Hard Moves

Hard Moves, Failures (critical and otherwise), Botched Rolls, and GM Intrusions based on a list by John Lewis at RPG Alchemy.

The Failure is in the Fiction!

Melee vs Strong Opponent
[melee_strong]

Melee vs Agile Opponent
[melee_agile]

Melee vs Beast
[melee_beast]

Ranged Combat
[ranged]

Unarmed Combat, Grappling
[unarmed]

Interaction with Nobility
[nobilty]

Interaction with Criminals
[criminals]

Interaction with The Law
[law]

Interaction with Clergy
[clergy]

Interaction with a Group or Crowd
[group]

Attack Spells in Combat
[spell_combat]

Channeling the Divine
[channeling]

Transformation & Necromancy
[transformation]

Divination, Enchantment, & Illusion
[divination]

Ritual Magic, Summoning, & Magic Items
[ritual]

Lock Picking & Trap Disarming
[lockpicking]

Strength, Fortitude & Athletics
[strength]

Acrobatics, Speed & Coordination
[agility]

Knowledge, Willpower & Insight
[knowledge]

Stealth, Perception & Observation
[perception]

Deserts & Badlands
[desert]

Forests & Jungles
[forest]

Swamps & Marshes
[swamp]

Mountains & Arctic
[mountain]

Underground
[underground]

1,Your attack is deflected with so much force that you lose your grip and your weapon flies across the room. 1,Your shield is grabbed and wrenched out of your hands. Your opponent smashes your head with it! 1,Your opponent slams you sending you flying off your feet and smashing into an ally. 1,Your opponent picks you up and throws you into a nearby hazard. 1,Your weapon gets caught in your opponent’s armor and is torn from your grasp. 1,Your opponent grabs a nearby piece of furniture and throws it at you. 1,A massive blow hits your shield so hard that your forearm bone breaks rendering the arm useless. 1,You’re hit with enough force to leave you dazed and disoriented for a few moments. 1,A huge object is toppled over pinning you beneath it. 1,Your kicked so hard in the chest that the wind is knocked out of your lungs.
 * melee_strong

1,Your opponent easily sidesteps your attack sending you stumbling to the ground. 1,A few quick slashes cuts the straps of your pack spilling your equipment out onto the floor. 1,Your opponent deflects an attack from one of your allies hitting you instead. 1,Your opponent dodges your attack and maneuvers behind you grabbing your cloak and wrapping it around your head. 1,Your opponent’s agile maneuvers leaves you in a precarious location. 1,A quick succession of strikes, dodges, and parries results in your weapon being in your opponent’s hands. 1,Your belt is cut sending your trousers to the floor. 1,Your opponent’s footwork causes you to stumble into a nearby hazard. 1,Your momentum is used against you, you overextend and strike one of your allies. 1,During the fight your opponent manages to remove an important item from you.
 * melee_agile

1,The beast grabs you in its jaws, shakes you and flings you aside like a rag doll. 1,You’re trampled to the ground and pinned by one of the beast’s giant feet. 1,The beast slams you with its head sending you into one of your allies. 1,The beast flips you into the air with its head landing you atop its back. 1,A powerful sweep of the beast’s tail knocks you from your feet sending you to the ground. 1,The beast rips your shield from your arm and destroys it with its powerful jaws. 1,Your weapon gets lodged in the beast’s hide and is torn from your grasp. 1,The beast grabs you in its jaws and charges off with you. 1,Your ally’s ranged attack ricochets off its hide striking you. 1,The beast is slain but its massive corpse topples onto you pinning you to the ground.
 * melee_beast

1,Your shot misses its target and strikes something valuable and breakable. 1,You misstep and stumble spilling all of your ammo onto the ground. 1,A stealthy enemy sneaks up on you while focused on aiming at your target. 1,Using your weapon aggravates a previous injury doing additional damage. 1,Your maneuvering to get a good shot puts you in a very precarious position. 1,Your volley of shots draws the attention of enemy marksmen. 1,Your attention on your target allows an enemy marksman to attack you. 1,Your shot knocks over a lamp or lantern and sets a fire near you enemies. 1,Your weapon malfunctions in some way forcing you to take a few moments to repair it. 1,Your shot is deflected and strikes one of your allies.
 * ranged

