Do we nees to have bonds to all party members right away?

Don't think so.  But the more bonds we can invent, the more story and roleplaying hooks there are to riff off of :)

Yep we can create them in the roleplay but especially in a slow PbP game I think they are valuable to really get us flowing together. It also helps us establish why the hell we are even together in the first place.

@Hiran, as mentioned, I'll be trying to teach you the ways of the wilds.  You might be interested in my relationship with my crow.  Perhaps you've queried me about my last name and I've refused to tell you (keeping a secret from you).  Perhaps your souls have told you something about me.  Not sure what's most appropriate...

How about "Ilura is hiding something from me I must find out what that is."

That's what I was thinking of with the "you asked me my last name and I refused to tell you".  That definitely works from my end.

I like the previously mentioned bond to Marcus, especially with the mutual bond. Thus:

"_Marcus_ owes me their life, whether they admit it or not"
"I have sworn to protect _____."
"I worry about the ability of _____ to survive in the dungeon."
"_____ is soft, but I will make them hard like me".

Suggestions from me:
- Hiran, being a wizard and apparently being a bit haunted by something, may from Eryn's perspective perhaps appear "soft" or unable to act in rougher situations.
- Seeing Rirrik being an outcast from his tribe and also charming (for a gnoll), Eryn may swear to protect from harm. This could serve as hope that one day interaction with gnoll tribes will be more pleasant, and having a human treat him with respect would hopefully prevent townsfolk from being too hostile towards him.

Works for me ill note it down in the bonds thread.

I could see you perhaps viewing Hiran as physically soft.  If you would agree with that I would be okay with that from Hiran's perspective how intelligent and curious is Eryn? Would I maybe view her as a bit of a meathead or lacking perspective and curiosity?

Side tangent from the "bonds" discussion.

I was wondering if we wanted to establish any posting conventions before we kick off the game.  I don't feel passionately about these and am certainly happy to have discussion/debate, but I think that establishing conventions can help the story to flow/read better.

1. Events are written about in the past tense.  E.g. as opposed to   Rationale is that that's how most literary works are expressed and we're sort of building an on-the-fly story - a literary work.

2. Use color or formatting conventions to distinguish thought, spoken words and whispered words as well as out-of-character (OOC) information.  (In other games, radio transmissions can be relevant too, but probably not here :>).  In the past, I've seen each character use a different color for themselves (makes it easy to see who has said/thought what).  Thoughts are in italics.  Speech is mared with double-quotes.  Whispers are double-quoted italics.  OOC content is orange.  For example:



3. Avoid using unless responding to something much earlier in the thread where context may not be clear, and then only quote the bare minimum needed to establish context.  This avoids disrupting the flow of the narrative

4. Limit OOC content to technical actions or simple questions and keep general discussion and OOC planning in the OOC thread

5. If you make an edit to a post, at the bottom in the OOC color, provide a short description of what the edit was.  E.g.

or


Also, if an edit may influence understanding of the story like the last example, call it out in the OOC thread.

6. If you're going to PM, try to provide descriptive comment or some sort of color commentary in the non-hidden text rather than just saying "PM".  As a bonus, it helps hide the fact you're having a secret conversation :)

7. Others?


Some additional style questions:
- Is there typically a lot of planning in Dungeon World or is it more seat-of-the-pants of "here's the situation, react now"?  If there are situations where planning is in order, do people prefer to do all of that through in-character dialog, or is OOC discussion appropriate?  If the latter, should we have a thread for that purpose, distinct from true OOC stuff like "I'm going on vacation next week, try not to kill my character"?

- Who handles rolls?  Do we roll for our own actions?  For damage we receive from others?

- If we make our own rolls, is it appropriate for us to narrate the results of success or failure or should we leave that to the GM?  If it's generally ok for us to narrate but the GM might overrule, do we just edit our previous post to be consistent?

- How much technical stuff (moves chosen, rolls made, etc.) should actually show up in the narrative?

Oh wow, nicely written!  Your preferences very closely match my own.  If people follow these guidelines, I will be one happy camper!  Do you mind if I use these guidelines in an informational thread? (copy/paste/edit/etc?)


Dungeon world is usually very seat-of-the-pants, as you put it.  Situations are constantly changing based on the choices the characters make and how well they succeed at executing their choices.  Planning does happen though.  It is great to roleplay planning if possible, but if it would end up being a long and boring In-Character discussion, then it is fine to bring it OOC as a way to hasten the process and get back to the fun stuff.


