I am very interested in what gm’s actually have done for prep when doing a DW first session.
I am very interested in what gm’s actually have done for prep when doing a DW first session. I have read the books, and understand the theoretical – I am interested in the practical – ie what has been used in actual play. Lessons learned are great – what would you do different next time . Thanks
I have come to the realization that I am clearly not an artist.
I have come to the realization that I am clearly not an artist. Stick figures are beyond me, as are straight or curved lines. My dungeons on graph paper when photographed or scanned lack a lot. Yet I would like to translate my half decent thoughts into a dungeon starter.
Does anyone have any techniques, programs, or ideas on how to make half decent looking maps of dungeons for cutting and pasting into a document? The text looks good except for these scribbles of my map.
I am working on a dungeon starter that takes two ideas in the book. Along with the idea that in keep of the borderland (but not using those maps) at the keep is where the real treasure is at. The idea is a dungeon starter (like the two excellent ones out there on the web page) but it itself has two options. The first is the “steadying” as a dungeon, the second is the ancient burnished keep or temple as the dungeon. Give the players a choice at the start. The other location then becomes something that can be used in future fronts that arrive out of the starter.
If it matters I run on a Mac platform. Thanks in advance.
The Red Door or how a hippie got lost in the labyrinth after sharing a bowl with an old lady, lost all his stuff…
The Red Door or how a hippie got lost in the labyrinth after sharing a bowl with an old lady, lost all his stuff except for the strength of a Fighter, and failed to save a child the second time around after creating a morale dilemma for a group of explorers trying to save the world or how the Paladin finally grew some stones to reduce the amount of murdering in pursuit of saving the world
I love to read actual play reports, especially clever ones. Prepare yourself this will not be one of the clever ones. A really nice group of guys in h-town have graciously let me join their dungeon world campaign. I immediately create “interesting situations” for the group that reaches a head in the second session. Like I said a really gracious group of guys. We play in a business conference room – the best environment for gaming made on earth – including a mini-fridge stocked with beer. That last bit was just to brag. Considering some of the places that I haves played is a noisy pub, a cafe express, one time in the UK in someone’s attic that you had to climb a ladder to get to the worlds smallest table – the conference room is awesome. It appears to be a granite topped one.
I play Jon – the cleric of St. Stephen of the Apocalypse. This is the St. Stephen of the grateful dead type of St. Stephen. He has in his starting equipment halfling leaf, strange hair, and flowing robes of a multicolor hue nuff said. Jason, our GM has an awesome cc for me, if I can ever build a shrine (right now my equipment list is two broken pieces of a staff, the strength of our Fighter, and the clothes on his back, oh and a rock from an island floating in the astral plane). The class is based on the lyrics from the song.
I love this game.
My favorite quote from the game “we need to reexamine our mission statement”
My favorite bond “Thaddeus stood with me against Rath after he pushed a small child into the silvery astral void where he will likely become taken by githyanki pirates unless we can somehow summon him back at the place of power that is a obsidian obelisk that quite simply the Paladin said I don’t even have to check this one its evil in the middle of a labyrinth of the Rose Maiden somewhere on the astral plane”
If Jon was a monster his impulse might be – survive the labyrinth with this crew who saved his life – maybe save the world so his god can tell him with the end of time will come and he can go to the garden. Some of his moves might be:
– fail miserably at nearly all his tasks – thereby catching up in level with others but creating a lot of interesting situations (I got double digit xp last night from failed rolls)
– lose all his stuff (my cloak was used to contain the spores from a trap, my stole traded to an ultra powerful witch lady who gave us tea to send us to a maze on the astral plane to find the true name if a demon inscribed on the tomb of the blind hero)
– wander off into other worlds to save children from fairy tales (yet another witch this one with big claws)
– avoid tall obsidian obelisks of obviously evil overtones
– watch a thief and a wizard steal black orbs stuck in the foreheads of yet another set of ladies popping out of black holes (why would i ever try that – that is asking for trouble)
– fail miserably at die rolls (again)
– share a bowl with the ultra powerful witch – stay on her good side – but don’t eat the stew
– dive in the astral void to fail to save the little boy Casper
– follow the divine guidance from my god to get us yet into another interesting situation with a witch that uses a d12 for damage (she packs a punch!)
