Character Creation - Dungeon World

Basically, I will go Wizard if theatreofcomets still wants a buddy, else I will go with the damager as the GM suggested.

I reckon a Ranger

We have a ranger.

GM: You implied a possible need for more damage, so I want with a +3 Ferocity Brear, but I did not select 'fight monsters' as a training, it seems boring. Instead I went with 'guard'; that coupled with 'adaptable' could mean the bear needs to be taught how to fight each type of foe we face, and since they are also 'forgetful', they may need to be taught again if it has been a while.
It might also make sense for the ranger to be able to concentrate on shooting if the bear is guarding them, thereby gaining the +Ferocity to Damage boost? That will heavily depend on the events in the fiction.

Ranger Jon's Bonds
I think my number 2 bond is fairly clearly with Gareth, any objections?

I also think it would be interesting if I guided Edwyn on some quest of his before. theatreofcomets: Any thoughts on what that was? It can come out in play as can what you owe me.

1. I have guided Edwyn before and they owe me for it.
2. Gareth is a friend of nature, so I will be their friend as well.
3. ˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍ has no respect for nature, so I have no respect for them.
4. ˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍ does not understand life in the wild, so I will teach them.

One other option: I see Edwyn as a creature of the town and sometimes city, and the roads between them, but quite out of his element in the wild away from the roads and inns. So it could be #3 or #4 as well as, or instead of, #1?

If a previous quest: you helped me recover my father's mandolin from the mountain fastness of a cruel noble, which meant traveling through wildlands I'd never dare go through alone. The mandolin was lost in the fight which lead to my father's death when I was young, and despite the songs I'd learned and the books I'd read, I couldn't bring myself to actually call myself a Bard without recovering it or at least trying.

Depending on what the other characters end up looking like those Bonds might also apply to Edwyn. If we only have three players there will be more than one Bond with some of them.

Still working on not editing, but that last one would have been weird otherwise

I am fine with the bond to Ranger Jon. In return, I'll offer this one.

I have showed Jon a secret rite of the land.

Any objections to this one for Edwyn? Edwyn smells more like prey than
a hunter.

Perfect! :)

I'll take a look at what I can offer too.

Absolutely. :)
Just how 'secret' is this rite? Are you worried there will be trouble if others find out you shared this information?
Do you have ideas about what the rite entails or does? Otherwise we can work that out in play as we see the characters. I would assume it has something to do with water, but if you want to add another aspect to your character, this would be a good place.

Makes sense, cheers!

Verrain, do you have any thoughts re Bonds between your Gareth and my Edwyn? I currently have:

1. This is not my first adventure with Jon.
2. I sang stories of _______________ long before I ever met them in person.
3. _______________ is often the butt of my jokes.
4. I am writing a ballad about the adventures of _______________.
5. _______________ trusted me with a secret.
6. _______________ does not trust me, and for good reason.

Edwyn is always composing verses and bits of songs, sometimes heroic and sometimes comic, and trying them out on you both as a captive audience, so I think he will have bonds 3 and 4 with both of you, unless there are objections?

Beyond that I am not sure - do you think we have traveled together before? And/or have I held or broken your trust?

To clarify, the verses and bits of songs are usually about us and the adventure we are having. Someone has to write the songs others will sing to remember us!

Since the intent behind Bonds is to Resolve them and then write custom new ones, I see no harm in writing new ones from the beginning as well, GM permitting. We treat the ones on the sheet as merely suggestions.
Stick to the numbers though. The Bard gets 6, the Wizard gets 3 and everyone else gets 4 (I think). This is not arbitrary, it is part of the design.

Are we still waiting for a Paladin? They will probably warrant many Bonds.
I am not quite sure what you mean by 'with both of you'. A bond can only apply to one PC, else it would count twice for Aid/Interfere, and would be very difficult to Resolve.