In general, characters roll for their own actions and damage.  You pick what you want to try and do, roll for it if there is a roll involved, then make any choices that result requires.  If you are unsure what move you are using but are pretty sure you need a roll, you can always just roll 2d6 and I'll add modifiers as needed for the move that is appropriate.  I may on occasion roll for you if it will keep things flowing better (like if you rolled Hack and Slash but forgot to roll damage.)  If you happen to roll for the wrong move, I can still use your results, adjust the modifier, and apply it to the roll you should have rolled.  Or if a roll wasn't needed, I'll just ignore it and tell you what happens.


Feel free to describe how you do something when you make a roll.  Or at least, how you try to do something.  For instance, if you think an ogre is almost dead and you know you deal 8 damage to it, feel free to say "Ilura swung her stolen battle axe one last time and chopped the head clean off the ogre."  Then, if the ogre actually had 9 health left and survived, I would say something like, "Ilura's mighty swing cut deep into the ogre's shoulder.  It's bead necklace was the only thing that slowed her weapon down just enough to allow it to cling to life.  Knowing it's time on this earth was close to it's end, the ogre gave one last angry bellow and launched itself at the comparatively little ranger."


I prefer To have all of the narrative story-related stuff up top, then put all of the rolls in orange at the bottom.  And the rolls and any other relevant information I should know.(basically the same as we do in our Shadowrun game)   I'll post an example from one of my Dungeon World characters in another game. Hiran and Rirrik will probably recognize it. ;)

Alright, I have some questions for each of you to help flesh out this world a bit more before we start.  There may be follow up questions as well.  Also, if you have not done so yet, please post your character sheets in the Character Details link.  It will make my life much easier. :)


Dr. Hiran Krauss, you used to work for the fallen overlord.  What was their name and who or what were they?

Ilura, we know one of the fallen overlord's former servants defeated your mentor.  Who, or what, was it?

Rirrik, what is gnoll culture like in this world?  How are they handling the current hardships that are befalling them?

Eryn, you have traveled with many caravans.  What are some of the notable places of this world?

Marcus, it seems you have been involved with knights and nobles to some extent.  Who are some of the people of power in this world?

I like the general outline Marcus set forth as well as the bonds set forth so far by everyone.

Illura, I am thinking Rirrik respects nature for the most part but he also probably sees himself as part of it. It's law is survival of the fittest after all and if Rirrik is hungry he has no complications with killing off a mother animal or its babies or about stealing food from them. He has kept some of the gnoll's survival at any cost attitude. I suppose it then depends on how you view his actions.

I like the idea that Ilura shared her secret with him over a night of too many drinks. So I will put her down for "___ trusted me with a secret." Rirrik has his ways of getting answers out of people.

I also think the "This is not my first adventure with ..." would have to be Dr. Hiran Krauss.

Marcus seems to respect and not look down on Rirrik so I think they are pretty friendly to one another. How about "I am writing a ballad about the adventures of _______." for him.

That leaves "I sang stories of _____ long before I ever met them in person." So likely someone who is well known to Rirrik or in general. Possibly the 'good' doctor once again? Doesn't say they have to be flattering stories. "____ is often the butt of my jokes." Which is whoever is the resident grumpy stick in the mud. Eryn? Ilura? Marcus? Then finally "______ does not trust me, and for good reason." Which I am thinking might be Eryn especially if she has dealt alot with gnolls in the past.


The general style conventions that Ilura posted are okay with me and pretty typical for this sort of game. I like the way the GM handles this stuff as well.

If I missed any other important questions directed at me, let me know. I'm on my phone and the walls of texts are a bit hard to read without scrolling forever (did a brief scan over all the posts).

Sheet - is there a template somewhere, or if someone could share what they are using?

Rirrik - I'm fine with ballads, but also with being grumpy :)

