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 😁

I like both of those suggestions. I can keep the two rituals with the understanding that cost in terms of materials, items, and sacrifice will vary depending on the strength of the intended effect. I this that resonates with me, and I would love to role okay sneaking out every night to complete the next part of my week long ritual. I also agree that the HP loss or other sacrifice should be made when the ritual is performed, and but when the item is triggered. Maybe for a longer ritual, the cost can be paid over the time of the ritual?

Maybe I am at 1 HP right now because I just completed the last night of a ritual, so I have something lined up to use now to get started. I'll go back and read the updates on the plot so I can see what I might be trying to deal with, but the mist could be that problem. Do I need to be a hero, or could I join the party for personal gain? Maybe the mist was in my way so I was trying to clear it for selfish benefit and I just happened to also benefit the party with my actions.

To answer the question about the potential for a more subtle and quick ritual, that would totally be an option, but I prefer the occult style. I'm a Satanist IRL, so I'm not stranger to ritual-styke practices, and I think I would enjoy the fantasy of having immediate sweeping changes brought on by the rituals of my character. I'm short, I just like the flavor.

Well it is Magic, so it follows the rules as set forth by Harper.
That would have to be a rather small 'magical' effect. But we can introduce such rituals —they exists everywhere, and have meaning— and maybe have them have some tangible in-game effect, but they would not be on the scale of PC Abilities.

Sounds like fun.

Unless we play out the other characters' action day by day we will amalgamate some of these into one roll and any followup. The fact that we will be travelling for the next while makes this both easier and harder, and then we will be in a foreign country, so who knows how that will affect things. :)
Something like that, yes. We will work out the details as needed.
Cool. That is a simple an immediate way forward.
That makes the most sense, since that is what we are facing now and it gets you involved with the party who are also dealing with it.

Seems like you have been in the area for a while to do what you needed to do. Maybe you were living at Olmsford (a few hours away) and learned about the trouble and recognised it as something you needed to deal with?
No, but then why are you helping deal with the mist issue? Is it your fault?
The two issues with that are: Why would they accept you (fiction first), and that there is no real gain to be had here.

You can have your own reasons for joining, but need to provide them with a reason to take you along. It does not need to be a true reason, though.

I can provide you with three good reasons for wanting to join the party... (can anyone guess why that number?:). But, ultimately, you need to be on their side, so any trickery with them will need to diminish as we play.

What if I heard about the ritual that the party stopped, and how they cracked the ritual alter so no one else could use it, and I was interested. Maybe I hoped that one of them secretly took a momento that might still have some power, a small something I could use to amp up my rituals. Or, maybe, given their productivity in finding strong ritual magic in the world, I want to hang with them for when they stumble upon the next potential magic, so I can get a slice. This way, I am personally motivated to be there for the quest and to get the party to dive into danger, and I am also motivated in keeping them alive and helping them succeed. As long as I get my trinket at the end, it's a win-win.

In this scenario, I just finished preparing a ritual to clear the mist as a way to help the party move forward. Maybe the ritual doesn't clear the whole mist, but just a path through it, and I can show them that path?

We can talk to the other players about it, but it was a bit of a joke, really. Some yokel women playing at emancipation and mysticism. The very existence of the altar was a bit interesting, and no one seemed to recall it being there before.

I am not sure most of the locals even realise there was something going on out there —the reason for celebration was the PCs pouring money into the stagnated economy and not what they stopped or that they got the mayor's daughter back— so who would have told you about it? It was out there in the sticks.
Possible. Albert seems to be a nexus of mystical convergence, but that is godly power, and might be something you want to avoid. :)
A bit incongruous with the fiction. The mist was not preventing them from going on, you had no way of knowing they were going to be here —not on this route (though they did spend a day of so arranging it, so that is possible), and not at this inn since no one knew until right before they got there that they were not going straight onto Olmsford.

We are adding a character, possibly out of the blue, so we can add the fiction we need, but we should still keep these decisions congruent with the fiction of the situation else it becomes very hard to keep cause and effect straight.
They are heroes, though, so they might not want to just clear a path and move on. I was going to leave it up to the players how much they wanted to look into this, though, so after making sure everyone survives the night they might be happy to move on.

