philaros ◾ ◾ Entries tagged withgame design

2014-06-17 23:11

Did I mention that I revived Attacks of Opportunity as a Tumblr? I forget. Probably not, seeing how I've been so neglectful of my LiveJournal. Anyhow, I was about to make a post there, and I wanted to talk about something I remembered writing "a little while ago" on the Story Games forum. I thought I'd cross-posted the relevant stuff here, but I couldn't find it. And then I had to do some scrolling on Story Games to eventually discover that the thing I wanted to quote was something I wrote almost five years ago, in July 2009. Huh. Anyhow, now I'm cross-posting that bit, in case I ever need to refer to it again.

(Why did LiveJournal get rid of a block quote format option? I need that. (And I see I can still do it by editing the HTML directly, but there ought to be a format button in the visual editor.))

From this post in the Story Games discussion "What would you do in a Mech RPG?"

Posted By: zipht My only worry would that be Players would be focused more on their Pilot dude and let the larger story suffer..

But the key there is that there is no larger story. Sure, the background material may provide a grandiose, galaxy-spanning setting, with lots of characters in high positions that seem to be more important than just a bunch of mech pilots, and political intrigue far beyond anything the pilots would normally be involved in... but we only play games, tell stories, about the people who are interesting to us. By choosing to play a game about mech pilots, we're saying that these characters are the ones who matter. Whether their story stays on the level of the personal everyday troubles and foibles of being mech pilots, or whether it expands to a level that affects affairs on the galactic stage, there is no "larger story" that could somehow "suffer" by focusing on these characters.

(And here is the post on Attacks of Opportunity where I've reposted this quote. Worth checking out for artist Aaron Diaz dropping some wisdom about canon in fictional works and how that intersects with problematic material like sexism.)

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game design,
games

2011-06-09 23:53

A couple days of work in the evening, running later than intended for no good reason, and I'm feeling pretty wiped out. Yesterday I was at least able to indulge in sleeping a bit later than planned, to make up the difference, but today I had to get up about an hour earlier than usual for my midday volunteer shift at the KEXP membership drive. When I got home this evening I crashed on the couch for about a half-hour, and then had to make a real mental effort to make anything for dinner. And what I ended up making was quite simple—just a pork chop seasoned with soy sauce, with some spinach sauteed with scallions and garlic, and leftover rice pilaf—but still, I almost didn't even do that much. I'm glad that I did though, it was tasty and made me feel a lot better than I would've if I'd just made a spinach-and-cheese-on-toast sandwich, which was the lazy option.

I've now let reading the self-help book Feeling Good slide for about a week, and I need to get back into it; I think I can read another chapter tonight, actually. I'm letting several other things slide as well; although I have been busy with the KEXP volunteering this week and also have had some urgent work drop in my lap, I still feel like I should be able to manage to get more done than I have been. Another reason to get through reading Feeling Good, so I can see what the other two books have to say about getting things done. I know next week is going to pass very quickly as well, and suddenly I'll be staring at July and still at a loss for accomplishing things.

Speaking of which, I was just reading Ryan Macklin's blog post about John Harper's module game Lady Blackbird and how it's functionally a primer on how to convey implied setting in a game. This is relevant to what I was just saying in two ways. One, it makes me want to get back to some more of my own game development work, whether the Chiaroscuro / Dungeon World: Cetak setting, the sha'ir class for Dungeon World, or the oracle game notes I jotted down last year—that last one being what I particularly wanted to pick up this evening as I started reading Macklin's post, but I wasn't sure I'd come up with anything in time to make a new post. Two, I do still want to have a Dungeon World dungeon prepared for Go Play NW, and that's only a month away now; I'm running out of time to sit down and prep something. Somehow I need to make that happen too, without neglecting the other important things I also need to be doing.

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2011-04-12 23:57

So here's an idea:

Appease the Genie Ruler
When you offer appeasement to a genie ruler, roll +genie bonds and apply whatever ongoing penalty you have for dealing with geniekind. On a 10+, your offering is acceptable; the slate is wiped clean, remove your ongoing penalty. On a 7-9, your worthiness is disputed; the genie ruler will demand fulfillment of some task, service, or quest on behalf of geniekind before he accepts your appeasement. On a 6 or less, you are judged unworthy; the genie ruler will impose a punishment upon you for your crimes against geniekind.

It feels kind of weak. The general shape of it is okay, I think, but demanding fulfillment of a quest and imposing punishment may be too vague. What sort of punishment? What's more severe than being told you must fulfill a task or quest in addition to whatever the appeasement offering is? It can't be any kind of further penalty in dealing with geniekind, at least not a mechanical one, but it has to be something the PC can't just ignore, either. I suppose the sha'ir might be given some kind of tag indicating their status, that the DM could then call upon to cause further trouble. And the punishment could permanently alter the character, but not in a way that permanently cripples the sha'ir's ability to be an awesome fun character.

Another thought is that perhaps, regardless of the result, the ongoing penalty does get removed.

Yet another thought is that maybe the whole idea of imposing ongoing penalties just isn't going to work, which would be too bad as there really ought to be some kind of consequences for mistreating geniekind—it fits with both the literary-historical sources and with the Arabian Adventures source. Hrm.

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2011-04-10 23:58

Ahh, bonds! Damn, I didn't even think of that before. Dungeon World doesn't have the History (Hx) stat like Apocalypse World, but it does have bonds between the characters. The sha'ir totally needs to be creating bonds with genies as it goes along.

The sha'ir starts with a bond with its gen familiar.
When you Bind a Genie to Servitude, of course you take a bond with it.
Maybe using a genie prison reduces your bonds by one?
And probably some other moves or conditions also change your bonds with geniekind.

