The Campaign Builder's Guild

The premise also somewhat reminds me of Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson. Not sure if you've read them, but having a look at some of the creatures he created might be a good source of inspiration.

I was reading something on an RPG blog elsewhere and came across the following. I immediately thought of the Revenant angle you're taking and thought this might be a way to handle "can't die" while maintaining consequences:

"You can't really die in Hell, you can only transform into a lesser form.  Die, and you'll return as a shambling undead.  Die again, and you'll become a crawling thing.  Die again, and you'll become a soul-maggot, good for nothing except consumption and too weak to even turn a doorknob.  But even that is not the end.

And with each death, you lose a little bit more of yourself.  Memories fade and your sense of purpose numbs." (Source)

It's been a long time since I wrote anything in this thread, between the campaign in question collapsing (under the weight of university) before it really begun and just life continuing to move as it is known too.

I've soured on the  mechanics of the system I was proposing to accompany this campaign but am still very keen on the ideas and the setting, and am considering ways to cannibalise it for new projects. There's possibly a cathartic systemless module for the local gaming convention for next year, and a Princess Mononoke/Mushishi-inspired RPG I'm writing for possible self-publication. Some of that might make it up here, I guess?

In the meantime, as a farewell to this project and to celebrate it's brief moment back in the sun via the chatbox, I'll post the third monster I wrote (which never got posted before).

[ic=The Thing at the Crossroads]
Monster
-Strength 18, Agility 9, Vigour 22, Insight 8, Perception 10, Charisma 16, Cunning 8, Composure 4 (Health 22, Will 16)
-Endurance +5, Crumble Earth +2, Listen +5, Sicken +4
-stone-bodied: the creature has access only to the senses of sound and touch
-delights in misfortune: the creature heals 1d4 Will for each journey it brings to a tragic end and 1d3 Health for every soul who perishes to the fever it spreads
-break earth (1d3 and knock prone) and strike with fever (1d3 Fatigue)

Omens
-parchment grows parched and brittle and books and other written objects become tinder-dry and ready to kindle at the slightest spark
-people's tempers flare in the heat, exploding out of proportion in response to imagined slights in savage violence that leaves its victims bloody and broken
-dry thunder rolling through the heavens as oppressive heat and humidity settle in and clouds threaten but never break
-fever spreading like wildfire among the people of the village and any who venture close, flushing their cheeks and glazing their eyes and painting them in sweat
-travellers who pass through the crossroads and remain too long on the road and under the creature's power catch aflame, burning slowly and painfully to death
-pine trees grow with unnatural vigour but grow burned and charred, their bark scarred by unreal flames and their leaves falling with each gust of winds as ash or embers
-people stop noticing the pain of heat and burns, absently sitting too close to cookfires or coals and ending up singed or badly burned
-the sun baking the roads to cracked clay, rendering it so unstable under foot that one can plunge in up to the knee after breaking the surface

Lair
-a bundle of personal belongings that have clearly been out in the elements for months: tattered straw sandles, a worn cotton hakama, the mon of a far-distant clan with a deep line scored through it, a poorly-repaired wakizashi, an empty bottle of sake with a thin layer of congealed blood clinging to the inside
-an indistinct layer of teeth and rice and clay among the dust, scorched and crushed so thoroughly the three are near indistinguishable
-a cut length of old dry bamboo, still sprouting verdant green leaves
-wrongly-shaped bones that lie scattered in natural patterns that nonetheless resemble kanji for infection, inflammation, and plague
-a great stone waypost, with thin trails of concealed pus and vomit running down from cracks and chunks where stone has been removed
[/ic]

Urd: Beneath the Broken Sky?

Another monster, since I'm in a writing mood today:

[ic=The Thing in the Granary]
Monster
The once-bound spirit-servitor of an Onmyōji, set in the earth inside a granary to ward off vermin and disaster but awakened to malevolence by neglect and abandonment
-Strength 20, Agility 0, Vigour 0, Insight 18, Perception 22, Charisma 16, Cunning 18, Composure 8 (Health 1, Will 16)
-Dismantle +4, Listen +5, People-Reading +6, Swarm and Tear +2, Watch +5
-once-bound: the Exorcism and Conjuration skills never apply
-anchored in the earth: the creature's continued existence is bound to the survival of the origami incantation through which it was bound, buried five feet deep, and only the destruction of this object can do it any harm
-summon rats (1d3 swarm) or dislodge beams (1d8+4)

Omens
-winds that shriek and moan and wail like madmen springing up out of nowhere and deafening farmers in their fields
-tears raining down from the sky in a sudden but terrible storm, damaging roofs and poisoning fields and fouling the village well
-dreams of being swarmed by rats, tiny feet and leathery tails dragging all over naked and tender flesh
-cutting into cooked meat to reveal a core of rot infested with burrowing insects
-lightning striking from clear skies to destroy the local watchtower and starting spark-carried fire
-morbid urges lingering at the edges of awareness, causing idle curiosity about self-mutilation and autophagy
-vermin breeding uncontrollably, growing lean and sleek and dangerous
-people growing frail and vulnerable, their skin tearing more easily and their bones breaking like twigs
-people hoarding the strangest things – perishable food goods, teeth, old and stained clothes – against some perceived impending disaster
[/ic]

A little of column A, a little of column B. The Omens act as clues in and of themselves and there's no need to go looking for them, so in that instance the emphasis is definitely on interpreting and synthesizing that information with everything else being learned. On the other hand, this is a game about rural social politics and Japanese social dynamics, so prying factual information out of insular and intensely-private villagers is a central task.