1,Your punch strikes the enemy in a heavily armored area breaking your knuckles. 1,Your opponent grabs your ankle when you kick and holds on tight. 1,Your opponent deftly slips out of your hold and puts you in a headlock. 1,You underestimate your opponent’s agility and are tripped and rendered prone. 1,Your strike is true but you injure yourself in the attack. 1,Your maneuver throws both you and your opponent off-balance. 1,Your grappled opponent manages to bite one of your fingers off. 1,Your opponent’s head-butt attack shatters your nose and stuns you for a moment. 1,You fail to time your flying kick correctly and end up leaping into a nearby hazard. 1,You crush your opponent’s nose but the spray of blood blinds you for a moment.
 * unarmed

1,You are fined a steep fee for your breach of etiquette. 1,Your words are taken as a flirtatious advance toward an unintended person. 1,You are seen as little more than an uncouth lout. 1,An infuriated noble hires an assassin to kill the person that insulted him in public. 1,You are required to kneel and keep your head bowed in order to speak. 1,You make a complete fool of yourself and word spreads like wildfire. 1,Making a beloved noble look bad results in the common folk making your life difficult (inflated prices, information not available, etc.). 1,Not only do you fail to gain the boon you requested, the noble will begin actively moving against your interests. 1,A massive amount of bureaucratic red-tape delays you and interferes with your progress. 1,The noble’s bodyguards attempt to beat you for your insolence; fighting them might make things worse…
 * nobilty

1,As you speak a stealthy assassin moves into place. 1,A pick-pocket with fast hands deftly steals some valuables while you’re distracted. 1,Those you are speaking with tell you what you want to hear but have already sold you out. 1,You are given false information, dangerously false information. 1,After you leave a hit is placed on you by the organization. 1,They will only continue to talk to you if you survive The Trial… 1,A criminal observing your interaction gains insight you’d rather they not have. 1,You are maneuvered into a position to do the criminal’s dirty work and take the fall for it. 1,Your drink is laced with a drug preventing you from lying. 1,It’s a trap! The “criminal” is actually the law in disguise.
 * criminals

1,Nothing you’ve said is considered to be even remotely believable. 1,You’re recognized as having a high bounty on your head. 1,You’re mistaken for someone with a high bounty. 1,Questioning by the guards severely delays you. 1,You are subjected to an extremely invasive, unclothed search. 1,You accidentally implicate yourself in an extremely high-profile crime. 1,During a quick search of your person or gear a guard disastrously activates an item. 1,In order to proceed you need to pay out a hefty bribe. 1,You are barred access to a specific location (could be a building or even an entire city). 1,They know you’re a trouble-maker and the law goes out of its way to harass you.
 * law

1,Your presence is an affront to the divine, they want to sacrifice you to their deity. 1,The clergy believes you to be an agent of a rival deity. 1,You will only be listened to if you assume a position of supplication. 1,You are forced into a position where you must agree to assist the organization with a dangerous task. 1,Your offenses result in the faith declaring you an apostate and enemy of the faith. 1,Some observing your interaction believe you to be the prophesied “chosen one” of the faith. 1,To prove your sincerity you are asked to partake in a ceremony that will allow high-ranking clergy to detect your whereabouts. 1,Followers of the faith are ordered by church edict to have no interactions with you. 1,A huge charitable donation is expected in order to proceed. 1,Something about you (tattoo, piece of jewelry, a scar) marks you as an agent of evil and enemy of their god.
 * clergy

1,The crowd begins a death-chant focused on you and drawing unwanted attention. 1,Several members of the group become infatuated fans making life complicated as they try to gain your affections. 1,Your words incite a full-on riot to break out in the streets! 1,The crowd surges forward overwhelming you, knocking you prone and trampling you. 1,The crowd engulfs you and moves on. You’re uninjured but missing important items. 1,You over-motivate the group and they won’t leave you alone, following you around and singing your praises. 1,Your words motivate the group into action, unfortunately their actions are the opposite of your intentions. 1,You insult and outrage the group turning them into a mob looking for your head! 1,The group wants nothing to do with you and begins telling others to avoid you as well. 1,The group becomes united in purpose, but not the purpose you wanted.
 * group

