a chance to rest and recover. The GM decides which Characteristics, depending on what the exact causes are.
Basic Success: your hardy constitution makes it possible for you to push on, but perhaps at a price. Choose one alternative below.
- You take -1 ongoing to rolls with one particular Characteristic, as from a failure.
- You suffer serious medical harm. Take 1d5l damage that is not affected by Armour. Toughness modifies normally.
- Your refusal to slow down runs the risk of making you pass out. Roll to refuse to fall.
Major Success: you shrug off the effects.
Absolute Success: you not only resist, you start to build up a tolerance. Reduce the current penalties gained through failures to fight the effects by 1. If more than one Characteristic is affected, you choose which one gets a reduced penalty.
Absolute Success: in a surge of willpower you banish all mortal weakness. Lose all current penalties gained through failures to fight the effects.

Examples: Resting the effects of drugs or poisons, pushing on without water or rest, enduring extremes of temperature.

DISGUST

When you shield yourself with disgust, roll +Willpower. 9-, you suffer a Failure. 10-14, you achieve a Basic Success. 15-19, you achieve a Major Success. 20+, you achieve an Absolute Success.

Failure: Chaos infuses your very bones. Advance your Damnation Track by two boxes.
Basic Success: you manage to hold back the worst of the dark transformation, but some of it still takes hold. Advance your Damnation Track by one box.
Major Success: your flesh refuses to bend to Chaos, but instead breaks out in stigmatic bleeds. Take 1d5 damage, not reduced by Toughness or Armour.
Absolute Success: by near psychotic determination, you deny the Ruinous Powers a grip on you… this time.

Examples: Reading a forbidden text, facing a daemon, witnessing a dark rite.

ENDURANCE

When you refuse to fall, roll +Toughness. 9-, you suffer a Failure. 10-14, you achieve a Basic Success. 15-19, you achieve a Major Success. 20+, you achieve an Absolute Success.

Failure: the tribulation is too great for you, and you pass out.
Basic Success: you stagger on, but your inner reserves are dwindling. Take -1 ongoing to further rolls to refuse to fall until you’ve had a chance to rest.
Major Success: whether through unyielding faith or simply a burst of adrenaline, you bring your treacherous body back under your control.
Absolute Success: your suffering brings you a vision of the Emperor. Lose 1 Corruption Point.

Examples: Suffering a Crippling Injury, being put through torturous pain, being sedated by powerful drugs.

INVESTIGATION MOVES

AWARENESS

When you keep an eye out, roll +Perception. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: the GM tells you one detail of your current surroundings that is odd, notable, or out of place. She doesn’t tell you why, only that the detail for some reason sticks out to you.
Basic Success: the same, and the GM also tells you why the detail is noteworthy.
Major Success: the same, and the GM also tells you what the wider implications of the detail is and what it might portend.
Absolute Success: the same, and take +1 forward to any roll that makes use of or makes reference to your observation.

Examples: Stopping to smell the air, taking a look around, listening to your instincts.

EVALUATE

When you evaluate your surroundings, roll +Intelligence. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: the GM tells you of one nearby inanimate object or feature of terrain around you that could be valuable or otherwise useful to you.
Basic Success: the same, and the GM also tells you which such object or feature (which can be the same one or a different one) that some relevant NPC or group would most desire to own or control.
Major Success: the same, and you may declare which particular NPC’s or group’s needs you’re able to anticipate. Alternatively, you may describe a particular sort of person to cater to.
Absolute Success: the same, and the object or feature you found for your own use was especially well-chosen; take +1 forward to make use of it.

Examples: Surveying the contents of an armoury or market, looking around for an improvised weapon, finding the best spot to land a ship.

GAMBLE

When you count the odds of some potentially risky course of action, roll +Intelligence. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: you get a hunch. You may ask the GM whether doing something would, in her opinion, be a good idea. She tells you either “yes” or “no.”
Basic Success: the same, but you’re able to pinpoint what the hunch is based on. The GM tells you “yes” or “no,” and also tells you what she’s basing her assessment on.
Major Success: the same, and you develop a lucky streak; if you follow your hunch, hold 1 that can be spent on making a roll of exactly 9 be treated as a roll of 10-14.
Absolute Success: the same, but your luck is truly unbeatable; by spending the hold, you can turn any result of 9- into a result of 10-14.