To my mind the progression of an investigation would go something like this: the investigators arrive in the town, they are exposed to a few Omens, and they start mundane investigations based on the vague direction/impression those Omens give them. During the course of those mundane investigations they get enmeshed in the social network of the village and its tension and problems and petty emnities. They continue to face more Omens along the way, both putting stress on the investigators and intensifying existing tensions in the village, until they realize the geographical source of whatever is going on and are able to go (more or less ignorant of its nature and dangers) and confront it there. They're then forced to put together all the information they have and rationalize it into a narrative that they can accept, because any damage inflicted/debilities caused by witnessing Omens (particularly to Sanity and Will) that can't be made sense of becomes permanent.

On the balance then I'd say that the focus is on interpretation/synthesis - the characters can have all the information that they'd like as long as they're willing to work at it and get dangerously close, but they get no narrative to make sense of it all from the GM and have to make their own explanations and create their own sense of closure (or lack thereof).

That's the plan, anyway - we'll see what happens once I come into contact with actual players :P

Quote from: Rose-of-Vellum
Love the update, particularly the info/mechanics on Omens (and would be enthused to see some sample monster/omens).

Thank you! There's definitely going to be a couple of Monsters (and associated Omens) posted over time, I just didn't want to overload people with way too much information at once.

Quote from: Rose-of-VellumI'm indifferent on the Town rules; perhaps a sample generated town might elucidate the process, and more importantly, the quality of its output.

The town rules I quite understand the indifference towards - they're a crude and not particularly polished tool mainly just designed to avoid me repeating myself too often considering this campaign runs on new villages/towns with new problems and rural horror requires small-town social politics to be fully effective.

I'm currently away from home and don't have the maps I've been able to generate thus far but once I'm back in town (Wednesday/Thursday) I'll scan one and put it up here, presuming I am in fact that technologically competent (which is questionable).

Quote from: Steerpike
The town rules are quite interesting. Did you happen to get the idea of using dice-as-layout-generator from the sublime Last Gasp Grimoire?

Last Gasp Grimoire was certainly one of the places I've seen it used before (and it wouldn't surprise me if it was the innovator in this regard).

Quote from: SteerpikeWhat are you planning on running this with? I know you were debating between possibilities before.

At this point I'm running with a homebrew system. It's written up mostly in discrete chunks all over the place, but in summary:

• 8 Attributes (Strength, Agility, Vigor, Perception, Insight, Charisma, Cunning, Composure on a 3 - 18 scale
• 5 Derived Characteristics (Fatigue, Health, Face, Sanity, Will in a similar range to Attributes)
• A long list of Skills that add minor bonuses to rolls where they're relevant (the emphasis is pretty squarely on Attributes as the main contributor)
• Vague Class-like archetypes that give a small set of extra Skill points
• Skill lists for each Tribe that players get to spread points in to reflect the cultural knowledge/practices that they've normalized as part of their upbringing
• A resolution mechanic that's pretty standard d20 fare - roll plus a relevant Attribute plus a relevant Skill and try to beat your opposition/the DC
• 6 Castes, each of which is linked with a couple of Rights from which the character gets to choose one
• Rights, expressed in the form of "you have the right to ______", which mean that other characters/NPCs must roll to challenge that right rather than the character rolling to acquire whatever is described

Example Rights:

• You have the right to pray to your ancestors for guidance and protection. (Peasant)
• You have the right to speak truth to a crowd of your fellows. (Peasant)
• You have the right to the hospitality of hall, hearth, and board, wherever you go. (Craftsman)
• You have the right to take an apprentice. (Craftsman)
• You have the right to slip under the notice of the proud and the foolish. (Untouchable)
• When you look closely at another person, you have the right to see them clearly. (Untouchable)
• You have the right to write the Imperial Court for aid. (Noble)
• You have the right to seize authority over a council of war. (Noble)

It's an incomplete list and not all of the Castes are represented, but you get the idea.



Plus, for Rose-for-Vellum, here is a sample Monster:

[ic=The Thing in Okakome]Monster
The bloated and wicked spirit of a once-loyal fox familiar, unseen and without form but still able to bite and rake and bleed
-Strength 15, Agility 20, Vigour 18, Insight 12, Perception 18, Charisma 15, Cunning 17, Composure 10 (Health 18)
- Acrobatics +4, Bite and Rake +4, Evasion +4, Listen +4, Stealth +4
-unseen and formless:  the Watch skill never applies
-bloated: 1d4 armour (if all damage is soaked, then the weapon fails to connect with the spirit-creature)
-bite (1d6+2) and rake (1d4+1)

Omens
-statues of Inari defaced, smeared with blood and bile, and with their heads smashed off and replaced with skulls
-white teeth bared in the dark, shining ghostly out of the blackness with something dark staining them
-graves being dug up, corpses losing digits and limbs
-vocal chords being stolen at dawn from those who over-indulged in sake the night before, ripped out to leave them voiceless and choking on blood
-sparks rising from fires in lurid greens to hang and burn like flaming orbs in the air
-dreams of being trapped in the dark, scrabbling at unseen bonds in a desperate attempt to reach the light and companionship beyond
-people clawing at themselves and surfaces around them until their flesh is raw and bloody and their fingernails break
-people setting fire to their possessions (and eventually, in the case of the Ono family, the ryōkan) to drive off the gathering dusk of evening

Lair
-catalpha bow painted scarlet in clotting and drying blood
-pieces of long-dead bodies lying scattered on the floor, starting to be sewn together with thread made from rice into a half-body
-the mummified corpse of a fox-kit with a slit throat
[/ic]

[ooc=Update!]
So the local roleplaying convention has passed, clearing me of the need to prepare my game for that, and my life is slowly getting under control and I've now finally got things organized to run this game at last. The roleplaying society at my university has been more of a Pathfinder society the last few years and a friend of mine in the executive is working to change that - somehow I wound up volunteered and will now be running a Bloody Sun, Shattered Sword campaign on a fortnightly basis once the new semester begins. Which means, among other things, more material to post up here. So without further ado here's some material from the GMing side of things.[/ooc]

Monsters

In Bloody Sun, Shattered Sword a monster is more than simply the flesh and teeth and claws that threaten a Character's life, or the ancient and terrible kami whose wrath threatens all within their dominion. A monster is in the portents that herald its arrival; in the signs that betray its presence as the land itself groans under its weight; in the maladies and afflictions that befall those who are forced to live in the liminal twilight that surrounds a rupture in their understanding and imagining of the world.

