Dungeon World and Social Conflict

[Manbearcat]

I would need an example...

Alright, made a map, made characters (less Alignment and Bonds), and established a premise.

3 days ago, the sun failed to rise. Panic is setting in in the isolated mountain town of Bluegleam Falls (lichen glows blue where the large waterfall crests and topples to hundreds of feet below).

The two PCs, woodsmen who live self-sufficient lives outside of the town but trade with it routinely, have mutually agreed to make the dangerous climb to the top of the mountain to consult the Primal Wind Spirit that resides at its peak. Maybe the spirit has some answers.

Druid and Arcane Duelist (AD) as PCs

* I treated the climb as a World Move like UaPJ w/ a lead climber (roll Str) and a belayer (roll Wis).

* Instead of belaying with a Wis check, the Druid Shapeshifted (7-9), spent 1 hold to fly up to the top, spend 2 Adventuring Gear to anchor a rappelling rope and drop it to down the 100 feet climb to the Arcane Duelist who spent 1 Adventuring Gear for a harness and carabiner. I gave the AD +1 forward for his Str with this. For the Soft Move against the Druid, I Revealed an Unwelcome Truth (RaUT). The perch they were ascending to was a hospitable place with an overhang that would keep out much of the biting wind...perfect for a lair. A half-eaten reindeer carcass sat right on the cusp of the boundary between the dim light of the moon and the absolute dark of the overhang.

The AD also got a 7-9 on his climb, so he is working his way to the top and will make it there, but my soft move was to use the RaUT and activate the monster against the Druid.

* While the AD climbed, a Sabretooth Snow Leopard and her two younglings (still dangerous) revealed themselves in a threatening manner. This was actually a pretty dangerous situation, but the Druid could understand the Leopard because its native to his lands. She didn't want a fight, but he had to get out of her lair and away from younglings and quickly. So the Druid wanted to possibly try to parley first. He Shapeshifted into the same creature and got a 7-9 so 2 hold (the Soft Move was that a 3rd youngling, apparently a bit less inspired or more lazy than the other two, slowly emerged beside the other 2).

* It went as follows:

This would normally be disadvantageous start, but I gave it even, due to the Druid's move. So starting at 3 in the "Tug of War" Clock. If the Clock gets to 6, the Druid wins, 1 it loses.

The aim was merely to temporarily pacify the Leopard to assure it that they meant no harm and they would soon be gone.

1) The player wanted to see if it could Spend 1 of its two Hold for the Shapeshift for some kind of boon in the parley. Sure. They could spend Hold 1:1 for +1 forward on a social move and choose 1 extra option given the result of the move.

1) The "Druid As Leopard" gave her some space, backing toward the cliff face, and made a show of a non-threatening posture toward her younglings; Consort @ 7-9. The player chose to spend 1 hold to negate the Soft Move ("they aren't offended by your advance/openness") and another hold to tick the Clock 1 (they already felt like they knew what was important to the leopard; her cubs).

She makes a similar show of backing down with a nonthreatening posture.

So we're at 4.

2) Druid Discerns Realities; 7-9. What here is useful or valuable to me(?) and take +1 forward when acting upon it. The Leopard was actually gored by the buck and is pretty badly wounded in her left shoulder. The injury could be grave for she and her cubs. The Soft Move was Reveal an Unwelcome Truth. The crunching sounds of climbing and rope chaffing indicate that the Arcane Duelist is nearing the top. The leopard and her cubs begin to become unnerved either by the sounds or the scent. If he gets to the top before this social conflict is over, I'm ticking the Clock the other way.

3) The Druid quickly snaps into action, uses Sway to convince her that he can help her with her wound by apply a Poultice of Herbs to it. So that is important to her so he can't get a 6-. Discern Realities +1 forward for a 6-. but its a 7-9 instead. Clock ticks 1, now at 5, but her eldest cub, a testy male, starts padding toward the edge, sniffing and growling. She offers a rejoinder that requires an answer; "if that is your pack mate, you must keep it away."

The Druid (now human as he spends his last hold) shouts to the Arcane Duelist to stay put while he tries to deal with a mother and her cubs. The AD has been climbing a fairly difficult climb in harsh conditions so Defy Danger Con to "hang out" while the Druid applies the Poultice. Instead, the spend another 1 Adventuring for a piton and a carabiner to latch themselves in to the face and sit tight.

4) Druid applies Poultice and Herbs 1. Clock to 6. Social Conflict won. They have passage through the lair and a likely ally in the future.

So, 4 Adventuring Gear and 1 Poultice and Herbs spent for 2 conflicts. Next time we play (probably won't be for several weeks as they both have difficult schedules) it will be the final ascent to the peak and consulting the Primal Wind Spirit.

---

I thought it worked pretty much as I expected for the 1st conflict it was tried on.

 

[Manbearcat]

So one sample isn’t much in the way of data, but this is how I’ve handled meaty social conflict in AW and Blades and its mostly similar.

Anyone see any potential holes in the machinery in the above play example that may manifest in another social conflict?

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Sounds good . I haven't been running much DW. Kind of a little hard to wrap my head around the proper mindset now.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

So one sample isn’t much in the way of data, but this is how I’ve handled meaty social conflict in AW and Blades and its mostly similar.

