so I’ve been adapting Mad God’s Key, a 1st-level adventure from Dungeon Magazine #114 for Dungeon World as an exercise in working out how much prep I’ll need for the game. It’s a neat little introductory adventure I’ve run a few times before… you interrupt a robbery, chase the source of the burglary across some docks, search a theive’s guild hideout, do some asking around and eventually come to a cool little dungeon full of Vecna Cultists who are, of course, the powers that started this whole thing.
Putting this plot in terms of fronts has blown my mind. I have to actually work out WHY the thieve’s guild took such a dangerous job in the first place, and WHY the Cult of Vecna want access to a book in the Library of Greyhawk. All my carbon-copy NPCs have suddenly sprung to life, just by thinking about them in this way – and this is an adventure I’ve run several times before!
Now to re-draw the dungeon and leave a few blanks… but the owlbear skeleton stays!