Examples: Sizing up an enemy, checking the security, estimating someone’s reaction.

INQUIRY

When you conduct a thorough investigation, roll +Fellowship. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: you learn some broad rumours that have been flying around, but either any other interested parties learn that you have been asking questions, or the people who tipped you off had their own sinister reasons for doing so.
Basic Success: you either learn an actually juicy tidbit at the cost of attracting attention or being lured into a trap, or you learn the broad rumours without any adverse consequences.
Major Success: you learn the broad rumours, and you also have a lead to learning something highly useful, but it will likely involve going somewhere dangerous or drawing attention to yourself.
Absolute Success: you learn both the general rumours and something highly useful without any adverse consequences.

Examples: Eavesdropping in a bar, casually asking questions, offering a reward for information.

LOGIC

When you apply logic to a complex problem or vexing mystery, roll +Intelligence. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: the GM gives you a hint towards the mystery’s solution or lets you unravel part of the problem, but your unfettered thoughts flirt with sedition; you gain 1 Corruption Point.
Basic Success: you get a hint or make progress without ill effects.
Major Success: you either get a hint or make progress, or you completely unravel the mystery or solve the problem at the cost of gaining 1 Corruption Point.
Absolute Success: you completely unravel the mystery or solve the problem in a way that is safely in line with the Imperial Creed.

Examples: Finding your way through a maze, solving a riddle or puzzle, piecing together bits of evidence.

SCRUTINY

When you see corruption everywhere, roll +Perception. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: the GM tells you if someone around you is lying to you.
Basic Success: the same, and the GM also tells you what part of what they said was a lie.
Major Success: the same, and the GM also provides you with the most likely thing that they are hoping to achieve with their lie.
Absolute Success: the same, and you may ask one question of your choice. If the liar knows the answer, you manage to deduce what it is.

Examples: Study body language, ask leading questions, analyse past behaviour.

SEARCH

When you search an area, roll +Perception. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: you find or notice something that hints at what has previously happened in this place.
Basic Success: the same, and the GM also tells you what the most likely backstory is for your find.
Major Success: the same, and the GM also tells you where you should go next if you want to find out more.
Absolute Success: the same, and the GM also tells you what probable dangers will face you if you proceed with your investigation.

Examples: Examining a murder scene, ransacking an office, excavating a xenos ruin.

INTERACTION MOVES

BARTER

When you strike a hard bargain for something that is at least potentially for sale, roll +Fellowship. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: you manage to strike a deal, but it’s a bad one; you will need to pay much to get little, or there is some additional hidden cost like attracting legal trouble.
Basic Success: you manage to acquire what you need at a fair price.
Major Success: you get what you need at a significant discount.
Absolute Success: you get what you need in return for nothing but a promise of repayment at some hazy future date.

Examples: Negotiating a fraught alliance, buying illegal goods, bribing an official.

CHARM

When you turn on the charm, roll +Fellowship. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: you manage to appease suspicions or calm an argument, making the other party willing to at least talk things over.
Basic Success: the same, and you also talk the other party into doing you a small favour that won’t cause them more than a momentary inconvenience, like letting you have the next dance or pointing out a useful person to talk to.
Major Success: the same, and the other party also relaxes around you, potentially letting down their guard.
Absolute Success: the same, and the other party considers you a cherished friend from this point forward… which of course doesn’t mean he definitely won’t stab you in the back, only that he’d be sorry to do it.

Examples: Offering a respectful greeting, buying a round of drinks, declaring your honest intentions.

COMMAND

When you bark an order, roll +Fellowship. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: your orders are carried out in a haphazard sort of way, but some people never manage to get anywhere with their appointed tasks and others end up doing things only vaguely related to what you said.
Basic Success: your orders are carried out with what passes for competence in the Imperium, but without much enthusiasm and with everyone doing the least amount of work they can get away with without actual dereliction of duty.
Major Success: your orders are carried out to the largest reasonable extent to which the ordered people are capable of them.
Absolute Success: your faithful minions are so determined to make you proud that they exceed themselves, performing far beyond their regular capacity.

Note: Like all moves, bark an order must be plausibly triggered. In its case, this means that the people being ordered around must in some way be susceptive to command; either because they are officially on the player’s payroll or because they are uncertain and eager for someone to tell them what to do. Conversely, disciplined underlings being told to perform routine duties will follow such orders without the need to trigger this move.

