[Actual Play] The Mines of Madness

[JBMannon]

Last night I ran a game of DW for my home group. Due to bad scheduling we are quite a few adventures behind my Skype group but we are all still having a blast at it. We had a new player who just happened to wonder over and look interested. 

To catch you up on the group's activities, this week we had Shanks the Thief, Cassius the Paladin, and Hawke the Fighter (this is a new fighter not to be confused with the previous Hawke). They began the adventure deep in the Hamish Mine trying to strike a deal with two of the factions that make up the Cult of Kryos. 

As the last thing revealed in the previous session was that the zombies that the Venithian faction had made were out of control, we started there. Hawke immediately grabbed a flask of lamp oil from his pack and lit the worm-infected zombies on fire. The Venithans were not at all happy with this and tried to drive the party from their labs. A fight ensued with Hawke taking a pointblank fireball and ending with him pinning an invisible wizard to the wall so that Shanks could finish him off. 

After that they discovered that the Paladin's of Shia had blocked off their route of retreat. They scoured the Venithan labs and discovered three tomes of Kryos lore and the cypher by which they could be read. They devised a plan to use kegs of gunpowder to destroy the hoard of Gnolls that were gathered outside in the main chamber. 

They spent two weeks preparing the ambush and the explosion managed to kill the Gnolls and break open the pool that housed the Aspect of Kryos. Seeing their foes dead (and beginning to rise from exposure to the liquid in the pool), they beat a hasty retreat up the elevator shaft, cutting the cables as they left. 

This was an interesting challenge for me to GM. The act of setting up the barrels of gunpowder triggered no moves but obviously took time. I informed them of the cost in time and they took it. Hawke and Cassius took time to prepare and got a +1 hold for a fight that never took place. Shanks did the work of digging with his magic chisel granting him no bonus but allowing him to spring a nasty surprise attack. How would other GMs have handled this? 

Having escaped the lair of the cult but not having defeated the Aspect of Kryos means that that Front is still active which plays nicely into my future plans so no worries there. They did manage to cause a major set back in the Aspect's rise to power so they counted it a win. 

Once back in town they met with the mayor who pardoned them for the destruction of the Sick Dog and then met with Alastor. Alastor allowed them to take a look around his store for magic items to help them as they got ready to go in search of his old adventuring party. I used the custom Move for Alastor's shop, they described the item they wanted and on a 10+ he had it in stock, on a 7-9 he had something close and on a miss he never heard of such. We agreed that each item would cost them the handful of gems they were carrying (loot from a previous adventure) and if he did not have the item they wanted the could keep their gems. 

Cassius got a shield that added "•reflect spells cast at the person you are defending onto it's caster" to his options for defend. Hawke got a spear that, after a successful Hack and Slash and a Defy Danger on the second round, would deal 2d6 damage to his target. The penalties on his "Exploding Spear" are that if he fails his Defy Danger that the target gets to attack back adding d6 to their damage as the spear backfires. Shanks wanted a key that, once bound to a door, could travel to that room from any other door (basically a teleport spell) but he failed his roll. 

I like handing out magic items like this because it allows me to guide the process and to give treasure they will like and find useful. 

[iserith]

Wow, that's totally different from how I remember the Skype group playing it. Nice one.

[skinnyghost]

All Glory to Hawke, Second of His Name.

[noofy]

Oh Josh, that is so cool :)
Shanks, Cassius and Hawke are a rather endearing trio.

In answer to your question about how to handle the ambush and the time to took, I think your way of handling it was fine. You have mad GM skillz, and you know it mate! Did you simply advance a grim portent? I always like to do that. Just interject an observable effect of the player's dilly dallying as the danger moves ever closer to its impending doom.

You could just make a custom move for setting the trap, with the other players Aiding. Make sure the players detail their 'aid' narratively to get the roll, this then gives you a couple more chances for misses and thus a GM move. The other way I might of handled it was a BW style 'linked' test set up as a custom move. That way each 'helping' test (described in appropriate detail by the player's narrations) gives another potential GM move to you balanced by a +1 forward to the Custom Move to set the Trap. Spout Lore, Discern Realities, Defy Danger, and especially the steading moves of Supply and Bolster could all be ways of narrating the possibilities.

Anyways, sounds like your Mines of Madness adventure front is full of surprises and is being played out differently every time, which is wonderful! Great design mate, so happy for the kickstarter to have exceeded all expectations. Please keep us updated of the further adventures of Shanks and Co.