James Harrison, a DW fan, recently shared this amusingly formatted email with me about his trials and victories…
James Harrison, a DW fan, recently shared this amusingly formatted email with me about his trials and victories playing Dungeon World for the first time with some folks in Uganda! I thought the Tavernites would appreciate it.
Campaign Front: Dungeon world Uganda
Cast
James Harrison (English volunteer & lone geek. Impulse: GM an awesome game. Knack: D.W. PDF) & 5 First time Role-players working for an NGO… oh yes… name everyone;
Hannah Harrison (E. volunteer. I: Change into animals K: Smoke pipeleaf)
Tom (Ugandan social worker. I: Steal everything not nailed down. K:
ignore everything & go steal)
David (U. Children’s co-ordinate. I: Defend the weak with his
ancestral blade K: Rolling 6-)
Michael (U. Welfare & Estate Manager. I: Call down the power of god K: Rolling 10+)
Fred (U. Accountant. I: Be well liked, traveled & versed in lore K: Wings!)
Stakes
Will people enjoy themselves?
Will people understand the rules?
Will people want to play again?
Danger: Ugandan Electricity Company
Type: Thieves guild (I: to be paid, without providing electricity)
Impending Doom: Impoverishment of eyesight & spirit
Grim Portents:
The power goes off
The room slowly darkens
Character creation occurs by lantern light
Danger: First time Role-players
Type: Wandering Barbarians* (I: to make characters & play the
muzungu’s game)
Impending Doom: Rampant Chaos
Grim Portents:
Manic chuckling at looks and bonds
A player decides to wield a Bible
A players opening move is to spread their wings and fly
A serious discussion occurs as to which Ugandan forest contains dwarves
Danger: Darkness & Storm
Type: Elemental Vortex (I: to reduce roads to rivers of mud &
curtail travel)
Impending Doom: Usurping the RPG
Grim Portents:
Region wide power cut promises dangerous trip home
Rumbling thunder heard
Distant Lightning seen
Promise of storm brings First session come to an abrupt close.
(*Actually they are sitting… but they don’t speak any Latin. Muzungu = white man. Oh, just thinking of the dwarf conversation brings tears of laughter to my eyes)
Stake resolutions:
People really enjoyed themselves! We had a blast and our evening was filled with lots of laughter, fun, never-before-tasted Pringles &
squinting at small text in poor light. Everyone simply accepted the
game as a fun evening to be had. I’ve been really stoked (& surprised) by just how much fun everyone had.
The darkness made it difficult to read, so after character creation I
skipped going over the moves and jumped straight into the action. The conversation basis of the game is beautiful and flowed nicely. Dice rolls are straightforward and everyone got them. I think after we have looked over the basic moves the trigger system will help player’s descriptions improve. I was taken aback when the Bard suddenly had wings; but it’s frankly too awesome not to have not – I think the pitch (starting on a flying island) signposted more than I intended.
We only had about 35 minutes of play time and ended the session in
the opening moments of the first fight – a cliff-hanger ending, and a
tense intro to more of the game basics next time. The session ended
with a player statement of “so we’ll play again tomorrow.” No higher
praise for a game eh? However, not everyone was free so Front: “The
1st real adventure: Complete with moves!” will be hitting an screen
near you NGO quite-a-long-way-away-from you soon!
I’ve had fun writing this font, feel free to share it wherever & with
whomever you want. I hope it might inspire some people to do likewise: Take a risk and start a game with people you’d assume wouldn’t be interested. Roleplaying is fun and people enjoy it world over!