Examples: Rallying frightened and confused people, getting mutinous underlings to snap into action, making poorly trained troops execute a complex strategy.

DECEIVE

When you tell a cold-blooded lie, roll +Fellowship. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: your lie is believed for now, but the truth will soon come out.
Basic Success: the lie will be believed until some pressing evidence against it is revealed.
Major Success: the lie will either be believed until some pressing evidence against it is revealed, or the mark will believe your lie indefinitely, even in the face of evidence to the contrary. However, the second option requires you to truly commit to the lie to the point where you’re not even sure yourself what is real and what is not; you gain 1 Insanity Point.
Absolute Success: the mark will believe your lie indefinitely, even in the face of evidence to the contrary.

Examples: Professing your innocence, impersonating an Imperial officer, feigning compliance.

INTIMIDATE

When you become a figure of terror, roll +Strength. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

Minor Success: you manage to bully the victim into submission for now, but they will drag their feet in anything you make them do and betray you at the earliest opportunity.
Basic Success: the victim will do your bidding as long as you remain in their presence, but as soon as you are out of sight they’ll start plotting revenge.
Major Success: the victim will continue obeying you even after you have left their presence, too terrified to even think of going against you.
Absolute Success: the victim not only continue obeying your orders after you have left their presence, but will be so desperate to please you that they will act in whatever they perceive as your best interest whenever they get the chance.

Examples: Cocking a gun, name-dropping powerful friends, slapping someone around.

SPEAK (LOW GOTHIC)

When you make yourself understood, roll +Intelligence. 10-14, you achieve a Basic Success. 15+, you achieve a Major Success.

Basic Success: you find a way to convey basic concepts and broad ideas (e.g., “I am a friend,” “there is danger in that direction”).
Major Success: you find a way to communicate effectively albeit stumblingly, but the precision is still lacking; take -1 ongoing to all moves that require you to be understood.
Absolute Success: you device a way to communicate freely and perfectly.

Examples: Signalling through gestures or other crude codes, overcoming a language barrier, getting through to someone in the grip of terror or berserker rage.

Remaining DH problems

I am still working on my Dark Heresy port. It’s come a long way, but I’m still not satisfied. The main problem I still see are:

The weapon rules, or rather, the way they’re organised. The way I’ve written them, certain weapon types rewrites the attack moves – adding some options, removing others. Rewriting the attack move every time a player makes it is turning into a slog. I need to think of some more convenient way to structure, for instance, the difference between single-shot, semi-auto and full-auto attacks.
The basic moves in general still don’t add up to the full array of things a player might do for me, even though there are a lot of them, 24 in all. For my WoD ports I “only” have 16 basic moves, but I still never find myself without a move to trigger when I want one. I need to have, e.g., the Agility move cover everything that an untrained person could possibly attempt and potentially succeed at involving Agility. Right now, the list is effectively Run, Sneak, Duck and Hide (yourself or something else). Which is fine, but I can think of several other scenarios – balancing on a narrow foothold, for instance. Dunno.
The move for psychic power use is kind of boring. A partial success means that the player gets to choose between gaining Insanity Points, gaining Corruption Points, or letting the GM declare that some unwanted supernatural effect happens. That’s kind of bland, especially given how flavourful the list of psychic phenomena and perils of the Warp are in the original game. Not sure how to fix that.
The GM moves need to be rewritten from the rather generic and boring ones I have right now into something that more brings forth the experience of being an out-of-your-depth agent for a ruthless, all-powerful organisation bent on rooting out plots and schemes in a universe where everything is always ten times worse than it seems. This one I feel the most optimistic about – I should be able to manage it, given some time and effort, it’s more a matter of flavour than of mechanics.

More warhammering

Today’s session turned out to be Dark Heresy, which reminded me that that port may have come a long way, but it’s still in an unfinished state. The basic moves work well enough, but they just don’t feel comprehensive in the way I want – I can usually find one that fits, but not always. I don’t have that problem with the WoD ports, despite them having half the number of basic moves. I don’t know. Maybe I need to think a little more broadly. For instance, today I ended up jury-rigging a move that’s really meant for communicating across language barriers and use it for getting across to someone in an agitated state – making it more generally a move to make someone listen and understand who would otherwise be unlikely to do either. That might be a way to approach it.