1,Your area attack spell produces an amplified shock wave causing massive damage to the environment and physical objects. 1,The elemental energies of your spell ground out through your body, damaging you and anyone near you. 1,Your target somehow absorbs the spell and is able to project it back at you. 1,A slight miscalculation results in targeting one of your allies instead. 1,Your arcane power benefits the target in some way instead of harming it. 1,Your arcane energy resonates with the target rendering it immune to your magic. 1,The energy of the spell is absorbed by your target’s weapon, temporarily enchanting it. 1,The spell only affects inanimate objects and the environment, however the effects persist for a while. 1,Instead of the intended destructive energy (fire, lightning, etc.), your spell utilizes something much less harmful (feathers, rainbows, etc.). 1,You become vulnerable to the type of energy you utilized in your last spell.
 * spell_combat

1,The power of your god causes you to glow brightly for the next several hours. 1,You suffer from the damage, ailment, or curse that your remove from another. 1,The power of your deity draws the wrath of your deity’s arch-nemesis. 1,Your reckless use of your divine gifts prompts your deity to remove your power until you properly repent. 1,Your healing power heals every creature nearby (friend and foe alike), including bringing back the fallen! 1,The power overwhelms you, for a while your free will is stifled and you act completely in accordance with your deity’s motives and agenda. 1,A holy chant can be heard emanating in your general vicinity; it is fairly loud but hard to pinpoint. 1,Your divine trial begins, you become vulnerable to the attacks of your deity’s enemies. 1,Your demonstration of your divine favor attracts several fanatics that begin worshipping you as a divine emissary. 1,You see dead people! The harmless souls of the departed are drawn to your holy aura, only you can see them but they are extremely annoying.
 * channeling

1,The entropic energies of your necromantic spell dissolve all the tissue from your dominate hand; it remains fully functional, but completely skeletal. 1,You successfully transform into your intended animal form; everything that is except your feet… 1,Uncontrolled necromantic power gives sentience, and freedom, to your shadow. It hates you for all of the years you imprisoned it. 1,None of your gear or equipment transforms with you. 1,Random necrotic energy animates a nearby corpse and it attacks you. 1,Your transformation spell turns your enemy into something even more powerful than it already is. 1,Your transformation leaves you much smaller (or bigger) than you intended (or is useful). 1,Your use of necromantic energy leaves your eyes clouded over and causes you to see all things as rotting and decaying. 1,Your attempt to transform something, or someone, simply turns it into a clear (not invisible) version of itself. 1,Channelling so much necrotic power renders you immune to any form of healing, natural or magical, for a while.
 * transformation

1,You foresee your party turning on you and slaying you in the very near future. 1,Instead of your target you are the one completely charmed and enamored. 1,For the next several hours you and your allies are subjected to random, minor illusions. 1,An unintended target falls totally in love with you as well as extremely jealous of you. 1,Your illusionary effect becomes real for several hours. 1,Your spell causes you to completely lose all memory of the past two days. 1,You divination reveals a positive outcome to your actions; the exact opposite of what will happen. 1,Lingering energies from your enchantment spells cause people around you to take notice of you and treat you like a celebrity; complete with stalkers and media attention!. 1,Unfortunately you are the only one that can see the illusion you just cast. 1,The helpful spirit you normally talk with during your divination spells is banished and replaced with one that is extremely antagonistic toward you.
 * divination

1,As you complete the summoning you find yourself bound in a magical circle on the home plane of the entity you were attempting to summon. 1,All of the remaining charges in your item burst forth amplifying their effects, destroying the item, and causing you considerable damage. 1,A slightly misspoken word results in your ritual having the exact opposite effect. 1,The magic from your item recharges one of your enemy’s items. 1,An uncontrolled surge of energy during the ritual removes all of your spell-casting abilities for several hours. 1,Mystic energies seep out of a damaged magical item producing dangerous results for those that use or handle the item. 1,Your summoning fails but marks you as a target by the entities you attempted to summon. 1,Your magic weapon has an arcane “meltdown” exploding and damage items and creatures nearby, including yourself. 1,Your ritual works, however you and everyone that was near you glow bright purple for the next day or so. 1,Your summoned entity is completely unbound and able to act with their own intent.
 * ritual

