Video Games as a JRPG Accessory

So I've been working on a Parody Setting for JRPG World in which much real world technology is replaced by magical equivalents. I had several footnotes to the effect that data storage doesn't work the same way as in the real world so I had to equivocate storage according to the duration of audiovisual material (which can also be compared to pages of Lorem Ipsum) as if it were a magical effect. So I went and ran some numbers about how many hours of main quest, how many of side quest, typical map sizes and so forth.

Once I sorted that out I made it randomizable on a dice roll. the maximum possible results on my randomization match pretty well with the largest games in the real world right now. It just so happens that the Tier of Magical Effect that a video game would be equivalent to means that at the top end they are 5,000 GP accessory equivalent items. In JRPG World. 5,000 GP is equivalent to 50 MetaUSD (which is to say in game currency purchased as a joke on microtransactions is 50 bucks per 5000 GP).

Video games are a little bit more expensive than that now, but it does surprise me to be within about 20% for some base games these days. On a table that I'd already written. Using nothing more than the equivalent magical duration.

Upscaling d20 bullet damage

In a previous post tied bullet damage to the diameter of a round multiplied by the ratio of length to caliber in millimeters. This works fine for bullets which rarely go over 1 inch in diameter, and rarely have a ratio greater than 10:1 (which would max out at 10d12). I randomly mentioned this blog, and that got me pondering how the math would work out. Having looked into NATO Fox Calls for fighter planes, I came to realize that a large amount of weapon specs are available for US Munitions on wikipedia. I'm sure missiles are a bit more complicated than what is presented here, but I thought it would be worth the thought exercise. That being said, one note to mention is that in the previous post, the maximum size was d12 for 1". Most missiles are going to be more than one inch, and the inches should probably be multiplied separately from the ratio, but it seems easier to add the inches to the length ratio and multiply by that number. Both methods are shown here so anyone who wants to use them can use either method

Missile                     Dimensions (ratio) Damage

AIM-7 Sparrow (Fox-1)       ~8x144" (~x18)     d12x26  or d12x144

AIM-9 Sidewinder (Fox-2)    ~5x119" (~x24)     d12x29  or d12x120

AIM-120 AMRAAM (Fox-3)      ~7x144" (~x21)     d12x27  or d12x147

AIM-54 Phoenix (Fox-3)      ~15x154" (~x10)    d12x25  or d12x150

AGM-114 Hellfire (Fox-2)    ~7x64" (~x9)       d12x16  or d12x63

RPG-7 Round (~75x950mm*)    ~3x37" (~x13)      d12x16  or d12x39

AT-4 Round (~84x245mm*)     ~3x9" (~x3)        d12x6   or d12x9

Minuteman ICBM (~5.5x60 ft) ~5x60' (x11)       d12x785 or d12x46,800

Percentile Damage

You may have noticed that multiplying caliber and length separately produces damage in excess of 100 in all cases. It may be helpful to roll fewer dice and get bigger damage values. In that case, round the maximum damage to 100 points in whichever direction makes the most sense, and use that number of d100s. The following is the result of that.

Missile                     Damage Maximums    Percentile Roll

AIM-7 Sparrow (Fox-1)       1728               18d%

AIM-9 Sidewinder (Fox-2)    1440               14d% 

AIM-120 AMRAAM (Fox-3)      1764               18d%

AIM-54 Phoenix (Fox-3)      1800               18d%

AGM-114 Hellfire (Fox-2)    756                8d%

RPG-7 Round (~75x950mm*)    468                4d%

AT-4 Round (~84x245mm*)     108                1d%

Minuteman ICBM (~5.5x60 ft) 561,600            d%x5616**

"" with MIRV                ""                 use d30 for 3 shots,

                                               d20 for 5 shots,

                                               d12 for 8 shots,

                                               d10 for 10 shots,

                                               d8 for 12 shots,

                                               d6 for 16 shots,

                                               and d4 for 25 shots

Musings on Firearms in d20

A long time ago, way back before there were two kinds of Dungeons and Dragons, in an era where the first kind had only three editions, there was a modern version, with guns. It was sort of ok for generic purposes, but they ended up having to put out further supplements on additional firearms, both fact and fiction. That's all well and good, but ya know... it's probably out of print or something, and also you might not want to encourage piracy even if there aren't going to be particularly strong consequences for it. With that in mind, I came up with my own system for gun damage.

