Just wanted to call this out: I really like the Get Involved move, as opposed to the ‘Help or Interfere’ moves available in other PbtA games. Simply adding +1 or -2 to another player’s roll always felt a bit too limited in my opinion.
Just wanted to call this out: I really like the Get Involved move, as opposed to the ‘Help or Interfere’ moves…
Just wanted to call this out: I really like the Get Involved move, as opposed to the ‘Help or Interfere’ moves…
Thanks! Though I’m afraid I can’t take full credit for that; there are a number of forums (Barf Forth Apocalyptica and Story Games, off the top of my head) that did the math and found that +1 is not worth an extra roll, and doesn’t have much effect on the 10+/7-9/6- spread (only has an effect if you roll exactly 6 or exactly 9). The + / – success level was one of the generally accepted alternatives I quite liked.
In my first play of UW I had two players from my regular Dungeon World game. One commented immediately that he much preferred the “Get Involved” mechanic over the DW +1. And it’s true, it absolutely does encourage its use far more often than it does in DW.
I’m leery of porting this to DW though, because of how common it is to have +3 on your primary stat. Players have an amazing ability to Aid Another using their primary stat. With a minimized likelihood of failing the Aid Another, the whole probability curve could be shot.
BTW, Sean Gomes, is there meant to be a +2 cap on stats in UW, or is it just uncommon to exceed it? For example, the Addict skill gives a possible +1 to a stat that might already be +2.
Mike Schmitz The + 2 cap on stats is a soft cap, not a hard rule. So far, Addict is the only way to exceed + 2, and I’m leaving that design space open for Far Beyond Humanity.
That said, the base game is a much flatter curve than Dungeon World. As you quite rightly spotted, DW has a higher base chance of success, which lessens the need for the increase/decrease Get Involved.
I’m currently petitioning our World in Peril group to adopt Get Involved instead of Aid.
However, I’m REALLY trying to get the group adopt Assessment over Examine. I like that even a failure results in factually true information. Possibly preventing that horribile situation where the game screeches to a halt as the players get sucky rolls on their Investigation rolls to Examine the scene for clues.
Yeah there’s a lot of very interesting discussion about 6- and how much it halts play or drives it forward. Personally, I’m a huge fan of “fail forward”, where a 6- is a big addition to the story (for example: Wild Jump’s 6-, especially the stuff mentioned at the bottom of page 164. Mwhahaha.)