As above, you could duplicate the wording of a Bond into a separate one, thus having two Bonds with the same words applying to two characters. This does not change the numbers and makes it possible to Resolve them one at a time, while still writing ballads about the group and individuals. The new Bond might even make that fiction stronger, Resolving it does not mean it loses meaning.
That could be a fact in the fiction, but does not need to be a Bond. When the Bond is Resolved this fact does not cease to be true in the fiction.

(3) Might Edwyn poke jokes at my stubborn and forgetful Bear? (The Bond would still technically apply to the Ranger Character, they one and the same).

Oh I hadn't thought of that, cheers for the flag.
No, I believe Qralloq is sitting out actual RP:
Yes, that sounds good.

Verrain, I wonder if Gareth has made a name for himself previously, but this is only his first or second quest with Jon and Edwyn? In which case perhaps I'd written something about him before meeting. What do you think?

Ah, I missed that. Pity.
If time permits later we could look at adding our Pal later in the dungeon.

Good thing my Bear has Guard, we might need it to tank. The Druid might be able to help there too.

I'll allow it, doesn't seem to change much and allows more in the narrative.

Hmm... 'enough' varies so much, from group to group. Best way to gauge that is to see if people are constantly asking for more information, or if they are forgetting what you said by the end. Too much description can hamstring the players' choices, so watch for frustration if they feel they have not option but to follow your railroad. "Balance in all things."
Ask the players in the specific game. Do this for each game, and maybe every few sessions as well, watch for reactions (body language is missing here in PbP, so we need to be a bit more explicit about things and speak up long before we think we need to, but that is a whole other topic).

On thing I did take note of, but did not feel warranted comment, was the use of Discern Realities. Personally some of those answers are things I would have given for free, and possibly I would not have called for the Rolls at all. But I am not GMing here, and everyone has their own style, both as a GM and as a group, some groups roll for everything, some only roll for the most important things, both are OK. The number of rolls can severely impact the rate of XP gain, especially in the early game where 6-s are the main source, so factor that in as well.

A concern is always what to do on those 6-s. If the GM is going to have a hard time coming up with a Move to make on a miss, then there probably should not have been a roll. Some GMs fall back to the traditional 'nothing happens', but that is not in the spirit of PbtA. To speed things up some have players add --to their initial post-- rolls that might not be needed, but that again causes complications on a 6- when the GM needs to go back and say, "ignore that roll, and give me back that XP". I have possibly also seen players toss out weak-stat-rolls in scenes where nothing bad can really happen, just hoping to steal a few XP (or just trying to help speed things along, it can be hard to tell):.

Also: Don't let a 6- stall the game. For instance, with the illusion wall situation above, while I feel it was added by the GM as a reward, think about what would have happened on a 6-? Would we have missed an important clue and been denied that route? Is it our only real way out and we would have had to find it anyway so the roll did not matter? *

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Footnotes:
* I suspect the GM added these things because we rolled. This is a good technique: If the players show interest in something, add more detail there. I suspect --from the first description-- that if we had just grabbed the McGuffin and left, neither the trap nor the illusion would even have existed. If so, well done, if not, not a problem, but it is a useful trick. :)

For instance: Something that might be obvious to us (or to a Range) without a roll is: Do/did we see footprints showing how we got in here? Did we come though the illusion wall? Is there another door? (I assume so, it would have been mentioned if we were in a room with no exit.)
If there are no footprints, that is a thing that would stand out to a tracker, the player might not think to ask.

There were hints in my RP post that maybe:
3. Edwyn has no respect for nature, so I have no respect for them.
Or some variation on that. If that does not fit I could be trying to teach Edwyn about nature, but that does not strike me as realistic, what say you?

I will make up a new one for Gareth once we see more of their interaction, neither of the existing ones work for a druid.

To be honest, I initially forgot to write about the door (which was always there in my mind) but saw an opportunity to add to the narrative with the illusion. Still figuring the switch between DnD style narrating and DW narrating.