Dungeon World Batrep: The Hunt for Merzototh (PDF from Cyril)

Started by Cyril, 20 November 2010, 01:22:16 PM

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Cyril

Hi everyone

I finally finished my batrep and Nik has hosted it on his wiki here: http://nikharwood.pbworks.com/w/page/32233312/10mm-Dungeoneering

It's a 2.7MB PDF - direct download: http://nikharwood.pbworks.com/f/2010_DW_batrep.pdf

sixsideddice

Hi Cyril,

Wow, I`m glad you enjoyed your game so much, it sounds like it was a hoot... not bad for your first game; it didn’t look like you ran into too many problems, though I have a feeling you forgot to use the monster special ability “Pack” which does tend to give your critters a bit more strength. Making mistakes in the rules is all part of the fun and the learning curve (heck, you could be learning to play Dungeons and Dragons or Warhammer Fantasy Role Play.... where you`d be there at the table for weeks attempting to remember half the rules, and trying not to misinterpret the other half LOL).

Your game itself looks fantastic, fair play to you for putting together yet another wonderful demonstration of your skill with a modelling brush and camera; and it reads in an enjoyable way (kept me interested to the very end). This should be useful for others just setting out on the road to the 10mm Dungeon World starter pack.

The Game â€" my comments: I think you said it all yourself â€" balance. I think your Heroes maybe strolled through the game a little bit too easily, mostly due to three reasons that I can see at a glance. (1) I think you forgot to employ “Pack” and "Undying" which really beefs up these types of monster considerably. (2) You split your Pack or Undying monsters into small groups allowing them to be torn up with relative ease by your players. (3) You massed your `big guns` (your main attacks) into overcrowded rooms, so that the monsters resembled sardines in a can â€" or skittles as far as the Heroes were concerned. Simply put, this meant the Heroes only had to chop the monsters apart in nice neat rows... the rooms are tricky to run properly, and needs a bit of Draken Mastery skill to make the most of them. The Draken Master needs to turn rooms to their own advantage so they don`t become chicken shoots where the players just bag large numbers of monsters unable to do anything more but stand shoulder to shoulder and wait their turn to feel the deadly blades of their foes. This (in your case) would have been exacerbated by having chosen to switch to IGO-UGO half way through the game, which would have greatly unbalanced the game and your scenario in the Heroes favour. I know I break the rules and the accepted norm by making Mover and Defender an uncertain and indeterminate factor from move to move, but this is built intrinsically into the game and will greatly hinder play if altered without understanding WHY things work the way they do... which of course comes from a bit of play experience and maybe a few games under your belt. There should not really be a sense of “disappointment” at losing initiative (and therefore becoming the non-mover for that go), rather, it just means you have to use a different thinking cap on during these moments. You should be planning all your moves NOT only expecting to WIN the next initiative, but should have contingency plans for losing the initiative and becoming the non-mover; you still get to use all ranged attacks remember, even as the non-mover, and should be positioning your troops to make life as hard for the other player(s) as possible. Remember Space Hulk and OVERWATCH? Think in those terms and you`ll grasp the importance of the Mover Non-Mover rule.

Of course, the rules are flexible, and there is no reason what so ever why you can`t change things, as you did, to suit your own needs and preferred play style. But if you do make rule adjustments, be sure you are fully converse with how the game works because if not you could end up unbalancing the game, and more importantly, end up depriving yourself of a subtle yet rich game tapestry which may not at first become obvious during the first few games, as you all get used to how things work properly. Tunnels & Trolls was like that: intrinsically easy, but containing many subtle ideas which took a while to understand as the true subtlety and balance sunk in through extended exposure to the rules. Effectively, if you do decide to make the game an IGO-UGO system, be sure to make the monsters a lot more powerful, because you will be increasing the Heroes effectiveness exponentially though out each game.

Post Game â€" my comments: Your after game comments caught my eye, and deserve a lengthy response.
You grasped something which is fundamentally very important Cyril... to quote you a second:

“I would even risk myself saying that everything you need to know is in the book and, if something is not explicitly forbidden, then you can do it.”

EXACTLY! The wording in the rules is very purposely written the way I have it; so again, do watch out for subtle concepts within word passages that may not always leap out at you straight away, but which will sink in due to extended exposure to the rules system... a best way to describe this would be perhaps to point you towards Mage Knight as an example. Mage night is a simple set of rules, but is a pig to take in all in one go; relying on many games and in game readings before the subtleties of sentences and statistical concepts sink in.

