About a week ago, I asked if anyone had made a hack where the modifiers to basic moves were situational rather than driven by stats. There was some interesting conversation, and after a binge of design, I give you Heartbreaker World. (As in “fantasy heartbreaker;” this ain’t some weepy romance.)
It’s far from done (only two playbooks so far) and could doubtlessly use a world of editing. But I think it’s got legs. The situational modifiers feel right for the magic-related moves, and I think they add a nice gradient of difficulty and tactical positioning for the basic moves, too.
I’ll post here as I keep working on it. I’m thinking about doing the Rogue next.
In the mean time, take a look. Feedback very much appreciated.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0lFq3ECDQDQdkVSYzYyeFY1OEU&usp=sharing
Awesome. Will have to play around with this. I was also pondering a statless, traitful method for doing AE games.
Awesome 🙂 please dont stop, we need more playbooks
Very interesting! It definitely started to break mine.
huh, cool. I am also working on an AW hack, Raiders of the Weird, in which one of the basic moves is driven by situational modifiers:
When you carry out a plan that might work, roll:
* On a 10+, it works.
* On a 7-9, it’s working, but either it won’t last long, or it’s not quite enough.
* On a miss, it doesn’t work the way you’d planned.
Also, when you roll:
* Take +1 if you’re acting on the Dungeon Player or Town Player’s advice.
* Take +1 if your plan incorporates part of your environment.
* Take +1 if you’d be better at this than any other adventurer.
* Take +1 if you cooperate with another player’s character
Two new playbooks (rogue & templar) added, plus update to the rules. Same link as above.
Really really good stuff here. Hits a sweet middle ground between PbtA, Dungeon World, and Fate.
I’m also sensing a Torchbearer influence, yes?
I’m really loving this (and yes, the conditions moves are genius), however I’m not clear about the Evade “avoid the threat/get free of immediate danger”, could someone explain the difference to me?
Glad you’re liking it. Regarding Evade, the idea is to force a hard choice (particularly on a 7-9). “Avoid the threat” was originally “take no harm” and that’s still the general intent. “Get free of immediate danger” means just that; you’re no longer threatened and have time to breathe. “Improve your position” means you get some of edge (or negate some sort of constraint) but doesn’t mean you’re safe.
So imagine you’re walking down a highway in the woods and you get jumped by some bandits. There’s a half-dozen of them, surrounding you and pointing crossbows. The two on your left are hiding behind an old, overturned cart.
After they make their intentions clear (they want to rob you, but are willing to kill you), you dart towards the overturned cart mid-sentence. “I wanna leap over it and engage the two back there, so the others don’t have a shot.” Bold move, but you definitely saw this coming (+1), are unencumbered & moving freely (+1). “Don’t I get cover?” You don’t have cover yet. So rolling +2.
If you roll a 7-9, the outcomes could be:
– Avoid the threat: you manage to avoid getting shot, but get pinned down on this side of the cart.
– Get free of immediate danger: you suffer harm (middle die of 3d6, +2 harm for force parity, ouch) but manage to get over the cart. You decide to book it into the woods, probably with a quarrel in your back.
– Improve your position: you take a quarrel or two (as above) and manage to engage the two bandits behind the cart. They are surprised and slow to react, so now you can Assault them.
If you roll 10+, the outcomes could be:
– Avoid the threat & get free of danger: you leap the cart and run into the woods, untouched.
– Avoid the threat & improve your position: you leap the cart and engage the two back there (Assaulting them, probably); quarrels thud into the cart
– Get free of danger & improve your position: you take a quarrel or two but leap the cart and dart into the woods… and what does that improved position look like? “Uh, I find a hiding spot and wait for them to come to me.” Okay, cool.
Keep in mind, this is all unplaytested. So it might work for crap! But that’s the idea.