The knowledge of these Omens is damaging: unless they are resolved – through academic understanding, religious teachings, other forms of rationalisation, or actually being addressed – a Character suffers a degradation of their health and sanity simply through becoming aware of a monsters existence. This degradation normally takes the form of a mechanical penalty of some kind, but at the player's discretion (or if the Omen or monster is particularly awful) may instead inflict a derangement expressed in the form of "you are driven to [specific action/s or train of thought here]".

Omens come in the three rough flavours described above:

• Portents that heralded the monster's arrival and have endured – usually either the aftermath or continuation of environmental effects or the signs of irrational behaviour that was triggered
• Signs that betray its presence – changes in the Character's surroundings that somehow indicate directionality or various forms of tracks that they monster has left or that occur just out of sight
• Maladies and afflictions – strange diseases, aberrations emerging in the social order, the twisting of the psychogeography of local life, terrible thoughts and urges arising in the fertile ground of repressed human dysfunction

Some products of the monster's twisted psyche may also be found in its lair – scrawled on parchment, carved into stone or wood, twisted out of raw materials into 'art' – and have similar effects as Omens should a Character dwell upon them or try to make sense of them.

It is also always the case that the nature of a monster denies logic, denies sense, and denies closure. Through their actions, Characters can gather as much information as they like but will never be provided with explanation that has the GM as its source – they penetrate as deep into the truth of events as they dare, but the only narratives they will find to string the bloody pieces together are those of their own making.

Town Creation

Step 1: Generate 12 factions (ranging in size from individuals to large multigenerational families), one for each Japanese Zodiac with a single word from the traditional characterization of that Zodiac keyed to them (pick unusual/provocative key-words when possible)

Step 2: Choose the following for the town:

• Goods/Craft (the main income-source/occupation)
• Specialty (usually linked to Surplus)
• Surplus (usually linked to Specialty)
• Want (usually linked to Scarcity)
• Scarcity (usually linked to Want)
• Cult (unusual religious feature)
• Custom (unusual cultural feature – either an exemplified trait of the local tribal culture or an aberrant one)

Step 3: Generate a map by scattering d6s (a number equal to the factions) to determine the layout of houses, assigning one d6/house (or more) to each faction, with larger dice standing in for the common institutions found in a village context:

• d4 for shrine/temple/sacred site
• d8 for watchtower/fortification/armory
• d10 for ryōkan/inn/way-station
• d12 for granary/storehouse/town-hall

(Note: Read ridiculous amounts of meaning into matching faces, especially between d6s (and their associated factions) and other institutions)

Pitch/Advertising Material

Mythic almost-Japan, 1200 or so. Scholars and exorcists and their retainers wander the backroads and provinces and struggle against monsters and formless horrors.

The island-chain of Nihon has long been thought the Birthplace of the Rising Sun. But now blood stains the shining face of the sun-goddess Amaterasu and the sages and diviners of the Imperial Bureau of Folklore map slow-spreading omens of disaster and doom.
Whispers spread among the Yamato of the Imperial Court as news comes from the tribes that live outside Heian-Kyō's mighty walls and fields –of ghostly and elemental forces moving out in the provinces, of wild and ancient things stirring in yet-untouched forests and mountains, of rituals and ceremonies turned hollow or wrong and afflictions and spirit-possessions and worse maledictions.
And the peasants of the city begin to whisper that perhaps dusk is falling. That perhaps night has come, at long last, to the Birthplace of the Rising Sun.

A campaign of rural investigative horror, grounded in the history and folklore of Japan and intended to evoke a mood of surreal and creeping dread.
Custom system combining core d20 mechanics and select ideas from Vincent Baker's Apocalyse World: Dark Ages. Atmospheric and genre-focused game with an emphasis on characterisation and seriousness; PVP and competitive play strongly discouraged. Level of knowledge no barrier: inexperienced players welcome

[ic=Aon]
Auld Paddraigh sits cross-legged on the floor of his room at the Mutton Lane Inn, old bones aching in the rain. From his pocket he draws a worn and faded stack of cards, the remains of a dozen handcrafted Tarot decks that the years have winnowed and refined down to the one perfect set. Eight suits. Wands, Cups, Blades, Coins, Shadows, Stones, Dice, Skulls. The remaining thirty-eight cards all variations on the Major Arcana. Paddraig lays the first six cards on the floor as their faces shift and run like oil on water in a scrying bowl.

The Hermit. Distance. Silence. A man-shaped shadow wanders the midnight streets, only the dim lantern of the crescent moon lighting his way and illuminating the beauty of darkly-dreaming Cork.

Knight of Wands. Travel. Drive. Readiness for battle. Aedan Corcaigh reclines in a chair, a sack tucked away beneath his feet. Spilling out is a length of rowan, carved with Ogham runes and dyed a flaming red with berry-dye.

The Guardian. Hunter. Trickster. Confronting darkness. Bouda bares a savage hyena-grin as they wander by a hedgerow, stepping over rotting roadkill without fear or disgust.  