Currently the sha'ir may pick up ongoing penalties for dealing with geniekind, as a result of using a Genie Prison, or failing to meet the demands of a genie when you call one to service, or for slaying a genie that you've bound to service. I need some kind of move for making amends or appeasing geniekind, and I've just realized (based on glancing at the "Playing with the Form" section in the "Advanced Fuckery" chapter of Apocalypse World) that such a move could be based on rolling +bonds (+Hx), rather than +CHA. That highlights and strengthens the interactions between the sha'ir PC and the genie NPCs much better than by using just the sha'ir's Charisma modifier.

I also realize that the move to appease geniekind needs to be separate from the move to Seek an Audience with a Genie Ruler. Now I'm wondering whether I can have a move that's affected by both the sha'ir's Charisma modifier and by the bonds with geniekind. There are rules for one player helping (or hindering) another player, but I don't believe there are currently any moves that use two (or more) stats, and I'm not sure that would work. I'll have to think about this some more.

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2011-02-21 02:47

Okay, here's a revised draft of servant genies and the Bind a Genie to Servitude move.

Servant Genies
When you either Call a Genie for Service or Bind a Genie to Servitude, the genie has this basic profile:
Level 10, hp 80, damage 3d6, armor 5, powers invisibility / gaseous form / carry heavy load (up to 1,001 lbs), trait recalcitrant.

Recalcitrant (cue, constraint): This is how a bound genie reacts when balking at a command. It doesn't directly come into play with the Call a Genie to Service move (which is one reason why a sha'ir would use that move rather than just relying on a bound genie all the time), but may color the genie's interactions with the sha'ir.

Capricious—The genie will pursue its own whims rather than follow its orders.
Malicious—The genie will seek to cause harm to others, including its master, through following its orders.
Devious—The genie will seek to twist commands to its own purposes, whether by following them literally or by interpreting things in its favor.
Imperious—The genie will demand additional favors or rewards before obeying its orders.

Bind a Genie to Servitude
The sha'ir may negotiate to bind a genie into servitude for a period of not more than 101 days. Upon agreement, the genie will act as bodyguard, servant, and advisor, and will perform acts of genie magic as per its nature. This amounts to gaining a genie as a hireling. There are four types of genies, and each type has its own powers and particular recalcitrant trait.

When you bind a genie into servitude, pick a type:

Air (Djinni)—Powers: carry upon the whirlwind; conjure food and drink*; create storm or tornado. Recalcitrant: capricious.
Earth (Dao)—Powers: create stone; earthquake; shape the earth. Recalcitrant: malicious.
Fire (Efreeti)—Powers: create fire; create illusions; shape flames. Recalcitrant: devious.
Water (Marid)—Powers: create water (including fog and mists); grant water breathing; move or part water; purify water. Recalcitrant: imperious.

*Conjure food and drink may seem a little weird or inconsistent with the other powers, but it is one of the powers the standard D&D djinni has, and it's also a traditional wish that folktale genies fulfill. However, I am considering whether to replace it with something more consistent with the rest of the elemental-themed powers. (The efreeti's create illusions power isn't obviously fire-based, but does seem appropriate for having power over shaping flames and thus in a sense light, and it's also a traditional genie / standard D&D efreet power.)

As stated, this servitude is negotiated between the sha'ir and the genie. The default condition of service is that the sha'ir may release the genie at any time, but the genie is automatically released from service if any other condition is violated. Choose three other conditions:

The genie will not be entrapped in a genie prison.
The genie will be allowed to flee combat if it has lost more than half its hit points.
The genie will be provided a large amount of its natural element as a home.
The genie will receive a share of all treasure gained by the sha'ir, from 50 to 70 percent.
The genie will be maintained in the same lifestyle as the sha'ir, doubling general living costs.
The genie will be free from all tasks one day in every 10.
The genie will be freed upon the death of the sha'ir, but will first bring the sha'ir's body home.
The sha'ir will satisfy some whim of the genie, such as barking like a dog whenever a particular god or ruler is mentioned. (DM's choice.)

Once you have completed the negotiations (that is, chosen a type of genie and three conditions of service), you gain the Command Genie move as follows.
Command Genie (CHA): When you command a bound genie to perform a service, roll +CHA. On a hit, it is as you wish. On a miss, the genie is recalcitrant as per its nature. Note that none of the conditions of service prevent the sha'ir from punishing a recalcitrant genie, but slaying a bound genie incurs a -5 ongoing penalty in any further dealings with genies of any type. Also note that punishment cannot be in the form of reneging on one of the negotiated conditions of service, as that would still break the contract and release the genie.

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2011-02-20 23:57

I'm working some more on the sha'ir class for Dungeon World tonight, and was hoping to post a revised move for Bind a Genie to Service. However, it's proving more complicated to figure out than I thought, and I realized I wasn't going to be able to have it ready before midnight. So I'm posting now, but I'll continue working on it for a while after and hopefully will still be ready with something before I go to bed.

My initial plan was to base it entirely off the Order Hirelings move, which itself is based on the Pack Alpha (that is, "order gang") move in standard Apocalypse World. However, there aren't yet fully detailed rules on hirelings, and initially I didn't really consider how the Pack Alpha move interacts with the rules for gangs. So the initial draft for Bind a Genie to Service involves making a roll when you bind a genie, representing the course of negotiations with the genie; the more successful the sha'ir is in negotiating, the better bargain he gets. Now, however, I'm thinking that the move needs to be more like a custom Pack Alpha move, with the genie treated more like a gang, which is to say more like gear. When you bind a genie into service, you will have one, no question, with particular advantages and disadvantages. But because it's a living being and not just inanimate equipment, you still have to order it to do things and it may refuse or misbehave even despite the contractual agreements.

So working out the details of the various genies' advantages and disadvantages, and how the contract agreements may affect those, is what has become tricky. I'm trying to fit together the spirit and characteristics of the original D&D Arabian Adventures concepts with the rules and methods of the Dungeon World system and its Apocalypse World source. It'll definitely work out, it's just that I haven't yet had the opportunity to play Apocalypse World itself, and the rules for gangs or hirelings haven't yet been implemented in Dungeon World, so I'm trying to figure it all out without any play experience. It makes for a good creative challenge.

