The Rogue: Shadows and Secrets

The appeal of the rogue has always stood out for me among TTRPG archetypes. They don't have magical powers, oversized weaponry, or miraculous healing to rely on. They only have their wits and skills, sharpened to a knife's edge, upon which they constantly balance. Instead of a power fantasy, where you can win in a fair fight, the rogue instead provides a competency fantasy, where it was never a fair fight to begin with.

How this kind of fantasy plays out varies hugely in different systems. Sometimes the rogue is a skill monkey, with a dozen powerful skills to help the group during a session. Sometimes they're a glass cannon, dealing extreme damage in a fight as long as they're set up with an advantage or assistance, and they aren't being hit back. Sometimes they’re an acrobatic duelist, holding the front lines with rapid strikes and nimble dodges.

The rogue embodies such a huge variety of different things across fantasy, so we've done our best to capture that versatility in Dungeon World 2. As we've continued to refine the game, we've made some changes to terms, moves, and more, some of which you'll see below.

Origins

You dance among shadows and rooftops, wielding guile and wit as deftly as your knife. Let the wealthy fear your name within their locked manors. Let their bumbling minions blindly search for you. You’ve already come, gone, taken what you wanted, and moved on to the next mark. After all, there’s so much wealth in this world just waiting to be claimed.

Ancestry: What do you look like? How does your ancestry affect your biology, behavior, and communication? In what ways does your ancestry help and hinder your tricks of the trade?

Culture: Were you raised around criminals? How harshly does your culture punish crimes? Do certain kinds of crimes merit leniency? Are you a criminal in their eyes?

Background: How was your life before adventuring? What hidden talent have you been unable to pursue? Have you ever been caught or punished?

Backstory

At character creation, mark one Facet of your backstory and answer its associated questions:

☐ A friend or family member frequently gets into trouble and needs your help. Is it bad luck or poor choices? How much do they take you for granted? Resolve this by changing them or abandoning them forever.

☐ You're one of the few survivors of a terrible tragedy that claimed most people close to you. What happened? Do you know anyone else who survived? Resolve this by finding answers, then either revenge or restoration.

☐ You've found the trail to a legendary treasure. What makes this treasure so important? Who else is after it? Resolve this by finding the treasure or destroying all evidence of it.

The three backgrounds here indicate three rogueish archetypes - a secret heart of gold, a sympathetically dark past, or a dangerously ambitious goal. There are far more types of rogues than these, which is why you can choose from other Class's Backstories, if none of these feel right.

Feature: Tricks of the Trade

The useful and dangerous skills of the underworld. You’re an expert in two of these at the start of play; mark them now. As you Level Up you might discover some more unusual Tricks.
☐ Acrobatics — climb things, do flips, fit into tight spaces
☐ Dungeoneering — disarm mechanisms, discover secret doors, find traps
☐ Legerdemain — cheat, distract, pick pockets, plant items
☐ Lockpicking — quickly open mundane locks
☐ Spycraft — disguise, encrypt, forge fakes, impersonate

There are noticeably fewer choices here than the other Classes. That's because some of the more unusual tricks are waiting until you reach a higher level.

Starting Moves

Wanted Criminal
Someone is pursuing you like a relentless hound for your past crimes, actual or imagined. You start with 0 Heat. The GM may increase your Heat as a consequence of another move. When your Heat becomes 5, your pursuer is about to find you; the GM will decide when and how they appear. After they have been defeated, escaped from, bargained with, etc., reset your Heat to 0.

When you Push Yourself or Assist a Companion, you may mark 1 Heat instead of its normal cost.

When you Enjoy an Interlude with 4 or less Heat, you may spend 1 Wealth to cover your tracks, reducing your Heat back to 0.

With this move, the Rogue can reliably support their allies without spending Kinship.

Enjoy an Interlude is a new move we've added since our earlier blog post. Instead of spending Wealth while resting, you do it while in town for a variety of benefits. We'll see how it feels during playtesting.

Play a Trick
When you undertake a trick you’re an expert in, roll+Sly. *On a 10+ you accomplish it without a hassle. *On a 7-9 you accomplish it but choose one below:
- Something of yours is used up, broken, or left behind
- You encounter an additional obstacle, complication, or twist
- Your pursuer finds a lead later; mark 1 Heat

A fairly straightforward move for the variety of tricks you might pull with them. Tricks don't overlap too much with the core moves, but they can often be used to set each other up. You might first disguise yourself as a baron in order to Sway another member of nobility, or first unlock a manor's side door then Skulk its guards.

