Author: Kirt Dankmyer

So, I have a player that when being rushed by wolf minions, kept wanting to mainly dodge and only do damage if an opportunity presented itself. Now, I could just rule that as Act Under Pressure or Kick Ass, but I like the idea of making a custom move available to my players.

What do people think of the balance of the following?

Dodge, Parry, Thrust.

If you see a non-ranged attack coming and you mostly want to dodge rather than fight back, explain how you’re dodging and roll +Cool.

* If you get a 10+, you don’t take any damage, In addition, you can either hold 2 or harm your opponent if you have a weapon at hand.

* If you get a 7-9, you have a choice. Either you don’t take damage, no other effect, or else hold 1 and you take a blow from your opponent that does one less harm than normal.

* On a miss, you take at least one harm more than usual, and your opponent takes none.

Spend one hold to do one of the following:

* You put you opponent off-balance. Next time it is hit, an additional harm is done to it, unless it is given time to recover.

* You sense a weakness in the way your opponent attacks. Take +1 forward the next time you try to hurt it or dodge.

* You get a good feel for what part of you it tends to go for, and can move to protect it better. Take one less harm the next time it hits you.

* As any one of the above, but the advantage is given to one of your friends. You need to narrate how that works.

So, I’ve been Keeper for a MotW campaign for a little while now, and I had a few questions…

1. When someone changes to a new hunter type, I assume all Luck boxes that were checked remain lost, yes? I’m pretty sure turning over a new leaf doesn’t make you less likely to die. 😉

2. So, I love the Mundane’s “Oops” move, but it seems to go against the idea of the fiction going before dice. It seems like the Mundane can “Oops” their way through the whole mystery, since it can happen whenever they “want to stumble across anything important.” If their Weird is highlighted, they’re going to be marking an awful lot of Experience.

I’m sure I’m thinking about this in the wrong way. Should it only work if there’s something to stumble upon in the vicinity? Should stumbling on important things also get the Mundane into trouble? I’ve probably just been too nice about it…

3. On a similar note, the Expert’s “Lore Library” seems an easy way to just push through the mystery, earning lots of experience if their Sharp is highlighted.

I’m sure the “historical or reference works” thing is relevant, but it seems very in-genre for there to be reference works on most monsters that have existed for a decent amount of time, traded among hunters and very much the sort of thing for a Lore Library.

Again, I may just be too nice. Also, I suppose that the other key here is that searching books can take hours or even days, during which time the monster may be advancing its agenda…