The OOC Tavern

[mb.]

It just occurred to me, we haven't heard from Spartakos for 2 days now. I'll give him another day, and if we don't hear from him by this time tomorrow, we'll push on...

[mb.]

A general note on Dungeon World and how it works, and how it's different from many RPGs.

The number one principle is:
The fiction always comes first.

So it should never be a collection of moves, "I Hack & Slash and then I'll Discern Realities and then..." Always try to come from the perspective of telling the story of your character: what's he thinking, feeling and doing? The current example:

Oelle scoots forward to join Boggs and examine the body.
Discern Realities [2d6+2] = 10+2 = 12

How is Oelle examining the body? Is he just looking? Is he touching or moving the body at all? What's he focusing on specifically? What's he looking for? Especially with the DR move, the fiction is very important. From the move description:

To discern realities you must closely observe your target. That usually means interacting with it or watching someone else do the same. You can’t just stick your head in the doorway and discern realities about a room. You’re not merely scanning for clues—you have to look under and around things, tap the walls, and check for weird dust patterns on the bookshelves. That sort of thing.

In this format, a complete DR move probably covers a few posts: you tell me what you're doing, I give you some info, that probably drives you to do something else, I tell you more, and so on. The fiction – your description of what exactly your character is doing and how – plays at least as much a role in the outcome as the roll itself. If, for example, you tell me Oelle is avoiding touching the body, even if you roll a 12 I'm not going to tell you anything about the amulet she's wearing around her neck which is buried under her body in the mud, or her stomach wound with signs of burning around the edges.

The by-the-book way to play Dungeon World is that the players describe, and the GM calls for moves and rolls. That's a bit impractical, or at least bloody slow, in this PbP format, so I'm happy for you guys to call your own moves when you think the fiction has triggered one, but please concentrate on the fiction first. I can understand that it happens, but we shouldn't be filling in space between moves with a little story. Rather always try to tell a good story, which we'll occasionally interrupt for a move and a roll.

The fiction always comes first.

[mb.]

Sorry guys, I'm super busy and you deserve some very detailed and long posts. I'll get to them as soon as life allows!

[Pulpatoon]

Oi, same position. Right as the semester is about to start, and I'm trying to wrap up the big summer project, a mini-avalanche of other projects come pouring in! Not a bad problem to have, but it does eat into the pbp time.

[mb.]

Guys,

I'm travelling from Denmark to Florida starting early tomorrow morning, with some extremely stupid flights, so it'll take 30 hours. Add to that arriving, sleeping off the trip and so on, and I'm unlikely to be particularly active before late Friday.

But that doesn't mean you have to sit around and wait! I'll post some world building kinds of questions here, and you can let your imaginations run wild!

[mb.]

Sorry guys, didn't actually manage before I left, and now I'm on flakey airport wifi. I'll jump back in when I've arrived and slept.

[mb.]

I'd say the end of the journey through the forest and the start of the decent into the cave marks the start of a new chapter, so let's continue in this new thread, shall we?

[mb.]

In the interest of a little more collaborative world-building, please answer the questions below...

1. Based on the story so far, what do you (as your character) think you'll find in the caves?

2. What are you most afraid of finding?

3. What do you know (or think you know) about the origin of the sentry and the caves? Where did you get this information?

4. What do you (as a player) think would be the most exciting / fun / interesting thing that could happen in the caves?

I won't promise that your answers will determine what you'll find, but I'll try and take as much of it as I can for inspiration. Answers to question 3 will be considered true in the world, but possibly true as in "this is a commonly believed rumour which is not necessarily actually true."

So far I've guided most of what you've run into, but I'd like to integrate more of your wishes and interests and let you co-author the stories we play more and more, if that's cool with you.

[Spartakos]

1.) Bedwyr expects we will find an evil sorcerer of some kind, who is controlling the gnolls.

2.) Bedwyr is afraid of finding something he can't kill with a blade; a ghost or spirit, perhaps.

3.) I'm torn on this...I want to say Bedwyr may have heard something, but I feel like if he did, it would have come up sooner and I don't wish to retcon my previous posts. Solution?

4.) Interesting things we could encounter include an intelligent artifact, morlocks, cultists of an apocalyptic god, some kind of wild huntsman who worships a dark aspect of nature, or the dero. Interesting events that could occur include being captured (and being able to escape), a tunnel caving in (perhaps requiring us to find an alternate exit), or having to negotiate with some sort of monster or alien creature (like Gollum in the Hobbit, but obviously more threatening, as we are more formidable than Bilbo...the key is that the creature's motivations and thought process are foreign to us).

[Pulpatoon]

1. Oelle thinks that there is some sort of primal spirit that has been awakened by the gnolls and is now trying to consolidate enough power to make itself felt in the wider world.

2. He is afraid that they are too late and that the evil has already sacrificed Onde to bring itself to fruition.

3. Oelle never bothered much with cultural studies, but he thinks he recognizes the general style of the carvings from the museum galleries at the University. He knows that there have been several civilizations on this land before the present one, and he knows that none of them were pleasant.