Damage Dice

Guns (and everything) deal(s) damage based on F=MV, but we don't need to complicate this. We can replace F with Damage, M with the size of the bullet, and V with a typical load of propellant. We don't have to even do it directly, we can just sort of provide a logical basis.

In this case, the M of the bullet is tied to its caliber, we'll assume that the following is true:

Caliber     mm           Dice
up to.25    up to 6mm    d4s
.26-.40     7-10mm       d6s
.41-.55     11-14mm      d8s
.56-.75     15-19mm      d10s
.76-1"      20-25.4mm    d12s

The V of the bullet is tied to its case length inasmuch as the case length defines what safe amounts of powder can be used to fire projectiles from it (actually thickness and material is more important than actual length, but it's a close enough abstraction for our purposes). To determine the number of dice, use (Case Length/Caliber in mm, rounding to the nearest whole ratio e.g. 9x19 Parabellum is 2d6 with 19 being 2.1x the length of its 9mm caliber. AK rounds (7.62x39) deal 5d6, and 5.56 NATO rounds deal 8d4. A .50 BMG being 12.7x99 makes it 8d8.  Likewise, a slug in 12 gauge is typically 18.5x70mm, which amounts to a ratio of 3.75, or 4d10.

Shotgun Shells

Instead of going into excruciating detail about how many different levels of buckshot and birdshot there are, we can just assume that buckshot or fléchettes reduces dice size by 1, but adds a 2 dice (6d8 instead of 4d10 for 12 gauge) birdshot reduces dice size by 2, but adds 3 dice (7d6 instead of 4d10 for 12 gauge), and Frangible reduces dice size by 3, but adds 4 dice (8d4 instead of 4d10 for 12 gauge).

Oh and one final thought: That original document may have propagated a myth that shotguns fire in a cone. They sort of do, but even at 150 feet you're only going to get about a 3" spread or so.

Weapon Actions

We will categorize weapon actions more broadly here for the sake of game rules--and because if we didn't a character with an M-16 can easily fire off their entire magazine in under a full round.

Single Shot

Covers breach action shotguns, flare guns, bolt action rifles, and single action revolvers.

• Each attack with this requires a single action (in PF2e) to bring a new round into battery

Semi-auto

Covers magazine fed auto-loader pistols, double action revolvers, lever action rifles, and pump action shotguns. 

• You can fire off as many shots as you can pull the trigger. It's a two action activity to multiply damage by 1d3, and a three action activity to multiply damage by 1d6. This costs 3 and 6 ammo respectively

Full-auto

Covers anything where one press of the trigger equals multiple bullets, including modified trigger assemblies that fire a second round when the trigger is released.

• With selector fire you may treat the weapon as a semi-auto
• If it's full auto only--or you've selected burst or full auto--you can still limit your trigger pulls to multiply damage by 1d6 with a single action activity (costing 6 ammo)
• You can multiply damage by 2d6 as a 3 action activity.(costing 12 ammo)

B-Roll Call!

I have released a new game about making B movies! It was originally inspired by one called It Came From the Late, Late, Late Show, but somewhat considerably expands on it, adds rules to things that were discussed in vague terms, and completely reworks most of the base architecture of that game. it can be found here!

Damage is a Fickle Bitch

The chief complaint I get from my players about DW is that players roll 10 or 12, and get a damage roll of 1 (or sometimes 2-3 if they took the extra d6) and that damage tends to gets soaked by armor. On Reddit someone even told me that late game DW tends to turn into a bit of a survival horror. I haven't tested late game myself, but I can tell you how incredibly frustrating it is that people who are supposed to be capable combatants but roll a series of very low damage rolls can't always take it on the chin like a champ. It is with that in mind, that I randomly thought about making damage less fickle :

Typically a character's base dice will be a d6, d8, or a d10 (with one notable instance of a d12). In order to make damage less fickle, assume one of the following

• Subtract 4 from everyone's dice type, and add the remainder to a d4. For example, a d10 would be 1d4+6, and a d6 would be a d4+2
• Subtract 6 from everyone's dice type and add the remainder to a d6. For example, a d10 would be 1d6+4, and a d6 would stay a d6.

Whichever option above is chosen, only modify the base dice. Additional dice granted for any reason remain unchanged.

