[Perilous] Procedure for Resting in Wilderness/Dungeon

edited October 2012 in Game Design Help
Hey guys,

I'm working a D&D-esque game that smashes together all of my favorite rules from a bunch of different games into what I like to call a Fantasy Frankenstein. The primary body parts being sewn together are from D&D, World of Dungeons (Streets of Marienburg), and Old School Hack, with a little TSOY and Fiasco thrown in for good measure.

Inspired by Dungeon World's Perilous Journey procedure, I'm toying with the idea of specific procedures for common actions taken during adventuring. Here's one I'm brainstorming. Let me know how it tastes or if you spot any problems.

When you Hunker Down to rest in the wilderness or in the bowels of a dungeon, first you Make Camp, then you Break Bread, then you Take Watch. After you’ve Taken Watch, you must wait at least twelve hours before attempting to hunker down and rest again

When you Make Camp, designate someone to make a Wisdom (Survival) roll.
- On a Full Success, get +2 to the Take Watch roll.
- On a Partial Success or a Fumble, get +1.
- On a Failure, get -2.

When you Break Bread, if you have any rations, you can consume one to be eligible to Heal Up and Level Up. This is also an opportunity for role-playing your Catalysts and Connections. After any role-playing is concluded, consider each of your Catalysts and decide if each of them is still relevant to your character and interesting to you. If you want to, you can drop a Catalyst and replace it with a new one that makes sense for your character. Likewise, consider each of your Connections and discuss with the other player if the Connection still makes sense. You can drop, add, or change Connections as you see fit.

When you Take Watch, designate someone to make a Wisdom (Awareness) roll.
- On a Full Success, you avoid detection and get some much needed rest. Everyone that consumed a ration can Level Up and Heal Up.
- On a Partial Success, you avoid detection but your rest is troubled. Everyone can Level Up and Heal Up, but your Heal Up die is a d4 instead of the normal d8.
- On a Failure, your rest is cut short by an interruption and you fail to see it coming. You can’t Level Up or Heal Up.
- On a Fumble, your rest is cut short an interruption, but your watchman spots the threat before it gets the drop on you. You still can’t Level Up or Heal Up though.

When you Heal Up, roll 1d8+Constitution and heal that many HP. If your rest was troubled, roll 1d4+Constitution instead. If someone in the group has the Treatment Skill, add that character’s Level to your roll.

When you Level Up, if you have enough XP to do so, you get to increase your level and upgrade your character’s abilities per the Level Up chart.

When you rest in a safe place with a warm bed and a meal, you can Break Bread, Heal Up, and Level Up no problem.


  • Why is a fumble better than a regular failure?
  • edited October 2012
    That's an element from Streets of Marienburg/World of Dungeons. When you have a Skill, you can't Fail - you Fumble instead, which is like a Partial Success but with worse consequences. An Unskilled person will Fail, while a Skilled person will Fumble instead. So if you have the Awareness Skill, you'll at least spot the threat before it has a chance to ambush your group. Maybe Fumble should go up in order in the list so it's clear that a Failure is the worst outcome? Or maybe just having that explanation before hand makes it less confusing? Or maybe a different term would make it less confusing?

    Great. Thanks UserClone. Now if you search that hash tag on SG this thread is the only thread that comes up. That doesn't have any negative implications or anything. XD
  • OH. now I get it. That makes sense now. Except for the part where that's called a fumble. And yes, that would have made more sense with the explanation. Sorry for the hashtag! :P
  • I couldn't think of a better term than "Fumble". If used in the football sense, then Fumbling seems like just about the worst thing you can do. If used in a "I fumbled around with it" sense, then it seems to make a little more sense.
  • edited October 2012
    Why not just change the term? Kill that sacred yak before it befuddles anyone else!

    How about "Managed" as in "you manage to do it"...?

    Hmm... the real problem is that you have Full and Partial Success, then (skilled) Manage (which also sounds like a form of mild success), then (unskilled) Failure. And Manage and Failure are the same "range" on the roll-outcome list.

    How about:
    Great Result
    Good Result

    Tricky semantics problem, actually....

  • edited October 2012
    Yeah, that one's been bouncing around in my head too. The original intent was to discourage resting over and over again in a dangerous location. But I agree that it's kind of tacked on there as an arbitrary restriction.

    Ultimately, I want to make Hunker Down risky enough to discourage people from saying things like "Why pay for an inn when I can just sleep in the woods?" or "Let's just keep resting in this dungeon till we're all healed up." or "Okay, we fought two goblins - rest - then we dealt with that trap - rest - then we fought some more goblins - rest" (i.e., "The Five Minute Work Day"). Those situations to me are boring and unheroic.

    Do you think with the inherent chance that your attempt to rest and heal could be interrupted, coupled with requirement to consume an expendable item like a ration, discourages this type of gameplay sufficiently?
  • edited October 2012

    How about:
    Great Result
    Good Result

    Tricky semantics problem, actually....
    Very true. Fumble is actually a decent term once it's been explained, but I agree there's room for Improvement. How about:

    Full Success
    Partial Success
    Troubled Success

    EDIT: Well, a partial success is supposed to have trouble associated with it as well. So again, semantics.
  • That sort of depends on how likely the different gradations of success/failure are.
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