Melee & Shooting: again, you can change things if you like. As you suggest, making the To Hit roll the same for both close combat and ranged attacks would be one way of `simplifying` things. Personally I don`t think it’s a lot to remember that ranged attacks connect with a 5 or 6, and close combat attacks work on the roll or 4, 5, or 6. My main concern is that if you increase ranged attacks to 50% 50% chance of making a successful To Hit roll, you reduce the importance of close combat and things could bog down and end up with a sort of fantastical concrete jungle Vietnam situation of ranged combat taking precedence over getting in close and dirty? Make ranged attacks as deadly as close combat and what becomes the point of getting into close combat at all? Only Elves get the 4+ To Hit. I greatly fear that by rendering Ranged and Melee To Hit rolls to the same equation, you would in effect open a whole new can of worms. But like I say, if this is the route you feel the game should take for you and your friends, then I`d be the first to say Play Away and make the game your own.

Healing: read the rules on the two types of healers again Cyril. There are some subtleties within the word structure of sentences which make the healing spells quite hard to use effectively in many situations, and a clever Draken Master should not be slow to exploit these weaknesses.

Field Healing - Note: neither the caster nor the target may be in an enemy zone of control at the time of casting. Healing Touch doesn’t even allow the caster to use the spell on self, and only works on an adjacent character. If the scenario balance is a challenge to the Hero teams, they`ll be desperate for every health potion or healing power available to them. A well balanced game should see the Draken Master very close to scoring a full Victory Point Win total.

You cover many interesting issues Cyril, and I`m sure your own games will be much richer because of it. A keen mind is always a recipe for greatness, and this was never truer than within gaming. Just be sure not to over-complicate where the simpler answer might not perhaps already exist.

To Quote: “The problem with all rule sets comes in the over-complication. What starts out as a simple idea becomes more and more complex and soon the original simplicity is a mere footnote.”

I LOVE your batrep, and I hope to read many many many more that you do. I LOVE the way yoù added lots of little home brew rules to your game... moving the pile of rocks, kicking down doors, etc. You hit the nail on the head perfectly. The rules need a forum for rules debate, so that the views of many can be stirred into the pot. At which point I can sit back and let my baby walk :-)

Cheers for now,

Six.

sixsideddice

PS

I really like your idea on the “accumulating threat system” (ATSys). It would really add an edge to things, especially in themed dungeons.

I agree, The Back Up Fighter`s stats are pretty uninspiring for a player to use as his one and only character in a game... I originally had this character kit in mind really as a second front line main fighter figure (sort of side kick status) for a player running with more than one Hero, or for a solo player versus the dungeon (i.e. one player running all the Heroes by himself, alone or against the DM). At the end of the day, all the Hero/Character Kits are just ideas to kick start players into making their own, or customizing existing kits - just like you did :-)

Really nice suggestions and ideas you pose Cyril... you`ve got me thinking, which is always good for me ^^


Cyril

Wo ho ho Six, now THAT's an answer !  :-bd
I think you spotted the right thing: 1/ this was our first game 2/ Unfortunately, I had not prepared it enough

Of course you are right on many levels:
-  I forgot to use many monsters' abilities (especially the "pack").
- I was not nasty enough but that's because I lacked of the "feeling" of the rules any game master needs to properly balance a game...
- Also, I think I need to give the mover/non-mover mechanism another go. I confess I failed to see its tactical added value and failed to explain it to my players.
You know what, I'll try to play a bunch of solo plays in order to get more insight on the possibilities. I think that's the key here.

Also, I guess a "Dungeon World good practices / FAQ" section could be of great interest somewhere on the web (say, on Nik's wiki :) ). A usual forum like Pendraken's is not adapted for capitalizing on discussions as the good ideas occuring in a thread are "shrouded" by other answers and then buried under tons of other topics...

PS to the moderators:
could you change the title of this topic to the title of the batrep: "[batrep] The Hunt For Merzototh"?

Annatar

Thanks for your batrep Cyril !!! :)
2013 Painting Competition - Winner!

sixsideddice

Oh my GOD I just spotted the number of typos (sounds better than spelling errors) in my last replies.... uuuugh, no excuse.

*makes promise note to better next time*

Six  ;)

Leon

Well Cyril, I've got to say, that's an amazing Batrep.  Excellent scenario, well written, and great pics!  It makes me feel quite proud when I read it, although all I've done is package them up!  The real credit should go to Germy for creating it, and Six for writing the rules.  I know Six has commented above, and I'm sure if Germy pops by, he'll love it as well!

Your comments at the end are very interesting, and pose further thought.  If you do come up with any phase sheets or cards, do get in touch.

8)   :-bd
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