Been reading through the PDF. Great stuff, but there’s a couple things I’m unclear on and wondering about:
On page 88, one of the wilderness moves is “Take away one of the clutch’s Things”, with Things capitalized and italicized. Is this a game term that I missed somewhere, or just a cute way of emphasizing the value that dragons place on their possessions?
When using moon magic, is it required that at least one gem is returned? Or is it just a rather good idea, given the potentially wild consequences of a miss?
Relatedly, is it intended that a dragon in Shadowself can use shadow magic at +4 as much as dre wants? (Presumably, this is mitigated by the potentially hefty consequences of a miss or even a 7-9.)
From the examples, it seems like marking Shadows is a relatively common outcome, but unless I missed something, dragons only get to potentially remove one Shadow per session; is it intended that passing into and recovering from Shadowself is the primary way of clearing Shadows?
How does the principle of “only trigger moves when the outcome is in doubt” interact with magic in the setting? Is using magic always a big and risky thing, or can a dragon do “routine” magic like creating a light to illuminate a dark cave? (And if so, is this a common ability in the setting or an extraordinary one?) Can a dragon have magical abilities that aren’t tied to the moons or to Darkness? (The examples of play involving rituals would seem to imply this.)
Also, there appears to be a word missing in the Shadowself block of the Warrior sheet. “Make sure the clutch you are the only one who can save Dragonia.” This is the case in both the rules and playbook PDFs.
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I have a question, somewhat related to Nathan’s, about the use of Gems Returned for Moon Magic.
I am about to try a game of Epyllion with kids of 8 to 12 years old. I know the little ones will care a lot about their Gems; before starting, I know that it will be difficult for them to accept Returning X Gems then roll and see that they still get a 6-, or that they could have had a 10+ without Returning any Gem.
So I am considering telling them that they can choose to Return Gems after they make the roll, in order to buy a better result (instead of betting for one…).
I would be like to know others’ thoughts on this, if in your experience of the game you have had this question come up from your players ?