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Maybe we don't want to lean too heavily into the angle of your manipulating things to get with the party. It is a bit creepy. We can do it if you really want, but such a character might not last.

It might be easier if you are just coincidentally also trying to deal with the local problem and then you can decide to go with the party for whatever reason you like?

Sure, that sounds good. I see that I misread a lot of what happened 😭. I'm happy to go with whatever you think would best fit in the world that already exists.

The easiest way to get into the group would be if you already know one of us. Either Roald or Albert I'd say. That establishes a base level of trust to start with. It's much more difficult to trust a stranger (especially if/when you find out they perform magical rituals).

There are also some second rank options:
- Someone we would have heard of before (in a good way)
- A friend/relative of a friend/relative.

It's not necessary, but can speed up the process.

That sounds good, I can be a friend of Roald. I'm guessing they have some ideas for how we met/ why I might be joining them now. Maybe they asked for help?

Being known (or known of) and having them ask for help can also tackle the magic issue in a more positive way. Given the reputation of the place they are going to, they may have sought you out because of your magic ability.

We can still do something like that without being known. You helping out with the mist issue might reveal your magic to them, but because you used it for good they choose to trust you... and then ask you to come along because of the reputation of the place they going to.

Your reasons for joining could still be less-than-noble if you want. There is magic in Necusle, but few know how to get there, so this is your chance.

That's a cool idea!

Okay, the party could seek me out for help and ask me to come along, and I could choose to go to learn more about the magic in Necusle for my own gain. So I start out as a rumor that the party hears, and they come to seek me out after one of my shows?

If you like that, that works. That leaves your intro to the party till after they deal with the current events and get to Olmsford. Albert may well have heard of you from travellers to his roadside inn. You may still have met Roald before, and this could bolster their reason for seeking you out. "I heard about a performer who... I think I know them... Hey, they are rumoured to be in Olmsford! Should we go find them?" type deal?

But, we can keep this vague-prior-knowledge and still have you come in now, dealing with the mist —which seems right up your alley, if you can think why you would be trying to stop it (or capture it?)— and they recognise you and have the same "we can use your help" moment. That way you are right in the action right now.

It is completely up to you how you want to bring your character in. We can work out the details once you decide.

Feel free to Submit a character on the Game Details page. We can work on the content of the sheet once they are in.

I would love to try to bottle the mist, maybe to release a bit of it later as something I could use? I'll get started on that character submission... Do I need to create a character sheet? If so, how do I do it?

Go to your Characters page. At the bottom is the New Character section.

Give the character a Label, this is what it shows up as in your Character list, and you can name it what you like. Many like to include notes about the system and the game name or whatever keeps it clear for them (if you have three characters named 'Bob' in three DnD games, the label might need more than just 'Bob' or 'Bob (5e)', what you label it is completely up to you).

We use the Custom character sheet (it is becoming the default for everything, since it can do more than most of the specialised sheets), so leave the dropdown on that, the hit Create.

The name you enter in the Character Name box in the sheet is what we see in the game. It is what appears beside your posts if you post as a character (that part will make sense once you have a character). It is also what appears on the Characters menu at the bottom of his page, and what we can easily 'paste' into our posts using he quill icon next to the name (helps when players make hard to type names). I prefer to use the name I want to called here, and keep things like full name for inside the body of the sheet. So far this world does not seem to have much use for surnames or such, so most people have but one name.

The rest should make sense, but ask all the questions you need to. We can fix anything that goes 'wrong'.

Once you have an available Custom Character, it will appear in the dropdown under Submit a Character and you can send it to us.

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In order for the other players to be able to see the contents of the sheet it needs to Added to the Library.

To do that, mark the grey 'note' icon that says Add to Library on your character list.

Red means others can see the sheet.

That does mean everyone can see it, as there is no way at this time to only allow people in the game to view it.
The GM of a game can always see it (which makes it hard for them to know if others can) and can edit the sheets in their game. I only edit players sheets when the ask me to.

We can try do that. Is that your primary goal? Or is that secondary to stopping the mist problem? You may still want to stop it, even if just in order to survive long enough to try bottle some.

I think my primary goal would be "stopping" (or moving) the mist to gain the favor of the party, in the hopes that I can get access to stronger occult magics through their adventures. Bottling the mist, even just a sample for further study, is a secondary objective, but one that I also think is important and probably doable. Also, I made I character sheet and submitted it and added it to the library as you said. I do appreciate the explicit instructions, or I would not have known how to do that.