At this point I'm feeling almost obliged to move forward with a full Arabian Adventures setting conversion for Dungeon World, just so that there's some hope that someone will use this material I've worked on. The sha'ir class isn't going to fit into my Cetak (Seattle) setting, and although I'd like to think I might get to run another Dungeon World game where it would fit in, I'd still want some other Arabian-style material. (And of course, I'd still need to find willing players.)

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2011-02-14 22:38

I've been doing a little more thinking and note-taking about my Cetak/Chiaroscuro setting for Dungeon World. One thing I was thinking about was what to call creatures of the Shadowfell—I don't want to call them "shadows" as a category, or "shades". I was thinking of using "shadowen" (which comes from Terry Brooks' Heritage of Shannara series), I'm also thinking "shaden". Maybe "shadekin"? Any thoughts? Anyhow, that's an aside to my main idea here.

I'd been thinking specifically about orcs. I had the idea that they should be shadowen (I'll just keep using that for now), and started to flesh them out a bit. Or rather, not flesh them out: I thought it'd be cool if on the prime world their heads have the appearance of bare skulls (possibly with a pair of small horns), while in the Shadowfell they're grey-skinned and look more like the Lord of the Rings film orcs from Moria. I also wrote without thinking about it that there are no orcs in the Feywild; as shadowen, this makes sense, of course, and it also fits in with the way that orcs are generally (but not always) distinct from the goblin races in D&D. But today I was thinking some more about their appearance: if they were fleshed out in the Shadowfell but skull-headed in the prime world, how would they appear in the Feywild? I had an image of them as hooded robes containing nothing but shadows, like Tolkien's Ringwraiths, and suddenly got excited about it. Maybe it wasn't just that orcs weren't native to the Feywild, maybe they actually had no substance there and appeared just as shadows—possibly still dangerous and capable of causing harm, possibly not.

The immediate follow-up thought was that, if orcs were just shadows in the Feywild, then perhaps elves were shining spirits in the Shadowfell, likewise insubstantial and possibly ineffectual. It's rather Tolkienesque, but hey, the symmetry is neat. However, it does lead to a potential problem: if player characters can be elves, what happens when they go to a dungeon in the Shadowfell? As I'm leaning toward having the spirit-forms being ineffectual as well as insubstantial, that wouldn't work so well for players. A corollary thought was, hey, why aren't there half-orc options for any of the player characters? Half-orcs are part of classic AD&D, if not old-school red-box basic D&D. (Looks like half-orcs were introduced with AD&D 1st edition.)

So, I have two ideas on handling this concept with player characters. My first idea is that elf characters would have a magic elfstone that anchored them to the Feywild, building off the tether-stone idea and passkey-stone idea I've discussed before. By implication, there would also be orcstones, though perhaps the orcs could be searching for such a thing so that they can assault the Feywild. My second idea, building off my question why there aren't half-orcs, is that there are no elf player characters after all; I would simply substitute "half-elf" for "elf" in any of the class options. Hmm, I thought at least one class had a half-elf option already, but in the current draft none do, so perhaps it was taken out. Half-elves, by virtue of their human side, would maintain their appearance, substance, and effectiveness in the Shadowfell; if I added half-orcs as an option, they would do the same in the Feywild. Now that I've written down these two ideas, I'm inclined to keep both of them: no elves (heh) for player characters, just half-elves, and adding half-orc moves for some classes; and elves and orcs may keep their substance in their opposing plane through an appropriate tether-stone, but perhaps those are extremely rare.

Oh and while I'm thinking of it, I'll just toss this bit out there too: fuck the drow. No demon-spider-worshipping elves in my setting. Really, the proper counterpart to the elves are the goblins; they are, after all, all fey.

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2011-02-08 18:40

Stats: Bravery, Conscience, Hope, Love, Magic

When you wish upon a star, roll +hope. On a 10+, choose 2. On a 7-9, choose 1.
* It makes no difference who you are
* Anything your heart desires will come to you
* Fate steps in and sees you through
* Your dreams come true

When you get in trouble and don't know wrong from right, roll +conscience.
On a 10+, you make the right decision and avoid trouble.
On a 7-9, you can get out of trouble, but there are complications.
On a miss, you blithely give in to temptation without a second thought. You'll probably turn into a donkey.

Just a couple quick thoughts, something that crossed my mind today as amusing. The funny thing though is that I think it'd be fairly easy to fill out a "Disney World" hack and it would totally work.

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2011-02-07 23:59

As I've been working on the rules for the sha'ir class for Dungeon World, specifically thinking about binding genies into service, I've been thinking about the general rules for hirelings. Apocalypse World doesn't have specific rules about hirelings, but does have rules for things such as detailing a chopper's gang and a move for the player, "Pack Alpha", to order the gang around. For "Apocalypse D&D", Tony basically adapted the "Pack Alpha" rule to "Order Hirelings", but didn't provide any guidance on creating or detailing the hirelings, aside from explaining that they could be promoted to or demoted from PC status as needed to accommodate the presence or absence of players. Dungeon World hasn't yet expanded upon those rules to provide information about hirelings, though I know it's something Sage and Adam are working on.

Well, I've already decided that bound genies should be treated as hirelings, so I want some explicit rules now. And as a player, I've felt frustrated a few times in past games, not really having a good idea what abilities the hirelings have or how to get them to use those abilities on my behalf. So here are a few things I'm thinking.

Following on the model for gangs, hirelings should come defined with a few basic stats and traits, which provide guidance to both the player and DM how to use them in the game. As with monsters, the basic stats for a hireling would be level, hit points (or hit dice), armor, and damage caused by an attack. Additionally, hirelings should come with at least these three tags indicating their traits: class, price, and weakness or failure condition.