4. As a player, I'd love to get some social interaction in, along with sneaking and fighting. I'd love it if there were something other than gnolls in the cave, and if the situation called for some talking, even if it was just a prelude to the hellfire. Sort of a Conversation with Smaug/Riddles in the Dark kind of thing.

[KingOfCowards]

1) Boggs thinks that the gnolls are being controlled by something very powerful. The necklaces are intricate, and not made overnight. Perhaps some lost civilization was discovered in the cave or a demon.

2) I would echo Oelle. Worst case scenario is that we are too late and have already failed in our rescue mission.

3) Boggs has heard stories, about people harvesting organs off of victims for no apparent reason. The local thieves had nicknamed them the Blind Butchers, and branded them as fools for taking organs instead of valuables. It was often thought they were some kind of cult. This sentry remind him of those stories.

4) The cave is just an entrance to an expansive and deep set of caverns, think Mines of Moria. An epic bridge fight or flight, and of course a successful rescue. As a player I like seeing evil so evil that it makes you want to cover your eyes, like mass sacrifices, perhaps abominations created from parts of victims. Something truly horrible that we are saving Onde from.

[mb.]

Thanks guys! Plenty of inspiration there, and it's funny how much of it coincides with things I already had more or less planned. I'm looking forward to a little delving with you!

Bedwyr: to number 3, no problem at all having the answer be "nothing", although it's less likely than anyone else, considering how much closer we are to Whitetree than Urbem. I'd say it's pretty believable that Bedwyr wouldn't have said anything yet, considering you saw the cave & sentry for the first time very recently, and Bedwyr's also a bit of a taciturn dude, but it's up to you.

[mb.]

Just so you guys know, I've recruited another player. He'll pop in and introduce himself soon, and once we get character generation (he's decided to play a Barbarian) done he'll join you all in the caves.

[mb.]

By the way: while thinking about integrating a new player, I looked at your bonds to each other. Bedwyr and Oelle both have bonds to Dunwick, which are now irrelevant.

Here's what we have:

Bedwyr
Boggs owes me his life, whether he'll admit it or not.
I doubt Dunwick's ability to survive this adventure.

Boggs
Bedwyr knows one of my secrets.
Doctor Oelle knows incriminating details about me.

Doctor Oelle
Dunwick is keeping an important secret from me.
Bedwyr is keeping an important secret from me.

If you would both like to think up a new bond with one of the other two characters, please do. Also, considering the story so far, if any of you want a new bond with anyone else, go right ahead. And once the new guy joins us, we'll get bonds happening with him.

[Pulpatoon]

I suggest that Bedwyr doubting Oelle will survive the adventure makes sense.

[Kanye Westeros]

Hey all, I don't know if I was the one mb thought was going to make a barbarian (I don't think I ever said that)

But I've made a Druid, She's a halfling named Aziza, I wrote a bit about her background in the character sheets thread, but the basics are this:

• Unlike most druids, she likes civilization and living in a city, even though she's from the Great Forests.
• She's got a very hyperactive personality
• She's very sociable, but she also loves getting into fights and just living life to the fullest. (Pretty sure Bedwyr and I are gonna be pals)
• She's also kind of scary, her Druid "tell" is that she has wolf eyes. If you've never seen wolves' eyes, they're bright yellow and would be pretty creepy to have staring at you.
• Her weapon of choice outside of shape shifting is an absurdly long (for her) spear, it was taken from a fallen enemy long ago as a trophy.

I also already wrote some preliminary bonds, definitely let me know if any are ill-fitting, but after reading your characters I think I got it
Bonds

• The Spirits spoke to me of a great danger that follows Boggs.
• Boggs smells more like prey than a hunter.
• I have shown Doctor Oelle a secret rite of the Land.
• Bedwyr ap Llewellyn has tasted my blood and I theirs. We are bound by it.

[mb.]

Guys, I have an idea, but I don't want to run it unless you're into it.

I'd like to run some small side stories to make integrating Aziza a little richer and more meaningful, rather than just dropping her in amongst you. If you'd enjoy it, and it wouldn't be too taxing time-wise, I'd like to start a thread for her backstory, and each of you would roleplay a little scene with her, to establish the bonds she mentioned above.

We could either press pause on the dungeon and come back to it when we're done, or play them parallel to the story in progress.

So my questions to you:
1. Cool?
2. If so, pause or parallel?

[Kanye Westeros]

So my questions to you:
1. Cool?
2. If so, pause or parallel?

I really like this idea, and my vote is for Parallel, like a concurrent flashback alongside the main story.

[mb.]

I figured you'd say that. The second question was mainly for the other guys, since they'd be doing double reading & writing duty.

[KingOfCowards]

So my questions to you:
1. Cool?
2. If so, pause or parallel?

Whatever works for you, boss. I like the idea, but I'm not sure it needs an entire story.