On Killing (Not by David Grossman)

In Dungeon World, the price of a typical murder is apparently 5 coins, and the price of a higher profile assassination is 120 coins. This seems awfully low. Given the price of "A Hearty Meal for 1" of 1 coin, I evaluated a coin to be roughly equivalent to 5 USD (given that McDonalds had as of the time writing this a 2/$4 deal where you could get two double cheeseburgers). This means a murder is 25 bucks and a higher profile assassination is 600. This is fitting with the standard DW status quo that prices are low, but also suggests that life is cheap. It also doesn't account for the mark's threat level. These factors should be considered when evaluating the price of an assassination:

• The number of moves a target has that can be harmful to the assailant.
• The maximum damage a target can bring to bear. This doesn't refer to the damage the target itself can deal, if it can order others to fight for it.
• The HP of the target. or the highest HP of  its body guards. (3 minimum)
• The Armor of the target or the highest among its body guards

For example, a Noble doesn't have any listed attacks, or HP, but they can issue orders and offer rewards to anyone beneath them (2 moves). Often, this is a Knight. which can bring to bear 10 damage, has 12 HP, and 4 armor. Therefore a Noble would be worth 2*10*12*4=960 coins. A King who has  A Whole Damn Army would use 2*19*30*4 would be worth 4560. A mere bandit has 3 threatening moves, can do 6 damage, and has 3 HP, which is 3*6*3  or 54 coins.

If you don't like these you can round to the first significant figure to get a price in tens, hundreds, or thousands. The above prices would become 1000, 5000, or 50. For the purposes of abstract coins, a significant figure 50 to 100 coins is A Chest of Riches, anything over 3 such Chests is a Giant Sack of Loot. 3 of those is "A Small Hoard" which increases the Resource statistic that armies use.

P.S.- It is noteworthy that just because you want someone killed, doesn't mean you're going to get it done by hiring some rando off the street. If you pay 120 coins to them (or 5, or 50, or 1000, or 5000, etc), they might go kill your guy, or they might pocket the money, go brag, and end up on a pike outside the city walls. 

Optional Spell Points variant

The default rule of Dungeon World is that Wizards can just cast a certain number of spell levels (Level+1) Clerics can Commune for the same number of spells, and everyone else in Core operates under the assumptions of any spells they chose for Multiclass Moves. It is with that in mind that I give you

Empowered Spellcasting

Replaces Commune or Prepare Spells

Instead of having to pray for spells or prepare spells, now you do that with Spell Points. You are not shoehorned into a restriction of which spells you can cast on any particular day, merely how many spell points you have. There are a few options here depending on what your GM wants to use

Eqivalent Spell Power

You get Level+1 Spell Points that you can spend as desired.

Attribute Based

You get Level+(Casting Attribute), where Casting Attribute for Clerics and Disciple (Class Warfare) based casters is +Wis, Casting Attribute for Wizards and appropriate Magician (Class Warfare) based casters is +Int, and Casting Attribute for Bards and other Magician (Class Warfare) casters is +Cha.

High Power

You get Level*Casting Attribute Spell Points.

Risks

As per normal spellcasting, there are risks associated with the amount of energy you spent to cast the spell. In this system it works differently. A badly cast spell generates a number of risk equal to its level. So a 3rd level miscast spell generates 3 points worth of effects

Variable

• Forget the Spell: Doesn't happen. You know the spells you know and that's it. You merely lose additional spell points, reducing risk by a point per Risk reduced.
• Let's Make a Deal: You are contacted by a powerful, potentially corrupting, entity. This removes all Risk Points your last failure or 7-9 generated.

1 point

• Unwanted Attention: A single Horde tagged creature appropriate to the spell or the area arrives. before your next turn.
• -1 to Cast: This lasts a number of your turns equal to the spell's Level

2 Points

• Unwanted Attention: A single Group tagged creature appropriate to the spell or the area arrives.before your next turn.
• Valuables are Damaged: When you roll Treasure, reduce the number of rolls you make by -1, or assume the value or amount of goods in a roll with a value or amount is halved.

3 Points

• Unwanted Attention: A single Solitary tagged creature appropriate to the spell or the area arrives before your next turn
• Environmental Effects: Everyone should Defy Danger for the remainder of Combat before they can make Hack and Slash attempts. If damage is to be had, the amount is either the Caster's Base Damage (possibly with added moves) or the Spell Damage, whichever is better. 

4+

Mix and Match: Choose effects from lower point value entries in combination with each other.

Backwards Compatibility

Some of the Risks are appropriate choices for 7-9 or 6- in games that don't otherwise use the rule.

Hits like a truck driver

You ever wonder about that expression? Now you know. Anywho, this is a random joke monster I thought up. It might see use in the more tech savvy areas of my campaign, but not likely.

