I’m probably running Dungeon World in two weeks for one of my regular groups (we’re short handed, so I thought it would be fun to try). I’m looking for some feedback on my “kick-off.” I figured I’d start with character creation and bonds, and then I would tell them: “For three months, you have pursued the thief across the Known Kingdoms and have caught up with him at last in the Forsaken Lands.”
Then follow up with various of the following questions:
⁃ What did he steal? What is so important about it? What does it do / what is it for?
⁃ Who sent you after him?
⁃ What did [the person who sent you] tell you separately that you haven’t shared with the others?
⁃ What do you know about [what was stolen] that you have kept to yourself? (probably to a Wizard, Bard, or Cleric)
⁃ You know the thief’s name because you met before. What is it and where did you meet?
⁃ Who else is pursuing the thief? What do you know of their motives?
⁃ Who used to live in the Forsaken Lands?
⁃ Why were they forsaken?
⁃ What is the terrain like? Desert? Jungle? Etc.
⁃ What is the most dangerous thing in this part of the Forsaken Lands?
⁃ You catch up with the thief as he’s approaching a structure. It’s not natural. It looks constructed. What kind of building is it? What can you tell about the builders?
Leading up to, “You see the thief enter the building. What do you do?”
Any thoughts? Feedback? Different or better ways to phrase the questions?
Lots of questions. Wouldn’t be better if you ask those as the adventure goes on?
Yeah, I think you shouldn’t ask that many questions before the action starts.
I’d keep the individual questions about the thief and the stolen item for later. Also, some of the Forsaken Lands ones can wait until the thief situation is solved and the heroes leave the building.
Sometimes I think it is really helpful to front-load a lot of questions, but then again, I usually came to a session having no clue what the session will be about.
It probably depends on players too. My players would never be able to answer that many question at once. They need time to immerse in the environment and the game.Also they may expect the master to fill what’s missing.
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I think it is a great idea to make the players answer why their character cares about pursuing the quest given to them.
It makes the players invested because their characters are.
I think the key to this is to not handle this as a preset list of questions, which must all be answered.
If you truly intend to tell the players “You are in situation X, your quest is Y”, then don’t do this “questionnaire-style”. It’s too formal.
Make it a conversation instead. Prepare one solid question for each character, and then ask new questions in response to the answers given.
I think this will make it a lot more enjoyable for both parties, especially since you avoid prepping too many questions.
Thanks to all for the helpful feedback! I should have been more clear. I think of the list of questions as arrows in a quiver. I don’t plan to fire them all but wanted to have them read and then use the ones that felt natural in the beginning. And this has been useful in helping me clarifying my thoughts around which ones to launch with and which ones to keep in reserve.