The Wanderer. Seeking after truth. Visions of Illumination. Hed kneels in a bright-lit cave and gazes out at the stars, three soft-limned tunnels behind them leading further and deeper in.

Jack of Shadows. Caution. Beginnings of a mystery. Dyadya Yaga stands beneath a floating star, sole light-source in a dark alley. Illuminated on the wall, a bloody sigil still fresh and dripping.

The Hanged Man. Passivity. Contemplation. Patience. A stony being stands within the cleft rock of an enormous canyon, legs anchored to the living earth beneath them.

Cards reshuffled and safely stowed in a hidden pocket, Paddraig raises a glass of luck-smooth stout and calls a sláinte to absent friends as the rain outside the window continues to paint Cork grey and mist-smudged.
[/ic]

[spoiler=Message to Thunder]
Dia dhaoibh.

I am Aedan Corcaigh, leader of Corcaigh's Circle, and I write to you as both warning and a courtesy. My Circle keeps a weather eye out for occult and otherworldly matters, and the abrupt closure of the Null Terminus Breach unleashed an overflow of energies that are weakening all manners of vital borders and thresholds.

Through one of these borders a creature called a Spirit Hunter, invisible and currently trapped sideways to the sun between its world and ours, has arrived in your city. It seeks above all else to fully slip its state of half-life and enter into our world for good and can only do so by possessing a mortal host.

And what better host than one with both personal and institutional power, which is why I thought it prudent to warn in advance rather than in person. I myself intend to travel to Atlanta to investigate the situation and offer what assistance I can in resolving it, and feel it the courteous thing to give you forewarning of my presence and intentions.

I look forward to assisting your fair city, and hopefully working alongside you.

Le gach dea-mhéin,
Aedan Corcaigh
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Reply to Thunder]
JUSTICE,

The third eye wanders where it will, and can rarely be directed. When we noticed the instability rippling out from the closure of the Null Terminus Breach we turned our efforts towards scrying and following the path of those ripples, and it was through tracing those ripples that our eyes were drawn to Atlanta.

I am still researching the precise means of detection  (along with containment) for a Spirit Hunter but will pass along all information I gather as soon as I can. Certain of my personal capacities for detection and research desire a degree of proximity to the subject, hence my need to visit Atlanta.

I assure you that I will to show nothing but politeness and respect towards the citizens and guardians of your fair city, and will comply with any restrictions or safeguards you may wish to put in place.

Le gach dea-mhéin,
Aedan Corcaigh
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Message to The Furies]
Dia dhaoibh.

I am Aedan Corcaigh, leader of Corcaigh's Circle, and I write this as a courtesy and act of good faith. My Circle and I keep a weather eye out for occult and otherworldly matters, and the abrupt closure of the Null Terminus Breach unleashed an overflow of energies that are weakening all manners of vital borders and thresholds throughout the world. At some point in the coming weeks I intend to visit your state to examine the site of the Breach, and felt it the mannerly thing to do to give you forewarning of my intentions.

I shall be sure to follow up and alert you when I enter New York and will be happy at that time to assist with local concerns relating to the otherworldly and occult should my aid by welcome.

Le gach dea-mhéin,
Aedan Corcaigh
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Message to Auld Paddraig]
Dia dhaoibh, my friend.

I was wondering if you and yours have ever come across word of Spirit Hunters before? One is trying to come through in a city with local heroes and I'd rather the thing not gain possession of any powers other than its own.

Le gach dea-mhéin,
Aedan
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Orders]
Aedan will make up an Anonymity Hexbag for Hattori Hanzō and then gather up the supplies necessary for casting Fury of the Red Branch and Summon Spirit. He will then take the second super-jet to Atlanta, looking for signs of the Spirit Hunter's presence and attempting to track its movements and actions. Should they wish he is happy to advise Thunder and give them any information or indirect aid he can, and he is willing to assist them in confronting the Spirit Hunter if he has time to summon an earth-elemental beforehand (Sidekick: Brute) to serve as backup.

Bouda takes to the road and spends the week patrolling the laneways and hedgerows of Ireland in search of anything out of the ordinary. Should he uncover a problem that seems straightforward and able to be handled by physical force he will intervene; should he uncover something that seems more mystically-demanding or dangerous he will call in Hattori Hanzō for back-up and track the perpetrator until his ally arrives.

Dyadya Yaga takes one of the super-jets to London and begins research in the backalleys and occulted underworld there. He will spend some time locating the gangland symbols and putting together a picture of where throughout the city they've been placed and what purpose they have both individually and in combination, and will also stop by the Atlantis Bookstore and several less reputable occult dealers to gather information on Hubriphages.

Hattori Hanzō will use Aedan's Anonymity Hexbag (+4 to his Stealth of 12) to add to his already-supernatural stealth and patrol County Cork, especially the city of Cork itself, attempting to locate and observe the Hubriphages without drawing undue attention. He will intervene in any mundane crime he witnesses only if he is confident that there are no Hubriphages around to witness it.
[/spoiler]

Quote from: sparkletwist
It all feels a little too nebulous for my liking. I feel like a big part of player empowerment is knowing exactly what's up in any given situation, and, at least from my reading of the rules-- I've never actually played it, I should say that right away-- that seems like it often doesn't happen.

I've played, run, watched, and hacked a fair bit of Powered by the Apocalypse, so let me see if I can explain how those elements work in practice (at least in my experience).

Quote from: sparkletwistFor example, there's no real action economy as such, so it's difficult to tell when your next turn is going to be or how many attacks an enemy is going to get on you.

There are no turns, that much is absolutely true. That's less of a problem because you can't mechanically make a move unless you're narrating the fictional triggers to activate it (so you can't spam one move over and over at ridiculous speeds, for instance) and also because a number of moves specify that you can't just keep trying them and grinding away towards success until your fictional circumstance becomes significantly altered by new information/events.