Generating a random dungeon in DW with Tarot

This reddit post suggests you can draw tarot cards to make a dungeon, but doesn't provide much in the way of guidelines to finish it off. In Dungeon World, it could be fair to assume the same thing about dungeons that you do about treasure. That they are related to the damage dice of the enemy. Damage dice in dungeon world are very small. I don't recall seeing anything bigger than (b[2d12+9] damage, which I duplicated on the Dungeon World Codex). The average dungeon befitting a boss monster with just such damage would be 6.5+9 or 15.5. Call it 16 since it's the better of two rolls. Another example, the bandit king (b[2d10]), would be probably about a 6 room dungeon. You can toy with it too. Goblins might not have half the damage roll in dungeon rooms, and a Noble who has a Knight probably has twice the Knight's damage roll of rooms in his castle.

Gashes: An Alternate take on HP

From a redditor: 

I’m not about this stressing over games business. I think it’s completely valid to just wing it. [...]
Let’s say my immolator gets a 6. I don’t mark health points, I just tell him you’ve got a decent cut on your leg. My thing is to just make it believable. So you can’t take a ton of gashes and just be ok, but other than that, health is totally in the fiction.

So I know people like and take comfort in knowing their HP, and I told them so, but I had another redditor bring up Defy Danger. On the G+ community, there are a lot of people who don't like Deal Damage As Established as a move. And of course, this player doesn't really like HP. This got me thinking about medical states (good, fair, serious, critical, dead)

When you have have not been injured, you are in Good Condition +(CON-gashes)

If you suffer up to +CON gashes, you are in Fair condition (-1)

If you suffer up to twice +CON gashes, you are in Serious condition (-2)

Anything more is Critical condition (-3)

Endure Punishment

When you take a hit or worsen an injury through vigorous activity, roll +Condition. *On a 10+, you're fine and can continue. *On 7-9 take 1 more gash. On 6- you're out. What this means depends mostly on your Condition. At Fair you are merely unconscious. At Serious or worse, take your Last Breath.

Armor
Keep rolling damage normally. Use the damage value to find out if damage exceeds armor. If it does, a gash is scored. If it doesn't, nothing happens.

Getting Bogged Down
Wounds in real life don't really get reflected in games that have HP. If you would like for wounds to have impact, if you are Fair or worse, add +Condition to any +STR, DEX, CON or WIS rolls.

Monster Gashes
A monster can take 1 gash per 8 HP rounding down (so the Apocalypse Dragon {26 HP} can take 3 gashes if you can find a way to gash it).
A monster can deal 1 gash for every 8 average damage it can do rounded up. Add a gash for using b[2d6] or higher.

Recovery
Healing Magic
Whenever someone casts a Cure spell or uses a move like Lay On Hands, each d8 they heal counts as one condition state (e.g. healing from Critical to Serious, Serious to Fair, or Fair to Good)

Recover Move
Normally this heals you in full, but this change itself is evocative of a far grittier game, and as a result, you can say that each day using the Recover move only heals one condition state.

Drunken Debauchery, Stealing from Conan

The Drinking Contest introduces gobs of opportunity to get smashing drunk, and a rules-y way to handle it. This expands further on the drinking contests, and the aftermath. It goes beyond the Carouse move, but can often accompany it. I introduce to you (this rule is meant to be used with Abstract Coins): 

Drunken Debauchery

When you spent a night on the town, and got too smashed to remember, roll 2d6+ the number of drinks you had (if this is unclear, add your Constitution score). This isn't really hit or miss, consult the following table:

2: Behold My Grace! You boasted of your adroitness! Roll 1d6: 1–2 = Balancing on a Ledge/Beam/Rope; 3 = Bull-Leaping; 4 = Dancing; 5 = Five-Finger Fillet; 6 = Juggling Random Items.
3: Behold My Might! You boasted of your strength! Roll 1d6: 1–2 = Arm Wrestling; 3–4= Wrestling Match; 5 = Keg Tossing; 6 = Lifting Heavy Objects.
4: Behold My Stamina! You boasted of your constitution! Roll 1d6: 1–3 = Drinking Contest; 4–5 = Eating Contest; 6 = Long Distance Running / Swimming Challenge.
5: Big Business! You invested another 1 point of Wealth in a merchant’s caravan / ship venture! GM secretly rolls 1d6: 1–2 = It’s a con; 3–4 = It’s legitimate, and in 2d6 months you’ll have doubled your investment (if you’re still alive and around!); 5–6 = It’s legitimate, but the caravan / ship didn’t survive.
6: Brotherly Love! You woke up next to one of the other players’ characters (referee determines randomly)!
7: Brrr . . . Chilly! Someone stole your coat / clothes while you were intoxicated!
8: Dangerous Liaison! You bedded the son / daughter / husband / wife / temple virgin of someone who can make your life in this area very difficult! Roll 1d6: 1 = Local Crime Lord; 2 = Local Militia Commander; 3 = Local Sorcerer; 4 = Local Temple Leader; 5–6 = Important Local Leader / Noble.
9: Drunken Brawl! You started a drunken brawl! You must spend Wealth on damages and fines to avoid incarceration, or flee and be declared outlaw. Roll Wealth. If you don’t have enough wealth to pay the fine and do not flee, you will be incarcerated and your belongings will be confiscated and sold.
10: Fire! You accidentally started a fire in the inn / den of ill repute you were carousing in! You must spend an additional 1d20 × 10 gold pieces on damages and fines to avoid incarceration, or flee and be declared outlaw! Roll Wealth as #9.
11: Gambling! You gambled away your money on a game Defy Danger with +WIS (at -1 if you took a Debility for the drinking contest) vs. Wealth dropping to 0. Unlike normal Defy Danger moves, on a 12+ with this one, you gain +1 to your wealth level (if possible). Roll 1d6: 1 = Dice Game; 2 = Card Game; 3 = Cock Fight; 4 = Dog Fight; 5 = Arm / Wrestling Match; 6 = Pit Fight.
12: Go Directly to Jail! You woke up in jail charged with a crime! Roll 1d6: 1–2 = Drunken Disorderly; 3 = Lewd Conduct; 4 = Vandalism; 5 = Theft; 6 = Murder. You decide if your character did it or not. An escape may be necessary . . .
13: Have at You! You incurred someone’s anger (or were angered yourself) and have agreed to a duel, physical or sorcerous!
14: How’d I Get Here? You woke up in a strange place with no idea how you’d got there! Roll 1d6: 1 = Aboard a ship (maybe heading out to sea!); 2 = In a tree or on a roof; 3 = In the back of a wagon (maybe travelling somewhere!); 4 = In the nearest stable / animal pen; 5 = In the nearest temple; 6 = In the sewer / gutter.
15: How Embarrassing! You made a complete idiot of yourself in public! Locals snigger behind your back and consider you a complete imbecile. Roll 1d6: 1 = You emptied your bladder . . . unexpectedly; 2 = You exposed yourself; 3 = You fell flat on your face unconscious while attempting to seem intimidating / skillful / powerful; 4–5 = You performed the worst drunken song and dance . . . ever; 6 = You soiled yourself.
16: I Hereby Swear! You made a foolish pledge, loudly and in public to do something hazardous. Roll 1d6: 1–2 = Clear Nearest Monster Den / Ruin; 3–4 = Bring Down Local Bandits / Thieves / Thugs; 5–6 = Steal Valuable From Important Local (roll as in Dangerous Liaison! to determine who).
17: Just Married! You woke up to find someone claiming to be your new wife / husband! Roll 1d6: 1–2 = Attractive; 3–4 = Average; 5 = Ugly; 6 = Pass the bucket! GM also secretly rolls 1d6: 1–3 = It’s a con attempt; 4–6 = It’s true.
18: Love Never Dies! You woke up next to a corpse! Roll 1d6: 1–2 = They died of natural causes; 3–4 = They died of drug / alcohol overdose; 5 = You think you accidentally killed them; 6 = You think you murdered them. GM also secretly rolls 1d6: 1–3 = It’s a setup; 4–6 = It’s true.
19: Mooooo! You woke up next to an animal! Roll 1d6: 1 = Chicken; 2 = Cow; 3 = Goat; 4 = Horse / Camel; 5 = Pig; 6 = Sheep.
20: My Land! You gambled / spent your money and acquired the deed to something! Roll 1d6: 1-2 = Disreputable Inn; 3 = Nearest Ruin; 4 = Plot of Wildland; 5–6 = Run-Down Farm; You are eligible for either Householder, Merchant, or Shopkeeper as appropriate once any GM imposed restrictions are met.
21: My Precious! When you were passed out or otherwise engaged, someone stole your single most valuable-looking item! Track ‘em down and make ‘em pay!
22: Ooh, Shiny! You spent your money on a truly gaudy but otherwise unremarkable item. Reduce Wealth by at least 1. Roll 1d6: 1 = Armour; 2 = Garment; 3–4 = Jewellery Piece; 5 = Shield; 6 = Weapon. GM determines the item.
23: Robbed! As 21, but 1 Wealth instead.
24: Tattoo! You spent your money on a fantastic tattoo! Say what, and  roll 1d6: 1–2 = It actually is awesome; 3–4 = It’s fairly good;5 = It has an obvious flaw; 6 = It has an embarrassing flaw.
25: Unexpected Companion! You woke up next to a member of your preferred gender. Determine attractiveness as Just Married! entry.
26: Yer Mother! You seriously insulted someone who can make your life in this area very difficult. Roll to determine who as in Dangerous Liaison! entry.
27: You’re so Generous! You donated your money to a worthy institution. Roll 1d6: 1–2 = Local Poor; 3–4 = Local Temple; 5–6 = Orphanage / Urchins.
28+: Madman! Roll twice and apply both results!

