Old School Exploration in 5E: A Dungeon World Hack

The design goal of these house rules is to supplement old school environmental exploration; both to address the most common failure state, and to expand the scope for arc-driven campaigns. To accomplish this, these rules provide options for player interaction while enforcing skill use scarcity so as to not overshadow player skill.

Using Discernment Skills
Ordinarily, exploration requires little rules interaction: you simply declare your character's actions, ask questions, and perhaps remind the DM of your character's proficiencies. The DM then tells you what you are aware of, as per ordinary old school-style play.

If you want more information, you may ask a question using a Discernment Skill. To do this, you must spend Inspiration.

Spending Inspiration You may ask the DM two questions below. Each question you ask must be associated with a skill in which you are proficient, OR be associated with your character's race. You need not ask both questions at once; however, unspent questions are lost after a rest.

Jack of All Trades If you have this class ability, you are considered proficient in all applicable discernment skills for the purpose of these house rules.

The Five Discernment Skills
Wisdom(Insight) You analyze a social interaction to determine the reality of the situation. You may ask questions from the list below, which the DM must answer truthfully (although they may be as vague or specific as they like, and may give a negative answer if appropriate).

1. Who has authority here?
2. Who warrants my scrutiny?
3. How does this person's body language betray intent?
4. Does this situation reek of magical influence?
5. Elf racial benefit How powerful is this person's spirit?
6. Halfling racial benefit Is this person a good soul?

Wisdom(Investigation) You search for clues and make deductions based on those clues. You may ask questions listed below, which the DM must answer truthfully (although they may be as vague or specific as they like, and may give a negative answer if appropriate).

1. What happened here recently?
2. How is this useful or valuable to me?
3. Where should I narrow my search for clues?
4. Elf racial benefit What do the air movements and echoes tell me about this place?
5. Halfling racial benefit Which tiny, significant detail has yet to be discovered?

Wisdom(Perception) You look, listen and smell your surroundings in an effort to discover previously overlooked parts of your environment. You may ask questions listed below, which the DM must answer truthfully (although they may be as vague or specific as they like, and may give a negative answer if appropriate).

1. In which direction lies a nearby structural secret?
2. Is this person, place or thing other than it seems?
3. From which direction do I feel the tell-tale tingle of nearby magic?
4. What thing here is most worth possessing?
5. Human, Halfling racial benefit From which direction do I feel eyes watching me?
6. Dwarf racial benefit Where am I in relation to the surface?
7. Gnome racial benefit In which direction do I smell nearby shiny, sparkly things?

Intelligence(Arcana) To activate this skill you usually need an ARCANE OBJECT: a mysterious tome, a circle of runes, the pelt of an unnatural creature, a tale of a powerful ritual, or a gate affiliated with the planes. You may ask questions listed below, which the DM must answer truthfully (although they may be as vague or specific as they like, and may give a negative answer if appropriate). The DM may impose a time or resource cost.

1. What experiment is likely to be productive?
2. What time and place are most auspicious?
3. Who among my forerunners and peers have dealt with this?
4. What is this thing's foil?
5. Human racial benefit How could this increase my power?
6. Elf racial benefit Why does my heart warn me of this thing?
7. Gnome racial benefit Using this, how could I create excitement and fun with only moderate danger?

Intelligence(Nature) You may ask questions listed below, which the DM must answer truthfully (although they may be as vague or specific as they like, and may give a negative answer if appropriate). The DM may impose a time or resource cost.

1. Who subsists on this ecosystem?
2. Whence this natural disturbance?
3. How does nature conceal secrets here?
4. Elf racial benefit What songs do these trees sing?
5. Dwarf racial benefit What tales do I hear whispered in stone-speech?
6. Gnome racial benefit What has transpired here under the stars?

Administrative Stuff
[sblock="Change Notes"]2/3/14 Original Document
2/4 Changed wording, formatting, deleted Stealth references for the time being
2/5 Changed GIMME refresh pool to 3 (away from proficiency bonus)
5/20 Replaced GIMMEs with Hit Dice.
6/5 Rewrote questions for that 'kid in a candy store' vibe
6/11 Changed the skills to allow one question for non-proficient, and 1d4 questions for proficient characters.
8/9 Changed the skills to use inspiration and modified the results of spending this inspiration.
8/10 First stab at investigation
11/8 Updated investigation, deleted sblocks, culled verbiage, removed the know creature questions, removed history & religion
11/12 Removed bardic inspiration use; reduced normal inspiration to 2 questions; reduced class-specific exceptions
[/sblock]

TODO:
--I haven't expanded the race-specific questions beyond the standard 2E races. I probably won't go to the trouble until one of my players decides to play a non-2E race.