The class trait indicates the basic class moves that this hireling has access to. So a fighter hireling can Bend Bars or Lift Gates, a cleric hireling can Turn Undead and Cast a Cleric Spell, a ranger hireling can Hunt and Track, and so forth. A hireling can be expected to use these abilities as appropriate during the adventure, such as in combat, or the player can specifically order the hireling to use the ability. I think that although hirelings can be higher than level 1 (or can advance in levels through adventure), by default they never have access to the advanced class moves—those are advantages for full player characters.
The price trait indicates what the hireling needs to be paid on a regular basis for services. It's similar to the surplus trait that followers and holdings have in Apocalypse World. By default hirelings have a price of gold, probably something like 10 gold per level per day. As long as you're meeting the hireling's price, you have access to their class moves.
The weakness or failure trait—and I'm not sure what's the best name to call this—indicates how the hireling reacts when the price is not met or as a result of a failed Order Hirelings move. It's similar to the want trait that followers and holdings have in Apocalypse World. By default hirelings have a weakness for desertion, and will flee if confronted with a situation beyond their price ("man, I'm not getting paid enough for this!"). Other possible weaknesses include treachery (attempt to secretly betray the players), mutiny (openly rebel), or despair (do nothing but cower and wait until it's over).

Maybe hirelings should have a fourth basic trait, mercenary, indicating that they're only in this for the money. Then there could be class-specific moves that could replace that trait and also change the price: for example, a paladin might get one that replaces mercenary with loyal and changes the price to upkeep (providing food and shelter). Or maybe just a general special move open to all players, Retain Hirelings, that lets them pick an option when attempting to hire hirelings.

Combat-wise, follow the general Apocalypse World rules for NPCs or gangs.

That's about as far as I've thought about this so far, and it's almost midnight, so time to post it.

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2011-01-30 23:57

I don't have much time to post, I'll toss out a few more quick ideas for moves for the sha'ir.

Levels 2-5 Moves

Historian
When you Spout Lore, you may ask "What is its history?"

Soothsayer
When you Discern Realities, you may ask "Are they telling the truth?"

Authority
When you Parley with members of your tribe, take +1.

Levels 6-10 Moves

Elemental Mastery
When you cast a spell of the same elemental type as your gen, take +1.

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2011-01-29 23:59

Levels 6-10 Moves

The advanced sha'ir moves mostly involve dealing directly with full genies: the djinni (air), dao (earth), efreeti (fire), and marid (water) in classic D&D. Although in D&D each of these has its own stats different from the rest, for the purposes of the sha'ir class in Dungeon World, it's easiest to give all genies the same basic stats.
Bound Genie stats: All bound genies are level 10, hp 80, damage 3d6, armor 5, and can carry up to 750 lbs. (These stats are basically similar to the 2nd-edition D&D efreeti.) All genies also have the powers of invisibility and gaseous form. However, different types have different kinds of magic, as follows.
Air (Djinni)—Carry upon the whirlwind; create illusions; create storm or tornado.
Earth (Dao)—Create stone; move objects (upon the earth); shape the earth.
Fire (Efreeti)—Create fire; create illusions; shape flames.
Water (Marid)—Create water (including fog and mists); grant water breathing; move or part water; purify water.
NEED TO ADD: Some kind of weakness or drawback tags—suggestions of problematic behavior when attempting to order a genie fails. Actually this needs to be tweaked more so that having a genie bound in service is like having a gang or followers, so by default genies are recalcitrant, devious/unscrupulous, and so forth, and when a genie is bound the player gets to choose a couple options to mitigate/improve the genie.

Call a Genie for Service (CHA)
The sha'ir may call upon a genie for a single service including labor, transport, protection, or other use of its genie magic. When you call a genie to perform a service, on 10+, choose 2; on 7-9, choose 1:
* The genie is not hostile.
* The genie does not demand a large sum of gold or gems in payment.
* The genie does not demand a magic item in payment.
* The genie does not demand a service in return.
On a hit, the genie will perform the service as requested, regardless of its demands, but when you fail to meet its demands, take -1 ongoing in any further dealings with genies of that type.

Bind a Genie to Service (CHA)
Similar to Call a Genie for Service, the sha'ir can negotiate to bind a genie into service for a period of not more than 101 days; upon agreement, the genie will act as bodyguard, servant, and advisor, and will perform acts of genie magic short of granting wishes.
This amounts to gaining a genie as a hireling. When you negotiate to bind a genie into service, on 10+ you and the DM each choose one condition, on 7-9 the DM chooses three conditions†:
* The genie will not be entrapped in a genie prison.
* The genie will be allowed to flee combat if it has lost more than half its hit points.
* The genie will be provided a large amount of its natural element as a home.
* The genie will receive a share of all treasure gained by the sha'ir, from 50 to 70 percent.
* The genie will be maintained in the same lifestyle as the sha'ir, doubling general living costs.
* The genie will be free from all tasks one day in every 10.
* The genie will be freed upon the death of the sha'ir, but will first bring the sha'ir's body home.
* The sha'ir will satisfy some whim of the genie, such as barking like a dog whenever a particular god or ruler is mentioned.
†These conditions come right out of Arabian Adventures. Note that per the book, genies usually insist on 5-10 conditions, so this is actually easier.
When you have bound a genie in service, treat it as a hireling: when you give a dangerous or degrading order to the genie, make an Order Hirelings check as usual.

Craft a Genie Prison
You have crafted a genie prison. When you use it, choose one:
* The genie will serve its next summoner for 101 days as per a bound genie, without conditions.
* The genie will be imprisoned until it has granted you three wishes.
* The genie will be imprisoned for 100 years.
* The genie will be imprisoned until a specific event occurs.
* The genie will be imprisoned until a certain type of individual touches the prison.
AND take -1 ongoing in any further dealings with genies of any type. This penalty is cumulative up to -5.