Also yes, we've renamed Slippery to Sly.

Cloak and Dagger
When you Skulk, you can mark 1 Heat to roll with ᴀᴅᴠ.

Another straightforward move. We already have a solid move for sneaking, and the Rogue is likely to be good at Sly anyways, so giving them an extra optional way to boost the existing move feels like our best bet right now.

Starting Equipment

Gear
Choose one from each line (or write your own with the GM’s permission):
- hand crossbow, jagged dagger, padded cudgel
- dark cloak, fashionable suit, forgettable face and attire
- many knives, smoke bombs, sentimental jewelry

Supplies
You start with Adventuring Supplies and Thieving Supplies.
You also start with either [ ] Navigation Supplies or [ ] Poisonous Supplies.

Advancements

When you Level Up, choose one of the following:
☐☐ Gain an Advanced Move from your Class
☐ Multiclass - Gain an Advanced Move from another Class
☐☐ +1 to any Stat (max. +2)
☐ +1 to two different Defiances
☐ Change to a new Class, then gain another Advancement
☐ Acquire a magic cloak, disguise, or tool
☐ Unlock another type of Supplies
☐ Specialize in another Trick
☐ Mark another Facet of your backstory

After you've marked 5 above, you can also choose from the following list:
☐☐☐ Gain an Advanced Move from your Class
☐☐ Multiclass - Gain an Advanced Move from another Class
☐ +1 to any Stat (max. +2)
☐ +1 to any Stat (max. +3)
☐ Acquire an artifact cloak, disguise, or tool
☐☐ Specialize in another trick. Add the following list to your options:
- Arcane Trickery — Learn either the [ ] Enchantment or [ ] Illusion School from The Wizard Feature. Instead of Playing this Trick, you can Cast Spells as per The Wizard Starting Move, but you roll +Sly (instead of +Astute).
- Tinkering — create bombs, dissolving acids, hook launchers, payload arrows
- Shadowcraft — manipulate shadows, shadow blades & weapons, step between shadows

☐ Mastermind. When you say a terrible situation is still somehow going “according to plan”, create a significant positive twist (an enemy on your side, hidden reinforcements, smuggled equipment, a trap, etc.). You’re still in some trouble, but not nearly as much as it seemed. Then you can’t use this move again until you’ve gained a new Advancement.

Advanced Moves

Like all advanced moves, we wanted these to fit the Rogue thematically but not be shackled to it mechanically, so other Classes can take them without issue. A couple of these moves mention Heat, but still work perfectly well if you can't choose that option because you can always use Kinship instead.

Danger Sense
When you Resist a trap or ambush the first time each scene, it doesn't cost Resistance.

Scavenger
When you start the session, gain 1 Supply, or mark 1 Heat (or spend 1 Kinship) to gain 2 Supply.

Dirty Fighting
When you Engage a Threat with Advantage, you can roll+Sly instead of +Forceful.

Our Rogue's equivalent of Sneak Attack, this move was taken from The Fighter's Versatile Fighting and slightly tweaked. The Fighter has since received a new Advanced Move to replace it.

Treasure Hunter
When you Examine, no matter the outcome of the roll you may also ask, “Are there valuables here I don’t know about?." If yes, gain ᴀᴅᴠ on the next roll to pursue them.

Underworld Connections
When you put the word out about wanting something (items, information, access to a place or person, etc.), roll+Sly. No matter the result, someone you know finds a lead.*On a 10+, choose one. *On a 7-9+, choose two:
- Someone else heard about it; mark 1 Heat or spend 1 Kinship
- Instead of the thing itself, you get a prime opportunity. Act on it to get the thing you want
- You owe them a steep debt. Until you repay them you get ᴅɪs on this move and can’t choose this option again

*On a 6- the lead might be a fake, a trap, or already be claimed by someone else.

Vanishing Act
When you are sure no one is paying direct attention to you, you can disappear from a scene entirely, not rejoining the narrative until the scene ends. If you’re in trouble or a bind, ask the GM what you must do to disappear and they will tell you 1-3 of the following requirements:
- You must leave something significant behind.
- You must suffer a condition in the process.
- When you reappear, it will come with trouble.
- You first need to risk/trick/steal/etc ___________.

And that's everything for the Rogue! Check back on Friday when Helena will reveal our final class for the Alpha, the Wizard! (More Classes will be added later in the playtesting process). The Wizard will also be our final blog entry in this “preview period”. After that, the next blog post should be the announcement of the Alpha Playtesting finally commencing in earnest!

Thanks for reading,

Spencer