People of interest
• King Gordon the 1st - Gordon Prudhom was a general in Tambling army, but with time his abilities and charisma drew more and more attention to him. Using the influence he had, he gathered the forces that opposed the Overlord under his banner, and has been elected by the noble families to remain the leader of the people. They had no choice but to give him the power, for he had the means to seize it if needed. Now he struggles to keep the tentative alliance together through diplomacy and show of force.
• House Tambling - Tambling lands are the greatest hold in the realm of men, and as such, their influence is vast. Lady Nicola is not happy with King's rise to power, but can't voice her concerns publically. She does keep a close eye on him and hopes to find a moment to wrestle the control of the fledgling kingdom
• Various noble houses - there are over a dozen noble families with various sizes of lands and armies, now unified under the King's rule. Before the Overlord they had tense relationships with each other, but a common foe put a temporary stop to their squabbles.
• Corrupted families - during the Overlord's reign, some nobles joined him willingly, and the heads of those houses were made his officers. Their lands made the majority of the evil empire, and are now struggling to recover. King Gordon has called back all the forces from the region, focusing on keeping the kingdom together, while the remains of the empire fight amongst themselves.
• Nations beyond the Kingdom - dwarves, elves, halflings, and nomadic tribes all have lands of their own, scattered outside the borders of the Kingdom of men. They too felt the hand of the Overlord, but to a lesser extent, and are unanimously happy that the foolish humans got their matters under control.

I agree that events should be written about in past tense. I would greatly prefer to avoid needless coloring of text, however, and instead suggest the following:

* Quotes are dialogue
* Italics are thoughts
* Whispers are regular quotes with the rest of the sentence describing it as a whisper.

Examples:
"Get down!" he shouted.
That's not what I meant to do, he thought.
"Thread carefully," she whispered, "and do your best to stay quiet so they don't hear us."

When using an action that should trigger a move, some RPG players may opt to use bold text on said action to indicate to the GM that the rest is fluff and the action should be rolled for/given a ruling.

I agree that OOC should be kept to a minimum in posts, and a link to a post in the OOC thread would be better than keeping a OOC discussion going in the RP topic. No colors needed, just separate the OOC sentence/paragraph and add "OOC:" to the front of it.

Actions, mechanics, and dice results can be done in parentheses, as suggested.

I'll do color if that's what's preferred, but I usually find it unhelpful since proper format makes it obvious what's a roll anyway. :)

---

When it comes to deciding actions: Dungeon World is based around the narrative, with the players taking a lot of control. However, the GM has a set of rules to follow that keep the game flowing, and these tend to be vital. They are not quite as vital when doing play-by-post, but when it comes to things like fighting it is entirely up to the GM to decide which move(s) are triggered.

As an example, fighting isn't always Hack-n-Slash. Sometimes it's Defy Danger (to avoid an incoming attack, for example) with any given stat (Con to resist getting knocked down, Dex to dodge, etc.) before you can deal damage, and sometimes you don't even get to the "deal damage" step because the enemy is able to avoid your action somehow.

Also, all moves that miss trigger a GM action. The GM naturally needs to be the one to choose this from their own move chart, unless you give the player the power to pick the GM move. This can spell trouble if the GM wishes to use a monster/dungeon/front move that the players don't have access to, however, so I think it would be best for the GM to decide such things?

I trust that everyone here could decide their own actions without incident, but if we want to keep the game flow of Dungeon World it's a thing to consider.

---

What are some of the notable places of this world?

"The great harbor in Markhain on the western coast comes to mind. It's the place to go if you are looking for exotic wares from faraway lands, and since several countries has an interest in keeping the trade going this city is also one of the safest. It is one of the places I have visited most often in my travels. Merchants traveling inland from Markhain always want someone to escort them, and thus it's a great place to earn some coin.

Traveling east on the main road you'll eventually pass through Bluemoss Pines, and if you feel like veering off the main road here for some sightseeing you may happen upon the Great Glade. Rumors say that supernatural events happen in the glade, but the highway bandits that make use of this superstition to lay low in the woods are a far more pressing concern for common folk.

There is also an old shrine up in the mountains, but it's stood unused for years and I know nothing more of it than that."

---

@Hiran: Eryn finds magic interesting and always likes to hear stories. She's reasonably intelligent but has never pursued any academic interest. Eryn is completely unlearned in magic herself, as she has had no one to teach her. You'll find that she has an interest in discussing most topics, but doesn't regularly pursue deeper knowledge about anything not directly related to her own life.

@Rirrik: I don't know if Eryn would be a stick in the mud, but she may distrust him since she always deals with bandits and wild folk. Gnoll tribes would be among them in certain regions, so I am fine with you using that bond for her.

@GM - copy/paste/edit away

@Rirrik - I'll go with you being aligned w/ nature.  Ilura well knows that being aligned with nature doesn't necessarily mean fuzzy and cute.  Nature is often harsh and cruel

@Marcus - How about - "Marcus's religious perspective is helpful to me in my time of grief.  I shall learn more of his God"?