[MENTION=6683099]dd.stevenson[/MENTION] I like it!

An idea for Insight: (Human) Who in this situation is most tempted to raise their standing or otherwise elevate themselves? Or... Who has the most to gain/lose?

Some general thoughts: I'm not sure how Dungeon World handles it, but the GIMMES and the defined questions (even if they are very good questions) feel a bit forced. For example, why use a GIMME point system as the limit on how much characters know versus, say, time as the main limit? Or simply not allowing a repeated check until the situation changes?

I'm with you on keeping player skill (e.g. Asking the right questions, using deductive power of reasoning) more important than character skill. I think that's one of the draws of D&D - to be intellectually challenged. I like how this system could dovetail with GUMSHOE's core clues that you automatically learn when exploring the area with the right skill (no check needed).

Quickleaf said:

@dd.stevenson I like it!

An idea for Insight: (Human) Who in this situation is most tempted to raise their standing or otherwise elevate themselves? Or... Who has the most to gain/lose?

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Thanks! I like it. What about: "Who has the most at stake?"

Quickleaf said:

Some general thoughts: I'm not sure how Dungeon World handles it, but the GIMMES and the defined questions (even if they are very good questions) feel a bit forced. For example, why use a GIMME point system as the limit on how much characters know versus, say, time as the main limit? Or simply not allowing a repeated check until the situation changes?

I'm with you on keeping player skill (e.g. Asking the right questions, using deductive power of reasoning) more important than character skill. I think that's one of the draws of D&D - to be intellectually challenged. I like how this system could dovetail with GUMSHOE's core clues that you automatically learn when exploring the area with the right skill (no check needed).

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The list of defined questions is the part that I copied from dungeon world (not the exact questions, just the idea). The GIMMEs are just the Bennies from savage worlds, renamed and more focused.

Of course both the GIMMEs and the list of questions are quite forced. They're naked mechanics, without much pretense at all of simulation.

Of those two mechanics, I'm pretty set on keeping a prescribed list of questions, mainly to ensure that players trained on WotC D&D can't use these skills the way they would in 3E or 4E. (i.e., players rolling a skill check and then sitting back and waiting for the DM to say what they find out.) Generally these questions are meant to move the game forward, raise tension, or prevent player frustration during those times when they know something's up but can't figure out the right move for their character.

I'm less set on using GIMMEs to ration skill use, although no other method I've hit on so far is as robust or simple. Imposing a game time cost works sometimes, but not often enough that I can rely on this method generally. (See: the 5WD.)

So after a couple months of playtesting with these rules I've found a couple interesting things.

First, the effect of scarcity is to drive my players to not use these skills unless they're truly stumped. By which I mean, they don't say things like "well I have a GIMME, I might as well use it." They just forget that these options exist, unless their default mode of Q&A exploration isn't getting them the results they want. As a result, it's really rare for any character to use more than one GIMME in a session.

Second, the list of questions I have here seems pretty complete, thus far. I've haven't yet had a situation where players were all like "I really want to ask such and such a question, but it's not on the list." Which was a mild surprise to me.

The players voted to continue on with these rules into D&DN, so I've updated the rules a bit to reflect that. Especially, I've changed the resources--I've removed GIMMEs entirely, and just switched to using HD. Because as long as there's some form of scarcity, it shouldn't matter resource we use to ration it. And it's an easy enough in-game explanation: instead of using that time and energy to heal HP, you spent your HD agonizing over the relevant question.

Nice. I like this system, though I'm not really familiar with Dungeon World.

My favorite thing is how much this tells you about the races' culture in your setting. Bravo on incorporating your worldbuilding into your crunch!

dd.stevenson said:

To accomplish this, they extend the scope for player interaction while enforcing skill use scarcity so as to not overshadow player skill.

Ordinarily, exploration requires no rules interaction, except perhaps reminding the DM what you are proficient in. The DM will simply tell you what your character is aware of, based on what your character is examining and his/her proficiencies. However, if you want to investigate further, you must spend a Hit Die to use a Discernment Skill.

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I'm seeing a disconnect here; maybe it's just me:

The focus is to extend the scope of player interaction, and player skill. I'm assuming that this means turning away from rules, or rules based solely on character sheets.

To explore, players must rely on the DM to tell them what they find, based on proficiencies. And if the player wants to ask any interesting questions, he must spend hit dice.