Cool. That can be your goal now...

'Hoping to gain their favour and get magics' implies you know a lot more about them than is likely. We can work something out, but it is getting a bit convoluted (and possibly manipulative?).

So: Why are you here? Or do we need to go find you? If we need to come to you and introduce the characters, we can make that be the next logical step for the other characters, no worries.

My suggestion is still that you were already trying to resolve the mist issue and would have been doing that even if the other characters had not shown up. It is a 'weather effect' which is something you know about... Why do you care, though, if not for heroic reasons, then out of guilt? Just to study it?
Why does your character think that is an option? Maybe that can come later, after you meet them?
Then we can deal with that as and when opportunities arise.

'Approved'. It looks like about right.

Once we know a bit more, you should add some background/biographical information telling us who they are (or were, or appear to be).

You can add a character portrait using the Change Avatar button.

I should have checked this first and talked about this ability (but I never use it, so I forget:), there is a template system for Custom sheets that people have made, you could have created the character from the WoDu one if you like that. You can still copy/paste that sheet into yours, you just need to Quote the post and then copy/paste the contents of the `[charsheet=` block.

Let me know if you want me to help with any of that.
Hehe. It is almost like I have done this before. :)

Note to self: upgrade that template to use fillable fields

Cool. On another note to yourself, I wanted to talk to you about the Call of Cthulhu sheet. I will refine mine we can collaborate on maybe merging them.

Sure :) you can always PM me or use the round table game.

I agree with you that it would be easiest if the party came to me and asked for help, knowing my reputation. I could then agree to help after they tell me of their quest and I get the vibe that they will get up to more magical shenanigans. I can have already been studying the mist with an interest in bottling it or learning to reproduce it, so the party's request would fit well with my own short-term goals. Then, if they ask me to join, that would also match my long-term goal of studying/ acquiring powerful magic. Also, my character is okay with being a bit manipulative, especially if gets the results he wants.

Okay, I updated my character sheet with the template. Do I need to do anything else for the changes to be updated?

Best to remove the [charsheet=...] Tag at the start and end :)
The rest looks good to me.

Alright, let's do that.

Have they heard of you before, or does someone from around here mention that you are looking into the problem?

It is a bit 'convenient', but probably the simplest is for the mist-effect to remind them about you. Something like: "This mist is behaving weirdly. I remember a performer who used to make mist and stuff do weird things. Last I heard they were performing around Olmsford! Maybe they can help?" Then we can have the others approach you in the next scene and get you right into the action.

That is if you are ready to get into the action, of course. Else we can delay their arriving at you.
That can be fun, and fits your stats, but manipulation of the party can get tricky. We cam phase that out with them if it becomes an issue.

I don't do player secrets, so the other players will know your character is manipulating their characters and what you are really after (as much as any of us do:). That way everyone is in on the joke and can work the story and events based on that.

Yeah, the [charsheet= bits are to tell the forum posts that the next bit is a character sheet template, they don't belong in the sheet itself since that knows it is a sheet. :)

You really calling yourself a 'Ranger' and not a 'Bard' or 'Performer'? It is just a name, so not important, but it may be what others think of you as, too, so they may use that word to describe you in the fiction.

I'm okay with having a reputation that they were familiar with and the mist reminded them of me, so they came to seek me out. I am ready to get going! Also, I updated the character sheet again.

OK. We will expedite that.
Ah, less red. :)

Ritualist, I see. Fair enough.

Ya, I figured Rituals were the coolest part of the character and would be the most descriptive of what I'll actually do. Just let me know when I'm supposed to hop in!

Could there conveniently be another room we hadn't noticed before and Gronk is conducting research in there? Or he stumbles into the inn to get away from the mist?

Just to speed up getting Gronk into the story. Otherwise GameMaster has to wait for days possibly.

We can just wrap up this night and get you to Olmsford to find Gronk.

Maybe you go grab the innkeeper and hide upstairs till the mist drains out or the sun comes up, or you find a way to banish the mist from the house for tonight. But actually getting to the bottom of the problem and resolving it for good will need special attention... and specialist attention.