1,Your sleeve gets caught up in the gears of the mechanism you’re attempting to deactivate which triggers the mechanism and pins you in place (while shredding your fancy shirt!). 1,Your picks break and jam the mechanism effectively rendering the lock unable to be picked. 1,The last tumblers are almost in place when the guards round the corner and open fire on you and your allies. 1,The entire mechanism for the trap breaks loose exploding in a shower of gears, cogs, and metallic shrapnel! You avoid the worst of it but your allies are struck by high-velocity pieces and parts. 1,The good news, you successfully picked the lock. The bad news, you successfully discovered the trap; the hard way. 1,The tension in the mechanism suddenly gives way jamming a four-inch brass tube completely through your hand. Hope that wasn’t your dominate hand! 1,You only managed to temporarily disarm the trap, the last person through triggers the full effect. 1,As you finish picking the lock you realize that the entire thing is covered in a nasty contact poison. 1,The enchantment on the lock makes it get hotter as you pick it. You begin taking burn damage and you’re not even a quarter the way done. 1,In order to access the mechanism you have to reach your entire arm into a blade-lined shaft; what could go wrong!
 * lockpicking

1,Despite throwing your weight behind it the only thing that gives is your shoulder causing a tremendous amount of pain and dislocating it. 1,Not quite far enough. Your jump leaves you just shy of your targeted area, hanging on a narrow ledge by the fingers of you off-hand. 1,You almost manage to get the choke-hold on but some deft maneuvering on your opponent’s part turns the tables and you find yourself on the verge of blacking out. 1,Several rotten floor boards give way dropping you partially into a crawl space and wedging you waist-deep in the floor. 1,Turns out you are severely allergic to that type of potion! 1,That gut wrenching tearing sound? That was your knee! 1,You smash completely through the barred door and into the pit trap on the other side. 1,Weeks of adventure have left you with a serious cold. Body aches, coughing fits, and a runny nose impact everything you do. 1,Your feat of strength fails to impress after you completely rip the crotch out of your pants. 1,The ledge you are jumping from gives way just as you launch yourself into the air sending you tumbling.
 * strength

1,What should have been a graceful maneuver instead results in unexpectedly doing the splits, pulling your groin, and stunning you for a few moments. 1,Instead of gracefully dodging the hazard you manage to leap directly into the path of danger and take the full impact of the attack. 1,You zig when you should have zagged propelling yourself directly into the trap. 1,As you make your way across the precarious ledge, an unfortunately timed sneeze completely throws off your balance. 1,Your attempt to deftly escape your bonds results in far greater entanglement. 1,You stumble and slip but fortunately manage to grab a dangling rope to break your fall, unfortunately the rapid decent burns off all of the skin from your hand! 1,As you attempt to tumble past the creature it uses its massive tail to smack you and send you flying away like a child’s toy. 1,You’ve nearly caught up to your fleeing enemy when you round a corner and run into his well-armed allies. 1,You manage to block the crossbow bolt, however the round penetrates your shield and goes through your arm pinning them together. 1,The ground is a lot more slippery than you thought. The last thing your allies see is your flailing arms as you slide into the chasm.
 * agility

1,What you thought was your enemy’s vulnerability turns out to be beneficial. 1,You have a really good feeling about this person. They are definitely being honest and sincere. 1,You knowledge of the pantheon is slightly off. Your offering to the goddess is actually a grave insult; her vengeance will be swift. 1,“They’ll respect us only if we all make aggressive, direct eye contact, and show a lot of teeth!” 1,Your courage utterly fails you, paralyzing you with fear. You drop what you’re holding and begin to get faint in the face of an unimaginable horror (at least something horrific to you). 1,Your pretty sure the ancient script translates as “Sacred temple of the goddess of compassion and mercy.” Pretty sure. 1,Those large beasts are herbivores, you have nothing to worry about. 1,Something harmless and trivial completely freaks you out and terrifies you (clowns maybe?). 1,He’s bluffing! 1,The primitive tribe must be offering you shelter and a good meal, or at least something to do with putting you somewhere and eating something.
 * knowledge

1,It’s obvious which of the marble floor tiles are trapped and which are completely safe to walk on. 1,You’re nearly past the guard when a loose flagstone shifts making a grating noise and alerting the guard. 1,The plants are harmless and safe to eat. 1,The enemy you and your allies are about to ambush turns out to be cleverly disguised mannequin, giving your real enemies just enough time to get the drop on you. 1,It’s nothing to worry about, just the sound of the wind rustling through the autumn leaves. 1,You stand motionless in the shadows as your enemies pass by. You feel something crawling up your pant leg. 1,Your sure the thief used the password, pomegranates. 1,“Are you sure? That doesn’t look like the duchess, unless of course she’s moonlighting as a harlot!” 1,Just looks like the typical group of tavern patrons drinking, eating and talking with one another. 1,The target your tailing doesn’t seem to be aware of your presence.
 * perception