Anyone see any potential holes in the machinery in the above play example that may manifest in another social conflict?

What AbdulAlhazred said. But it looks good to me. I would say keep playing, and if you find holes, patch 'em.

 

[Manbearcat]

What AbdulAlhazred said. But it looks good to me. I would say keep playing, and if you find holes, patch 'em.

Like I said my next session of DW with these guys isn't going to be for a few weeks (or possibly a few weeks longer...they both have infants so that complicates things). So, if anyone is running a DW game and feels like they want to playtest the above social conflict rules, please post the results here.

I'd appreciate it.

 

[Manbearcat]

You might also consider creating social tags in the same way that monster/equipment tags work. What is the social-tag-equivalent to a monster's "Stealthy" tag? What's the social-tag-equivalent to a weapon's "Piercing" tag? You don't need to translate all of the existing monster/equipment tags, but consider which of them could work in social combat. Give them to your NPCs and figure out ways to give them to PCs, maybe via spells or items.

I forgot to address this before.

I can absolutely see the work that you anticipate this doing on the NPC side. An NPC social tag like <Slippery> would be the antithesis of <Direct> and each of them would guide your Soft and Hard move responses in social conflict in the same way that that Tags, Instincts, Qualities guide combat.

Honestly, that is a pretty damn brilliant idea. I'm surprised I haven't heard of this before in the PBtA family of games.

My question would be, what work do you imagine this doing PC-side?

 

[EpicureanDM]

Thanks for the praise.

The first place I'd look is spells and class Moves. Look for places to either attach tags to existing moves (add <Honeytongued> to the Bard's Bamboozle Move) or let players acquire tags temporarily with spells (after casting Charm Person, allow the Wizard to select one tag to use on the target for the spell's duration). It could also come through equipment for some tags. Buying noble clothes could give you the <Refined> tag, which could work against you if you're trying to deal with people who don't like the nobility. You could add them to character creation (each player selects two) and then revise them periodically with a Mouse Guard-style Tag (Trait) Vote.

The real trick, I think, is to settle on the list of available tags. It's relatively tricky compared to physical tags. Some obvious choices, like "Friendly" or "Hostile" sound right, but are probably too broad. Narrower terms that can interact with each other are needed. Look for qualities that, when added up, point to "Friendly" or "Hostile", stuff like <Funny>, <Loud>, <Polite>, or <Shy>. Once you sort that out, attaching them to different mechanisms should be easier. The list should probably be relatively short, too, certainly no longer than the list of monster/equipment tags in DW.

EDIT: Obviously, you'd need to call these tags out in play so that the players are aware of them, just like you'd announce that a dragon's claws are Forceful and Messy. Players should know that the tags are in play so that they can react accordingly.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Thanks for the praise.

The first place I'd look is spells and class Moves. Look for places to either attach tags to existing moves (add <Honeytongued> to the Bard's Bamboozle Move) or let players acquire tags temporarily with spells (after casting Charm Person, allow the Wizard to select one tag to use on the target for the spell's duration). It could also come through equipment for some tags. Buying noble clothes could give you the <Refined> tag, which could work against you if you're trying to deal with people who don't like the nobility. You could add them to character creation (each player selects two) and then revise them periodically with a Mouse Guard-style Tag (Trait) Vote.

The real trick, I think, is to settle on the list of available tags. It's relatively tricky compared to physical tags. Some obvious choices, like "Friendly" or "Hostile" sound right, but are probably too broad. Narrower terms that can interact with each other are needed. Look for qualities that, when added up, point to "Friendly" or "Hostile", stuff like <Funny>, <Loud>, <Polite>, or <Shy>. Once you sort that out, attaching them to different mechanisms should be easier. The list should probably be relatively short, too, certainly no longer than the list of monster/equipment tags in DW.

EDIT: Obviously, you'd need to call these tags out in play so that the players are aware of them, just like you'd announce that a dragon's claws are Forceful and Messy. Players should know that the tags are in play so that they can react accordingly.

This sounds good. I would be a bit leery of going all the way down the road to basically a variation of FATE. Well I guess you can...

 

[Manbearcat]

@EpicureanDM

On PC-side though, what work mechanically would they be doing?

For instance, consider the social tags “Cornered” vs “Brash.”

How do you intend those to inform play? Are these like Appearance tags and a GM should leverage them as soft move responses? Are they like Equipment tags that are supposed to inform the fiction and have attendant mechanical effect? Are these like Bonds/Alignment where a player would have a related End of Session question?

It’s easy to see the use GM-side (as a Soft/Hard move-informer). The design intent on the player side is what I’m curious about in terms of what you’re thinking.

You mentioned MG and Traits. So positive and negative invocation each 1/session? Positive grants +1 forward? The Negative is an issue because the Turn Structure of MG doesn’t comport to the Freeform/Fiction-Trigger nature if DW. There isn’t a way to map buyingTests with earned Checks onto DW. What do you have in mind?

Something like “buy-out” a 6- result to move it to 7-9?

 

[Eyes of Nine]

This sounds good. I would be a bit leery of going all the way down the road to basically a variation of FATE. Well I guess you can...

I was also thinking the tags as described reminded me of aspects.
Thhat said, there is truly a germ of a good idea that melds the best of DW/PbtA with the best of Fate.