Author: Ken Burnside

Not that Thundarr the Barbarian is that far from basic Dungeon World…

How would you re-skin basic DW character classes for a Thundarr-esque campaign, of adventurers working their way across a patchwork quilt of petty fiefdoms ruled by wizards and sorcerers in a land of super science and magic gone mad?

Would you use the alternate (no prepared spells) version of the Wizard?

This article has a lot of good advice for people making classes and playbooks.

https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/293&utm_content=buffer6257b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=plus.google.com&utm_campaign=buffer

After all, what is a class-move but a small node of options and complexity in a character class?

https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/293&utm_content=buffer6257b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=plus.google.com&utm_campaign=buffer

I am looking for something.  A handout, preferably, that’s about a single page.

The contents of this handout are:

“If you play Pathfinder/D&D 3.5, what you know of as X is called Y in Dungeon World.”

For example, Dungeon World uses the term “Moves” for:

* Basic combat mechanics

* Negotiating with Death

* Leveling Up

* Core class abilities, like casting spells

* Advanced class abilities, which are mostly analogous to feats.

Yes, there are many many points of difference, and there are philosophical reasons why they did this.  I’m not looking for those, or those arguments.

I’m looking for ways to take the guys who play Pathfinder, have 15 years of experience with 3.5 and Pathfinder, and convince them that, yes, there are enough points of similarity that this game will be easy for them to pick up.  In spite of using new terms for things they already “know.”

The lack of a glossary near the front of the book is probably the single greatest barrier to entry I’m seeing.

The lack of a cheat sheet for the different rolls is another.  I couldn’t find out what Roll+BONDS was without asking for help.  Yes, I know the roll mechanic don’t change – just what the modifiers are.  A simple list of all the modifiers would seriously help. 🙂

I’m looking to do this as a series pitch for Dungeon World:

“You’re all crew on the Galley Serenity, plying the wine dark seas of the Aegean, 8 years after Paris raped Helen and took her to Ilium, and Agamemnon and Menelaus gathered a fleet.”

“You’ve moved cargo, couriers and things best left unsaid in the mean time.  You’ve got reasons to dislike both the Achaeans and the Trojans, and all this mucking about in the affairs of the Divine has made the world a much stranger place.”

I’d like to run this in Dungeon World, with some of the classes reskinned – Paladin with slightly looser morals makes a nice proxy for “There was a God in your family tree a few generations back.”

I’d like to have magic, but not “spellcasters.” and enough variety in the “non-magic” types that it’s not “All Fighters, All The Time.”

Any suggestions for playbooks that would be appropriate?

(One of the PC niches is the Captain of the Serenity, who’d have a Doom sworn against him – if he passes through the pillars of Pylos, all he loves will be lost.  He’s been avoiding any cargoes or jobs heading back that way ever since.)