As for the attacks, this comes out of one of the simplest and most powerful innovations of the system - the GM never rolls dice. Instead, when the system tells them (most often when a player fails or the story is slowing into a lull) they make a 'soft' move and narrate an element that introduces a threat or consequence that doesn't resolve it ("A guy kicks down the door and levels a shotgun at you. His cheeks are flushed from an afternoon of heavy drinking and his eyes are mean. What do you do?") and if the player fails to deal with the situation (by indecision) or fails at their attempt to do so they make a follow-up move and resolve the threat. ("He doesn't seem to care for your attempt to mollify him - he lets off a blast that catches the edge of your left shoulder and skims your arm. Take 3 Harm."). Harm is never inflicted in combat save as the result of a player failing a move, and therefore the economy and rhythm of player action keeps the actions of enemies on a similar scale.

Quote from: sparkletwistAlong with that, there seems to be no tactical positioning whatsoever, not even something vague like Fate's zones, which also makes it hard to figure out what's going on.

This is mainly just a problem of things being buried in the rules and not emphasized enough - essentially how this is handled is through weapon tags, which are single-word narrative modifiers (messy, loud, subtle, etc.) that guide the GM in how to narrate the effects of weapons on targets/the surrounding environment. There's another set of tags, however, which are specifically used to govern weapon range: hand (a knife), close (a sword/machete/chainsaw), near (a shotgun, a pistol), far (a rifle, a machinegun) and I think there's one for sniper-rifle type range as well. Unless a character narrates how they maneuver so their opponent is in range, they can't yet make the move to hurt them.

Quote from: sparkletwist
I've also noticed that there are quite a few moves that involve picking options from a list but even on a 10+ success (which is the best you can do) you still can't pick all of them; this seems to imply that something bad is going to happen no matter what, and I don't like the idea that there's just no chance of complete and resounding success.

The 10+ moves all including some degree of give-and-take, at least initially, is for me a part of the flavour of Apocalypse World (that mechanic doesn't recur in Dungeon World, where instead the 10+ gives a total success and the option to expose yourself a little in exchange for even greater success). There is also an advancement option, available immediately, that grants advanced versions of half the moves (then the other half next time) which give that complete and resounding success on a 12+.

Quote from: sparkletwist
I also find the whole idea of choosing from a list of things that may or may not be true and you don't know until you've chosen one to be a bit immersion-breaking.

Looking  back over the list of basic moves, there's only one of them where the player is given the power to choose, and that's Seize by Force (the combat move). That trend continues through the playbooks - there are a fair few moves where the player gets to ask questions from a set list, or the GM is given a list of actions NPCs are limited to, or the player gets to establish elements about the fiction that make sense (the Skinner identifying after a person that this person now loves me and that person just must meet me). When it comes to Seize by Force and similar moves I'm personally fine with it because it makes sense - you're being asked what it is you really want in the situation (people hurt, people scared, yourself safe, etc.) and what you're willing to compromise on to get it.

I have no idea if any of that addresses your concerns, but I can say that in my various experiences knowing what's going on in play and having empowerment and input and agency within the narrative have never been problems. I'd definitely recommend seeing if you can find someone running a one-shot near you/online and giving it a try.

Quote from: Rose-of-Vellum
True enough. Though 7 non-magic classes is a lot more than LotFP's 2 (or 4 with demihuman 'classes'), no? How does DW handle magic and classes?

My wording was a little unclear there - that's 7 non-magic Archetypes. There's actually not a single class in 5e that doesn't include an option that gives spellcasting or spell-like powers unless the Totem Warrior Archetype and its spirit-talking rituals are allowed, in which case there's one. And those 7 Archetypes are representative of only 4 classes, three of which (Fight, Monk, Barbarian) are variations on a hack-slashy theme. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean you'd be working hard at homebrewing whole new classes if you wanted to run no-magic in 5e.

RAW, Dungeon World only has 2 spellcasting classes (Cleric & Wizard) because they removed the spellcasting from the Bard, Paladin & Druid and gave them specific brands of supernatural power (Shapeshifting, Bardic Music, and variations of Lay on Hands) instead, while the Ranger lost its magical powers completely.

All told Dungeon World ends up with four (Barbarian, Fighter, Ranger, Thief), but the Barbarian effectively splits down into two classes based on the decision of no-armour (Conan) or all-the-armour (the Mountain, etc) and the Fighter includes the option for a non-Eastern Monk if the Signature Weapon chosen is the Fighter's own body (which the mechanics allow for precisely that reason). And if the Bard's musical abilities are reskinned and revised and then more bardic-lore abilities added and the Paladin's healing-magic replaced with a stronger emphasis on driven-by-faith-ness it wouldn't be too hard to remove the magic from them as well.

The beauty of Powered by the Apocalypse (the system behind Dungeon World, Apocalypse World, Monsterhearts, Sage of the Icelanders, etc.) is that it's less a system than a formula and a style of building a system that creates a certain style of player-empowered, narrative-empowered, story-focused game and encodes within itself the best and most useful and immediately applicable  'How to GM' guide (for both the system itself and in general) than I think I've ever seen. None of the wisdom in it is necessarily new, but it pulls out important aspects that some GMs (especially younger/less experienced ones) may not have thought about or noticed working behind-the-scenes yet and puts them center stage.

(But now I'm going to stop singing its praises because it's too early here in Aus for a debate over the merits of various systems between sparkletwist and I :P)

Quote from: Rose-of-Vellum
I don't know how much you want to limit magic (e.g., no arcane or divine caster PC?), but I can say that there are many core classes in 5e, far more than the free rules have. Each class has three archetypes with divergent flavor and distinguishing crunch. 

