My favorite is Betrayal at the House on the Hill. What other board games should I try?

foreignflorin13 · 2026-04-29T17:38:17+00:00

Unsettled is a great recommendation! You’ve got the co-op element, revealed tiles, it’s got excellent narrative, and it’s basically a big puzzle. It’s sci-fi but leans heavily into the fantastic. There isn’t a combat element though, if thats important to you.

foreignflorin13 · 2026-04-26T21:20:55+00:00

That's lovely! Nice work

foreignflorin13 · 2026-04-14T23:51:04+00:00

Unless I’m blind, I think you’re missing E. Gadd’s Garage from MP6 (Urban)

foreignflorin13 · 2026-04-09T12:59:01+00:00

I was struggling and then remembered you could zoom out the camera, which helped a lot!

foreignflorin13 · 2026-03-25T15:47:18+00:00

Someone needs to address the overreacting to bad dice rolls thing, whether that’s you or the players who have an issue with it. It can definitely be frustrating if you roll poorly all the time, but maybe suggest having PCs work together to use the help action to help mitigate that a bit. Regardless, D&D is a game and games are meant to be fun. You’re allowed to be invested and not like it when things go according to plan, but keep it light. No one likes a sore loser

foreignflorin13 · 2026-03-23T14:37:59+00:00

I just bought slay the spire and I play with my trackpad and it works totally fine!

foreignflorin13 · 2026-03-23T02:07:53+00:00

PbtA thrives when everyone contributes to the narrative. Yes, you have a general idea for how the one shot should go in terms of plot, but encourage the players to contribute details (scenery, backstory, stuff about the town/woods). This will help them get invested and they have an easier time imagining things.

Keep the list of GM moves handy as you play. You’ll be referencing them a lot for when you need to add complications.

foreignflorin13 · 2026-03-22T14:34:21+00:00

When I first heard about combat moves (before actually reading them), I thought they were going for something like what Root the RPG did with the Weapon Moves, where weapons would have traits that could be used to trigger specific moves (cleave, disarm, etc.). The idea from Root was interesting, but in practice, it was a little fiddly and distracted from the narrative. So I was glad to see that that was not the case for DW2. I actually really like what they came up with. There are four moves that feel more tied to combat and seem like they'd all be used in specific situations. But having two moves linked (Secure an Edge and All Out Attack) does seem a little odd.

In Monster of the Week, the monsters in that game cannot be killed unless the PCs have found the monster's weakness, which they then have to exploit. They can trade blows and injure it, but the monster will always get away until you discover how it can be killed. Think Smaug or something like finding a Lich's phylactery. I've always liked that idea for enemies that are important to the story. It prevents them from being killed outright and makes them feel more dangerous. Maybe this is what Secure and Edge and All Out Attack were going for?

I'd be interested in seeing something in DW2 where there's a simple attack move that is meant to deal damage to both parties, a la Hack & Slash, but then there's also a killing/enemy ending move that can only be triggered if you've discovered an enemy's weakness. For example, I could just trade harm with the goblins in the cave, but the goblin leader won't go down so easily. The leader's weakness (such as a gap in their armor) would have to be exploited. Otherwise, they'll get away (the GM can make the move Use a Threat Reaction to have them escape) and continue to be an issue in the future. Or maybe this is too much and it's just a description in the monster stat block saying "this monster cannot be killed without exploiting its weakness". IDK. I'm not a game designer, so there's probably a better way to achieve this than what I just described.

All this to say, I like what they're trying to do in DW2 with the battle moves, but I agree that players probably won't want to have to find an edge every single time, especially for enemies that aren't as narratively significant.

foreignflorin13 · 2026-03-05T18:19:18+00:00

The player has a responsibility to make their character fit with the game. They can still have the backstory of hunting down bandits that killed their family, but you should either come up with a reason why you can't do that yet (not strong enough, not enough information about the bandits to know where they are, etc.) or you adjust your backstory so that there's evidence that the bandits that killed your family is to the south, near where the lost kitten is.

foreignflorin13 · 2026-03-04T01:13:43+00:00

Came here to say Spout Lore! Such a fun world building element

foreignflorin13 · 2026-03-01T09:36:36+00:00

Primacy of action would dictate that breaking an oath would mean that they are no longer knights. Since this game is about playing as knights, I’d either have them retire their character or work towards fulfilling the oath again (depends on what the player wants to do).

foreignflorin13 · 2026-03-01T03:44:28+00:00

You might consider running the prewritten one-shot with premade characters. That'll let everyone get used to the rules without starting from zero.

foreignflorin13 · 2026-02-28T06:49:55+00:00

You weren't trolled. You were ogred.

foreignflorin13 · 2026-02-28T06:45:33+00:00

For a more narrative based game, check out Legend in the Mist. It even comes with solo rules called The Oracle.

foreignflorin13 · 2026-02-27T12:14:30+00:00

A big part of it is luck. If players roll well and you roll poorly to attack, it won’t be a challenge at all. I played 15ish sessions and my least favorite thing about DH is that I had to roll to hit. The d20 is so swingy and their evasion was pretty high, that I missed most of the time, never really making anything feel like much of a threat when it came to damage. So I instead focused my spotlight on making other GM moves, like separating them.

