Welcome GameMaster

Welcome GameMaster.

What at you hoping to get from this game?

As we have discussed elsewhere, World of Dungeons is similar but not the same as Dungeon World. Your other PbtA experience should be enough, and reading Dungeon World could confuse expectations.

Basically this game only has one Move: The Act Under Pressure move from Dungeon World (hmmm... apparently is it called Defy Danger, I can not keep the names separate:), which is similar to the one from Monster of the Week (MotW), except that you pick the Stat to use based on what you are doing. In PbtA almost all Moves are really just specialised versions of Act... well except the ones that are Workshop/Ritual/Big Magic. :)

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The party is currently on its way to a whole new country, but is less than a day's walk from 'home'.

We can assume that you joined the party at the main city and are here with them now, or we can pick you up here by this inn, or in the next town we get to (Olmsford). We can play it by ear and see where we are when you have character.

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Take a look at the Help! thread for guidance. Feel free to ask any question here or in the General Chat depending on where they seem relevant.

You can find the Game's Rule Book copied here for easy access. You may find Character Creation section useful as well.

Welcome GameMaster!
Nice to have an extra player, you'll have loads of fun.

I have not done a PbP game yet, so I was hoping this game could help me learn how PbP is different from live TTRPG playing, and so I could understand what tools I have available as a GM in this medium.

I also do not know World of Dungeons, but I thought it might be really fun to get a sample of, since Dungeon World is so cool.

I will read through all the links you posted and work on making a character. Where do I post it when I have something?

Ask lots of questions. We will address things as they come up, but you are welcome to chat about PbP and RPG things that are not directly related to this game as well.
Do you know Dungeon World? If so, this should be very easy to pick up, but ask about anything that seems strange or different as old assumptions can bite you in the umption. :)
Hopefully the summary will catch up, there is a lot of past story that really does not matter to what we are doing right now, and you can pick up on that later.
Keep us in the loop. Character Creation is a collaborative process.

You can make whatever type of character you feel like, we adjust the story to fit what the players bring to the table.
Here is good.

You can use the big red Add button below where you type to roll dice. Add a 'Basic' roll for normal dice. Ask if anything is confusing. If you want to toss a round a few test rolls, mark them as such in the 'Reason' field so we know to ignore them and when to start paying attention.

Test roll?

Test roll II?

Okay, time for character creation...

I am a fan of rangers in DnD style games so my inclincation to make a Ranger with a bow again. I read through the summary of events and the current character list, so I might have a decent understanding of what's going on.

I will name my character Will. I (hopefully) set up dicerolls attached to function as my stats. I'll roll my hit die after this is posted and I know my Con.

For my skills, I choose athletics and stealth. For my abilities, backstab and ritual (which rituals would you recommend/allow?).

In terms of gear, I'll take the short bow (10s), a small dagger as a light weapon (10s), light armor (30s), occult items for my rituals (10s), and some adventuring gear (rations, waterskin, tent, bandages, and flint/steel for 10s).

Did I do this right?

For stats, Will has 0 Con, 0 Int, 0 Dex, +1 Wis, +2 Str, and +2 Cha.

So dumb, clumsy, and can't take damage, but ripped and hot. I feel like I accidentally made bard energy ;0

I guess I'll just rely on my occult rituals to really have an effect on the world and the plot. I better make them good ones! And good thing I picked stealth, since I will have low HP.

I am rolling my hit die now- my single lonely hit die. I do not know what level I am (I assume Lv 0), but I only have the one die so I will keep it regardless.

Oh God, I have 1 HP. Someone keep me alive. I'm staying home while y'all adventure! Thank god I get to re-roll after a long rest, this is terrible!

Yeah, fortunately it is current, not max HP. So not too terrible. We may want to think about why you start in such a poor condition, what has happened to you recently? (Only give this as much thought as it warrants, if it does not fit how we introduce your character we handwave it.)

Did you take a look at the Character Creation thread? I think it got a bit lost over time.

Specifically: Did you note that Magic is a risky prospect and likely to get you lynched? People don't trust it. If you insist on going that route, it is a good thing you are charming, you may need to talk yourself off the block or convince people that they were mistaken about what they saw.

There are rumours that there may be more magic use where we are heading, but people won't talk about that place, and 'they use magic' is one of the common negative things people do say about it. Maybe your ability is why the others seek you out to come with them?

Stealth might be used (with CHA (charisma)) to hide that you are using magic, though that might also be more Deception.

What do you envision your Rituals as being? What do you want to do with them?

Welcome to the game, GameMaster!

Added some more story to the recent events. It's still not 100% complete. It's been a while since it was last updated 😅.

Since we're in an inn on the road, I think a bard type would work just fine, if that's what you're thinking of doing. Maybe a traveling troubadour?

Amazing work, TheGenerator (as usual).

So the party is travelling to a 'far off land' to see if they can learn about how to deal with an evil temple they found. It looks like something was done to lock the evil away, but that is fading and they need to renew it or find another way to deal with the problem.

One of the premises of the game is that you are (or start as) fresh faced adventurers, so none of you have travelled far, and this is all a new experience.

