West Marches PbtA Hack + Bonus DW Content

(For those just looking for the homebrew Dungeon World bonus content, skip to the bottom of this post).

Next week will mark almost 8 months since I started running All Things Under Heaven, my East-Asia-inspired West Marches campaign. 

Over the course of that time (and the preceding few years, when I avidly watched Steven Lumpkin run Rollplay's epic West Marches show) I've come to a realisation: Dungeons & Dragons just can't handle the kind of West Marches game that I want.

This isn't a slight on the system or designers, just a comment on the fundamental difference in genres.

For the West Marches I want magic that feels inexplicable and wondrous rather than systematised, and operates in discrete unique units each with their own underlying logic. I want characters to grow outwards rather than upwards, to become more broadly-empowered rather than straightforwardly powerful, and to be able to lose things through their own choices and through the hardships the game throws at them.

I want a world that is dynamic and has systems that encourage that dynamism, I want unique regions that all feel definitely and meaningfully distinct, I want to plan broad strokes and fill out the details in play based on what makes sense, what comes before, and what my players suggest and achieve.

I want, I've realised, a Powered by the Apocalypse game.

Spells and items and rituals as individual moves; character growth/loss fluid in the style of the "change playbook" option; a GMing structure that replaces Threats and Fronts with the individual regions of the Wastes.

And so I've begun working on the skeleton of a system, a (very) loose hack that draws equally from Dungeon World and Apocalyse World.

Since there was no session of the Twitch ATUH campaign yesterday and thus nothing that needed to be done with my usual hour of streaming GM Prep, I started to actually put some flesh on those bones: designing the initial very-rough draft of what the Basic Moves might look like.

They're still in early stages, but I'm liking how this system is coming together.

It feels cohesive, and like it should deliver the experience that I want (of course, playtesting will undoubtedly demonstrate otherwise).

So, here's a couple of the draft moves. Feedback and commentary very welcome!

(For an insight into my thought process as I put some of these together, check out the video here.)

*****

When you go into battle, roll +Force. On a hit, you do harm to your opposition and they do harm back to you. On a 10+, choose 3. On a 7-9, choose 2:

• You strike especially hard, inflicting extra harm on your target/s.
• You defend especially well, taking less harm from your target/s.
• You are a flurry of motion, engaging multiple foes.
• You push forward, gaining ground or momentum
• You drive the enemy back, creating an advantage or an opening

On a miss, you take a nasty hit. You may still do your harm, GM's choice.

When you push through danger, ask the GM to name the danger/s you risk and roll +Force. On a 10+, you do it. On a 7-9, you still do it but choose 1: you survive but some equipment doesn't, you charge right into something worse, you falter and lose the initiative. On a miss, prepare for the worst.

When you read the lay of the land, roll +Insight. On a hit, you can ask the GM questions. Take +1 when acting on the answers. On a 10+, ask 3. On a 7-9, ask 1:

• What happened here recently?
• What should I be on the lookout for?
• What here is useful or valuable to me?
• What, if anything, appears out of place (or is not what it seems)?
• What is the safest position I can take?
• What is my best way out / way in / way past?

On a miss, you overlook something important but ask 1 anyway.

When you notice something unusual, roll +Insight. On a 10+, ask 2. On a 7-9, ask 1:

• Is this a thing of the civilised world, or of the wild magic?
• Is this thing created, caused, or naturally occurring?
• Is this something that might have value or use to me?
• Is this something that might be dangerous or helpful to me?
• What, from what I know and sense, might happen next?

On a miss, ask 1 anyway and it is older and stranger than you thought. 

*****

BONUS CONTENT! Supplementary Special Moves for Dungeon World

When you ask around for information before a journey, roll +CHA. *On a 10+, hold 3. *On a 7-9, hold 2. Spend your hold 1 for 1, now or during the expedition, to gain the following information about your destination:

• Directions to a significant or interesting location
• General information about the region, its terrain, and inhabitants
• Names of a few powerful local figures, and a little more about them
• Information about dangerous predators or creatures in the region
• Warnings against a common threat or danger to travellers
• Rumours of a great treasure or magical artefact

On a miss, hold 2 anyway but the GM will answer one falsely (their choice).

