First game of Dungeon World...some thoughts

So we threw together another session of gaming and BBQ today.  Since it was an "off" day with less than a quorum of our regular crew available we decided to not play one of the big campaigns.  I offered to run Dungeon World, using the Servants of the Cinder Queen adventure.  None of us had ever played DW before and apparently I was the only one who'd even heard of it, let alone read it.  But my crew was game to check it out and we plunged in.

I ran the game as GM and my five friends played, taking the Ranger, Paladin, Cleric, Barbarian, and Immolator.  The character sheets have a fair number of choices presented but since everything is right there on the sheet it's way faster than any game where you have to pass a book around or look up a bunch of stuff elsewhere.  I had everyone make a 2nd level character so they'd get to make at least one move choice beyond the fixed starting set at 1st level.

We started the adventure "in media res", with a quick prologue from me about what they learned in the village the previous day when they arrived and then starting the action just as they arrive at the destroyed monastery up on the plateau.  The game went very well--with purchased adventures I'm not always certain they'll work.  They visited pretty much all the locations, had a good chase scene pursuing the evil boss, lost him, then caught up with him just at the last moment to ruin his evil plan.  At the close all the characters either had enough XP to level up or were just one away.

From character creation to end it was about four hours, thus well structured for an evening or afternoon one-off, or a convention game slot.  I think everyone enjoyed the adventure although I don't think anyone was really super thrilled with the DW rules.

Some random thoughts:

• A lot of things in DW are done sort of "backwards", so that in the end you get to the same place as you would with Swords & Wizardry or Pathfinder, but it feels like you were doing something in there wrong.
• In a lot of places when someone rolled a 6 or less it was hard to come up with an appropriate "penalty".  A lot of the time a simple fail was enough, but DW urges the DM to do something creative with fails.
• In a lot of cases the "bad things" which happen with a roll of 7~9 to balance the success are worse than the sort of blank space the game leaves with a roll of 6 less.  That often felt off, even if it worked okay in play.
• We all found the Discern Realities move unsatisfying because the six fixed questions often didn't allow the players to ask the question they really needed, or led to them asking more questions than they needed just to "game" the fact that they had two more free questions to use.
• Everyone found the lack of a "critical hit" disappointing (or is it in there somewhere and I just missed it?).  I realize this is meant to be a relatively "flat" game, so it fits the overall design intent, but it felt like one of those classes in school where the teacher starts the semester by saying "I don't give out As".  But really, the monsters all had so few hit points that you could kill them in one to two hits without criticals.
• Even though everyone wrote down at least one inter-character bond they only got used a couple times in play.  This was partly because it was a new concept to remember but also because only some of my group are into character backgrounds like that.  I'm thinking that it would work better to give characters Instincts like the monsters have and give XP at session end if they follow an instinct in a dramatic way.
• Characters get XP pretty often and I got the feeling that leveling up to the game's maximum of level 10 would not take too many sessions.  I've been evaluating DW as the basis for my next campaign but the leveling would need modification to run a really long campaign with it.
• I liked that XP came organically during play, plus the short evaluation session at the table at the end.  As DM it is a chore to sit down after each session to determine the XP and DW totally cuts out all that work.

So overall I like a lot of the things DW does, but don't understand why so many of them are "backwards"--it's like doing something by looking in a mirror instead of just looking right at it.  But the core mechanic is solid and the overall simplicity of it all is very appealing.  I think with some house mods I could turn it into something I'd use for a big campaign.

Servants of the Cinder Queen for Dungeon World - via Belgium

Okay, so I jumped in to back a project by this crazy guy in Belgium called Bastien 'Acritarche' Wauthoz to do an edited and translated version of Servants of the Cinder Queen (La Serviteurs de la Reine des Cendres).  I saw this as an opportunity to 1) get an interesting-sounding adventure to show me a bit more about how Dungeon World is supposed to work, 2) practice my Belgian (which I was pleasantly surprised to find is remarkably similar to French), and 3) support some indie type gaming efforts out there.

My Phat Lootz

The project was funded through Ulule, which is just like Kickstarter.  For 25 Euros I got the adventure and an extra "forward" with some nice little additions and play aids tailored to the adventure.  The project funded quickly and I got my loot in a very reasonable amount of time.  One is always a bit nervous tossing money into one of these projects but Bastien came through for us like a champion.  He provided very good updates as things went along to keep us informed and excited.

The book is 24 pages plus the cover.  The art by Keny Widjaja is great.  It has a cartoony feel which I think goes well with the general vibe of Dungeon World and gives the story a unique feel.  The couple of maps are hand-drawn style which I have come to appreciate and enjoy.

The adventure is the classic "villagers are disappearing, find the bad guys are behind it, explore their lair, save the world" type, but in a very compact, clean package.  There are only a couple maps and a diagram to link the locations together, the rest being Theatre of the Mind.  There are only a few "monsters" so you don't get lost in pages of stats, and the two big baddies are explained in just enough detail.