If you go with a travelling troubadour type, then you will have travelled a bit more than most, but mainly on established roads and mainly in relative safety and lack of 'adventure'. You may know the roads between the main town and Olmsford, and a bit further, and have a good reason to meet the party.

Once we get a better handle on the nature of your Ritual and Magic, and therefore your standing and acceptance in the world, we can work out how to get you into the party.

So I forgot that magic was frowned upon, but i can totally roll with that. Maybe the rituals require sacrifice, which is why my health is so low... like a blood magic and I gave a lot of energy to do something. I imagine the rituals take a while, so I like to do them in the middle of the night (midnight?) when no one is around to see. Then, when stuff happens, I can claim to be as ignorant as everyone else, even when the magic benefits the party. I also like the idea of using my charming and sexy nature to prevent suspicion from ever lingering on me too long.

As for what the rituals do, I think they should have a decent sized effect, given that they drain my life energy and require overnight effort. Maybe a ritual to imbue a mundane item with a basic magic ability? Like turning sticks into magic matches or knockback stalves. That way the ritual is useful outside of the nighttime, like in combat if I work on items or weapons, and it is still flexible enough to always be useful. The effect can wear off in like a week or some decent amount of time so that it is balanced and the magic items don't accrue.

Since I know two rituals, the second ritual could be to control the weather for the next day? Maybe like a magical fog rolls in, or a dark storm brews, and maybe brings lightning to make the scene more interesting. Maybe I get to aim a single lightning strike from the storm in combat. Or I can make the rains clear up to make traveling easier, or make it rain more so the mud hides our tracks. Just basic environmental manipulation.

Do these seem acceptible?

If so, this would make integrating into the game easy- something weird happens with the weather, or the party finds a magical item, and then I show up looking all suspicious, but no one can pin anything on me, and since the magic was helpful, they kind of roll with it for now.

Also, I agree that my character has not traveled too much yet, and primarily found work in the starting town as an actor in the local inn, performing rituals in secret from his board room in the nights.

Interesting.

By raw, Magic takes time, or drinking poison (quicksilver (mercury), but that is hard to come by, so you don't have any (there are temporary in-plot reasons:)), or an item. We can consider sacrificing health as a equivalent for the drinking poison, they feel much the same, so that adds a fourth option.

Your Ritual summons a spirit (or force, or however you choose to style it) that you can order to do one single magical effect, it does not seem like it is meant to last past the current scene or so. But changing the weather will have longer-lasting effects, so that could work sorta as described.

Take a look at the Bless Special Ability, your weapon Ritual should be in line with that in terms of power, it is only half (currently) of your Special Ability, so it is not fair for it to be better than the whole of someone else's... however, there are costs to yours, so they balance out.

Albert already has a sort of Bless equivalent, but that is not fully under his control, so having someone who can more reliably do that could be useful.

However, we don't do a lot of fighting, so think if you want to invest so heavily into damage related stuff. A general 'imbue and item with an ability' is very powerful, and we will need to assess each use on a case by case basis. Making this a more general utility Ritual makes sense for a performer, as does your other Ritual of 'special effects' (fog, lights, atmosphere) which could be useful in a stage performance. :)

One of the options for casting your Rituals is to use a Magic Item, and your item Ritual might be used to make these items? Then you can spend a few nights making some stuff that you can then 'use' to activate your Rituals in a hurry.

What do you think?

If the concern is balance, could I choose to one have slightly stronger ritual? I would pick the magic item ritual, with the goal being to inbue an item with a magical property, but not necessarily increase its damage. So in a weapon that could look like knock back, while on a pen that could be self writing. The goal is something that could be useful but doesn't break the balance of the game. And then it would also be useful outside of combat, while bless is just a mechanical advantage to weapons. Maybe the effect only lasts for an hour (a scene), and I like the idea of using the ritual to prep a trigger so the actual effect can be used at will later. Maybe the "magic item" or trigger is my spell casting focus, like a ring I wear. And my HP drops to 1 when I use the ring, as a cost of the magic?

You start knowing two Rituals, but can learn more, so limiting the number now only delays the inevitable.

I am not that worried about 'balance', but you need to be aware that it appropriately balanced as you play, so each item will need to be talked about before you make it, you do not have carte blanche to make what you want, and the weather effects will be appropriately impactful. I just don't want you to be disappointed by the outcome. We can always reassess and rebuild later if it does not work out.

Spending more effort —maybe needing multiple nights, maybe needing to risk exposure ... or exposure, maybe asking for more or hard-to-heal health sacrifices, ...— can make the options better. Each case will have its own caveats.

I would not recommend having your HP drop when you use the item. That will get you killed. I would have the HP sacrifice be part of making the item, that way you can (maybe) recover before you need to put yourself at physical risk. This, presumably, explains why you are currently at 1 HP?

What were you doing? Trying to deal with the 'mist' problem? If so, is this your first foray into 'being a hero'? Why now?

Just to throw in a different perspective here. Do they have to be occult magical rituals? How about if raising your drink for a toast is a ritual to you, and it causes some magical effect?

More for my own curiosity than anything else 😁