“The Curse of Drazhu” stuff I’ve been working on lately has got me dreaming of making my own adventure module for Dungeon World. I’d love to hear the Tavern’s take and what makes a great supplement/campaign book/adventure module.
– If you could design the perfect adventure module for this game (or any trpg) what would be essential to include?
– What stuff do you actually use and what do you enjoy?
– What do you find you tend to ignore?
– What module, for Dungeon World, or otherwise would you point out as a great example of an excellent, well put together product?
Thanks! Looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts.
No more than 3 Fronts.
Lots of blanks, but tons of inspiration. Magic Weapons (unique or setting-specific is great).
Interesting Monsters.
Compendium Classes.
New Moves.
New Spells.
Old-school, evocative art. I don’t need it to be a specific thing, just make it eye-catching.
I ignore steading tags.
Checkout Servants of the Cinder Queen by Jason Lutes. Do that.
I would add Jason Lutes Perilous Deeps and a project I co-authored (20 Dungeon Starters) humbly as possible inspiration. I share your madness.
Also check out Indigo Galleon. Many consider it a small (myself included) masterpiece: fc0ea96b-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com – john.aegard.com/indigo-galleon.pdf
Mark Tygart Yochai Gal Thanks to you both. Jason Lutes’ stuff is awesome. The Perilous Deeps specifically was an inspiration for “The Cursed Tower of Drazhu”.
Mark, your dungeon starters are great and the pace you put them out astounding. I’ve run groups through The Lost Temple a couple times and it was a completely different and totally fun adventure on both occasions.
I’ve been meaning to run The Indigo Galleon for awhile. The design of that starter is jam-packed with goodies. I really like the idea of setting the scene and then letting the characters explore and take it where they will. TIG strikes a good balance on this front I think.
What Yochai Gal said + I’d expect custom Location-based moves and other adventure-specific custom moves. Stuff like:
When you enter the dark cellar, roll+WIS. […]
or
When you ask the baron of Streinberg about his involvment in Blablabla, […]
I cant rave enough about your Ruined Tower adventure starter. I like how because its a tower you can plan out ahead for the next level, but its still nondescript enough to allow for player agency.
I wonder about adding leading questions for each level. Maybe even class specific
Fighter what do you make of the plans the war council has presented to Drahzu?
Bard what tales do you know about the Bride of Drahzu?
Often that’s how i will present impressions.
But there is so much in that starter that you could simply add some character and magic item artwork, maybe level maps and it would be a nice Zine on its own.
Greg Jones Thanks! It was a goal of mine to balance the dungeon dressing and layout with lots of opportunities for GM’s and players to improvise and make it their own.
I love the idea of class-based opportunities baked into the module. They are so helpful. I’ve been playing the Drazhu adventures with a large party (6 PC’s) so I’m always trying to think of how I can make my players feel like they matter.
I’ve actually been starting each session with a question I’ve customised for each one of them. To save time I print them out and pass them around at the beginning of the session. So far I think it’s been working great. Those questions you gave as examples will be perfect for the next session!