I am going to run my first game of DW for a group that usually plays Pathfinder later this month.

I am going to run my first game of DW for a group that usually plays Pathfinder later this month.

I am going to run my first game of DW for a group that usually plays Pathfinder later this month. I have zero GM experience, the players have zero DW experience. I’d like to use a pre-made adventure to take away a bit of the pressure. Are there any products you’d recommend for us?

11 thoughts on “I am going to run my first game of DW for a group that usually plays Pathfinder later this month.”

  3. If you’re looking for something to kickstart a longer-term game, the various Dungeon Starters out there are pretty sweet:

    The originals by Marshall Miller:

    http://www.finemessgames.com/DWsupplements/dungeonstarters

    One I made:

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0lFq3ECDQDQeTkxMjd5WnVxMWc/view?usp=sharing

    And I’m sure a google search would turn up others.

    Also, if you haven’t already, read The Guide: 

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3269630/dwdotcom/eon-guide/Dungeon%20World%20Guide%20pdf%20version%201.2.pdf

    And for full-on adventures, check out just about anything Joe Banner does:

    http://joebanner.co.uk/category/adventures/

  5. I highly recommend Joe Banner’s stuff. It’s just enough that you get a feel for the whole adventure and where it can go, and have enough pre-made that you never feel like you don’t know what to give the players next, but he leaves enough blanks that you can still have the open-ended “Play to Find Out What Happens” DW experience. My personal favorite is Downstream of a Dead Town, which I used to introduce my group to DW. And if you like what he does, don’t forget to check out his Patreon so he can keep making them!

  6. My first suggestion is to go to http://www.onepagedungeon.info/

    and find one you like. There are tons of free adventures.

    These will have a more structure than what you will find if you look for “DW Adventures”

    However they are vague enough so you have plenty room to improvise. Don’t like a section of the map omit it or add to it.

    My second suggestion is to grab Temple of Ungu by Jason Morningstar http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/projects/games/dungeon_world/dungeon_world_demo_morningstar.pdf

    I used this the first two times I ran DW with a different experience each time. Now this will require more improvisation or some light prep as you will need to have an idea of rooms or creatures. This is a short game played easily in 2 to 3 hours including Character Gen and rules explanation.

    It has good questions to entice the players. My favorite question to add is ask the Thief “what precious heirloom did you steal from the Fighter”

    At some point during the temple when you have a chance to do move against the Thief give the choice a terrible amount of damage or losing his bag. It will be dramatic as the thief will be thinking of the 100 gold he has been collecting for his family. Maybe he’ll take damage this time, but when you hit him hard go for that bag. Eventually he’ll relent and the bag will go flying.

    Then describe the heirloom sliding across the floor and stopping at the fighter’s feet.

    Simple and it worked for me twice.

  8. It’s understandable, but you’re assuming that you need a pre-made in DW like you do in, say, PFRPG.  It’s not like it’s going to hurt, but as you read and play a bit of DW, you’ll notice that much of the “content” of the narrative is improvised (and often by the players).  So you’re going to find yourself awash in the kinds of things a pre-made provides.

    On the other hand, what I found most difficult about GMing DW (and still do) is knowing how to mine the content surrounding you for good material with which to improvise on-the-spot.

    Just my $0.02.

  9. Thanks for all the feedback guys! I’ve got a lot of research to do and decisions to make ahead of our session. Tons of great content to read. I had read the guide, but missed basically everything else, somehow. I like the dungeon starters, and I’m glad to get further confirmation Mr. Banner’s stuff is great. 

    I promise I’m not assuming I need a pre-made adventure. I know that it’s typically improvised. I knew I’d get some flack for asking for something pre-made. I’m just looking to take some of the pressure off of all of us. Creative improvisation of the sort done by an expert DW GM with experienced players is like graduate level stuff. We’re more freshman majoring in architecture here: asking us to design a skyscraper is pretty intimidating when we couldn’t design a shed up to code at this point.

    I might try it, anyway. We’re all friends; if we fall on our face, we fall on our face together. We’ll move on.

    Thanks again, everyone! If you’ve got more, keep it coming.

  10. Miles Sterrett I didn’t mean it as flack.  I think most people should/would look at pre-made stuff.  My point was to say that won’t be enough–for me anyway, the “mechanics” of GMing are harder than in other games.  But the fact that you’re here asking this stuff means you’ll be fine.  🙂

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