I’m changing the End of Session questions for my new campaign that starts tonight.
• Did we make a new friend?
• Did we share a meal with somebody?
• Did we explore an old or forgotten place — big or small?
I want to emphasize a sort of everyday texture to the world, where the post-apocalyptic remains of a forgotten world feel lived in, or where the PCs can feel that exploring the flooded ruins of a library is worth it without being compensated. Along with some careful class selection, I think this could go a long way toward giving the game a bit more of a heartwarming tone.
How have y’all changed the end of session move in your own campaigns? What sort of effect did you intend? Did you achieve that?
Good move!
I haven’t yet but i would for Inverse World.
Alberto Muti has stuff to say, i am sure.
Ha! I’m in a fantastic IW game, with the awesome Sonia Grossi Domenico Marino Fabio Succi Cimentini and Mario Bolzoni , and we did change the end of session move!
What really makes me smile, is that we, too, swapped the “treasure” question with “did we make a new friend?” In our occasion, we expanded it to “did we make a new friend, or did we leave a lasting positive impression on someone?”. We kept the one about discovering something about the world, because we felt exploration fell into that nicely, and there’s an “uncovering ancient secrets” angle to our game, and we rewrote the last question as “did we overcome a significant danger?”, which is not that different, but underlines that it could be a danger not represented by an enemy, but something else (a natural disaster, for example, or a trap). We also made it clear that “overcoming” is open to both violent and non violent solutions.
Good ones along with a general inquiry to the players if they have any questions/comments/suggestions to see if anything is thought of to improve the game campaign.
I ran a short campaign using the M:tG setting of Innistrad (Gothic Horror), and we changed the Loot question to “Did we protect an innocent form evil?”. Worked pretty well for changing the tone of the game.
Think that the questions in the core book are good but rather themed to a dungeon crawl. Maybe if a new edition is released they will expand on this & other fan favorites on tags/bonds/etc. to give new people more ideas to play off of without adding a ton.to the word count.
DW is mostly geared towards a specific color – epic D&D-styled dungeon-crawling adventures, and the questions really reflect and push on that. They’re a good checklist for a GM – “have I given my players a chance to do these things this session?”
A shift in tone and in the type of fiction you’re emulating almost always requires to change them – more so than most other basic moves.
I always have the beginning of session question “Did everybody bring snacks?”.
But that serves a different purpose…
Alberto Muti Yes, this a fantastic point. The core game is definitely geared toward that specific thing. The core basic moves are pretty adventure oriented by default, but the stuff surrounding them — the classes, the special moves, the GM moves — underscore that dungeon diving setting.
The transparency of it all makes drifting the tone and type of fiction easy. The Dragonball/One Piece/Adventure Time feel that I’m trying for is easily achieved with a few tweaks and some discussion with the players without changing the entire system.
So, yeah I agree.
/sub
In the last campaign it was clear the group became more invested in the bettering their area of adventuring and through their actions make the kingdom stronger as they were befriending several area leaders and rather forgot the personal gain of treasure and the end of session question became “have our actions benefited the kingdom?” as they were became very concerned with stabilizing everything and ridding any and all potential threats from the area. It’s very much a thematic change when fighters aren’t hunting for +1 swords and the like and magical items are above all meaningful and purposeful to the fiction.
Agreed with Jamie Mathews, and why I like the low magic item count of Dungeon World. When the group is looking for the one unique weapon to fight the boss enemy instead of copying the show Hoarders with getting every different hilt version of +1 swords, it makes the characters much more fun & realized without all the Monty Hall gear collection mindset.
I like the questions to reflect the current focus of the campaign in addition to a couple of generic questions. Things like:
“Did we learn anything new about the members of the Dragon’s Eye?”
“Did we uncover any more of the history of the Seven Bridges Valley?”
“Did we uphold the charter of the Assembly of Advisors?”
End of Session questions are a great way to shape and influence the theme and feel of the campaign.