I'm a major fan of 5e myself (all the best parts of 3/3.5 with less intricate and fiddly housekeeping), but I wouldn't honestly recommend it as is for a low-magic campaign. Of all the 12 classes, breaking down into 40 or so Archetypes, there's only 7 that have no magic at all. And I'm being generous in that count and allowing the Monk's ki and the Totem Barbarian's spirit-communication rituals - without those it's only 5. A low/no-magic campaign would require substantial rewrites of 5e - not to say that it can't be done, but as written it is not a system that would work for that style of campaign.

The beauty of Dungeon World (and all of its various cousins) is that they are so easily hacked and tweaked to produce any tone and feel that you want. Codifying narrative elements and good storytelling practice is the central idea, and is very well executed, and that lends itself to being able to recreate almost anything you want (with some practice and playtesting to refine it).

That said, I've only ever played Apocalypse World and various self-made hacks before - I'm running Dungeon World for the first time on Saturday and will be able to give much more specific feedback then.

[ic=Corcaigh's Circle]
[ooc=At a Glance]
Headquarters: Gabha Goibniu in Cork, County Kerry, Ireland.
Reputation: 50
Wealth: 100
Founding Members: Aedan Corcaigh, Bouda, Dyadya Yaga, Hattori Hanzō
Inactive Members: Hed, Puli
One-Sentence Summary: Occultists and stranger beings meddle in the affairs of others and investigate occulted and supernatural phenomena, frequently getting drawn into situations  and trouble they can't afford and would rather avoid.
[/ooc]

Friends and allies of the Irish trickster-druid Aedan Corcaigh, the Circle are a loosely knit organization of individuals known for meddling and interfering in situations of a mythic or folkloric nature. Though scattered over the world, the talents of the group's various members mean they're never more than an hour away if needed and so even strictly local concerns - the rampage of a murderous nuckalavee in County Kerry, for example - normally attract at least a few others from the Circle to investigate and learn. Corcaigh's Circle is a large group with varying levels of closeness and reliability - those presented here are the ones that might be termed the 'Inner Circle' - the most intimate and loyal of Corcaigh's allies. The Circle is based out of Gabha Goibniu, a historic smithy in Cork where Bouda works producing artisan ironwork and performing restoration-work at various heritage sites throughout Ireland.
[/ic]

[ic=Aedan Corcaigh]
A hedonist and alcoholic who has sold too many parts of his soul and liberty to powerful fae and elementals for the sake of those they threatened. The magical equivalent of a jackdaw, his magic is grounded in the remnants of Druidic and Celtic practice that survived through Christianized folklore but he is also competent at Galdr rune-chants and the talismanic root-working of American Hoodoo.

Reference Points: John Constantine. Silver John. Shades of Atticus O'Sullivan and Harry Dresden.

[ooc=Stats]
Mage

Melee: 4
Range: 6

Parry: 13
Dodge: 14

Attacks: Unarmed Strike (Melee) 2 (DC 17, MS 1), Spell Blast 8 (DC 23, MS 4), Mystic Bindings 8 (Snare 8, resistance DC 18)

Toughness: 4
Resistance: 4
Will: 8

Awareness: 4
Capture: 2
Investigate: 4
Manipulate: 5
Media: 0
Occult: 13
Science: 0
Stealth: 0
Steetwise: 8
Tactics: 4



Powers, Gears, Specialties
Cantrips: You mage can make minor magical effects happen with very little expenditure of effort. If you want to describe a minor effect, you simple can do so.
Know the Streets: +4 to Streetwise checks, and you gain a network of informants in the criminal world.
Occult Investigator: You get +4 to Occult, and a +2 to Investigate supernatural missions.
Network (Corcaigh's Circle; Occult): You have a network of people working for you who will feed you information and keep their eyes open. It will provide you additional missions based on what kind of network it is, and when making a check of the above type to investigate a mission, once per week, you can re roll and use the higher result.
Scrying: You can view anywhere on the world! Scrying is a form of research using Occult, but can be used to research non-Occult information and grants more detailed information. Scrying takes a week, just like normal research, and 25 wealth in special materials.

Spells: Pick 5 powers from the General Customization Options. Those are your spells. Whenever deploying for  a turn, pick 3. Those are your current loadout for the week.
-Anonymity Hexbag (Master of Darkness): You get a +4 to Stealth, and minions automatically fail awareness checks against you unless you start attacking - and even then, they still must make them!
-Deception Hexbag (Silver Tongue): Gain a +4 manipulate. In additions, You can use Manipulate in place of stealth to bypass human surveillance. If you wanted the original functionality of Silver Tongue, go ahead and take Mind Control, they are functionally identical
-Fury of the Red Branch (Brawler): +2 to melee, and automatically hit minions
-Odin's Eleventh Chant (No Man Left Behind): More than any other archetype, you excel at bringing your people home. All allies on your team get a +4 to escape checks.
-Summon Spirit (Sidekick): A sidekick gives you a second character than can join your in combat. Sidekicks are much weaker than full heroes, but do give you an additional character. A sidekick uses an existing archetype, but all ranks are halved, and they can only take one customization option.

Addiction: You have a habit for alcohol. If your addiction gets out you will take a massive reputation hit, and more importantly, when held captive you gain a cumulative -2 penalty to willpower and all skills for each week you are without your addiction-
[/ooc]
[/ic]

[ic=Bouda]
A tribal blacksmith and healer from Southern Africa, Bouda was born more than a century ago and no longer even remembers their name. During their coming-to-manhood they were stricken with the curse of therianthropy, losing the identity that had been theirs as they merged with the terrible hyena-spirit that entered into them and become one singular entity driven by the hunger and instincts of the beast and the empathy and wisdom of the man.

