I hear a lot of “I really want to play Dungeon World, but my group will only play Pathfinder/4e/whatever.” I guess…

I hear a lot of “I really want to play Dungeon World, but my group will only play Pathfinder/4e/whatever.” I guess…

I hear a lot of “I really want to play Dungeon World, but my group will only play Pathfinder/4e/whatever.” I guess it’s hard to get folks to try something new, especially when they’re having fun doing what they’re used to doing.

My experience is that playing with people who are totally unfamiliar with the hobby is a great way to create new groups and keep the hobby alive.

Last Sunday, I had the amazing experience of running a 4-hour DW session for three of my friends who had never played a pen-and-paper rpg: Mitch (tattoo artist, comic book and tv geek), Deli (foodie, cosplayer and art student), and Haylee (artist and locksmith). They had an amazing time, took to the game like fish to water, and practically begged me to make it a regular thing.

Also, it’s awesome playing at a table where everyone is both a geek and an artist.

16 thoughts on “I hear a lot of “I really want to play Dungeon World, but my group will only play Pathfinder/4e/whatever.” I guess…”

  2. Sound advice man. Wanted to comment on your statement about everyone being a geek and an artist. I run a lot of games and often times it feels like the people who get into it the most are the creative types. And the people who have the worst experiences are the ones who are the least creative. I have yet to run a game with nothing but artists. But I can imagine it would be amazing and I envy you your chance to do so.

  3. True, but I’d love to play this with my old group of university buddies. We used to try pretty much everything other than D&D, but nowadays it’s just Pathfinder.

  5. I also put a big pile of glass stones in the middle of the table so they could grab one for XP every time they missed a roll. That’s so much more fun than marking them down.

  7. This may make me sound like a bigger jerk than I am, but as a GM, I’m always astounded by the mentality of “my players won’t…” Yeah, given the choice between Pathfinder and Dungeon World they might choose Pathfinder (possibly for entirely legitimate reasons). But given the choice between Dungeon World and nothing, then players will often choose Dungeon World (or whatever).

    My players loved 4th Edition D&D, but it was too time consuming for me as a GM. So I dropped it. We tried Fate, and then moved on to Savage Worlds (which we are loving). And my second campaign with them will be under DW.

    The GM has to do the prep. As such, I’m of the opinion that while the GM’s isn’t the only vote, it’s definitely the biggest.

  9. Martijn Vos: Yes, true. If you’re in a situation where more than one person likes to GM, then whoever wants to run what’s most popular will end up running that.

  10. Players will almost always go with the GM they trust more. New systems can be scary, but GMs make or break games. And sadly, trust is something you have to build up as a GM, it takes time and patience.

  12. I’m of the opinion that you can actually pair DW with other systems. Maybe if you do the rotating GM thing you can play both DW AND Pathfinder/3.5/whatever. Just build sort-of similar characters. In the end all that matters is having fun. 

    Also, for a great time try this: 

    1. Learn how to / play a sample game of Dread

    2. Have a narrative flash cut in your campaign. “You all set out on the road to the Dwarven mining camp to see about these portal to Hel rumors”

    3. Pull out the Jenga tower and have all the players play the dwarven miners.

     

    4. Resume normal DW game after horrifying horror mayhem! Now you have some added story, and maybe even NPCs (if anybody lived!)

  14. I prep a little. I like to write summaries of my ideas. But with time I’ve discovered the key to an excellent session (of any RPG) is for the GM to show up with at least one BIG IDEA. If you got that you got all the prep you really need.

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