Combat could use some fine-tuning, too. For one thing, I need to do something to make grenades less tempting to break out for everything. They do a ton of damage, but that’s supposed to be offset by them being awkward to use at close range and expensive to stock up on – I think I may need to try a little harder to enforce both those things.

Also, copy-pasting together the actual options faced by a player whenever they succeed at throwing a grenade (as a Blast weapon) is still getting old. I don’t know, should I just write up separate combat options for each major type of ranged attack (Blast, single-shot, semi-auto and full auto)? That sounds awkward, but it might be a step in the right direction.

Need some more flavourful GM moves, too. I’ve been using the regular, game-agnostic set (deal damage to them, take away their stuff, give them a tough choice, etc), but they’re not terribly inspiring. I’m thinking some more like:

Confront them with brutality and oppression, with them on the receiving end or not. The Imperium isn’t a nice place to live. Terrible things happen to perfectly ordinary people on a regular basis, ranging from merely being worked to death in a fabricarum to being hunted for sport by degenerate nobles. With this move, play up some routine horror, either as a background event (which they might try to stop, if they’re feeling foolhardy) or something that affects them directly.
Show them that they’re small. It’s a vast universe, and even the most accomplished human is only qualified to deal with a small part of it. With this move, reveal that the players are completely out of their depth, dealing with a situation far more complicated (and perhaps deadly) than they can even begin to address. Something as simple as finding your way through a labyrinthine hive city can be daunting, and once poorly understood technology and convoluted organisations get involved, things may simply be beyond your ability. For obvious reasons, this move must be used with care, to not cause the players to just stop trying. However, it’s integral to the setting that some problems just aren’t solvable.
Have something go terribly wrong on a large scale. Industrial accidents. Natural disasters. Entire swaths of space stations losing life support. When things go wrong in the Imperium, they tend to go wrong in a downright operatic way. With this move, smash something up that changes the entire environment the players are in. They should still have a reasonable chance to survive, of course, but they will likely need to start running.

Something like that. I’ll need more of them, but that’s a little more fitting for the setting.

Houston, we have a resurrection!

Today marks an occasion for my Mummy: the Resurrection campaign. We actually got to the resurrection part. The players finally returned from the Underworld, returning to life in the city morgue. Now let’s see them deal with the various parties who have developed an interest in them. And how long it takes before they stand before the Judges again, of course.

We ended up spending a little more time in the Underworld than I intended. I’m not exactly sure what to blame that on. On the one hand, I grumble a lot about how my players keep hyper-focusing on whatever is right in front of them and ignoring the overarching situation, but in all due honesty… part of it is also that I set them to too ambitious a task while in the Underworld, having them rescue prisoners from a spectre stronghold. Which required them to first get hold of a Hierarchy cache so they wouldn’t have to do it bare-handed. And then they ran into trouble along the way, because the Shadowlands are dangerous.

So yeah… in retrospect, I shouldn’t have gotten quite so ambitious with something I just intended to be filler. I do have this tendency to assume that things can get polished off in a session or two, but of course I also don’t want to rush through it without giving the situation proper gravitas, and then I sit there six months later and wonder why we never got to my super-cool “real” plot.

Part of it is the nature of the World of Darkness, too. It’s supposed to be, if not “realistic,” then at least grounded in some sort of internally consistent setting. Everything is supposed to come from somewhere, everything is supposed to have context. That’s what I love about it. But it does mean that there aren’t much in the way of simple encounters – you can’t just go, “suddenly, you’re attacked by zombies!” because each individual zombie has to have its own angsty backstory or it feels like you’re phoning it in.

Funny thing? Out of the WoD games I’ve tried, the one that runs the most smoothly is Mage: the Ascension, once I figured out how to manage it. There are still no simple encounters, but the game does encourage you to just throw more mismatched intrigues and general weirdness at the players, and then let them figure it out as best they can. Mummies and werewolves are supposed to be fighting a war. Mages are just meant to “reach enlightenment,” and the nice thing about that is that just about anything can be framed as another Very Important Step On Your Personal Journey. And of course, when the players get really interested in something random and start examining it from every angle, they are acting exactly like the sort of erratic geniuses they are meant to be.

But yeah, as far as mission-centric games go, I probably should learn to break the missions down into smaller pieces.