1,A sudden wind creates a blinding sandstorm negating all visibility and tearing into your exposed flesh. 1,The heat is overwhelming. There isn’t any breeze or shade and the last of your water was gone more than an hour ago. 1,A rock dislodges itself from the canyon wall high above and comes crashing down on you. 1,You finally arrive at the oasis indicated on your map, unfortunately something foul has tainted the water leaving it unfit for consumption. 1,The dry air and whipping wind stings your eyes and reduces visibility to nearly zero. 1,Every step you take across the ash-covered playa stirs up toxic ash and causes difficulty breathing. 1,The salt-flat you’ve been crossing has corroded all of your metal gear. 1,A freak downpour has turned the dry canyon you’re in into a chaotic flash-flood zone.
 * desert

1,The foliage conceals a natural sinkhole. Before you realize what has happened you are plunging into the darkness! 1,You awaken startled, your body is crawling with aggressive ants! They are in your bedroll, your gear, and are biting you all over. 1,As you walk along the tops of fallen trees you step in a rotten spot. You bust through the bark and find yourself pinned waist-deep with something slithering around your legs. 1,Beneath the canopy of trees you are fairly sheltered from the thunderstorm, that is until lightning strikes the tree you are standing near. 1,The severe rainstorm in the nearby mountains causes a massive flash-flood in the dry creek bed you’ve been following. 1,Scouting up ahead you suddenly realize you have no idea where the rest of your party is. 1,As you move through the dense foliage you suddenly come face to face with a massive sleeping beast. 1,The high winds rushing through the treetops topples a massive tree and sends it crashing toward you. 1,The foliage is so thick that your travel time is greatly reduced, quadrupling your overall travel time.
 * forest

1,As you wade through the knee-deep bog you hear the metallic click of the long-forgotten bear trap lying just beneath the surface. 1,Emerging from the murky water you discover strange leeches affixed to your flesh that release a necrotic chemical that rots your flesh. 1,Suddenly, and without explanation, the myriad of swamp noises you’ve grown used to ceases. 1,The soft and spongy ground suddenly gives way as you rapidly sink into a pool of quicksand. 1,You realize that the trail you’ve been following has suddenly disappeared and you find yourself near the lair of a hungry beast. 1,A massive swarm of stinging insects surrounds you, distracting you and making it nearly impossible to concentrate. 1,Your pursuers are closing in when the ankle-deep water suddenly become chest-deep, slowing you down dramatically. 1,Hours of torrential downpour have left you soaking wet and chilled to the bone. 1,A thick mist rises up from the bog reducing visibility to zero and muffling sounds.
 * swamp

1,As you draw your weapons and prepare for a fight you realize the low rumbling sound you hear is an avalanche, not a wild beast. 1,The ledge you are carefully traversing suddenly gives way dropping you into the ravine. 1,A deafening crack opens a massive fissure beneath your feet as the ice shifts violently and unpredictably. 1,A massive winter storm blows in unexpectedly causing temperatures to plummet, eliminating visibility, and rendering navigation impossible. 1,The ice beneath your feet shatters dropping you into the fast-moving river below. 1,The loose powder-like snow makes movement extremely difficult and treacherous. 1,The trail you’re following suddenly ends at the edge of a sheer ravine, but continues 45 feet away on the far side of the ravine. 1,The sudden blizzard has left you lost, alone, and separated from your party. 1,The trail you’ve been following is completely buried in an overnight avalanche.
 * mountain

1,As you move through the chamber the vibrations from your footsteps releases odd smelling spores from the local fungi. You begin to feel dizzy. 1,You have no idea about the weather above ground but from the sudden flash-flood you assume it must be raining very hard. 1,An unexpected rush of air blows out all of your torches and lanterns. Where’s that growling sound coming from? 1,Moving rapidly you lose your footing on the moss-covered rocks. 1,A fissure in the wall sudden blasts forth a violent burst of super-heated steam. 1,A nearby boiling mud pit suddenly erupts sending scalding hot mud flying in all directions. 1,Occasional quakes and tremors cause you to lose your footing and drop rock and debris on you. 1,Without warning a portion of wall gives way and lava begins surging across the floor.
 * underground

Content from RPG Alchemy by John Lewis