[ooc=Stats]
Animal Powered (Hyena)

Melee: 11
Range: 6

Parry: 18
Dodge: 18

Attacks: Bite (Melee) 10 (DC 23, MS 3)

Toughness: 7
Resistance: 4
Will: 5

Awareness: 6
Capture: 7
Investigate: 0
Manipulate: 2
Media: 0
Occult: 2
Science: 0
Stealth: 5
Steetwise: 3
Tactics: 5

Powers, Gears, Specialties
Brawler: +2 to melee, and automatically hit minions
Hyena Jaws: In addition to your enhanced strength, you have a weapon that mimics that of the animal you are bonded too. For some this is a natural outgrowth of their power, for others a technological or mystical armament. Increase the damage of your unarmed strikes by +2
Regeneration
Scent
Super Strength 2
[/ooc]
[/ic]

[ic=Dyadya Yaga]
A gnarled and twisted Slav who passes for 90 on a good day, Dyadya Yaga has wandered the passes and mountain trails of the Carpathians and the lands around their feet for almost a millennia watching the march of history through ruined eyes and peddling petty magic and lethal secrets. Whether he is immortal man or inhuman monster none can say, but according to Slavic folklore he sings to the storm, his curses crackle like lightning, his touch turns the flesh of men to ancient bone, and he rides the wind in a great iron cauldron that was quenched in the blood of a zmey. How much is truth and how much a web of tales spun by a meddling ancient with a silver tongue? That's the most lethal secret of all.

Reference Points: Baba Yaga. Mogh Ruith. Grimnir.

[ooc=Stats]
Adventuring Detective

Melee: 8
Range: 6

Parry: 18
Dodge: 16

Attacks: Unarmed Strike (Melee) 4 (DC 19, MS 4), Improvised Weapons (Melee or Ranged) 6 (DC 21, MS 2).

Toughness: 5
Resistance: 5
Will: 8

Awareness: 8
Capture: 4
Investigate: 6
Manipulate: 12
Media: 4
Occult: 8
Science: 2
Stealth: 5
Steetwise: 4
Tactics: 5

Powers, Gears, Specialities
A Thousand Faces: No matter it's from spellwork, mundane makeup, or a power, you are a master of impersonation. Able to appear as anyone you wish, when you use stealth, you can interact with people normally since they will assume you are who you claim to be (assuming your stealth beats their awareness). Manipulate checks may be required if the target personally knows who you are impersonating.
Find Flaws: An Adventuring Detective can make a tactics check during combat. Assuming they beat the target's manipulate, they can provide all allies a +2 bonus to attacks against that foe for the next round.
Instant Deduction: Upon meeting a villain or other individual for the first time, based on subtle clues about their personality, mannerism, dress, and even the dirt on their shoes, an Adventuring Detective will make an Immediate Investigate roll, the results of which will be revealed the next week - no matter how any combat goes.
Multi-Tasking Investigate: Unlike other heroes, an Adventuring Detective can make two research checks in the same week. They must be on different issues.
Silver Tongue: Gain a +4 manipulate. In additions, You can use Manipulate in place of stealth to bypass human surveillance.
[/ooc]
[/ic]

[ic=Hattori Hanzō]
A legendary figure of the Sengoku Era, Hattori Hanzō's supreme mastery of Iga-ryu ninjitsu was whispered by the peasantry of Japan to have given him inhuman powers - teleportation, psychokinesis, and precognition. Though these were mere rumours born from his creative use of secret ninja powders and techniques, his years as a Buddhist monk and perfectly refined skills at concealment and deception did allow him to evade the Shinigami when his time came and escape the limits of a mortal lifespan.

Reference Points: Hattori Hanzō. Master Splinter. Ra's al Ghul. Muto Kenji of Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori.
[ooc=Stats]
Signature Weapon

Melee: 10/8
Range: 6
 
Parry: 20
Dodge: 19

Attacks: Signature Weapon (Melee) 8 (DC 23, MS 1; Penetrating), Sweep Attack (Melee) 5 (DC 20, MS 10), Counterstrike (Melee) 3 (DC 18, MS 1)

Toughness: 5
Resistance: 4
Will: 6

Awareness: 7
Capture: 4
Investigate: 4
Manipulate: 0
Media: 2
Occult: 2
Science: 0
Stealth: 12
Streetwise: 0
Tactics: 6

Powers, Gears, Specialties
Agile: +2 to dodge, and once per round a ranged attack automatically misses you.
Master of Darkness: You get a +4 to Stealth, and minions automatically fail awareness checks against you unless you start attacking - and even then, they still must make them!
Super Movement: You gain the ability to move beyond what most people can do, able to scale any object.
Super Speed: You can move much faster than anyone else! When defending against ranged attacks force your attacker to roll twice and take the worse result. You gain a +2 to escape checks.
The Myth Makes the Weapon: You don't just carry a weapon out of myths. You are the man or woman who made the myths! In addition to the benefits of the Signature Weapon, you gain improved strength and durability from your legendary status - even when unarmed. Gain +3 Will, Super Movement, and Super Speed.

Rare Weakness (Japanese funereal incense & Ihai spirit-tablets): You have a vulnerability to some quasi obscure substance. In the presence of this substance, you must make a Resistance check to avoid losing your power, and must make a toughness check against DC 18 every turn (Impervious benefits do not apply).
[/ooc]
[/ic]

[ic=Hed]
Created in Prague around the middle of the 16th Century, the golem that would come to name itself Hed was created with all the mastery that a local council of Abrahamic mages possessed to serve as the final theological proof that only God was capable of creating true life. Whether they were mistaken about the nature and limitations of the wider universe or it was an act of divine providence that gave thought and awareness to the armature of golden bones, clay flesh, and sacramental-wine blood, Hed does not know. But it has since pursued the secrets of Hermeticism, Goetia and Qabalah through the centuries, awaiting the day when it will climb the Tree of Life to Kether and there confront the Godhead and demand an answer to the deepest question of its existence: what of the Soul?

