I have just spent the weekend running 5 convention games of Dungeon World at UKGamesExpo.

I have just spent the weekend running 5 convention games of Dungeon World at UKGamesExpo.

I have just spent the weekend running 5 convention games of Dungeon World at UKGamesExpo.  Each slot was 4 hours and I took some ideas, dungeons and lots of gaps.

 

29 players later I would say it went well, a few players bought the game in the break.

For me it was an experiment:

 

 I set each game one level higher, to get a feel for higher level play.

 

I also wanted to see how experienced roleplayers and new gamers got on with it.  

 

I also was interested in what it was like to run with so little prepared.

 

All in all it was the most fun I have had running con games.  I found the bonds mechanic really shone here, turning 6 strangers into a party (laughing, joking) with a history in 30 minutes.  It worked like a charm every time.  

 

I also gave them a random image for magic items for which they provided a name and its fiction.  The players came up with more interesting, subtle and plain surprising items than I could have!

 

I would say the level increase was the least successful, it wasn’t a problem per se but it added complication with little reward.  

 

For what it’s worth in future for con games I would set the game at second level with enough starting xps for them to level during the game.

 

For me it was difficult at times to avoid dropping into D&D habits of telling the players what they were doing rather than keeping the conversation going.  I think I got better at spotting when that was happening.

 

New players generally got it and went with it in no time, I was amazed at how much of the game there is to “find out what happens” for the GM if you relax and let it, I enjoyed that immensely.

 

Next I need to run a campaign.

 

One thought on “I have just spent the weekend running 5 convention games of Dungeon World at UKGamesExpo.”

  1. I ran my second game last night and felt better than the first. I come from D&D as well (Pathfinder) and this game requires a much different mind-set. As long as I say focused on the fiction I found it was smoother. I also always kept asking the players to describe how they were doing things when they would explain the hopeful outcome rather than  the method to it.  

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