Usually I find that Dungeon World is like a lovely flower that first starts small and then blooms out with first…

14 thoughts on “Usually I find that Dungeon World is like a lovely flower that first starts small and then blooms out with first…”

1. What if they aren’t actually out of the tower? What if the tower is actually magical, and has lured them into some sort of illusory trap intended to let them waste away in some chamber somewhere, convinced they escaped but led boring mundane adventure-less lives? What if a crack started appearing in the illusion, and once they break free they’ll discover more about the tower and it’s far from conventional origins?

   If they think they have it figured out, start using harder moves to break them of that, and throw them curveballs until one of them asks in exasperation “What the hell is going on?” and now they have a goal again.

2. Their play books are full of flags for the sorts of adventures they want to play. The fighter wants to fight things, the thief wants to deal with traps and puzzles, the wizard wants to use their magic. The paladin has a quest to follow, the Druid has a homeland to defend, the barbarian has appetites to sate… Just look at their moves and think of scenes that will challenge them or put them in a hard spot. Fast forward to that scene. Show signs of an approaching threat (something you are interested in as the GM). Make sure they know what the danger is but don’t presume to know how they will deal with it.

3. Ask more questions now that they are out?

4. Paul Sheppard​​ what kind of questions are good to get good ideas for the adventure?

   Usually questions are connected to the action happenening in the first session. Since they are out there is no “action” to connect questions to.

5. Leading ones.

   So, now that you are out of the tower what’s the closest outpost of civilization? What do you know about it? What difficult terrain must you pass to reach it? What horrible creatures are known to live in the area? Why are the Black Skull orcs constantly patrolling the area?

   There may be questions connected to events in the first adventure. So, wizard, who has been looking for the magical MacGuffin that you have brought out of the tower? What kind of agents does he or she employ? Etc

6. Yeah, this is super simple. “What is the city to the east from which you first set out? You see an ill omen on the eastern horizon, likely bound for the city… what is that omen? Traveling these lands to reach the tower was dangerous, it is only a matter of time until the roaming beasts catch your scent; what are they? What hazardous terrain did you navigate to reach the tower?” You just keep asking questions, keep building up what’s going on around them and what’s gone before.

7. I agree with Paul Sheppard​ here – keep asking questions to learn where they’re going and what they want to do.

   Maybe use PW yourself outside of the game to make a few settlements or dungeons?

8. Yes, echoing what others said. You can always ask more questions. Ask open questions if you just want to see what they’re thinking, and ask leading questions if you have an idea about what you’d like to do (but don’t plan anything).

   Open: What’s interesting over here (point to black space on map)? Which of you cares about that?

   Leading: What terrifying creature lives in this swamp that needs to be put down (draw a swamp in a black blank space)? Which of you have fought one like it before, and what did you learn about them?

   My group is really good at making stuff up on the fly so I don’t ask too many leading questions unless I have an idea I want to explore.

9. Hmm i guess another peoblem is my group has 1 person great at coming up with things and the other two are a little the dm should make things up. Probably anpther reason why the tower didn’t push the game as much as i thought.

   Basically i don’t want it to become the i and that player makes everything up game

10. Good point Brian Holland​. With my group I have one or two people that jump all over the questions and the other 4 seem to have trouble (and if I ask them directly they get flustered) so I have gotten into the habit of leading questions but would prefer open questions with leading ones as follow up

11. james day Then use leading questions and ask the other two when it’s something that fits with their character. Hopefully their comfort level will grow

12. Yeah, try asking leading questions that their class/character/player might be interested in.

    When (if) they get comfortable with that go into leading questions that oppose what their class/character would be interested in, but the players might be interested in. (My players enjoy going against a threat they think they have no chance against because they get really creative in how they deal with it).

    Then, when (if) they’ve grown comfortable with that try open questions. Hopefully by then they’ll know their characters well enough and be more used to creating content that they don’t even realize it’s an open questions.

13. Maybe try throwing them into a situation in media res and save the world building for later-like molok’s prisoners

14. I was thinking just what Mark Tygart said – Start them in media res. It’s a lesson I took from Uncharted Worlds. If you start out by saying something like “It’s midnight, you’ve been torn out of sleep by a sudden attack. You stand over the twitching body of one of the attackers, but more are heard screaming throughout your camp. What does the dying attacker benath you look like?” or a softer move, like “While you’re strolling through the forest along a path of overgrown cobblestones you spot a pulsing light between the trees. What colour is it? Have you heard of something that can emit light like that?”

    What Nathan Roberts said about using their flags, too. This is essentially the GM move – “Give an opportunity that fits a class’ abilities”

    Introduce a point of interest at the start of the session, make them figure out the details!

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