Am I understanding this wrong? Players aren't allowed to ask any questions without spending a hit die, and must rely otherwise only on what the DM tells them?

the Jester said:

Nice. I like this system, though I'm not really familiar with Dungeon World.

My favorite thing is how much this tells you about the races' culture in your setting. Bravo on incorporating your worldbuilding into your crunch!

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Thanks! I'm not gonna lie: those were fun to come up with.

DMMike said:

Am I understanding this wrong? Players aren't allowed to ask any questions without spending a hit die, and must rely otherwise only on what the DM tells them?

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Players CAN ask questions, exactly as they would in the course of ordinary old-school style investigation and exploration. Every option a player would have had in an ordinary old school game, they still have here. These rules come in to play when players have exhausted the possibilities of old-school exploration, but still want to know more; or when there is such disconnect between the DM & players that play risks degrading into a MMI style experience.

This bears repeating: these rules EXTEND old school play; they do not restrict it.

I like the general idea, but I don't like the execution.

1. The lists contain very few items that bring anything new to the table - most are things one gets just by listening to what the GM says and asking questions. If you don't make the skills worth using (especially with the attached cost), they won't be used and they are just an unnecessary source of confusion.

2. If you want to give players some help when they get stuck, don't require rolls. Increase cost or restrict options for non-trained characters, but make it a sure thing. Otherwise you risk that they'll get stuck, roll, fail and still have no idea what to do. On the other hand, feel free to include costs that are not abstract mechanical. Bard's move in DW, where they can ask someone a question, get it honestly answered and then have to give their honest answer is a good example of what I mean.

3. Use more "why" and "how" questions, instead of "what" and "if". If players get stuck and normal conversation with the GM is not enough to get them moving, either the players hold some false assumptions or the GM is too nebulous in the information they give. Asking for unconnected, observational facts won't fix any of these. Asking for connections, motives and (partial) solutions can do it.

4. I suggest only charging resources when the answer gives any useful information. If a player asks for the most valuable thing and learns that it's the broken, rusty sword, or if they ask what is worth of scrutiny and learn that there's nothing interesting nearby, they don't really gain anything.

Good questions and points.

steenan said:

1. The lists contain very few items that bring anything new to the table - most are things one gets just by listening to what the GM says and asking questions. If you don't make the skills worth using (especially with the attached cost), they won't be used and they are just an unnecessary source of confusion.

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Yes. Most of these questions are meant to cover the bases, in case players "just aren't getting it" (from the DMs POV) or the DM just isn't communicating well (from the player's POV).

Of course, any ideas you have for new questions would be appreciated!

steenan said:

2. If you want to give players some help when they get stuck, don't require rolls. Increase cost or restrict options for non-trained characters, but make it a sure thing. Otherwise you risk that they'll get stuck, roll, fail and still have no idea what to do. On the other hand, feel free to include costs that are not abstract mechanical. Bard's move in DW, where they can ask someone a question, get it honestly answered and then have to give their honest answer is a good example of what I mean.

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They can usually spend another HD to roll again. I'm fine leaving players with a chance of confusion, if it's a topic their character is supposed to be unskilled at. (In practice, it usually means that characters only spend HD for skills they're proficient in.)

I love DW's way of handling the bard's move, but it's not generally appropriate for most skills, and I think it's sort of "off theme" for D&D.

steenan said:

3. Use more "why" and "how" questions, instead of "what" and "if". If players get stuck and normal conversation with the GM is not enough to get them moving, either the players hold some false assumptions or the GM is too nebulous in the information they give. Asking for unconnected, observational facts won't fix any of these. Asking for connections, motives and (partial) solutions can do it.

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This is a good point, and it's something I'll take a look at next time I make a review pass over these rules. But, do keep in mind that there's a conflicting goal: namely, I don't want questions that will force me to reveal too much.

Again, if you have any specific examples you'd like to show me I'd appreciate it!

steenan said:

4. I suggest only charging resources when the answer gives any useful information. If a player asks for the most valuable thing and learns that it's the broken, rusty sword, or if they ask what is worth of scrutiny and learn that there's nothing interesting nearby, they don't really gain anything.

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Don't agree with this at all. In most cases "There's nothing interesting nearby" is dead useful information--albeit perhaps disappointing.

Again, thanks for the comments!

Inspired by the feedback from [MENTION=23240]steenan[/MENTION] and [MENTION=6685730]DMMike[/MENTION] , I've rewritten most of the questions--hopefully in a way that will be more appealing to players. I've also attempted to clarify what these skills grant during ordinary gameplay without spending an HD.

Naturally, I'd love to hear any and all comments on these rewritten skills.