This is the seed of an idea I have for a GM-less Dungeon World, just a way to create complications by using 2d20…

This is the seed of an idea I have for a GM-less Dungeon World, just a way to create complications by using 2d20…

This is the seed of an idea I have for a GM-less Dungeon World, just a way to create complications by using 2d20 instead of a GM’s arbitration.

When you roll for a move, on a 10+, you do it, no problem. On a 7-9, you still succeed, but roll twice on the following table and choose one or the other to apply to your move. On a 6-, your action fails, and roll twice on the following table and choose one or the other to apply to your move. Alternatively, you may choose to have your action succeed, but roll twice on the following table and apply both.

1: Failure – You don’t achieve what you intended.

2: Forfeit – Something slips by your attention, or you lose track of something you should have been paying attention to.

3: Delay – It takes up a lot more time to accomplish your goal than you intended.

4-5: Expense – You use up a notable amount of your resources.

6: Breakage – Some item that you value is broken in the midst of your action.

7: Peril – You create a new dangerous situation for yourself, or put yourself or an ally into the path of an existing one.

8: Inaccuracy – You damage something you didn’t intend to.

9: Snared – You are tangled up in something, and you need help to get free.

10: Enmity – You antagonize someone or something present, creating new hazards or hostiles.

11-12: Relocation – You end up somewhere you didn’t intend to be, which may cause new problems.

13-15: Injury – You are damaged in body, spirit, or reputation.

16-17: Affliction – You are afflicted by some force that will continue to harm or burden you until treated. Maybe poison, maybe an enchantment.

18: Burden – You must shoulder some additional burden or obligation now.

19: Weariness – You are left exhausted, either physically or psychologically. You may be hungry, afraid, or weakened.

20: Disaster – You don’t achieve what you intended, and roll again.

7 thoughts on “This is the seed of an idea I have for a GM-less Dungeon World, just a way to create complications by using 2d20…”

  1. Sorry, that wasn’t a particularly helpful critique. And “overkill” isn’t really the right word. Let me unpack that a bit…

    It seems like the point of this is to address the Czege Principle (“when one person is the author of both the character’s adversity and its resolution, play isn’t fun”). You’re using a random generator to see what happens rather than GM fiat, because having GM fiat when there’s no GM feels boring and self-indulgent. Maybe I’m misinterpreting your design, but that’s what this feels like to me.

    The reason I asked about solo vs. group: in solo play, I can definitely see the advantage of some outside, randomized generator making the high-level decisions for you, so as to totally encourage “play to see what happens” and avoid being the author of your own adversity.

    But in group play, I feel like there are so many other options available to you: you could have something like “the person to the right is your source of adversity” or some sort of “talking stick” that gets passed around giving responsibility for narrating badness (sorta like initiative in Marvel Heroic). Approaches like these take advantage of a real live human being that can make “GM” moves based on the fiction and following principles–something a random table can’t really do.

    And that gets at a more specific critique: the choices on this table are rather specific and could easily generate results that are at odds with the fiction. Or at least, over the top. I think that’s at least part of why you have them roll 2d20 and pick, but it still has plenty of potential for gear grinding.

    Like, we’re in a city and I’m trying to lure some scared kid out of hiding. “I hold some food out, and speak quietly… ‘hey buddy, you look hungry… you want some food?’ and I’ll take a bite of it myself and hold it out towards him. ‘Mmm mmm.'” I roll+CHA, get a 7-9, and roll “Breakage” and “Weariness.” And… huh? Without getting horribly melodramatic, I have hard time seeing how either of those would apply.

    I think the beauty of the standard GM moves list is how versatile the moves are, how they clearly move the conversation forward while still leaving the details entirely open to the fictional circumstances. If I was going to any sort of “automated GM,” that’s where I’d start: rolling to see which GM move was invoked, maybe with a secondary table/randomizer to add hardness or flavor.

    Anyhow… don’t let me talk you out of trying something you think will be fun! Give it a shot, let us know how it works!

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