GODWROT

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GODWROT is a narrative game of grubby fantasy inspired by Warhammer, Terry Pratchett and the British old-school. It is based on Skeleton World by Patrick Barry, Dungeon World and the Powered by the Apocalypse World engine by D. Vincent Baker and Meguey Baker. With thanks to Morgan and Kat Rebelo for their conscientious playtesting and generous feedback.

Protagonists

In GODWROT you play as protagonists, individuals of dubious morality who are in over their heads. To create a protagonist in GODWROT follow these steps:

1. Assign stats.
2. Set harm at 4 + Strength + Will.
3. Choose a flaw.
4. Choose your career move.
5. Pick 2 protagonist moves.

Stats

Assign the following numbers to each of your stats: +2, +1, +1, 0, -1. The stats for GODWROT are:

• Agility: reflexive or graceful.
• Cunning: inquisitive or exploratory.
• Strength: aggressive or forceful.
• Wits: calculating or methodical.
• Will: persuasive or assertive.

Flaws

All protagonists in GODWROT are broken in some way. Flaws You can come up with your own flaws, but some care should be taken. Unplayable flaws that discourage roleplaying (like Shy), or risk conflict between players (such as Kleptomania) should be avoided. Flaws as temporary conditions (such as Drunk) should also be avoided. represent this and determine when you can take fate points. Choose a flaw from the list below and record it on your protagonist sheet:

• Bolshy
• Bumbling
• Cowardly
• Devious
• Drunkard
• Fanatical
• Greedy
• Gruff
• Reckless
• Treacherous
• Wicked

Career Moves

A career move determines what your protagonist did before they were drawn into dire events. Career moves follow this format:

[Background] [Career]: When you do something related to your background or career, add +1.

Your background indicates the dubious circumstances of your birth. For example, you could be a humble halfling or a street urchin. A career is some kind of profession suitable for a protagonist, such as burglar or itinerant monk.

For example:

Halfling Herbalist: When you do something related to your background as a halfling or your career as a herbalist, add +1.

Protagonist Moves

Protagonist moves are custom moves that set your protagonist apart from the others. When you make your protagonist, pick two options from the below. Fill in the blanks and give the new move a name:

• When you do something related to [speciality], add +1.
• When you do something related to [speciality], roll for a bonus.
• When you do something related to [speciality], gain hold. Spend hold for a bonus.
• You have the ability to [active power]. It counts as base move using [stat]
• You have [passive power with constant effect].
• You have a [thing]. When applicable it adds two bonuses.

Rules

The game is a conversation. Somebody says something, someone else replies, and maybe someone else chimes in. Players talk about the fiction—the world of the characters and the things that happen around them. As they play, the rules will chime in, too. Players take turns in the natural flow of the conversation, which always has some back-and-forth. The mod says something, the players respond. The players ask questions or make statements, the mod tells them what happens next.

Moves

Every so often, when a player describes their protagonist doing, it triggers a move. Moves are rules that tell you when they trigger and what effect they have. A move depends on a fictional action and always has some fictional effect. Follow the moves' description to see what you need to do and what happens.

Rolling

Some moves will tell you to make a roll. Roll 2d6 and add any modifiers and/or stats that apply. A roll fails on a 6-. Failure means the mod makes a hard move.

Bonuses

Some moves...

…Say “take +1 forward.” That means to take +1 to your next move roll (not damage). The bonus can be greater than +1, or even a penalty, like -1. There also might be a condition, such as “take +1 forward to hack and slash,” in which case the bonus applies only to the next time you roll hack and slash, not any other move.

…Say “take +1 ongoing.” That means to take +1 to all move rolls (not damage). The bonus can be larger than +1, or it can be a penalty, like -1. There also might be a condition, such as “take +1 ongoing to volley.” An ongoing bonus also says what causes it to end, like “until you dismiss the spell” or “until you atone to your deity.”

…Give you “hold.” Hold is currency that allows you to make some choices later on by spending the hold as the move describes. Hold is always saved up for the move that generated it; you can’t spend your hold from defend on trap expert or vice versa, for example.

Harm

Harm is a measure of how much physical and mental stress a character has taken. When you're asked to deal harm, reduce the character's harm by -1 or -2, depending on the severity of the fictional damage. An average NPC has 2 harm, while stronger characters can have 3 to 4 harm.