Travel the Elemental Planes
The sha'ir and his level in companions (within 100 yards) may safely travel to any elemental plane for a number of days equal to the sha'ir's level.

Seek an Audience with a Genie Ruler (CHA)
A summary of the ability from Arabian Adventures: The sha'ir can seek and receive an audience with the rulers of the geniekind (only one type at a time). The sha'ir must travel to the genie's elemental plane for the audience. The genie nobles will answer questions about the world (within the limits of their knowledge), issue rulings on the actions of other genies, and advise the sha'ir on dealings with genies. The sha'ir's dealings with geniekind and worthiness, however, will also be judged at that time.
My thought here is to treat this more as Open Your Brain, and leave out the part about traveling to the elemental plane (although that does give more value to the Travel the Elemental Planes move, which like the rest of these is from the original sourcebook). So this should be an opportunity for the sha'ir to learn things about the world that can't be done with Spout Lore or Discern Realities, for example. However, I also like the concept that the sha'ir's worthiness is judged as part of the audience; it's a good opportunity to push further adventure, as the potential penalties for calling or imprisoning genies would come into play, and the genie ruler may impose some form of quest as atonement if the sha'ir is unworthy—or the sha'ir could even become a foe of the genie order.

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2011-01-28 23:58

Early last summer when Tony first introduced rules for spellcasters in Apocalypse D&D, he suggested one possible result of a wizard's miscast spell could be that "a powerful being takes note of the wizard or the wizard's activities". That immediately reminded me of the sha'ir kit from Arabian Adventures, the 2nd edition AD&D sourcebook for its Arabian-Nights-style setting Al-Qadim, and I knew that I wanted to convert that kit over to Dungeon World. The reason I thought of it is because sha'ir are spellcasters who gain their abilities through summoning and dealing with genies, and one possible result of one of their abilities—the ability to acquire priest spells as well as wizard spells—is that the gods could take notice of the sha'ir and send punishment for meddling. It would obviously fit perfectly into the Apocalypse World system.

So first some background. Historically, sha'ir were Arabian poets who were believed to be supernaturally inspired by genies, and who had some authority within the tribe as a result. They acted as historians and soothsayers, and also apparently engaged in duels of poetry that could carry the weight and influence of an actual battle. Although the historical sha'ir sounds a lot like the Celtic bard, or at least the bard as it appears in modern fantasy and D&D, the designers of Arabian Adventures chose to focus on the genie inspiration aspect and use that as the basis for a wizard kit, using the historical rawun as the bard analogue instead. (It's perhaps telling that they compared the sha'ir to Merlin, a character who may be described as a druid and even given ties to the bards in modern fantasy fiction, yet who is firmly considered a wizard in the popular imagination regardless of historical revisionism.)

I figured that as with everything else in Dungeon World, the sha'ir should start from the D&D version, and retain its focus on spellcasting. However, given the historical roots as well as the Dungeon World system, it makes sense to base a lot of those abilities on charisma rather than intelligence. Further, it makes sense to fill out the sha'ir's moves by borrowing or adapting some from the bard class, and making up new ones if necessary that play off the historical roles of poet, historian, soothsayer, and even militant satirist.

Here's the original list of sha'ir abilities by level:

1st: Summon gen (familiar genie spirit that fetches spells)
3rd: Recognize the works of geniekind
5th: Call upon the jann for aid (once a day when lost in the wilderness, a jann may be called for help)
7th: Protection from elemental attacks
9th: Call upon a genie for aid (once a week a genie may be summoned for services including labor, transport, protection, or genie magic except wishes)
11th: Bind a genie as a servant
13th: Create a genie prison
15th: Travel the elemental planes at will
17th: Receive an audience with a genie ruler

Additionally, they start with the Genie Lore proficiency, which grants them familiarity with the nature, background, hierarchy, and etiquette of geniekind, as well as a chance of identifying disguised genies and the work of genies (on a more limited basis than the third-level ability).

Starting Moves

Familiar Gen
You have a gen, a minor genie spirit that stays with you and offers some services, including most importantly fetching spells. Note however that on the prime plane, gens must stay within 100 yards of their master; they can travel any distance on the elemental planes, where they travel to fetch spells. All gens provide an additional benefit of 1-armor against elemental-based attacks of their type. All gens, unless specified otherwise, have: level 1/2 sha'ir's (minimum 1), HP 1/2 sha'ir's max, armor 2, damage 1d6.
Choose a type of gen:
Air—strength: Fly, weaknesses: aloof, moralistic (lawful, good), looks: bluish skin, white hair
Earth—strength: Strong (damage 2d6); weaknesses: tactless, direct (chaotic, evil), looks: tan skin, jet-black hair
Fire—strength: Produce Flame at will; weaknesses: malicious, judgmental (lawful, evil), looks: ebony skin, long flame-red hair
Water—strengths: Swim, breathe underwater; weaknesses: capricious, playful (chaotic, good), looks: greenish skin, bluish eyes and hair

Genie Lore
When you Parlay with genies, take +1.

Request a Spell (CHA)
When you send your gen to fetch a spell, on 10+ choose 2, on 7-9 choose 1:
* The gen returns quickly (quick enough for combat)
* The gen does not attract the attention of genies (if a wizard spell)
* The gen does not attract the attention of the gods (if a priest spell)
* The spell does not misfire

Levels 2-5 Moves

I could probably use one or two more move options for these levels. I think I would adapt a couple of the other non-weapon proficiencies the sha'ir has available, about knowing (mundane) etiquette, history, and other social skills.

Recognize Genie Work
When you Spout Lore or Discern Realities, you may always ask "Is this the work of genies?" OR "Is there a genie hidden here?"

Call Jann for Aid
When you Undertake a Perilous Journey, you can choose one extra result—even on a miss you may choose one.

Elemental Protection
You have +2 armor against any elemental-based attack, or +4 against attacks of your gen's element.

