Dungeon Worlds on Fantasy Grounds AP Report

(I will cross post to Story Games / Fantasy Grounds Forums)

So just had my first game of DW and I must say that I enjoyed it.  

The game was played with myself and 4 players from the FG forums. Character creation had gone well and is posted as a separate Google Doc.  The chat log will be posted when I've “cleaned it up” ie fixed my horrendous spelling :)  We were also using Skype, so the rules discussions were often done there, I'll try and remember those and comment on them.  Screenshots can be seen here.

A brief summary of the events:

Fr Carmine and Tarim are talking in a bar, De'alist and Farleigh are both nearby. 4 thugs burst into the room looking for Fr Carmine and the lead Half Orc Thug attempts to take him hostage. A fight ensues whereby the Player Characters kill 3 of the Thugs and take one captive.  A piece of leather is found in a locket worn by the Half Orc and questioning of the captive and the dead reveal that the Thugs were hired by Scarface Orcs to capture the Priest.

The next day the Play Characters head North on the trail of the Scarface Orcs, however they come across a camp of Orcs where a fight between two Orcs seems to be taking place.  After a brief scrap Fr Carmine manages to dupe the Orcs into believeing he is working under the Orcs Leader Reekum.

To be continued...

I'm going to post without rereading the rules and had the following Dungeon World issues as a GM:

Sometimes I wanted to modifier the rolls for difficulty, can I?

Sometimes I wanted to see if things were noticed, but couldn't see how I could do this, ie have the player make a roll without them saying the fiction?

Often after one “round of combat” I wasn't sure  how to move on to the next.

Can a aid / hinder roll be taken after the main roll?

Of note I was often asked to draw a map (see post

here) [/list]

I had ruled that back stabbing with a precise weapon was Roll+dex

Ruleset / Extension issues:
One player commented on having duplicate icon buttons on the right hand side, only one player had this (they were lite, everyone else was full), I had seen this a couple of times when using a second instances as unregistered, however it went away when I logged out and back in.
Each time a player logged in the chat window was resized for one of the players

Rules:
A Player commented on why carouse was Con and not Cha, didn't look like there was enough Cha moves.

I'll pick out some of the issues here:

After reading a lot of the posts on Story Games and Dungeon World forums I acted as follows during a combat:

The three “Human Thugs” lunge with their knives at the people in the inn that had come to the defense of the Priest...
Tarim moves to pin his knife hand and control his body. - I took this as Hack and Slash, reacting to the move.
De'alist Stands up from the table, moving rather smoothly as he waves his hand toward the thug that came near. "Vel'Ros'e'na" (Magic Missile) – I took this as Defy Danger, then Cast a Spell.
Fr. Carmine picks up his stool and swings it at the nearest thug's head – I took this as accept the attack, then Hack and Slash (I wasn't comfortable with it and explained why – the fiction didn’t mention the incoming attack – and as it was the first combat we went with it).
Farleigh will dance lightly back into an open area, her rapier up and ready to parry and thrust – As this was said after the other three and she was a thief  I allowed it to be converted to a backstab against one of the “Human Thugs” that were intent on the other PCs.

When Farleigh and De'alist infiltrated the camp I got into “standard RPG mode” and wanted to give information for a successful Notice roll – there appeared to be two groups of Orcs.  If they didn't say any fiction that sounded like they would notice this, then I couldn't. On retrospect one of the players should have acted out Discern Realities, but they didn't at that time.

On a Defy Danger roll of 7-9, can the “worse outcome, hard bargain or ugly choice” be ignored if the action that caused the Defy danger to be rolled is reconsidered?

On two occasions I broke the rule “Always Say – What The Rules Demand”, however I felt it was justified and made sure that the Player new that I had done so, something of greater power caused the spell Speak with Dead to fail.

Chatlog can now be found here

Sometimes I wanted to modifier the rolls for difficulty, can I?

An optional rule from AW is to add/subtract +1/-1 for difficulty modifier. Vincent says that people demanded it, then promptly abandoned it.

What kind of things are you wanting to modify?

Sometimes I wanted to see if things were noticed, but couldn't see how I could do this, ie have the player make a roll without them saying the fiction?

If it's obvious, let them see it.

How much prep are you doing? If it's really important to the story that a character notice something, you might be taking the wrong approach.

Often after one “round of combat” I wasn't sure  how to move on to the next.

There aren't any rounds of combat. Just play the monsters and keep asking "what do you do?"

I'll describe the situation where I wanted a modifier (I think I went for Defy Danger in the end):
The "Orc Defenders" had a move "Work Together", one was in front of the other so I had one retreat slightly and one advance, so that they could then fight side by side. With their move established I was unsure how to mechanically fit this in: the Players take -1 ongoing against fighting the pair of Orcs or Defy Danger to get past their "teamwork"?

For the notice it wasn't obvious, and in the end a Discern Realities got them the information.

I don't think Prep comes into it, there was something that could be noticed if they took the time, that would help with the story further down the line....

I realise there are no rounds, hence the quotes :)  I suppose I just wasn't sure when the PCs had finished and the NPCs should "carry on"

If you want them to try to notice things, make a move like Show Signs of Doom, then if they check it out, they'll spot it or not, and if they don't, you just set them up for a harder move later.

Example:

GM: During the night, while you're on watch you think you hear movement out in the woods.
Player: It's probably just a hedgehog, I ignore it.
GM: Cool.
Goblin: *sneaks into camp and steals wizard's spellbook*
Goblin and GM: *high-five*

You can totally write a custom move:

Orc Covering Tactics
While you attack a group of two or more trained orc legionaries, take -1 ongoing to Hack and Slash.

As for "rounds", I just cycle through the player moves, and after each player I describe the NPCs reactions. That usually sets up the situation for the next player move.