Reference Points: Promethea (the whole comic). Frankenstein's Monster. The Dwarf in the Flask.
[ooc]
Android

Melee: 7
Range: 6

Parry: 17
Dodge: 17

Attacks: Unarmed Strike (Melee) 7 (DC 22, MS 2), Energy Blast (Ranged) 8 (DC 23, MS 4)

Toughness: 8
Resistance: -
Will: -

Awareness: 6
Capture: 6
Investigate: 2
Manipulate: 2
Media: 0
Occult: 8
Science: 0
Stealth: 2
Steetwise: 0
Tactics: 6
 
Powers, Gears, Specialties: Energy Type
Density Control: You have complete control of your own density, able to go so light that attacks pass through you, or even harder than diamond! In addition to being much tougher than before, you can completely walk through walls, floors, ceilings, or any barrier not specially designed to deal with incorporeal beings. You can also choose to remain incorporeal, avoiding any damage but unable to physically interact with the world.
Impervious Toughness 7.
Mind Control: Not content to merely influence minds, you can outright control them, turning foes to your side or wiping memories from their mind. Resisting Mind Control is a Will (DC 14) check.
Movement Analysis: Because their artifical minds work quicker than most and are (often) unfettered by emotions, androids are adept at evading or escaping danger. Androids get a +4 to escape attempts.
Non-Living Physiology: Androids are not living creatures, whatever form they take. As such, they are immune to all effects that require a resistance or will check, except for Snares - they must attempt using their Super Strength or Escape to break free of any Snares.
Super Strength 4.
[/ooc]
[/ic]

[ic=Puli]
An ancestral spirit-being of the Australian desert, Puli is one of the last and least creators recognized by the Pitjantjatjara people: a great python-spirit whose slithering and undulations across the desert sands formed the beds of the few streams that cross their territory. After curling up and sinking the greatest portion of its power into the land to form the ridge of sandstone hills that bear its name, the remnant intelligence that Aedan Corcaigh contacted in the early 2000s for help defeating a corrupt kurdaitcha-man was all that remained of the once-mighty Puli.

Reference Points: Swamp Thing. Treebeard. The Stone of the Terranon.
[ooc=Stats]
Energy Controller

Melee: 4
Range: 10

Parry: 13
Dodge: 16

Attacks: Energy Blast (Range) 10 (DC 25, MS 4), Wide Blast (Range) 5 (DC 20, MS 10), Energy Snare (Range) 9 (If hit, immobilized until beat DC 19 Res or uses Super Strength 4+)

Toughness: 6
Resistance: 2
Will: 6

Awareness: 5
Capture: 6
Investigate: 2
Manipulate: 0
Media: 3
Occult: 6
Science: 2 (This is an instinctive understanding of geology/vibrations/chemistry gained through the experience of being a sentient rock. Puli does not perceive this knowledge through human terms/filters)
Stealth: 2
Streetwise: 0
Tactics: 2

Powers, Gears, Specialties: Energy Type
Area Energy (Stone): You can create a field of your chosen energy. If it is a physical object or force, it prevents movement though. If it is a harmful energy, anyone passing it or caught in it must make a DC 20 toughness check vs. damage.
Energy Control 5 (Stone): You can control masses of your chosen energy at range. For physical objects, it is up to 25 tons.
Energy Creation (Stone): You can create a stable mass of your chosen energy. Unlike that created by your attacks or other abilities, this mass does not require your concentration to maintain it.
Energy Form (Stone): You take on an energy form, making you more resistant to harm. The resistance provides +3 toughness and 3 ranks of impervious toughness.
Energy Walk (Earth): You can use your chosen energy as a conduit between two locations, allowing instant transmission anywhere you wish! So long as you have a conduit of your chosen energy, you can travel without assistance anywhere in the same continent in a single turn.
[/ooc]
[/ic]

[ic=Occult Contact, Auld Paddraig]
Travelers and vagabonds see more than most, their position outside society and the marginal spaces they move through granting them occasional glimpses into the occult underbelly of the cities and towns of the world. Although he is no longer young enough to camp rough in the fields or on city-streets, Auld Paddraig roamed all over the British Isles in his day and is still fondly remembered by the many wanderers he mentored or shared food and shelter with over the years. Nowadays he lives in an upstairs room at the Mutton Lane Inn and earns his rent by telling folk-tales and anecdotes from his long life for tourists and children, and his floor is almost always playing host to a fellow traveler who pays for the shelter by sharing any news or information about the otherworld and the occult.
[/ic]

[ic=Police Contact, Eoin Smith]
A career policeman who, at the ripe old age of 65, has refused to retire out of a sheer bloody-minded refusal to allow age to slow him down, Eoin Smith discovered the existence of the occult and otherworldly when he was barely into adolescence. A school trip to Carrigaphooca Castle nearly ended bloodily at the hands of a gang of sadistic crooiney-cruagh, and it was only the intervention of a local wise-woman that drove off the goblins without any real harm being inflicted. The incident opened Eoin's eyes to the truth of the world and throughout his policing career he made a concerted effort to keep channels of communication open with Cork's mystical community, and now passes information and necessary files and objects on to the Circle where and when he can.
[/ic]

They do, yeah. Down to requirements that their alignment be reasonably close to that of their patron god.