Master of Satire
When you improvise a poem to lampoon your enemies, you can Pull a Stunt with CHA instead of STR.

Poetry Festival
When you Carouse in town, you may use CHA instead of CON.

Levels 6-10 Moves

I'm still working on these. The problem is that Call a Genie for Aid, Bind a Genie to Service, and Create a Genie Prison all offer similar results in the original version, the main difference being the strength of the sha'ir's position to demand service and the length he can require. So I'm trying to figure out how to distinguish these into useful distinct abilities. I'm also not sure whether Travel the Elemental Planes at Will makes sense as a Dungeon World move. Receive an Audience with a Genie Ruler is the easiest in a sense: this will simply become a custom "open your brain" type of move, but I just haven't written it out yet as I've been concentrating on the genie summoning/service moves when I've been working on this. I may post my current draft versions of these moves tomorrow, but I don't have time tonight to get them in.

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2011-01-27 23:37

I didn't really intend to devote this whole week to Dungeon World posts. It's a convenient topic to write about when I have little time, it's more interesting than talking about how I have little time and how I didn't do all the things I feel I need to do, and I am still hoping to start running a game of Dungeon World soon, perhaps as soon as next week, so it's useful preparatory work. But I will return to other topics soon, I promise you.

Also, I've been remiss so far about pointing you to the source of Dungeon World. When I first wrote some thoughts on magic in D&D and how that related to Tony's Apocalypse World hack "Apocalypse D&D", I did include a link to the discussion forum for his hack, hosted on the Apocalypse World forums. Since then, however, Sage and Adam have taken Tony's initial work and run like mad with it, doing an amazing job of fleshing out the character classes and gradually filling in the other details to help people run the game, moving towards a stand-alone work rather than just a supplement for Apocalypse World. They have been calling their version of the hack "Dungeon World", which is the name I've been using since before I started to detail my Chiaroscuro/Setak/Seattle setting, and you can find the current version of the PDF on Sage's site, as well as occasional entries about it on his blog.

There is at least one already-published game setting also called "Dungeon World", and I had the vague impression that that name was also already in use in the area of electronic/console games, so I expect that if they ever do offer it as a stand-alone product for sale, they'll have to change its name first. However, I'm amused and surprised and pleased to find that Sage's site is currently the top Google search result for "Dungeon World". I think he and Adam are doing really great work and deserve a lot of attention for this. And I'm not just saying that because Sage had some nice words for the posts I've made so far about the Setak setting.

Thanks everyone for your interest, comments (on Facebook), and support.

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2011-01-26 23:59

We don't really comprehend distances very well. I was doing a little research the other night, wondering how far could the player characters expect to travel from the center of Setak?

In reality, the city of Tacoma is about 32 miles southwest of Seattle. A trained marathon runner could run that distance in, say, three to four hours. The average person, without carrying a heavy burden, could walk that in about ten hours—so traveling to Tacoma on foot is effectively a day's travel, and you wouldn't return the same day unless it was a really pressing matter. I tried to find out how far a horse can carry a rider in a day, but it turned out to be surprisingly difficult to track down a clear answer. It seems that a horse can be expected to travel about 30 miles in a day, maybe double that if it's well-trained and the roads are good and fairly flat, or even a bit more if you really push it but you'll probably exhaust and hurt it.

Now consider that modern Seattle itself is somewhere around 18 miles from north to south. Traveling from Lake City to West Seattle on foot would itself be a significant portion of the day, basically all day if you have to return. That means the settled and relatively secure area of Setak would be fairly compact, right around the current center. It's something worth considering in developing the setting.

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2011-01-25 23:58

As a corollary to the planar overlap of Chiaroscuro, some beings have a singular planar nature while others are diverse. Those with a single nature always have the same appearance and abilities no matter where they are, while the diverse—which I'm thinking of calling "changelings" as a category—vary (consistently for each kind) in appearance and possibly abilities depending on which plane they're in.

For example, elves are originally from the Feywild. An elf is an elf, whether in the Feywild, the prime world, or the Shadowfell. Dark ones (dark creepers and dark stalkers, originally from the Fiend Folio, and creatures I've always found intriguing) are from the Shadowfell, and are always recognizable as such. I had the idea that beings from the Feywild and the Shadowfell have a telltale sign marking their nature when on other planes, like Feywild natives always have a kind of glimmering about them while Shadowfell natives have animated shadows, or something like that.

Changelings, however, may not even be recognizably the same being on different planes. For example, a medusa from the Shadowfell might be a basilisk in the Feywild, and a hydra in the prime world. As I've considered replacing halflings with ratmen, I might instead say that halflings appear as such in the prime world, but as ratmen in the Shadowfell, and as something else (satyrs?) in the Feywild. (Tony suggested that changelings might not simply look different in different planes, but might actually be different life-stages: the basilisk of the Feywild is the larval form, the hydra of the prime world is the pupa, and the medusa is the adult, perhaps.)

This is more for color than anything, I think, but it could have some effect if for example the players are told to expect a medusa in a certain dungeon, only to discover they're facing a basilisk instead. And of course if I make halflings be also changelings, then players who choose to have halfling characters would find themselves changing in different dungeons, though in that case I would say their abilities remain the same.

Obviously I'd have to have tags for fey, shadow (or maybe "shadowen", borrowing the term from one of the Shannara series), and changeling. I'd also want those descriptors to have some meaning when creating dungeons.

(Putting "Chiaroscuro" in the title for this post, as it's an overall setting concept, not just a Setak/Seattle concept. I'll probably have to start using those tags on the posts.)

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2011-01-24 02:58

What's prevented the local populace from plundering these dungeons already? Aside from the fact that they're not the player characters, and therefore aren't the heroes—is that enough? Seems like there should be some plausible in-setting explanation—and it has to account both for the fact of the locals not plundering but also whatever dangerous creatures dwell there not sacking the surrounding settlements. That's kind of true for any dungeon, of course, but here with the dungeons and settlements entwined, it's more of an issue.

