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Just finished listening to The Hard Move's "Last Breath Episode and have to say damn it was good. I have always loved the Last Breath move in Dungeon World, both because it give you a way to save a beloved character from oblivion, but also because it lets that character have a
dramatic, emotional send-off.
What the podcast did a great job is highlighting some of the less obvious features built into the move -- that a player doesn't have to try to cheat death, but could just die, that death could let them return and take away their beloved ones one
What the podcast did a great job is highlighting some of the less obvious features built into the move -- that a player doesn't have to try to cheat death, but could just die, that death could let them return and take away their beloved ones one
after another.
This thread of the discussion really brought home how this move actually gives the player so much agency in how death plays out, unlike D&D where you are just dead. Gone. Roll a new character.
Here, players can always refuse the bargain that death offers them.
This thread of the discussion really brought home how this move actually gives the player so much agency in how death plays out, unlike D&D where you are just dead. Gone. Roll a new character.
Here, players can always refuse the bargain that death offers them.
Isn't that powerful? Death made an offer, and you refused it. Stood your ground. Didn't offer death your beloved animal sidekick (looking at you, Ranger) or your Wizard friend's last spell. I could go on.
What this podcast also highlighted was one of my favorite twists in DW:
What this podcast also highlighted was one of my favorite twists in DW:
Failures are rewards. You get XP when you fail a roll. To top it off, something really interesting will happen: a consequence that will push the story in new directions. This sweetens the risk-taking, encourages your character to do things they really aren't good at.
And even if they fail the Last Breath roll, they still get to describe what the Black Gates look like for them and perhaps cheat death. How cool is that? https://anchor.fm/thehardmove/episodes/Last-Breath-ec65tv/a-a1qhr5u
I was so impressed that I backed their Patreon. Heck, aside from the podcast having a lot of promise, @SidneyIcarus is also an amazing person and an Australian paramedic on the front lines of the pandemic. Throw a coin to a hero, eh? https://patreon.com/thehardmove?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=creatorshare