A Change in Bonds

In pbp, DW and other Apocalypse World Engine games tend to die with Bonds. So the idea I randomly had is to reconstruct how Bonds work.

Firstly, there's a bit of inconsistency with the DW Core rule:

Fill in the name of one of your companions in at least one

and Class Warfare, which specifies each Archetype as having a set number of bonds.

Personally I don't really like either rule--because I don't get the logic--and there's that problem about PbP games I mentioned. So I propose the following Caveat:

• Players get bonds equal to Level+CHA (minimum 1) which they can come up with in play. (this becomes part of the Level Up move)
• Other than your Level+CHA you have no restriction on how many bonds you can spend on one subject.
• Players are not initially restricted to bonds specified for their Playbook/Class Warfare build, so long as they write their own build in a way that fits the concept. OF course in order to preserve what I assume DW intended as balance, fitting the concept is subject to the group's collective opinion.
• Players may spend bonds on the world representing events that have happened in game. (that's right, I like the idea of players being more and more connected to the world in a statistical way.)
• If it exceeds +CHA or +1 per 100 coins spent, they can use it in relevant situations.

The reason for explicitly stating you can spend any number of bonds you want on the same subject is because I've never explicitly seen it stated (though rules implied) and I've never played in a group that used more than one bond on an individual. The last bullet point is for situations that come up a lot in my game where the players saved a town from a massive horde, and they get amnesty/favors returned/wenches.

A Whole Damn Army Simplified

I have discovered a shortcut for making Group/Horde monsters into A Whole Damn Army of its own

If two questions would grant the same tag don’t worry about it. If you like you can adjust damage or HP by 2 to reflect the tag that would be repeated, but it’s not necessary.

What I'm about to tell you is strictly not RAW... but it is simple. You ready for it? Here Goes:

Take any Core example monster of Horde or Group organization sizes and add 1 instance of Uncanny Endurance (+4 HP) for every multiple of the party's number. So a party of 4-5 members fights a horde of 50 whatever as if it had 10-12 levels of Uncanny Endurance.

If they number more than 50 or so, you should probably also add Huge since a platoon is roughly 4 squads of 10. That and 50 people probably don't fit into a house. This addition is optional though.

For the purposes of Damage From Multiple Creatures, add +1 per Uncanny Endurance (equal to +1 per multiple of the party's population) rather than one per individual monster. If the party has allies that make the ratio smaller, don't increase damage as much as normal (to reflect the fact that some of the damage goes to the players' allies). So for example, in the above 10-12 levels of uncanny endurance, the party would take the full +(levels) of damage if they were the only combatants. If they had 20 allies though, the ratio is 2/5 so players would take +4 damage instead of +12.

A Whole Damn Army: Taxation and Upkeep

So I saw the following in Dungeon World

A hovel

20 coins

A cottage

500 coins

A house

2,500 coins

A mansion

50,000 coins

A keep

75,000 coins

A castle

250,000 coins

A grand castle

1,000,000 coins

A month’s upkeep

1% of the cost

Given how much I've written about A Whole Damn Army there's probably enough there to make some assumptions about what kind of fees are charged by legitimate road authorities, and The King's Tax Collectors. A good baseline is that the highest ranking feudal figure in the settlement's home determines the monthly tax based on a value roughly twice the amount of a month's upkeep (so a city supporting "A Grand Castle" has up to 20,000 coins in its coffers.) 

Resources

This article suggests that a "An orc warchief’s tribute” is reasonably 1 point of Resources." and that each extra point of resources is an order of magnitude (roughly a factor of 10). That means the Grand Castle settlement is worth ~3 Resource, the Keep or Castle settlements are worth 2, and the Mansion at 1000 coins is worth 1 Resource.

