For Mikael Andersson and anyone else who is interested, here’s the outline of the 24-hour game I ran, back in December. I ended up chopping big chunks out of it, and rewriting the back half on the fly, for time and pacing.
I drew a map as the game progressed, adding elements as the players encountered them, then at the end, cut the map into quarters and shared then out.
Opening: The heroes are battling a squad of goblins (why?) when both groups are attacked by skeletons and need to join forces.
1. The heroes recover the magic spear from the lich-king
First hour: Tracking the skeletons to their lair.
Second hour: Asses kicked by lich-king with magic spear.
Third hour: Hunt down lich-king’s phylactery (guarded by? Trolls?)
Fourth hour: Fight and defeat lich-king. The lich-king warns that the peace between the gods has been broken.
Signs of divine war: the dead are rising, and shambling to the service of one army or the other. Cities fortifying and preparing for war.
2. The heroes use the magic spear to rescue the oracle, Manno (Sami moon-goddess)
Fifth hour: Rumours that magic spear is tied to prophecy.
Sixth hour: Giant has kidnapped powerful oracle. Adventure into Jotunheim.
Seventh hour: Fight and defeat giant.
Eighth hour: Spear is the key to unlock the Manno’s prison.
Signs of divine war: the giants are locking down their borders, and building great walls to keep the war out. Forests growing dark and sinister. Human armies in open conflict.
3. The oracle tells the heroes that the dragon has the ring
Ninth hour: Manno explains that there is a magic ring that will settle the war between the gods.
Tenth hour: Adventure into Alfheim. Elf-queen sends heroes into Niflheim to recover magic ice, which she turns into magic water for the oracle.
Eleventh hour: Adventure into Svartalfheim. Dwarf-king sends heroes to Muspellheim to recover magic fire, which he uses to forge a magic mirror for the oracle.
Twelfth hour: Manno reveals that the dragon Fafnir has the ring, and that only a long-dead warrior knows his weakness.
Signs of divine war: Elves are openly armed with magic weapons. Dwarven forges are running nonstop producing arms and armour for the gods. Packs of wolves and flocks of ravens are seen everywhere. Death of the High King, leading to massive civil war.
4. The heroes slay the dragon and recover the ring
Thirteenth hour: Into Hel!
Fourteenth hour: Meet Regin, a giant-smith, and the betrayed brother of Fafnir.
Fifteenth hour: Recover the fragments of the Sword of Sigmund, forged by Wayland the Smith, and destroyed when it was wielded against Odin, now guarded by a fierce demon (and Theodred). The fragments are reforged by Regin into Gram (Wrath).
Sixteenth hour: Battle with Fafnir’s children (naga?) and the dragon himself.
Signs of divine war: Magical beasts, including valkyries, everywhere. Earthquakes, storms. Ruined cities. Fields of corpses.
5. The heroes give the ring to either the Aesir or Vanir
Seventeenth hour: Delegations led by Odin on behalf of the Aesir, and Njord on behalf of the Vanir attend the heroes.
Eighteenth hour: Delegations from Alfheim, Svartalfheim, and the kingdoms of men attend the heroes. What they want will be determined by past dealings. Probably Elves want the passageway between the worlds closed, to keep the war from spilling over; Dwarves want the ring kept from the gods, so that they kill each other off; Men want to use the ring and become gods themselves.
Nineteenth hour: Violence! Somebody attacks. Goblins? Trolls. Yeah, that sounds good.
Twentieth hour: Can the ring be destroyed? Probably. Or else the heroes give it to somebody.
Signs of divine war: Doesn’t get much more personal. Odin always has storms and lightning around. Njord is cold and damp and ageless.
6. The heroes decide the war between the Aesir and Vanir
Twenty-first hour: No matter what happens, somebody is pissed.
Twenty-second hour: War of the gods unleashes Hate and Treachery, two giant magic wolves. Everything becomes wintery all of a sudden. Also their father Fenris.
Twenty-third hour: Jormungand, the World Serpent, arises. Huge upheaval in the oceans, glaciers breaking off, all that fun stuff. Fight him, heroes!
Twenty-fourth hour: Man, I dunno. Pick up the pieces of whatever is left.
Signs of divine war: Maybe the world ends?
That’s about as epic as epic gets. And in a relatively short time frame. I think you’ve hit on one of the things that’s got me so psyched about Dungeon World: the way you can tell big stories, in a relatively short period of time. Also, Fenris and Jormundan? Awesome.
I just read the other thread. The fact that this was to benefit the homeless makes it even cooler. Well played.
Thanks! Sadly, I had to cut pretty much everything after the dragon, as we were short on time and the players were flagging. We did the big council scene as a free form wrap-up, and then we ended on a conflict between the Druid and the Wizard, the latter of whom had been gradually descending into evil from character creation.
I’m surprised that you got that far. And it seems to me that adapting to the group is one of the reasons to run DW. It’s very cool.