When a character looses all harm they are taken out and leave the game somehow, perhaps simply dying or perhaps running off into the darkness in abject fear, or something else altogether. For protagonists, the player gets to decide what happens to their character. For NPCs, the mod decides what happens, usually something short for average NPCs.

Fate points

When you succeed on a move related to your flaw you can choose to fail and take a fate point Rules-wise, fate points are something of a hard bargain: you decide to fail a roll now so that you can succeed on another roll later. They are key to the see-saw mechanic of self-sabotage and unlikely luck that is core to the fiction of GODWROT. instead. When you do so, you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, allowing your flaw to overcome your virtue. Devise a suitable hard move with the mod.

Fate points can be spent to accidentally succeed on any failed roll as though you had rolled a 7-9. Describe how fortune intervenes and allows you to succeed despite your failings. As always, make it grubby.

For example:

Gregori succeeds on an attack move on a roll of 11. This move is related to his flaw, Reckless. He decides to fail the attack move and take a fate point instead.

Gregori's player describes him swinging hard and missing, falling off balance. The mod turns Gregori's move back on him, noting that his broadsword hits the wall instead and gets stuck. Gregori struggles to free it whilst his opponent closes in...

Later, Gregori is fighting Marcus, the Bandit King. It's an important fight but he fails an attack move at a crucial moment. Deciding to spend a fate point, he somehow succeeds instead. His player describes his stroke of luck, saying "as I blindly attack, my broadsword swings wild, missing Marcus' head and instead slamming into a line of rope tying up a crate." The mod determines the crate slams into Marcus' head, blood and brains splattering everywhere.

Basic Moves

Take Action

When you attempt to do something risky or uncertain, roll a stat. The mod lets you know which of your stats you roll with. On a 10+, you do what you set out to do. The mod may offer a bonus. On a 7–9, you stumble, hesitate, or flinch: the mod will offer you a worse outcome, hard bargain or ugly choice.

Moderation

The moderator (or mod) is responsible for running the game.

Agendas

Agendas are the reason you play GODWROT. They include:

• Make it grubby.
• Keep the protagonists off balance.
• Play to find out.

Grubby

GODWROT is about grubby fantasy, a sub-genre of low fantasy that is unique to the British old-school. To be grubby is to be farcical, bawdy, pessimistic, grotesque, bolshy and satirical. Revel in these themes, shamelessly.

Principles

The principles are things you should seek to do whenever you speak, in the game.

When you prepare the game:

• Create interesting dilemmas, not interesting plots.
• Create open-ended encounters, not scenes.

When you portray the world:

• Sprinkle grubby and convoluted details everywhere.
• Make the world seem real through (pseudo-)historicism.
• Name everyone, make everyone human.

When you run the game:

• Think offscreen, too.
• Respond with challenging circumstances and occasional rewards.
• Make the lives of the protagonists miserable.
• But also be a fan of the protagonists.
• Draw the protagonists into mystery.
• Taint everything with corruption.

When you speak:

• Address the protagonists, not the players.
• Make your move, but never speak its name.
• Ask provocative questions and build on the answers.
• Sometimes, reflect a question back upon the players.

Mod Moves

Mods can make their own moves:

• When everyone looks to you to find out what happens make a soft move.
• When the players give you a golden opportunity make a soft move.
• When they roll a 6- make a had move.

A soft move is one without immediate, irrevocable consequences. That usually means it’s something not all that bad, like revealing that there’s more treasure if they can just find a way past the golem (offer an opportunity with cost). It can also mean that it’s something bad, but they have time to avoid it, like having the goblin archers loose their arrows (announce future badness) with a chance for them to dodge out of danger.

Hard move, on the other hand, have immediate consequences. Dealing damage is almost always a hard move, since it means a loss of harm that won’t be recovered without some action from the players.

Generally when the players are just looking at you to find out what happens you make a soft move. Otherwise you make a hard move.

The mod moves are:

• Separate them.
• Put them together.
• Introduce a high-stakes situation.
• Deal harm.
• Trade harm for harm.
• Announce offscreen badness.
• Announce future badness.
• Take away one of their things.
• Demonstrate one of their things' bad sides.
• Give them a difficult decision to make.
• Tell them the possible consequences and ask.
• Turn their move back on them.
• Reveal a mystery that obscures.
• Introduce corruption to obstruct.