– watch the wizard push the little boy into the void – engage in a debate of whether this act is “evil” or neutral since we have mission to do, and saving little boys in astral plane is not the job description
– relieve the paladin of some dubious moral guilt finally by standing up to the wizard to hold him accountable for his actions. Watch the irony of a paladin dedicated to a god of freedom for the oppressed cast hold person
– get clear of any fireballs
– take the essence of strength from the fighter to help hold the wizard to his end of the bargain to get the boy back from the astral void
– fail so bad at rolls that my “god is distant in this place” take -3 forward to spell casting
– wonder why the pocket demon in an amulet that the wizard has is starting to give him shoulder rubs of approval
– find a public house where I can get a drink while the fighter teaches the yokels to be nice to tourists
– finally realize that the thief is not a good and trust worthy person that I trust.
Much fun can’t wait till next session
Dumb Question time.
Dumb Question time. I am really having trouble with some of the monster moves and how to utilize them as a GM when they are brought into play, hoping some of the bright and smart folks in this community can either point me to some discussion that has already taken place or enlighten me so I can get full power of this system.
Take the monster that is being developed in the side bar on pg 225. It has the terrifying tag and the move “show the true face of death”. When do I use this move? Assuming when either someone flubs a roll really bad from one their moves? Or set it up as a soft move, and then when they hand me the opportunity carry though? But how do I use it in the fiction! Do I penalize the players some way like a modifier or something or do I simply describe that they see the true face of death, it causes chills down your spine, you find your body frozen in terror, what do you do? ( nothing? They are frozen in terrors?) or do I turn to another player and ask what they do? Telling them the spirit looks like they are going to be reaching into the first players heart. Or do I offer a consequence like – you see the face of death you can either run away abandoning your comrades and be branded a coward (new bond?) or do you freeze in the face of death to be judged – take a -1 forward for the rest of the scene.
I am struggling with the non damage moves, and the non mess up their weapons or stuff moves. I revert back to putting in modifers and it feels flat like I am not moving the story forward just using up their resources (either HP or stuff or abilities) or just modifying their chances in rolls.
Anyone have some good examples to unlearn what I have learned through 25 years of initiative based trading blows with qewl pewerz mixed in.
Has anyone written up the githyanki.
Has anyone written up the githyanki. As a 3e player many moons ago i never used them as they were high level monsters and could never run high level stuff in that edition – too fiddly, but I would feel comfortable throwing a band of them at 1st level characters in DW.
Thanks and peace – Steve
What does it mean in your game to be the “the cleric”
What does it mean in your game to be the “the cleric” . Besides the narrowly defined paladin, you are the only the one that gets powers from a god. If I understand the game correctly, the GM shouldn’t be throwing around a ton of NPC clerics like an old fashion dnd game. Their maybe a cultist or there may be a necromancer or evil priest, but there is only one cleric (at least until someone else dies). I have been thinking on this as I have just started in DW as a cleric. What does it mean in your games – discovered though play – to be the one cleric – the one who petitions your god and communes for powerful spells? Discuss.
I am missing something what is the difference between a hard move and a soft move for a GM.
I am missing something what is the difference between a hard move and a soft move for a GM. When do you use one v. the other. Thanks
So I know the creators of the game are into music and dungeon world.
So I know the creators of the game are into music and dungeon world. My first character in actual play was a cleric, based on a god I made for OD&D which is in turn based on a grateful dead song(s). Robert Hunter’s lyrics are great for inspiration. I was Jon – cleric of St. Stephen of the Apocalypse – a fickle god of secret knowledge who believe they truly know what happens after death – and the secret Garden. Took magic miss,let which goes with the idea of William tell from the song. And of course what one man gathers, another man spills. Kinda of fun, especially with halfling leaf. That combined with the song morning dew. I will have to eventually work in the dark star somehow.
Anyone made a ninja base class? Thanks
Anyone made a ninja base class? Thanks
What is a dungeon starter?
What is a dungeon starter? How is it different than a front? They seem to have different attributes based on the ones on the web page vs what is in the book?