(Plus, for those wanting something a little more specific than Defy Danger)

When you steel yourself against magic or outside influence, roll +WIS. *On a 10+, you do it and gain an impression of the motive behind the attempt. *On a 7-9, you do it but choose 1: some lesser trace of it lingers, your resolve is shaken by the effort, your resistance or refusal is obvious. *On a miss, prepare for the worst.

(Find this post useful/interesting? Enjoy the content I'm putting out on this blog?

If you'd like to support me to keep creating material like this and working on other RPG/game-design projects, check out my Patreon to help me do more cool stuff and get access to monthly Q&As, early-access playtesting of my story games, or a place on the credits list for any game I make).

All Things Under Heaven House Rules: Character Creation

So, my Twitch campaign has finally launched! The first session and first GM Prep session are up, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. The players are keen, the characters are really cool, and I feel like we're set to dive into some cool content and world-exploration. 

Ironically, it's at this time that it's looking like the home game is going to take a step back for the next month or so, but I guess that's the way of things. 

Things diminish, things increase: such is the will of Heaven.

Today's post is the first of a number in which I am going to share homebrew content I've created for All Things Under Heaven.

That will eventually include the races, the journeying mechanics, the fortunelling mechanic, the revised death and dying rules the campaign uses, the town development rules, etc - everything that may help people to follow along with the campaign or to run their own All Things Under Heaven game. 

For today, like the campaign itself, I think I'm going to start at the very beginning.

Character Creation:

(I'd like to acknowledge Steven Lumpkin and the phenomenal West Marches campaign he ran for Rollplay some years back. It represents a major inspiration for this game, and the mechanics presented here owe a great debt to him for inspiration and occasional wholesale borrowing).

Rule Zero

You are an adventurer because you feel a strong call in your bones to action. The boredom of a calm life doesn't appeal to you – you are driven to leave behind the safety of civilization and explore the wilds: to make your name, to make your fortune, to accomplish some passion or goal. Regardless of what drives you, you are driven. You choose where to go and what to do. There will be a handful of obvious choices, but you don't by any means need to take them. The adventure is in your hands.

Adventuring Motivation (replaces Alignment, )

Why are you adventuring? Choose a motivation, or tell the GM your own. At the end of each session, if you did something clearly in support of your motivation, tell the group. If everyone agrees, you gain XP equivalent to your share from a Moderate encounter of the group's CR.

• Personal glory
• Protect the weak
• Seek the truth
• Challenge the strong
• Study the arcane
• Tame the Wastes
• Increase your wealth/fame

Skills

In place of the Arcana and Religion skills presented in the Players Handbook, All Things Under Heaven uses the following Skills:

• Cosmology measures your ability to recall lore about the workings of Chi, the cycle of the elements, the arrangement and nature of the universe, the categories into which magical and unusual things fall, and the details of magical practice.
• Folklore measures your ability to recall lore about superstition, beliefs and ritual practices among the common folk, legends from the local oral history, and your capacity to recall information about similar entities or situations when encountering the strange and unusual.
• Theology measures your ability to recall lore about the gods of your people, the gods of others, Celestial beings, religious history and the history of the gods, and your ability to participate in and perform religious ceremonies.

Additionally, it adds the following Skills:

• Etiquette determines how well you remember the manners, customs, and values of different peoples, and how well-versed you are in important cultural practices like poetry, calligraphy, tea-ceremony, etc.
• Geography measures your ability to recall lore about the geopolitical borders of kingdoms past and present, various routes for trade and travel around the world, and the processes by which local weather and geology give rise to regional biomes.

History (replaces Backgrounds)

Each one of us comes from somewhere. We have a past that has shaped us; people who have helped or hindered us, raised or abandoned us, loved or hated us; lessons we have learned or mysteries we still puzzle over.