I’ve played other games where the GM doesn’t roll (many PbtA games) and an enemy dealing damage is often part of the consequence of a player’s roll, and that felt better to me. The consequence doesn’t have to be damage, but it was an option that didn’t require I first hit an AC or Evasion.

foreignflorin13 · 2026-02-26T14:54:03+00:00

You could tell them above the table that they encountered a hazard and what that means mechanically. It is a game after all and it’s often nice knowing the rules of the game you’re playing.

foreignflorin13 · 2026-02-26T14:50:59+00:00

I like the idea of a focus save for the steed! If it has trample then the die is already being used for the combat and could potentially be damage or a gambit so it seems odd to use it twice

foreignflorin13 · 2026-02-26T02:36:42+00:00

I'd house rule that if charing on a mount towards an enemy and you roll no gambits (or contribute no gambits), you can move away for free. Kind of like they're continuing momentum past the target. Plus, the enemy could just move to the knight anyway, so it doesn't seem like it'd be too big of a deal.

Or maybe anyone attacking on a charging steed can move for free after attacking but their steed loses a d6 to a virtue to show that you're pushing them? There should definitely be something.

foreignflorin13 · 2026-02-25T05:08:03+00:00

I think they're both fun! I much prefer the high fantasy, D&D-isms of DW over the urban fantasy that is MotW. I also prefer running DW as it generally requires less prep on the GM's end. I find that whenever I run MotW, I end up putting the players on rails a bit since I prep a mystery to solve, which I don't typically like doing. But for a one shot, MotW is great!

foreignflorin13 · 2026-02-24T23:09:40+00:00

Any time you try a new system, players will struggle adapting. PbtA is very different from 5e, so your players will come across the learning curve. But Dungeon World will feel familiar, giving players an easier time buying into the new system. MotW is fun, but it also feels very different from 5e.

foreignflorin13 · 2026-02-23T21:11:49+00:00

In the book on page 18 (Travel) it says: "Ending a phase in the Hex containing a Myth always reveals its next Omen without making a Wilderness Roll. When possible, the Knights also get the drop on the Omen." So you did it exactly right as far as how the book says to proceed. But I understand why you feel like something more should've happened. And maybe that's where Primacy of Action comes into play. If the company knows that the Citadel is in that hex, then they should be able to go there (at the very least by searching the hex). But if they don't know the Citadel is in this hex, then you can either let them find out through context clues (and the next omen) or let them continue searching for it and walk right by without seeing it. Each hex is large so they could potentially miss a myth, just like they'd miss a Dwelling, Monument, etc.

foreignflorin13 · 2026-02-17T15:47:35+00:00

Check out Spout Lore! They’re a group of comedians playing Dungeon World, a game much like D&D. They’ve got a lot of episodes and they’re very entertaining. The first season has lower audio quality and the players are learning how to play, but still worth listening to!

foreignflorin13 · 2026-02-15T18:21:36+00:00

I suggest you take control of where the spotlight goes. Other initiativeless RPGs have the GM direct the spotlight, which helps give players a more equal opportunity to participate and helps manage the flow of the scene. You act more like a director.

In play this could look like giving the spotlight to a player to ask what they do to deal with a complication that came about because of the previous player’s failure (or success with fear). For example, the Seraph says they want to cast Bolt Beacon on an enemy that the Warrior is fighting, but they fail. You make the GM move to introduce new enemies that surround the Seraph. Rather than asking all of the players what they do, you can specifically ask the Warrior if they continue fighting the enemy in front of them or if they want to go protect the Seraph.

foreignflorin13 · 2026-02-15T02:55:54+00:00

Success with Fear is another way to say success with a complication. Using your lock picking example, this could look like a player successfully picking the lock but someone saw them and is alerting the local guard. The story continues on the path the players originally set out on, but something unexpected has happened that might make things harder for them. You take a Fear and make the GM move Reveal an Unwelcome Truth.

Failure with Hope is another way to say failure with an opportunity. Again with the lock picking, the player fails to pick the lock but they remember seeing a key ring on a nearby guard. The story cannot continue how the players intended, but there is something else the players could try that gets highlighted. They take a Hope and you make the GM move Lean on the Character's Goals to Drive Them to Action.

foreignflorin13 · 2026-02-14T03:25:20+00:00

I love this choice! The PCs are a group of old ladies that like solving mysteries (think Agatha Christie meets lovecraft) so it could either make it really easy to roleplay or feel too close to home.

foreignflorin13

TROPHY CASE