Hi!
Hi! Has anyone ever tried to translate the Beliefs mechanic from The Burning Wheel to Dungeon World? Something like Bonds or Flags? I know it wouldn’t be as deep, but I’d really like to create something in that spirit, the thing is that I don’t have the experience with BW to do it justice…
I’m posting with hopes that someone else has already tried this.
I’m posting with hopes that someone else has already tried this. I’m looking forward to run an open campaign in a local RPG club with a cast of rotating PCs and I was wondering which changes would you suggest to make to the system, specifically how to hack or create something interesting in replacement of bonds, since given the situation, I need something more related to the campaign rather than other characters. Bonus points for campaign premises and concepts that allow me to run games where players will rotate regularly and not every character will be present every session (I was thinking of a flying ship that has the present players roleplay the crew members that go on a mission each session or something like that)
Sorry for the long post in advance. (Fronts at the end for reference)
Sorry for the long post in advance. (Fronts at the end for reference)
Hello! Newbie here. I’ve played a couple of sessions and I’m already loving this game, specially taking into account that I came here looking for a lighter and more narrative system. That being said, I hope you can help me with a small issue for my prep.
Note: I’m sure there are a lot of things I’m not understanding or looking from the wrong angle I write what I got from what I read so you can tell me where I got confused.
At the first session, the game turned into a zombie apocalypse pretty fast, ending in a cliffhanger with the PCs garrisoned in the local tavern surrounded by zombies. The city is like a massive metropolis with different districts divided by walls and a citadel in the middle. I want to take advantage of that focusing the action there, also I want to make the zombie apocalypse last more than one session. At the time, the city guard has closed all the doors around the merchant district containing the zombies there and locking the the PCs and survivors inside. I thought of having a necromancer hiding in the sewers of the city but I put it aside in favor of leaving gaps, also it wasn’t immediately relevant. I decided to make two Dangers, one for the zombies (horde, pestilence) and one for the city guard to represent the extreme measures to contain the zombies ending with a “nuclear solution” (there’s some high fantasy elements) type of ending if nothing gets done (ambitious organization, destruction). After that, it’s where my doubts started.
The examples from the rule book and the guide seem like Campaign Fronts to me, are they? I’m not familiar with how much progress can players make but after playing for about an hour during the first session, it was amazing how much stuff happened. Maybe they are Adventure Fronts, however they seem very large scale for me to be the prep for one or two sessions. For example, I want the next session to involve surviving in the tavern, maybe saving survivors, dealing with the city guard, gathering resources, at best, escaping the district, maybe if they fail to save most of the people, the massive number of zombies will destroy the doors from the district walls and advance the Campaign Front. I thought of having the city guard killing anyone who tries to escape and sending execution teams to kill survivors and zombies alike to prevent the growth of the disease. Here’s where things get confusing for me: I have the same Cast and Dangers for both the Campaign and Adventure Fronts (which makes sense) and I feel that the Grim Portents from the Campaign Front are basically the Impending Dooms from my Adventure Front (which doesn’t seem too crazy) but the problem I’m worried about is when I look at the two possible outcomes at the end of the session or resolution of the Adventure Front:
1) (Less likely) If the players solve the Dangers form the Adventure Front (AKA succeed during the session?), the campaign would end in the first session.
2) (Most likely) The characters fail and the Adventure Front reaches it’s Impending Doom, for the tension to grow, I find interesting and fictionally reasonable for the Campaign Front to advance but I feel I wouldn’t give the players any chance. If the players fail regularly I see it being frustrating to them but If they succeed dealing with the Adventure Dangers, the Campaign Front will never advance. Can the Campaign Front advance regardless what the PCs do? I feel that’s what I’m dealing with here. I know that with playing I’ll get more experience but I’m sure I’m missing something here. Maybe I have problems designing the Adventure’s Dangers.
Campaign Front
Danger 1: Zombies
Grim Portents
– The zombies take over the district
– The zombies expand to nearby districts
– The zombies consume everything and the citadel is the last bastion
– The zombies consume everything in the city
Impending Doom: Pestilence
Danger 2: City Guard
Grim Portents
– Execution teams start killing zombies and survivors alike. Guards in the walls kill survivors trying to escape.
– The mages of the citadel build the eye of amonkhet and start firing it against everyone
– The grand alchemists and the mages close the eye of amonkhet (destroy the city)
Impending Doom: Destruction
Adventure Front
This is where I don’t know how to do it. Previously I explained my ideas for it.
Thanks a lot, hope you can provide some insight. I’ve read a lot of forums but I haven’t found any answer.