Hang on, I've got it.

I've written a bit before about the default cosmology of Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition. One of the changes I really like in this version is the addition of two parallel planes, the Feywild and the Shadowfell. They're basically distorted reflections of the world, the former being the faerie realm and the latter being a classic underworld realm of the dead, and they're supposed to overlap extensively, though structures built in one plane do not appear in the other two.

And I also recently wrote about an idea of magically tethering beings to long-lasting, durable objects such as stones, in order to prolong their lives or effectively slow their passage through time. Obviously there are plenty of other stories about using enchanted objects as anchors or tethers, but also as passkeys—just one example, in C.S. Lewis's The Magician's Nephew, the enchanted rings which function by either drawing toward or pushing away from the Wood Between the Worlds.

So, it's that simple then. At least in the area of Setak, the Feywild and the Shadowfell do not merely overlap upon the prime world, they intrude upon it so that in some places the three are contiguous, or even coterminous. A few of the enclaves will actually be present in one of the parallel worlds—the Queen's Hill, for example, will be part of the Feywild, and Cap-Ill might be in the Shadowfell—and maybe most of the dungeons will be as well. All of these areas will be present to the senses in the prime world, not just ghostly images or shadows but fully visible, audible, smellable; however, they will not be physically reachable except through certain gates. The gates to the enclaves are probably fully open, meaning that anyone can cross back and forth without needing magic (though of course the gates can also be shut and barred).

To enter one of the dungeons, however, you would need some kind of talisman; or perhaps the dungeons can be freely entered, but a talisman is needed to return. And on occasion, some of the monsters in the dungeons are able to wander out, but most of the time, in most of the dungeons, most of the monsters can't get out without also having talismans or magic of some sort.

Also, once you're inside one of these overlapped areas, whether enclave or dungeon, there would be other exits leading out into the rest of the plane instead of back into the prime world. Maybe in at least some of the overlapped areas, all you can see is the rest of its proper plane and not the contiguous areas of the prime world or other plane, unless you're looking through one of the crossover gates. So it's possible that the characters could lose their talismans while in a dungeon, thus trapping them in that plane, but they'd have the chance of making a dangerous crossing over to one of the enclaves in order to get back into their world.

This is good. I'm now thinking again of changing the setting name to "Chiaroscuro", because the Feywild is said to be more vivid than the prime world—something like the difference between Kansas and Oz—while the Shadowfell is of course shadowed and gloomy. The urban area would still be Setak, or Cetak, or whatever, but "Chiaroscuro" is kind of a better name for the overall setting. Of course, now I want to call the city "Palimpsest" instead of Setak…

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2011-01-17 22:24

This is how a lot of my ideas for background and setting material occur: spontaneously. I'll be doing something like making dinner, maybe idly fretting a bit about how I don't have enough time tonight to complete the work I still have to do, and suddenly I'm thinking:

You can't truly put an object (a being) into stasis, remove it from the flow of time, because if you did then you'd have no way to ever retrieve it—if you're inside time, you can't touch something outside it. You'd have to tether the object, maintain some connection to things in the normal flow of time. But it seems like that would be very draining if you tethered it to yourself. Rather, what you'd do is tether it to something like a stone, something that resists change and endures for a very long time. So even though the tethered object wouldn't be outside the flow of time, it would change at a greatly reduced rate, being largely unaffected by the normal passage of time. An ordinary stone would probably do, but a gold object or a valuable gem would probably be better only because those endure even longer; it may depend on how slowly you want the effective passage of time to be.

I realized as I was writing that out that I'm essentially copying the idea from the fantasy novel Silverthorn by Raymond E. Feist, although he doesn't use the idea of tethering the object being put in stasis to a durable object such as a stone; in his novel it's just a magic ritual (though it does use a physical wax seal as a sort of anchor). Also in Feist's setting, magic also allows travel forward and backward through time, but I'm thinking more along the lines of the Ars Magica RPG, in which it's a fact of the setting that magic—at least the Hermetic system of magic practiced by the characters—cannot affect time, cannot change the past and can only affect the future by changing things and events in the present.

Another follow-up thought I had while writing that out is to wonder whether the reason some fantasy races are so long-lived is because their spirits are naturally tethered in some fashion to enduring things. Dwarves of course would be tethered to the stone of the mountains they live in, elves could be tethered to the trees, and so forth. Of course in most versions of standard D&D, while dwarves live a few hundred years, elves can live two or three times that, up to a thousand years or so; yes, trees can live for thousands of years, but one would still expect dwarves to outlive elves if they were tethered to rock rather than trees. In any case, this concept gives an added nuance to the behavior of dragons: they covet and hoard gold and gems because those perpetuate the dragon's life. Scattering the hoard would be very important to ensure that the dragon is truly slain.

This gives me some neat ideas; hopefully I'll get to work them into a game someday.

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2010-09-15 23:58

Last year John Harper created GHOST/ECHO, a type of bare-bones game scenario and rules that he dubbed an "oracle game". I've been interested in creating my own oracle game ever since, but have just had a few vague words floating around in my brain. It's harder to do than it seems. As John explained in a thread on the Story Games forum, part of the idea behind releasing Ghost/Echo was to see whether other people could use such a minimalist presentation to play their own games, and to see how others would interpret the material. So, as I said I've had some words floating in my brain but not really a strong unifying concept that I'm interested in creating, and I don't want to distort the oracle aspect by trying to pre-define things too much. Of course, I'm just trying to brainstorm, so I shouldn't worry about influencing others. But I think the real problem I'm having is that the elements in my mind feel too grounded already, too rooted in history and legend and mythology to be easily reinterpreted. Ironically, the first two names that I thought of using, Balthazar and Melchizedek, came to mind precisely because we know almost nothing about them. Finding other elements to go along, however, is what's proving difficult.