Where I Read: Daggerheart (part three)

Okay, so classes. First there’s a page repeating a lot of what we’ve already learned, but it also mentions a few new things. For instance, every class has a Class Hope Feature which lets them spend Hope to do something. Each subclass also has a Foundation Feature, Specialisation Feature, and Mastery Feature, though you don’t get those for free, you have to take them as a card when you level up. Okay then.

First up is the Bard. They’re charismatic and slightly bitchy arteeeests, and their domains are Grace and Codex – so they know mysterious lore and can express it really prettily, basically. Their Hope Feature is that they can spend Hope to distract an enemy, and their Class Feature is that once per session they can give the party a rah-rah pep talk that grants each other PC a d6 that they can roll, once, to add to another roll or to reduce Stress.

They can also choose to start the game with either an unsent letter (ooooh) or a… romance novel. Okay, so again I’m noticing that the cutesy postmodern humour kind of clashes with the stated intention of making the game feel epic and evocative… though that is, I will admit, a problem I have with a lot of modern fantasy. The Dragon Prince, I’m looking at you!

Bards can be Troubadours or Wordsmiths. Troubadours have some abilities related to healing and bestowing Hope, while Wordsmiths have some advantages in terms of boosting actions and reducing Stress. So basically the one is about getting people to chill, and the other is about getting them to excel.

Next up are Druids, who are your basic nature nuts. Their domains are Arcana and Sage, so they practice natural magic of the forest. They can turn into animals by taking Stress, or by using their Hope Feature that lets them spend Hope to do it instead. They can also pull off minor cosmetic acts of nature-magic, like making flowers bloom.

They can be Wardens of the Elements, in which case they can channel one of the elements in combat for some perks, like doing damage to anyone who strikes them for fire or raising their resistance to injury with earth. Any Warden of the Elements can channel any element, but only one at the time. Alternatively, they can be Wardens of Renewal, who can restore Hit Points and clear Stress in people.

There are a couple of pages of animals you can turn into, along with special rules for them. It all looks kind of fiddly, but it certainly makes Druids pretty adaptive – even sticking to just the ones you have access to at level one, that’s a pretty big bag of tricks.

The Guardian! As mentioned before, this dude’s into Valour and Blade. He protects people, and his Hope Feature is that he can spend Hope to clear out Armour Slots. I guess that means they can take more of a beating. Their Class Feature is that they can turn themselves Unstoppable, during which time they take less damage and do more damage. Each time they do damage, they increase the amount of extra damage they do, but once that reaches a maximum, they drop out of Unstoppable again. Okay, so that’s kind of cool.

Guardians can be Stalwarts or Vengeances. Stalwarts can tank even better, while Vengeances have higher Stress tolerance and can also spend Stress to cause people who attack them take some damage in return. On higher levels, Vengeances can also select a target to prioritise, and on attacks on them they can swap the results of their Hope and Fear Dice (so they gain Hope no matter what the roll is, I suppose).

Rangers are cunning hunters and outdoorsmen who use the wilderness to their advantage and fight pragmatically, as showed by their domains of Bone and Sage. Their Hope Feature is that they can spend Hope to make a successful attack hit three different enemies at once. Their Class Feature is that they can mark an enemy for takedown, which means that that enemy suffers Stress when struck and also that the Ranger can turn a failed attack into a successful one, though at the cost of unmarking them.

Rangers can be Beastbounds and get an animal companion, who levels up as they do, our they can be Wayfinders, giving them more bonuses on hitting things and some extra skill in, well, finding their way to places. There’s a page of rules just for the animal companions, who need to be fleshed-out characters in their own rights…

… I’m trying to keep an open mind here, but I’m increasingly feeling like this game was written by people who felt like D&D 5E wasn’t fiddly enough. Which, okay, if that’s what floats your boat then more power to you, but… how does that fit in with the whole “focus on the story more so than the mechanics”?

Rogues… well, they’re what you’d expect. They sneak around and stab people in the back. Their domains are Midnight and Grace, for hiding and lying. Their Hope Feature lets them spend Hope for a bonus to Evasion, and their Class Feature lets them remain hidden even from enemies who should be rights be able to spot them, right up until they attack.

Rogues can be Nightwalkers or Syndicates. Nightwalkers can teleport from one shadow to another and hit harder when they’re Vulnerable (which we don’t know what it means yet, but I guess it’s meant to give them a “cornered rat fights twice as hard” style), while Syndicates automatically know someone in every new town they come to who they can ask for a favour.

