Category: The Dungeon World Tavern: Actual Play

Last night I got the pleasure of running a four-hour one-shot of Logan Howard’s The Machine Tyrant from the first issue of Sword Breaker. It was an amazing adventure helped by the fact that I was giving most of my group their first experiences with Dungeon World and PBTA games in general.

By the end of the session, our heroes— Xenic-Ka, a knight wielding a legendary spear carrying the spirit of an ancient wizard; Cedric of the Roaring Squall, an elemental shaman from a beastman tribe; and Kazekawa, a scholarly river dragon—had fended off sinkhole-creating beasts, devastated a town that was willing to sacrifice one of its own to the Immortal Dread Baron, fled into the woods to escape the Dread Baron and his Broken Knights, had an underwater battle with an otherworldly Coiler, been tempted by dark powers, broke space and time with an empty glass vial, and finally ruined the Dread Baron’s schemes of living on past his many, many deaths.

A one-shot probably wasn’t the best format for the adventure (I think if I’d had time I would have split it into two adventures: the journey to the keep and then the exploration in the keep for the second adventure) but with a bit of brevity, you can still make it through this amazing journey in an evening if you try.

It was a great adventure and my players are already clamoring for another one, which I believe means we’ll be delving into Issue 3’s A Walk Around Town next. Something about old-school campy adventures with outrageous monsters is calling to me.

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/206544/Sword-Breaker-Issue-No-1–The-Tyrant-Machine