I have several questions but I'll start with what has got me most on the ropes.
Monster Moves. And related, how they relate to Druids.
I understand that the monster moves are left intentionally vague, but some of them have me scratching my head as to what they even are, let alone how to implement them. And then druids get to use them, but does that mean that the move works the same way for both the druid and monster?
As I understand it, when a druid shape-shifts and gets hold, she can spend that hold to use a monster move and that move just happens. No rolling, no real chance of failure, as long as it fits the fiction. So does that work in exactly the same way for the monsters?
For example, a purple worm has the move, “swallow whole” which sounds pretty devastating to me, although I understand that it doesn't necessarily mean certain death. Still, if the druid shifts to a purple worm and swallows a goblin whole, that probably means death for the goblin, no questions asked.
But if it's the PC's vs the purple worm, and the worm chooses to “swallow whole” does that mean instant death for the character? Does the character get to make a move (defy danger) to avoid the move? In other words, when it's PC on monster, it sounds like the monster doesn't get a move to avoid the druids monster move. But if it's monster on PC, can the PC avoid the move with a move of their own?
Which brings me to another druid question: can PC's druids even shape change into monsters? I've seen some discussion threads on the net that seem to suggest that they can, and the rules use the words, “species” and “animal” to denote what a druid can shift into.
But... all of the examples in other threads are all real world animals. Wolves, bears, eagles, sharks, etc.
And it doesn't help that there are no examples of real world animals with their moves in the book, so I'm left to try to figure a unique move for every freaking animal that the druid can think of. It would have been nice to have just a little bit of guidance with that.
But if the druid can shift into monster forms, well, that helps a lot.
But, if they can, is there any size limit on it? Can a 1st level druid shape shift into a dragon? The druid in my current game has the Great Forest as her attuned land. There's no reason to think that dragons don't inhabit the Great Forest, right? Conversely, can a druid shift into mouse form? How about a fly?
Which leads me to more questions about druids.
Under Studied Essence it says that, “if you
spend time in contemplation of an animal's spirit” you can add that animal to the list of animals you can shift into. It's in bold letters in the book. Does that mean that contemplating an animal's spirit is a move? And what exactly does it mean to “study an animal's spirit?” Is that just studying the animal?
Elemental Spirit states, “When you call on the primal spirits of fire, water, earth, or air to preform a task for you roll...”
What does that even mean? Can you cause earthquakes? Floods? Raging fires? Wind storms? I'm assuming that's the case, but there's absolutely no clarification here. And furthermore, on a miss, some catastrophe occurs. That last bit is followed by three bullet points that, at first, I assumed were the seeds of the potential catastrophe, but they're all pretty positive things.
- The effect you desire comes to pass
- You avoid paying nature's price
- You retain control
What do those last two even mean? You retain control of the earthquake, etc? It seems implied by the success that all three of those things would be the case, so why are they listed?
And finally, a non druid question.
Clerics get Divine Guidance, which states, “When you
petition your deity according to the precepts of your religion you are granted some useful knowledge or boon related to your deities domain.”
Is this a move? Does it require a roll? It doesn't say so, so I'm assuming it doesn't, but again with that bold font.
I really love this game and I am slowly starting to understand it more and more. It's almost like learning a whole new philosophy rather than a new rule set. But there's so much that cries out for clarification or examples!
So, any light you can shed would be most appreciated! Thanks in advance!