The first couple Magi names and the Implements are the elements that I've had in mind all this time. The rest are things I'm just tossing down for now, to see how they feel.

Magi
Balthazar
Melchizedek
Teiresias
Semiramis
Medea

Implements
Orb
Wand
Ring

Guardians
Gryphon
Catoblepas
Manticore
Basilisk
Chimera

Regalia
Chalice
Crown
Sceptre

Domains
The Forest of Cedars
The Isles
The Place of a Skull
The Valley of Fire

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games

2010-08-05 23:58

I've been out of the house since late afternoon, and was concerned I was going to miss posting today, but thanks to Bauhaus Books & Coffee being open late (until 1 am), I was able to stop here on my way home and get a post done. Plus, coconut-raspberry muffin!

I don't actually have anything in mind to post, however. Since I was just out playing Tony's "Apocalypse D&D" game (also now known as "Dungeon World"), I should probably write something about gaming. And since I was playing my wizard character tonight, I might as well continue from my first post about magic in AD&D with my analysis of how Tony's version of the spellcasting rules altered the AD&D conception of magic. I should explain that a "move" in this case is a game term from the Apocalypse World system that Tony's adapting, and basically means either that the player is taking an action that has risks and consequences—and so, this is a point when the player is rolling dice to find out what happens—or that the game master is applying the consequences of a dice roll to the situation in the game.

Looking first at the current 3.0 draft, not the new Spellcasting rules posted above, the Cast a Spell move tells me:
Magic is unreliable. I have to make a roll to see whether I cast the spell successfully, fail altogether, or get an unexpected result, and even if I'm successful it may still misfire.
Magic is dangerous. The consequences of a spell misfire include possibly causing direct harm to the caster and also possibly attracting the attention (and anger) of dangerous entities.
Magic may not be avoidable or resistible—there's no provision for saving throws, so it's unclear how to handle that.
The new spellcasting rules (3.1 draft) offer a revised set of moves: the Miscast Table is basically for the game master, while the others are for players. Again, the standard AD&D assumptions apply unless explicitly superseded, and the Apocalypse 3.0 assumptions that magic is unreliable and dangerous also still apply.
Cast a Prepared Spell tells me:
Magic is difficult to do quickly and spontaneously. You are limited in how many spells you can prepare for fast casting. This replaces the regular rules for memorization.
Focused Casting tells me:
Magic is more accessible/available than in AD&D. You can use Focused Casting to cast spells that you have in your spellbook but haven't prepared in advance for fast casting.
Magic can be more safely and controllably cast by taking time and using the correct implements and rituals, but it's still risky and misfires can still happen.
The Miscast Table tells me:
Magic is wildly unpredictable with potential for anything from minor annoyances to serious disaster. You should think long and hard before using magic. Isn't there a better, more reliable way you could accomplish your goals?
And the Saving Throw table tells me that yes, magic is still sometimes avoidable or resistible. This means using magic as a means for accomplishing your goals is even riskier and even less reliable than it already appears.

When I wrote that part of the analysis, I hadn't yet played under the rules. After doing so tonight, I think I'm overstating the case for magic being risky and unreliable. It certainly is, but the potentially unpredictable results don't necessarily mean you'll fail at what you're attempting to do, just that new complications may arise. And complications are what keep the game interesting.

Once again, as I'm trying to get this posted under the wire, there's a lot more to be said but this will have to do for now.

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2010-07-22 23:53

"It's not a place you go / It's a place that comes for you"
—YACHT, "The Afterlife"

Recently I've been reading through the Manual of the Planes for Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition. The planes are the cosmology of the D&D setting, the alternate realities and supernatural worlds that make up the universe. These include the heavens and hells, the halls of the gods, the spirit worlds, the faerie lands, the shadowy realm of death, the magical home of genies. There are plenty of instances throughout myth, legend, and literature of mortals making perilous journeys into the supernatural world, sometimes even confronting the gods, and then returning home. D&D is a game of heroic fantasy adventure, so of course the Manual is a very detailed sourcebook on what all these supernatural worlds are like, should your heroes journey there.

This edition of the game includes two "parallel planes" to the mortal world, the Feywild and the Shadowfell. The Feywild is basically the faerie realm, and it's pretty good: it sounds cool and magical and dangerous, a great place for adventure. The Shadowfell is basically a classical realm of the dead, combined with the older editions' Plane of Shadows; it's also pretty good, although there's some awkwardness in its combination of a home to some mortals, the realm of the dead spirits, and also the source of undead horrors and evils. These work very well in the game, providing the mystical otherworld and the shadowy underworld common throughout myth and legend. They should be, and do feel, both magical and accessible.

But it's the realms of the gods in the Astral Sea, which in older editions were called the Outer Planes, that are falling flat for me. The realms are supposed to be remote and nigh-unreachable to mortals, as in most traditional myths and legends, but they also have to be fairly open and easy to get to for the heroic adventurers. The realms have to be fairly static and secure, since they're the homes of beings with unfathomable divine power, but they also have to be vulnerable to occasional attack, otherwise there'd be little of interest for adventurers. And of course the inhabitants are mostly powerful supernatural beings that far surpass the mortal world, but the theoretically-mortal adventurers are also fully capable of tussling with them. The realms of the gods end up losing any sense of wonder and just sound like typical fantasy settings in the mortal world, and kind of boring ones at that. They're not really heavens or hells, just different places with different and slightly weirder inhabitants and slightly more rigid cultures. This is not the afterlife, it's just an alternate life. There's nothing compelling about the realms of the gods, and no particular reason to bother with any of that.

I've already spent too long on this post; it turns out my thoughts were only half-formulated. But there's a lot more to be said, another time, about the basic philosophical problems in D&D, of which this is just an example.

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Dungeon World: Sha'ir class (draft, part six)

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