After reading through this I now have a much better idea of what a Dungeon World adventure should look and feel like.  And, more importantly, I think this style of game works well with my actual DMing style.  I'll see if I can convince some of my players to try it out some time.

The Morning After, A Review of Dungeon World

Okay, so I've been researching one of the "new" OSR games out there: Dungeon World (DW).  I first became interested in it from David Guyll's Points of Light blog where he posted about the Sundered World campaign setting (to be reviewed later) for DW.  At first I assumed it was another OSR clone game, perhaps like Swords & Wizardry with a few indie touches.  A bit more reading led to a mix of excitement and confusion.  I knew it was leading me on but it seemed like the sort of game I wanted to be led on by.  The free download materials on the DW site were intriguing but I just couldn't quite grasp how DMing was supposed to work.  Since I usually DM (and like it) this was a potential deal breaker.  Finally, I decided I'd just have to take the plunge and buy the darn thing.

At first Dungeon World lulls you into a false sense of security.  It is indeed an indie take on the earlier editions of D&D, more AD&D than OD&D.  You have the traditional six stats, eight classes (bard, cleric, druid, fighter, paladin, ranger, thief, wizard), and three races (human, elf, dwarf).  Stats come from placing an array (but there are optional rules if you wish to roll), then you pick your race and class.  The rules as written only allow one of each class per party but it's the first rule I'd toss.  It's a dick move.  Why force a player to play something they don't want when you can just print out another ranger or whatever? But I digress.  So far, so good

Then it starts showing you it's kinkier side by introducing the "move" concept.  There are basic moves, like Defy Danger (all saving throw types rolled into one) or Hack & Slash (make a melee attack).  There are Special Moves for leveling up, carousing, taking watch, etc.  And finally there are the many class moves unique to each class.  Basically these are like class abilities, spells, and feats blended into one mechanical concept.  The moves for each class cover the sorts of things you'd expect but with a few twists and surprises here and there.

Okay, so a little different but so far nothing your mom would disapprove of as long as you're home by dinner.  Then DW lures you into a conceptual back alley, by revealing that all moves are resolved not with a nice, clean-cut d20 roll but one of those slightly sketchy 2d6 rolls.  All rolls in DW (except damage) are 2d6, usually with an appropriate attribute modifier applied, and expressed like "roll + INT".  The basic rule is that on 10+ you succeed, on 7-9 you succeed but there is a downside, and on 6 or less you fail and often suffer a penalty.  Spellcasting is a real departure from D&D, this one most welcome, where if you roll 10+ you cast successfully but do not expend the spell.  It's bit odd, you say to yourself, but your dad's Traveler used 2d6 so no need to freak out or anything.

Then DW suddenly sticks a big needle into your neck to inject you with something called DM Moves, and tells you to stop struggling and relax.  After carefully explaining to your gullible face for many pages about how moves are where you call out the move you want to use and roll 2d6 modified, it explains that there are no rolls for DM moves.  What a fool you were to not see it coming.  If only you'd listened to your mom this time.  Essentially DM moves are all plot twists (including dealing out damage from attackers!?) which you throw at your players like anvils or banana peels to confound them.  These come in response to player actions and questions but also spark them.  DM moves are very generic, like "Put someone in a spot", "Separate them", or "Reveal an unwelcome truth".  Each of these generic moves is then briefly described in an equally generic way.  You start getting a bit light headed and disoriented from the lack of structure, but also a vague euphoria from a rush freedom you've never quite experienced before.

I rolled around in a daze for a while trying to grasp how DM moves really worked.  There were some guides and discussions here and there on line but they only helped things briefly swim into focus, like a friend slapping your face and yelling something like "cake pup" over and over.  Eventually I came to, all feverish and sweaty, and wasn't sure these were the same underwear I'd left the house in this morning.

To clear my head I moved on to the sections on monsters, which are grouped by general environment and delightfully simple in description.  Finally I stumbled into the very cool bit on Fronts.  Fronts are how to build the threats which drive the plot and in a neatly structured way.  After the bad trip brought on by the GM moves Fronts was like plunging one's head in a bucket of cold water and then sitting down in a diner for a big stack of pancakes.

Fronts are a really nice concept for building plots, both for adventures and for larger campaign elements.  There are Dangers, which have Impending Dooms, Grim Portents, a Cast, etc.  I think this is the best thing I've ever seen for showing someone how to put together adventures and campaigns. I almost forgot all about the puncture wound in the side of my neck from that earlier chapter I'd rather not talk about right now.  Along with the Fronts are rules for characterizing "steadings" which are the populated places in your campaign world.  These range in size from little villages to large cities.  Again, the concepts here are absolutely great and usable with any rules set.  For me the rules for fronts and steadings alone were worth the price of the book.

So the bottom line is that I enjoyed reading Dungeon World, will definitely be using the fronts and steading rules, and would like to try running a game with it.  I'm just still really not sure how the DM moves work in actual practice and I want my underwear back.