Author: John Marron

Before Gencon J J Lanza and Giovanni Lanza  were planning a DW game based on Rush songs.  Does anyone know if that happened (I missed it), or if they posted any write-ups of their setting idea online?  I’m getting alittle nostalgic for my high school gamimng, and Rush was the constant soundtrack then.

The other day, someone on the Tavern here used the phrase “brought back the magic” to describe how they felt after running DW for the first time.

That phrase pretty much perfectly describes my feelings about the game.  I got my first RPG for Christmas in 1976 (Empire of the Petal Throne, I had just turned 13 a couple of day earlier and had been bugging my folks to buy the game for me for months).  I bought the AD&D 1E books as they were released.  I’ve been playing these games as a central part of my life for around 36 years now, so I do not say the following lightly.

Dungeon World is my favorite RPG of all time.  As Eon said in an earlier draft of the DW guide, Dungeon World is the game I wanted D&D to be, all those years ago.

I’ve been hooked on DW for almost a year now, and anybody who knows me and my severe gamer ADD will be impressed that my interest hasn’t flagged or wavered in that time.  I check out new games all the time, but in the end, I think “what I’d really like to be doing is playing Dungeon World”.  It just fits my style of gaming perfectly, and gives me the experience I was wanting all along.

I’ve introduced a bunch of folks to RPGs using DW (including some kids, which is especially rewarding), and I just think, how cool would it be if DW was my introduction to this hobby?

Anyway, I just wanted to share and give a huge thanks to Sage and Adam (and Vincent, and Eon and Sean, and everyone else involved in making the game, and the entire DW/*World community) for giving me this gift.

Just wrapped up my Dungeon World campaign using the Innistrad setting from Magic: The Gathering.  The finale was tense and exciting, as our heroes realized the full extent of their betrayal by numerous trusted NPCs, and had to fight their way out of a burning inn through a huge werewolf, a demon-worshiping ex-Cathar (paladin), and some summoned fire demons.

We didn’t end up making as much use of Jonathan Walton  and Sean Dunstan ‘s  fear rules as I had planned, but overall the campaign managed to maintain a nice horror feel.

I was glad to finally get to run a game using this Gothic Horror themed setting, and the campaign was made very fun by great players like Kenneth Lavender , Zackery Moore , Brian Meadors , and first time RPGer Renee Gainer .

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/stf/157

Ran the second session of my DW game using the Innistrad MtG setting last night.  Our first session last week was some basic intro to RPGs (we have a first time player), character creation and a short fight.  To prep for this week, I found an evocative image, mentally composed a paragraph long backstory, and wrote down a list of about 25 Dungeon Starter style impressions.  3 hours later, they’d explored the ruins of a haunted cathedral, found the grisly remains of a werewolf feast, been blasted by the fiery breath of a vengeful ghost, dragged the Bard down an underground tunnel as he desperately tore his pants off while a strange black mold burned its way into his skin, and recovered a holy artifact to the accompaniment of a bodiless choir of angelic children’s voices.

The game went great, and I’m finding this style of improv-heavy GMing really liberating.  The fact that we’re all playing to find out what happens means I’m just a surprised as the players about how the story goes.  We tried out some of the Madness rules that Sean Dunstan and +Jonathon Walton are working on.  I’ll post about how those worked later.

Now, on to Fronts and creating a steading.

I’m hoping to start a Dungeon World game soon using the Innistrad setting from Magic: The Gathering.  This setting only has humans, so to provide a little more variety in racial moves, I wanted to give the players the option of taking a move related to the province they were born in if they don’t like the Human option from their class.  I came up with three choices for each location.  Do any of these moves look out of whack?

Innistrad Regional (alternative race) Moves

Gavony – rolling moors dotted with small towns and villages

Townsman – When you spend a little while in a town or village, you can quickly work out the location of the important places and who is really in charge.

Hard Won Knowledge -When you spout lore about undead or geists, take +1

Self-sufficient – You learned a craft in your youth.  What can you make/repair?