The characters are no different.

Every character has a History made up of the following: a one-or-two-word description of their previous life (Acolyte, Criminal, Soldier, Wanderer, etc.), three skill proficiencies they have previously acquired, any combination of tool proficiencies and language proficiencies that adds up to two, and a Speciality Knowledge.

Speciality Knowledges make a character a source of information for the group in relation to a subject related to their past. They give the player a direct means of interrogating the fiction, and also allow players to signal to the GM what kind of content they are interested in.

Mechanically, they work as follows:

The player, in consultation with the GM, identifies a subject related to the character’s History. The player can, spread out as they like across sessions, ask the GM a number of freeform questions about the subject (as if they had access to a Book or Library) equal to their Intelligence modifier.

The GM will also identify a form of research (studying local folklore, getting to know the local terrain, reading holy scriptures) that allows the player to replenish one question while visiting town.  

All Things Under Heaven: Announcement & Introduction

All Things Under Heaven is a D&D 5th Edition sandbox and hexcrawl campaign in the tradition of Ben Robbins’ Grand Experiment, and Rollplay’s previous West Marches and ongoing Court of Swords campaigns.

I have been running it IRL for my home group since August of last year, and I am pleased to announce that starting this week I will also be running an online campaign via Twitch.

All Things Under Heaven will run weekly on my Twitch channel on Saturday 10am-2pm AEST (Friday 7pm to 11pm Eastern; Friday 4pm to 8pm Pacific; Friday 6pm to 10pm Central), and will be accompanied the following morning by a GM Turn in which I perform upkeep on the setting and ensure it is reacting dynamically to player actions.

***

All Things Under Heaven is a campaign that is very much in the weirder and more wondrous/inexplicable vein of fantasy that was common before responses to Tolkien became formulaic and neatly “high fantasy”. 

It features a strong emphasis on exploration and investigation, characters acting to change the world and being changed by it in turn, deep and layered lore that the players can peel back as far as they desire, and characters struggling against great danger to navigate a world that holds endless opportunity but is wilder, fiercer, older, and far stranger than they are.

I would like to acknowledge the brilliant work of Stephen Lumpkin on Rollplay’s West Marches, which was a major inspiration for the feel and mechanics of this campaign and some of whose ideas about character motivation I have adopted.

All Things Under Heaven is set in a mythic Asiatic-influenced world that draws inspiration from China and neighboring regions (Japan, India, Korea, Thailand & Vietnam, Indonesia, Hokkaido & Siberia), but does not attempt to present a coherent fantasy analogue to any one country or period.

It is a response to the diverse cultures and mythologies of Asia, one that is informed by my background in anthropology and history and aims to come from a place of respect and informed research and avoid appropriating or exoticizing traditions from that area.

It is inspired by the legendary history of China presented in the Bamboo Annals, the series of novels The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox by Barry Hughart, recent works of media that respond respectfully to Asian cultures and mythologies like Avatar: the Last Airbender and Kubo and the Two Strings, anime that include Princess Mononoke, Mushishi, and Sword of the Stranger, and wuxia films like Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Another major inspiration is the work of Adam Koebel on Rollplay’s Court of Swords, which provided an excellent example how to respectfully invent a fantasy world that blends but does not misrepresent or appropriate the mythology of another set of cultures.

***

I'm very keen to share this with you all. 

My test stream last weekend went well, and I think the audio/video should be nice and clean. The overlay looked fantastic, especially for something made by a novice (me) on GIMP. 

My new players for this incarnation of the campaign have cooked up a fantastic set of characters (far more ambiguously-motivated than the IRL group, too...) and I look forward to sharing their adventures with you.

See you on the stream!

(Find this post useful/interesting? Enjoy the content I'm putting out on this blog?

If you'd like to support me to keep creating material like this and working on other RPG/game-design projects, check out my Patreon to help me do more cool stuff and get access to monthly Q&As, early-access playtesting of my story games, or a place on the credits list for any game I make).