Next up is Seraphs, our holy warriors. They have Splendour for the healy-healy and Valour for protecting the innocents. Their Hope Feature is a limited healing, and their Class Feature is that they get a bunch of bonuses per session that they can use to boost allies’ rolls, reduce incoming damage, or give them Hope. They can be Divine Wielders, in which case they can fling their melee weapons at enemies and then cause them to return to their hands, or Winged Sentinels, in which case they can, well, fly.

Sorcerers we have already dealt with in the form of that sample character. They are people with inherent magic that runs in their family. Their domains are Arcane (for inherent magic) and Midnight (for illusion). Their Hope Feature lets them reroll damage dice for damage-dealing spells, and their Class Features lets them sense magic, create minor illusions, and discard a domain card to gain Hope or enhance a damage-dealing spell. They can have an Elemental Origin, in which case they can do some tricks with the elements, or a Primal Origin, in which case they can enhance magic (mostly magic that deals damage – yeah, I’m sensing that Sorcerers are very much meant to be a DPS class).

Warriors are more big fighty types, though they have a bit more of a “swordsmaster” or “warrior philosopher” vibe than just “I hit people onna head.” Their domains are Blade, for the swording, and Bone, for the intelligent swording. Their Hope Feature is a bonus to attack, and their Class Feature is that they get an attack of opportunity when their enemies try to retreat from them.

Warriors can have the Call of the Brave or the Call of the Slayer. The Call of the Brave gets Hope and Stress-relief when failing a roll with Fear or when performing a ritual before engaging a superior opponent. So basically, you’re at your best when you’re doing something that’s clearly a bad idea but you’re going to do it anyway because it’s HONOURABLE!!! Heh. I kind of like that, to be honest. The Call of the Slayer can build up bonuses every time they roll with Hope that they can then spend for a powerful strike. Hiyah! Okay, I’ll grant you that I like this class a good bit better than the standard D&D Fighters…

Wizards, finally! They are nerds who can do magic because they’ve done their homework. Their domains are Codex (for magic books) and Splendour (for healing, since in this game they’re the ones who do that, too). Which makes sense, honestly – like I’ve said before, I don’t really get the whole D&D convention whereby wizards can’t heal. Curing diseases is, like, the first thing that people expect from a wizard! After that it’s love potions, fertility, and putting curses on people you don’t like, in no particular order.

Anyway, the Wizards’ Hope Feature is, somewhat interestingly, the ability to make an enemy reroll an attack or damage roll. Their Class Feature is that they can do minor magic tricks and that whenever they roll a particular number on their Hope and Fear Dice, they gain Hope or lose Stress, since they’ve spotted an auspicious sign. That’s sort of neat.

Wizards can be of the School of Knowledge, in which case they can draw additional domain cards and can use their Experiences by gaining Stress instead of by spending Hope. Or they can be of the School of War, in which case they get extra HP and when they succeed at an attack while rolling with Fear they do extra damage.

Next up is ancestry. There’s a lot of frankly tiresome hand-waving about how everyone is a unique individual first and foremost and yay the brotherhood of sentient beings and look, we’re totally not racist, honest! Yes, yes… Anyway, each ancestry gets two features, so let’s dive right in.

Clanks are robots or golems – some sort of manufactured creature, either way. They can look pretty much like anything. Their Ancestry Features are that they were built for a purpose that aligns with one of their Experiences, so they get an additional bonus when using that Experience. Also, they rest up faster than feeble organic creatures.

Drakona are humanoid dragons. They can look more draconic or more humanoid – from just being people with scales and sharp teeth to having tails, snouts, back ridges, and vestigial wings. They have protective scales and can breathe some element, like fire, lightning, or ice.

Dwarves are… well… Dwarves. They can embed gemstones in their skin, though, for extra sparkliness. Also, their nails are tough and stonelike, and dwarves like to polish them and carve them into facets. Their features are about taking damage really well.

Elves, likewise, nothing much to see here. They do develop a “mystic form” when they devote themselves to the protection of the natural world, though, which can manifest as them having freckles that twinkle like stars or ivy growing in their hair. I’ll give the game this much, there has been a considerable effort spent on impressive visuals… Anyway, Elves can get an advantage on initiative and can perform an extra “downtime move” while resting.

