I’ve played Dungeon World a couple of times and enjoyed the heck out of it, so I jumped at the opportunity to run it for a friend , his son and their friends.
So the first thing I learned about running DW is that going in with almost no prep is HARD. I did have some semi-generic maps available (castle ruins, town, dwarven hold, etc.) but trying to get the story going was tricky for me. The players did give me some great material to work with, though: two of the PCs fought side-by-side at the battle of Charmountain against the forces of the Nameless Lich.
Bingo, we have a plot hook!
There is no evidence that the Lich was destroyed permanently at the Battle of Charmountain. The map of the castle ruins became the site of one of the major battles of the war, and the party has learned rumors that the keep may have been infiltrated by the Lich’s agents prior to its destruction so they are looking for evidence.
The second thing I struggled with was trying to find creature stats to use. I know there’s an index at the back, and there is some good thinking in grouping related creatures, but just flipping through the book to see if there was anything I could use was time-consuming. When I work on my prep for the next session, I’ll be sure to have appropriate stats.
I am definitely looking forward to running DW again, and I hope to be better prepared with a toolbox of beasties and fronts to use!