Taxation and Population

If we assume the majority of a population lives in cottages, and half of the upkeep is taxation, that amounts to a tax of 3 coins per person.  This means "A Grand Castle" needs a supporting population around 7,000 (6,666 to be more specific), a Castle needs around 900 (call it a thousand), a Keep needs 250, and a mansion 200. So...

A Village is less than 200 people

A Town could reasonably be 200-500

A Keep is probably 500-1000

A City is 1-10,000, with the largest medieval city ever being no more than a million or so (It would take less than 50,000 to make "A dragon's mound of coins")

Backstab: What I don't like about it and how I "fixed" it.

Let me just say it's not a bad move, but it has a few problems that don't really jive well with my idea of the fiction, and how I think thieves should work. Here's the default rule:

When you attack a surprised or defenseless enemy with a melee weapon, you can choose to deal your damage or roll+DEX. *On a 10+ choose two. *On a 7–9 choose one.

• You don’t get into melee with them
• You deal your damage+1d6 
• You create an advantage, +1 forward to you or an ally acting on it
• Reduce their armor by 1 until they repair it 
• Use a bit of gear for another effect that fits within the fiction

What got me even thinking about it in the first place is a player asked me [sic] "would that provide any bonus? sneaking around attacking a creature from its opposite flank? or would it be just the same as running up and punching it in its smug face?" Initially, I couldn't really answer the question, or at least didn't answer it correctly.

I said no, DW doesn't do that per se, your situational bonuses are in moves. But then I read closer "you create an advantage, +1 forward (etc)." Alright, that's all well and good, but they rightly pointed out "surprised and defenseless". So it dawned on me that the onus is upon me to determine every time whether a foe is surprised and/or defenseless, and I thought the way to do that was Defy Danger. I didn't like that.

Next there was "you can choose to deal your damage or roll +Dex", then choose 1-2 options, one of which is damage with a bonus, and a couple others have nothing to do with hitting anyone. So I  removed the redundant option, and wrote the following "replacement" move for use in my games:

Skullduggery

When you engage in tricky underhanded tactics, roll+Something*. *On a 10+ choose 3 different options. *On a 7-9 choose 2.

• You don’t get into melee with them
• You deal your damage+1d6
• You create an advantage, +1 forward to you or an ally acting on it
• Reduce their armor by 1 until they repair it(edited)

*Depends on how you describe the tactics.

It removes the need for me as a GM to define if the opponent is surprised (that can be an assumption behind "tricky underhanded tactics", but it doesn't have to be) and make the player roll Defy Danger. It doesn't force the player to strike immediately, and allows them to represent flanking or planning as appropriate with +1 forward. And finally, I prefer "choose 3/choose 2" over "choose 2/choose 1"

Is it broken? Probably, but I thought Backstab was broken in the other way (in being too narrowly defined).

A Whole Damn Army Example: The Hellfire Imperium

Taking in the rules expressed in this, that, and the other entry, my Into the Heart of the Dragon game features a nation-state called the Hellfire Imperium, and I can stat out the nation-state's Capital City, called Dis. Dis is responsible for the creation of A Whole Damn Army of Imps. We start with the base stats of Dis.

• Dis is a City

By default a city is Moderate, Steady, Guard, Market, and Guild (Iniquities). It also has Oaths with at least two other steadings (Abaddon, Sheol), usually a town and a keep. If the city has trade with at least one steading and fealty from at least one steading choose one (as a capital city, it does):

• The city has permanent defenses, like walls: +Defenses, Oath (Ikisat)

The city has one problem

• supernatural defenses: +Defenses, Blight (Is a literal Hell on Earth)

These upgrade Dis' Defenses to Battalion, thus the city has a force with these stats on hand:

A Whole Damn Battalion                                                       Horde, Huge, Organized, Intelligent,

Terrifying

Tridents and Fireballs (b[2d6+7] damage 1 piercing)                                                    24 HP 7 Armor

Reach, Forceful, Near, Far

Special Qualities: A Metric Shitload of demons!

• Shatter Their Morale! (any)
• Loose! (Archers)
• Hold the Lines! (Pikes)

Because they are practically Hell on Earth, in addition to these base defenses, they can conscript enough Lost Souls to also field the following army (who are not inexperienced, even though they are conscripted from the general population).

