Hey again Dungeon Worlders,
I’m on my second read-through of the rules, preparing to run the game for some friends. To better wrap my head around Fronts, I’ve created a small one to help me grok some of those concepts. I actively fought D&D training as I wrote it up and would love some honest critique and criticism. (Seriously! It will help me be a better DW DM!)
You can find the Adventure Front hosted via Google Docs from the link below.
I would start by making the Grim Portents more specific! What is the deal that is struck? Villagers going missing only matters if someone important notices! What is the pact? Doom spreading is really the result of the Impending Doom coming true, so the last Grim Portent is a bit redundant.
Otherwise, you’ve got a good start, here.
Awesome criticism to work with here, thanks Adam.
For the villagers going missing and someone noticing, should I just make the someone noticing another portent? Or wrap it into one? “Villagers go missing and people being to notice”
It depends on how granular you want to make it. Remember, the portents are each some change in the world that indicates that Doom is on the way. If “the villagers go missing” is enough, stick to your guns. If you want to add another step like “The tax collector arrives to an empty village” then go for it. Just think about the players existing in the space between those portents. What could they do to change the flow of the Doom that lurks ahead?
I was trying to be vague enough and specific enough (if that makes sense) to still give the players agency with the portents.
I do have a question about portents in regards to some happening before the adventure front begins. The deal with the bandits and the villagers go missing happen prior to the heroes coming to the frontier village. Should they be removed from the portents list and instead just mentioned in description?
Players are responsible for their own agency. Write the Impending Doom as if there were no PCs in the universe.
Anything that happens before the game starts is already history and not Impending anymore.
Aha, thanks for the clarification!
And also thanks for being so active with the fans of your game. I really appreciate being able to pick the creators’ brains.
“Players are responsible for their own agency. Write the Impending Doom as if there were no PCs in the universe.”
These have been my exact words, or near enough, on so many occasions.
It’s all from Vincent’s rules for town creation in Dogs. As the GM, the best thing you can do is imagine a world where there are no PCs to stand up to the Doom. I mean, there are NPCs but ultimately, it takes someone really special to be able to make a difference. This perspective helps nail down so much of what GMing in DW is about.
Why can’t I +1 that more than once, dammit.
This thread is incredible.
I’m soaking this all in and sitting down to review and rewrite portions of my front. Thanks everyone for the great, honest criticism!
Thank you for posting it (and for the subsequent criticism)! Seeing other people’s fronts with Adam’s critique will really help me tonight when I finally formalize my plans for tomorrow’s game.