Hey Tavern, I had moved to a new city a while ago and finally found a good FLG to try running face-to-face games again. Since this is going to be a fresh start and I have no idea if I’ll have regular players or just a bunch of drop-ins, I wanted to plan for something very loose and episodic that would look into the stories of whatever characters happen to show up–something like the We Hunt the Keepers campaign on the Gauntlet.
Does anyone have any suggestions for this sort of game or running for random players at your FLG?
Go for a static setting that play can return to. Whether it’s the keep on the borderlands or a frontier town sprung up gold-rush style around a recently-discovered set of ruins, or a city with one great wall facing the haunted wasteland, or even within a great city of fantasy, set it up so the end of an adventure is a return to original state, so that the cast can change freely without it feeling weird.
You might want to consider Love Letters for returning PC, or the move that I use :
I’M BACK!
When you reunite with the group after being separated for an extended time, say what happened and roll …
■ … +STR if you fought a monster or escaped imprisonment.
■ … +DEX if you did something secret, stole something, or evaded something.
■ … +CON if you trained under a mentor or acquired help or resources.
■ … +INT if you learned ancient knowledge or invented something.
■ … +WIS if you discovered a secret or had a divine
encounter.
■ … +CHA if you made an ally, learned about a culture, or purchased something of interest or value.
On a 10+, you had a prosperous leave; take +1 Forward and mark XP.
On a 7-9, you attracted trouble or your actions had unintended consequences, the GM will say what.
On a 6-, in addition to whatever the GM says, take -1
Forward.
I see to recall Yochai Gal and Andrew Huffaker both saying they did that sort of thing, they might have some advice.
While I really like Rob Donoghue’s ideas, one wrinkle is that a “living” world like he describes somewhat constrains the amount player-led worldbuilding you can do. And that’s a pretty cool part of DW’s play culture.
Like, if you ask the first player to play an elf “what are elves like?” and she says “super hippies, totally in tune with nature, can’t bear the touch of iron or steel,” then that becomes something you have to tell the player next week. And/or they come up with increasingly elaborate distinctions, like “oh, the southern elves are all hippies, but I’m an eastern elf and we’re totally punk rock, oi oi!”
Personally, I’d probably come with some light-weight, easy-to-finish-in-one-session scenarios. And if you get some regulars, then start putting letting your world build up around their input.
I’m with Jeremy Strandberg . come up with a loose scenario that can be played in many different ways. After asking all of the leading questions before play, use Jason Cordova’s Eye of Gruumsh idea is what I go to.
I’ve been running one-shots for a local Meetup group (I had to start it, there was nothing even close to DW before) for a while now; so I know exactly how you feel.
If you’re planning for one shots, might I suggest a project I’ve been working on? It’s almost complete, I just have to flesh out the GM section.
Essentially, it’s a version of Dungeon World built specifically for one-shots or tiny campaigns (1-3 sessions at most). I’ve completed the Playbooks (all one-page) and modified a number of rules to accommodate quicker games (for example, there are no rations, 3-18 ability scores, or leveling) . I’d be happy to share it with you; I expect to have the rest finished in the next week or so anyways.