I asked this of Dungeon Crawl Classics people and now I ask ye Dungeon Worlders. I’m curious how the answers will differ:
So you got your 1st Level PCs clustered around the entrance to the dungeon. They look around nervously at each other before one of them turns to you, the GM, and asks:
“Tell me, again, why we’re going to enter the bowels of the dank, dark earth with nothing but sharpened bits of wood and metal between us and our eternal shuffling off this mortal coil?”
What do you tell them? Do they need to retrieve some McGuffin? Kill off the local Big Bag? Rescue a Helpless Innocent? Or just loot until their arms can’t carry anymore. Why, on god’s green earth, would a bunch of peasants ever want to enter a dungeon?
“Wasn’t it about this oath you gave to your dying mentor? Can you remind everyone what you oathed him?”
“Yes, that’s what I just asked you.”
Well I wouldn’t just throw them in front of it for once though I’d be happy to use some other adventures for them at the start. Later I’d go with sending them after something or someone which winds up intersecting with the dungeon that gives motivation to be there. Then they have the choice for just getting objective or going down the unused paths to see what else is there.
I think until the group is well equipped & good working together, a dungeon at the start might be a bit overwhelming. And Skyrim taught me without good motivation, a dungeon is interesting but a problem if not ready for one.
“That is a great question, why are you?”
a good DM beats the players to that question.
Put them in the second level of the dungeon instead and ask them to explain why they are there.
Yeah, the session usually starts near the treaure, with the ground shaking as a giant boss monster approaches in the distance. After they deal with the situation, the GM will ask the players such questions, not the other way around.
And I wouldn’t call a fighter’s signature weapon a “sharpened bit of metal”. Not if he can hear me, at least.
Well, the last first level wizard I saw was established as the most powerful magician of the entire world, so…
Arp Laszlo yes though considering the xp to get a few levels isn’t much, it’s easy to get them a little improved to deal with whatever has been buried down there.
“What are you, a fighter or some kind of whimpering fishwife?”
DW is usually about very competent characters doing adventurous things for reasons their own players made up. Your situation is more common in “traditional” RPGs where the characters start out fairly incompetent (so as to emphasize struggle/improvement) and the players don’t get much say in their plot (the GM ensures a coherent story). Both styles can be enjoyable, but they start from different assumptions.
even an experienced person needs motivation, otherwise they would stay where it’s safe, get laid and get drunk.
It’s already part of the conceit that player characters are adventures, so at minimum they are out for adventure. Players have a certain responsibility to at least explain that part, from there they should have a fairly easy time rationalizing why they are raiding a dungeon.
Alternately when this happens….
“They look around nervously at each other before one of them turns to you, the GM, and asks:
“Tell me, again, why we’re going to enter the bowels of the dank, dark earth with nothing but sharpened bits of wood and metal between us and our eternal shuffling off this mortal coil?””
They are looking to you for answers. Make a soft move.
Something like…
“….the reason you are in front of this dungeon is that you have been running blindly through the forest for the last two hours…. Fighter… What is chasing you that is so dangerous that you think it would be better to go into this dungeon that fight it out in the open?”
“If a PC cannot find a reason to take part in the adventure, kill him/her.”