Kessig – dense woodland with small settlements carved out of the forest

Sterner Stuff – When you are faced with a scene of grisly horror, take +1 to any rolls to resist fear.

Folk Wisdom – When you come up with a pithy saying, a wise parable, or an Old Wives tale, take +1 forward to the next action that the wisdom applies to.

The Beast Within – When you spout lore about werewolves, take +1

Nephalia – misty sea coast with busy port cities

Hard Bargainer – Take +1 to the Supply move, and subtract an additional CHA from the cost of items (minimum cost = 1 coin)

Born on the waves – Take +1 to rolls made on boats, ships, or the sea

Disturbers of the Blessed Sleep – When you spout lore about skaberen or ghoulcallers, take +1

Stensia – mountainous land of eternal twilight and stoic peasants

Stoic – When you must roll to endure a hardship, take +1 

Our hungry masters – When you spout lore about vampires, take +1

Mountaineer – When you Defy Danger or Spout Lore in the mountains, take +1

Thraben – the great city, home to the Cathedral of Avacyn

Urban Sophistication – when dealing with rustics or others who might be impressed that you are from the great city, take +1.

Prominent Piety – You know well the ways of the Avacynian church.  Take +1 when you Parley with members of the church or especially devout laymen.

See beneath the surface – When you Discern Realities to determine a person’s motivations, take +1

I was just re-reading the DW rulebook, and noticed something that I really love.  Among all of the “actual play” type dialogue examples of the basic moves in action, there is usually one example for each move of the GM making a bad call, and either catching themselves or having a player point it out and the GM correcting themselves on the fly.  For whatever reason, this just makes me so happy (probably because it makes me less nervous about making crappy calls myself).  Well done, Adam and Sage.

Has anybody come up with an Alchemist playbook?  I’ve been messing around with one, but don’t think I have a good enough handle on the game yet to do a full-blown playbook.  I want one for a setting that does not have D&D style wizards, and my attempts have been loosely based on the Monster Blood Tattoo novels.  I’m envisioning a sort of “combat chemist”, a guy who reaches into his satchel of weird alchemical mixtures and pulls out just the right potion/powder/whatever to throw at the monster and achieve a variety of effects.  Below are my attempts at some basic moves for the class, but I’m very open to checking out anyone else’s stab at an Alchemist (BTW – the damages listed are just placeholders until I give them some more thought.  Stores is an abstract measure of alchemical supplies, and I’m thinking you’d start with 5-10 stores, and need to find/buy more pretty quickly).

Alchemy

When you use an alchemical preparation, roll+DEX:  

On a 10+, choose 1, or choose 2 and deplete your stores.

On a 7-9, choose 1 and deplete your stores.

On a 6-, deplete your stores and you suffer a mishap.

– Create a cloud of noxious vapors

– Create a cloud of thick, obscuring  smoke

– Create a loud explosion (d8+2 damage area)

– Create a pool of dissolving acid (d10+1 damage ignores armor)

– Create a stunningly bright light

– Create a deafening noise

– Put a handful of creatures to sleep

– Catch things on fire

Analyze

When you have the time and laboratory equipment to investigate a mysterious substance, roll +WIS:

On a 10+, choose three

On a 7-9, choose 1

– You determine the substance’s components

– You determine the substance’s origin

– You determine the substance’s method of manufacture 

– You determine the substance’s usefulness

Concoct

When you have access to the resources and equipment to make a concoction, roll+INT:

On a 10+, choose 1 or choose 2 and deplete your stores.

On a 7-9, choose 1 and deplete your stores.

On a 6-, deplete your stores and you are left with a useless goo.

– You create a deadly poison (1d6 ongoing damage poison)

– You create a sleeping draught

– You create a powerful antidote (counteract poison)

– You create an invigorating tonic (remove one debility)

– You create a healing balm (heal 2d6 HP)

– You create a boosting potion (+1 forward to one stat modifier for one use)

I’m thinking of using DW to run a game in a horror themed setting.  Has anyone come up with any way of handling fear/insanity?