All the Damned Souls                                                               Horde, Huge, Cautious, Intelligent,

Terrifying

Wall of Woes (w[2d6] damage* and heal the same amount)                                         32 HP 7 Armor

Reach, Forceful, Near, Far

Special Qualities: A Metric Shitload of souls!,

• Surround them! (Infantry)
• Their souls are forfeit!

*These souls are loathe to cause any more harm than they may already have for fear they will be further punished, yet they are still willing due to their inability to escape said punishment.

If they have several days notice of an attack, they can call for another Whole Damn Army from the combined resources of Abaddon and Sheol--which would have +5 HP and an extra move--and some Dragon Riders from Ikisat.

Resources
At Moderate Prosperity with a 32 HP citizenry earning the Wages of Sin, they have coffers no larger than 250,000,000 (6 points)

At 24 HP, the Battalion has roughly 2,500,000 worth of military supplies.(4 points)

Spout Lore: The Steel King

The Steel King was once a mortal gone to the mountain of the gods to become a disciple of the dwarven god of smithing, Navanor Truestone. Around this time, the god's daughter Inebra Truestone was but a godling. The mortal attempted to woo her while under her father's tutelage, and when the father found out, the mortal was cast to the fiery underworld. The citizens of Towmyen think this has something to do with why the Blasted Wasteland is so large.

A Matter of Honor or Blood

This G+ post asked how the community would handle duels not intended to go to the death (For those you should just go with Hack and Slash). It would be easy to just have the player roll hack and slash, and call it good, and that move even states that it is for attacking a prepared enemy.

But what if you're not trying to kill them? I present to you the following:

The Duel

When you cross swords for honor, roll +STR or +DEX. *On a 10+, hold 3, on 7-9 hold 2 and the enemy gains a touch on you. You may spend hold on the following:

• Draw a small amount of blood, dealing 1 point of damage (2 hold).
• Avoid the enemy's strikes (1 hold)
• Touch the opponent without drawing blood (sometimes duels are to a certain number of touches, rather than blood)

*On a 6-, choose one of the following: 

• You took the enemy's normal damage roll, and lost the duel.
• You dealt your normal damage roll, and offend some witness for not showing restraint.

Material Sciences in Into the Heart of the Dragon

My Into the Heart of the Dragon campaign has a house rule where you can add tags to items that make them worth +50% price per added tag rather than a flat 50 gold. Some items are of a lower quality, and have modifications that make them cheaper rather than more expensive. This reduction is also -50% (usually). If an item’s price would be reduced to zero by modifiers, its price is -80% instead (minimum 1 coin).

As a natural extension of that, I've decided to make a list of qualities and materials using tags. They will vary in price based on the number of good and bad qualities they have. I know this one may not suit everyone, so don't read it if you don't want the extra detail in your campaign

Dragging a Corpse

RPG characters die or are knocked out a lot. In DW, there isn't really much in the way of unconsciousness either. At 0 HP you roll to see if you take your Last Breath. If you win, you're alive, and if you lose, you die. So what happens if part of the bargain is that you're unconscious. and your friends have to drag you to safety? What follows is copied over from here but usable by people who don't care about wench vital statistics.

Ned's Head has Weight 1 (because DW doesn't care about lbs, this is somewhat abstract). After a bit of a wiki-walk, and some Google Fu, I find that there are a number of both medical and non-medical consensus that indicate a head weighing between 4500 grams, and 6500 grams. It would not be unreasonable to assume 10-15 lbs is fair (and wt 0 items are below 5 lbs). a study in 1983 said that the head itself was about 8% of a body's weight. 8% is about 1/12th, so we can assume humans are base Weight 12. Given that, we can assume the following: 

• A dwarf is weight 12.
• An Elf is weight 10.
• A Halfling is weight 6. Though I haven't seen them, gnomes are fairly traditional in gaming, so if your game has them, a gnome is weight 5.
• An Orc is considered to be 15 weight rather than 12.
• Add +Str.
• Multiply Weight by 1d6+9 (which is a number between 10 and 15) to get lbs.

A minor note on Load
I've noticed that using a normal range of Load scores (6-12 plus +STR) would make it difficult for even the strongest party member to carry back anyone who died and any gear if using the +stat rather than the score. With that in mind, a fighter would have up to 30 Load with 18 Strength. It's actually pretty standard in a great number of RPGs for a 18 STR equivalent to have a maximum carry weight between 300 and 450 lbs. If you use +Stat instead, Fighters max out at 15 Load, which is only 150-225 lbs. Use whichever you prefer, I'm gonna use Strength SCORE+x