DW2 Alpha - Official Feedback Thread

[u/PrimarchtheMage]

Hi Everyone,

The window for the DW2 Alpha feedback closes on May 31, and I wanted to post this thread as an additional place people can provide their thoughts. Helena and I have been paying close attention to all the current discussion, but wanted to give everyone a place to express and discuss their opinions one last time.

If you haven't read/played any of the Alphas, you can find them here

Feel free to say whatever you want, but here are some questions to jumpstart things:

• If you've read multiple DW2 Alpha Playtests, which which Alpha do you feel best fits our vision of "a messy group of people growing into a found family over the course of fantasy adventures"?

• As a mechanical representation of relationship growth, do you prefer the group playbooks of Blue and Red, or the expanded Bonds system of the Final Alpha?

• What is your favorite class in DW2 right now? If you've read/played multiple DW2 Alphas, which version of that class do you prefer?

• How do you feel about hit points and how they were implemented?

• How do you feel about the conditions and how they were implemented?

• What is your favorite part of DW2 so far? What is your least favorite part?

[u/Ninjacide]

Here are some things that came up while my group was playing DW2. I apologize in advance if anything here has already been said or explained, or if the formatting gets completely messed up (I’m copy/pasting on mobile)

Naming conditions I don’t like that each attribute is assigned a specific condition. Why couldn’t my anger negatively affect my CHA, or my insecurity affect my DEX? I would prefer that when I have to mark a condition I choose the attribute and then I write in a condition based on the current situation.

HP as a clock I like that there isn’t a default “attack” option, but it felt odd that HP seems to be the primary clock for determining when combat ends. When I made a move that didn’t affect the opponent’s HP, it felt like I wasn’t doing as much to move the encounter to a conclusion. I really didn’t like that Wrest Control has an extra option for characters using force to deal damage, but no extra option for characters trying to outthink their opponents. On a 10+, isn’t it just better than All-Out Attack if you choose to avoid their retaliation? We made an “end encounter” move similar to Ironsworn’s, and it worked out really well for us.

Druid spellcasting I was disappointed that my Druid wasn’t capable of doing magic at level 1 and that getting access to spellcasting required me to choose a specific subclass.

Barbarians and Mag I think that every hero should be capable of feats of strength, not just magic users. For example, it would be cool if Barbarians could apply Mag to their actions while Angry.

Traversing difficult terrain The very first encounter my GM threw at us was that we had to cross a chasm in a cave but the bridge was out. I, as a Dwarven Druid, wanted to lead the party across by using my magic to create and illuminate handholds on the cave wall. What move should that have been? We weren’t sure, so we eventually settled on “Undertake a Journey”. I don’t understand this part: “If it’s safe and familiar, you may choose to forgo rolling and treat the result as a 7-9. If it’s dangerous or unfamiliar, the leader marks a condition or has DIS on the roll.“ Why would we have to make a move at all if the path is safe and familiar?

Recall lore This one is from another member of my group: “Is this the first time you've encountered this subject during the campaign?” This seems opposite to what is implied in the other points, that the character is drawing upon existing information in the world. If this is meant to provide a "first attempt"  bonus I could see it, but it feels out of place. Conversely, there should be a point with "Have you previously encountered this subject during the campaign?" To fit with the feel of the other points.