Fairies, on the other hand, are a little different from their usual depiction. Here, they are actually insectoid to varying extents – much like the Drakona, how much varies between “pretty girl with chitin instead of skin” to “big humanoid beetle.” They all have some variety of insect wings, though. They also range in size from two feet to seven feet. They can spend Hope to reroll their own or an ally’s action.

Fauns are goat-men with powerful legs and stately horns. In much the same way as the Fairies and Drakona, they range from “human with horns and hooves” to “goat that inexplicably walks around on two legs.” They can jump and kick really well.

Firbolgs are honestly pretty similar to Fauns, in that they’re half human and half horned animal, only the animal part is usually something a bit more dignified than a goat. Firbolgs who look like half-bulls are also known as minotaurs. By any name, they have a 1 in 6 chance of shrugging off Stress gain and also get a bonus to charging enemies.

Fungril are… okay, I think I’m spotting the theme here. They’re mushroom-people. They grow elaborate caps on their heads that they can decorate in various ways. Their Features are that they can speak telepathically (through their “mycelial array”) to speak with other Fungril, and by touching a corpse they can extract one memory from it.

Galapa are turtles. Okay, I think this is getting a little old now, and I’m not even halfway through the list… They have shells that offer them protection from injury, and they can retract into them to be even safer (though then they can’t move). Galapa shells can be carved into decorative shapes or reinforced with metal, though it’s a slow and painful process.

Giants are big dudes, though maybe not as big as you’d expect – they’re somewhere between six and nine feet tall. They are born without any eyes, and new ones may appear or disappear on their faces throughout their childhood, with them finally ending up with between one and three of them. They get extra HP and reach.

Goblins are little dudes with great big eyes and ears. They also come in every colour of the rainbow. They are good at keeping their balance and spotting danger. Gotta admit that the picture of the little Goblin witch on this page is kind of adorable…

Halflings are small people with prominent ears, noses, and feet. The fluff text mentions them possessing acute hearing and smell, but that’s not part of their Ancestry Features – instead, they may reroll a 1 on their Hope Die. Also, at the start of extra session, everyone in a party who has a Halfling in it gains 1 Hope, because halflings are good luck. Heh. That’s kind of nice.

Humans are maybe not quite Humans as you know them – they apparently regularly live to be a hundred, so I guess Daggerheart Humans are supposed to be one of those older and nobler races that modern man is but a fallen remnant of, sort of thing. Otherwise they are what you’d expect – they can take more Stress, because of the good ol’ human spirit, and they can reroll failed Experience rolls, because they adapt well to new situations.

Infernis are humanoids with horns… Seriously? Another kind? That’s three now. Okay, I am definitely starting to feel like this game has a clutter problem. Save some for the supplements, guys, that’s where the money is! Oh well. Infernis are descendants of demons from the Circles Below. Aside from horns, they also have fangs, and occasionally forked or arrow-shaped tails. They look demonic, and when they get angry they start looking extra demonic, enough to get a bonus to intimidate. They can also take Stress to turn a roll with Fear into a roll with Hope, because they fear nothing.

Katari are cat people. You know the drill by now, they can look more like cats or less like cats, they can look like different sorts of cats, bla bla bla. I mean, I do approve of this approach from an ease-of-play standpoint, because it means you don’t have to internalise a ton of specific lore – you can just say that Katari are cat people, and whatever people picture when they hear “cat people,” that’s perfectly correct. I’m just kind of losing interest in all these ancestries that are all “human mixed with something else” and carefully avoiding specifics. Oh well… Katari are very agile and have retractable claws.

Orcs have tusks and green, grey, blue or pink skin. Some have no body hair at all, while others are giant fur balls. They get extra resistant to attacks when they’re down to their last HP, and they can gore people with their tusks.

Ribbets are the frogs. See, I was all set to be excited about them, but the game sort of ran the formula into the ground before we could get here… Variations include webbed fingers, warty or smooth skin, and any number of vibrant skin colours and patterns. They have a long prehensile tongue and can breathe underwater.

Finally, Simiah! They’re monkeys or apes. They’re good at dodging blows and climbing. I refuse to spend more words on them than that.

There are also rules about being a mix of two ancestries, because Lord knows we don’t have enough choices as it is… It’s pretty basic, though, you just pick one Ancestry Feature from each of your two ancestries. So if you really want to be a walking fungus with a turtle shell, that’s a character you can play here.

Next part is communities. Which I seem to recall there are at least not that damn many of.