Splatbook*

Get feedback

Ask others for feedback. Share your move online, with other Stonetop players and GMs. Share it with your players, too (unless you want it to be a surprise).

Call out specific areas where you'd like input, but be open to any feedback you get. You need not take the advice of strangers on the internet, but at least consider whether they have a point.

Remember: you can revise your move once you see it in play. Even a move that you use only once can be clarified in play. Your move doesn't need to be perfect before you use it.

If you're creating something to publish or share with other groups—like a playbook, arcanum, or supplement—then seek feedback widely and playtest the moves as much as you can. Adjust them based on how they actually perform in play.

I frame a scene in my mind: the Great Wood at night, the party encamped near a waystone. They've been here for hours, waiting for moonrise. It's time! They get a little solemn as Blodwen passes out the shrooms. They trigger my move!

I haven't really accounted for Rhianna's crew, but do I need to? Order Followers will have Rhianna roll the move for them. They're a group, so they'll roll just once and we'll apply the results to specific individuals. That works, I'm good.

I imagine we'll go around asking who's taken shrooms before, to see who rolls with advantage. That'll be fun.

The players will each roll +WIS. Someone (let's say Blodwen) would get a 10+. "You experience a profound sense of connectedness to your companions and the world." Which is… boring, actually! Reviewing my goals, I planned for this move to explore the PCs' emotions and relationships. Without it, I'd use Keep Company to do just that. So, I revise the 10+ result to have them ask each other (and the world) a meaningful question.

I imagine Rhianna rolling a 7-9. Hmm. She'd probably pick "It's a bad trip, and you're kind of freaking out," which I realize overlaps with marking dazed*. And I could use that "bad trip" choice to explore some darker emotions.*

Let's say Caradoc gets a 6-. He'd draw unwanted attention from the spirit realm, mark a debility, and have a bad trip. So: he'd see the shadowy presence in his mind's eye, it would see him back, and he'd be left shaken by it. Cool!

Then I imagine Vahid getting a 6- and picking "bad trip" and "not really feeling it." He'd maybe draw the ire of some spiteful nature spirits, and freak out, and… need a bigger dose? That doesn't feel right. And it'd lead to just rerolling, and maybe picking the same thing. No, the "not feeling it" option has to go.

I think a bit and rewrite the move. As I do, I simplify the trigger—it didn't need to be so specific after all! I also run it by a player and incorporate some of their feedback. I end up with this:

When you take shrooms in the Great Wood, roll +WIS. If you've taken them before, you have advantage. On a 10+, ask one of these to one other player, and one to the GM who will answer for the world at large:

  • What do you love most about me?
  • What saddens you about me?
  • What is your dearest hope for me?

On a 7-9, pick 1; on a 6-, all 3:

  • Mark a debility
  • Guilt and shame boil up within you; describe the vision/memory that comes with them
  • You draw unwanted attention from the spirit world

Regardless, you're hallucinating now, and your eyes are open to the spirit world and the Fae paths. Have fun!

I run through all the combinations again and they all feel good. I consider posting it online for feedback, but the game starts in an hour. This is good enough!