@Eryn - I sort of like color and am quite comfortable embedding tags in my text, but I'm not wedded to them, so if most prefer to avoid, that's fine with me too.

The three main tenets of gnoll culture are (in order of importance):
-It is every gnoll's responsibility to keep our people and culture alive.
-You have a duty to your community/tribe first, then your blood, and then yourself.
-The strongest shall always find their way to the top and the weak shall be weeded out.
-Survive at all costs so your line shall continue.


Gnolls are definitely scavengers, whether it is food, weapons, or power, they take what they need or want (regardless of its source or owner). I think this is why they found themselves serving the overlord. He offered them easy access to their basic needs and if they had to sack a few towns to keep this access so be it.

The flipside to them is the fact that their loyalty runs deep. They do what is best for their blood clan anyone else be damned. They have a history and way which should be kept by the shamans of the community. Though contact with the Overlord seems to have caused the people to lose much of this.

I think they thrived in their own way under the Overlord but lost much of their distinct culture. They became far more vindictive and cruel under him. After he fell they sort of are trying to maintain their power in the world through shoes of force and just taking all they can get their hands on.

I think their still exist some gnoll who are more in touch with the old ways, just not the ones Rirrik was exiled from.

As relayed in the tavern a few nights ago:
"The creatures of the forest had reported disturbances near the old temple.  Things that smelled of death, but moved as one still alive.  The four of us set out to investigate - Thomas, I, my mentor and Growler, his bear.  We found zombies and a few skeletons, but nothing we couldn't handle easily enough.  After clearing the forest, we decided to track where they had come from.  It was an old fort from the war, now mostly burned.  But there was a tunnel down beneath.  It smelled of death.

I wanted to just seal it up, but my mentor said they would just tunnel out again, so down we went.  More zombies.  More skeletons.  We crushed, cut down or burned them all.  We took a few wounds, but the creatures had little hope against Growler when he was enraged.  He didn't like things that smelled like death.

But then the shadows came.  Growler could not see them, nor smell or hear them.  The torches extinguished as fast as we could light them.  My mentor ordered Thomas and I to retreat.  We were pulling back toward the entrance when I heard Growler's death roar.  I turned and I saw a sword glowing with blue light.  On it was the siggal of the old overlord.  Whatever was holding the sword was laughing."

The ranger drained her cup, waited for it to be filled, then drained it again.

"I waited outside for three days, but my mentor never came out.  Nor did anything else."

Is there some maximum to the number of Bonds we establish?  I know we need to have at least one, but I haven't noticed a place that keeps us from having 10 or 20?

Also, how do we decide on "end of session" in a play-by-post environment?

I've put my character sheet up in a google doc for people to use as a template if they like.  (If I post it here, you won't get the format codes.)
https://docs.google.com/docume...SYXMMr8ggHgA_HqmR9xU

The Overlord's name was Nikadroy Qizproteus and as far as I knew he was a gnome necromancer of immense power. He had a twin brother named Yordakin Qizproteus who was a much kinder beguiler or bender of minds and he disappeared many years ago. The Overlord and I had a symbiotic relationship, I got the victim's first and played my games and did my studies and when I was through with the bodies the Master got them to build his army and use as he saw fit. Sometimes they were morphed and modified of my own volition, other times they were requests of Master Qizproteus's.

I agree with most of those as well, I can be bad as a GM about using quoted text so that I always have context for players but I agree and understand each of the points kudos to the work done to make that.

Are you okay with my "Rirrik is special among the gnolls.  I must figure out why" bond?  Also I am agreeable to your second one if you wanted to have two with me.  It would mean either my work was well known before I had my change of heart or Rirrik has been having visions.

As far as how DW should run we always roll for ourselves the DM should never have to roll and based on those rolls the GM litigates the story which is completely controlled by the players and the rolls they have made.

In combats all foes in DW have their own moves and motivations and are generally used in their initial attacks or as hard or soft moves if a user rolls a 7-9 or a 6 and below.  So for the most part use your narrative powers to describe your actions and include a roll if you think it applies and the GM gives the reaction plus recap of the situation.

How about for Eryn this bond:

Eryn is woefully misinformed about the world; I will teach them all that I can.

I believe there isn't a hard and fast rule with bonds but most of the time it's 1 with each character maybe 2 if there's a lot of connections with you and another and obviously they can ebb and flow through gameplay.

end of session is up to the GM but I like in my games to try and do them when we move to a new thread OR when it just feels appropriate to finally settle down everyone is going to sleep lets do an end of session.