Here’s an example of the sort of thing I’m talking about, although it doesn’t need to be so fancy.
Here’s an example of the sort of thing I’m talking about, although it doesn’t need to be so fancy.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tFOqwDjcoE4l6ycr-wW-JaJLcO-V4hVEA0Kb5XDYpC0/edit?usp=sharing
Hey guys, running Session 2 of a new DW campaign.
Hey guys, running Session 2 of a new DW campaign. The adventure is slowly starting to coalesce. Need some more from my players before I’ll know where we’re going.
To help me improvise could people share their favorite lists? NPCs, Treasures, Names, anything that I can use as inspiration.
Thanks
Tonight my group decided to postpone our weekly DW game because we were missing a player.
Tonight my group decided to postpone our weekly DW game because we were missing a player. I was good to go, especially since the player in question wasn’t key to my plot.
I realized then that while having one character acting as the plot driver for the campaign (Paladin with a Quest) I should give the other players some time in the spotlight.
So, here’s my idea: Try to have a Danger which is tied into a character, or is well suited to a character.
So far we have a quest for the paladin and a bunch of dangers that stand in the way of the quest. Great but it makes the paladin irreplaceable and the rest of the party, by extension, replaceable.
To rectify this situation I am going to add a couple of dangers that aren’t strictly related to the mcguffin at the centre of the paladin’s quest. For the Cleric I think an undead menace for him to tackle is an obvious answer, especially considering I was already working on one from when I thought the Paladin was going to miss a session.
Now I just have to come up with something for the thief. It could be something that leverages the thief’s abilities or threatens the thief directly. Anything that will make the player feel like their character is important.
Wow, Fronts finally clicked for me.
Wow, Fronts finally clicked for me. Where once I struggled to create a second danger for a front I was able to quickly write four.
If you are having trouble writing a front take my advice: Stop and play the first session. Ask lots of questions of your players.
In my case a stole a map from http://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/ and plunked my player’s out front. I had some monsters I wanted to use planned and that was it. I asked my players for the mcguffin. “Why are you here?”
The answer was “we’re here to retrieve a relic”
When they found the relic I asked them what it was: An evil crown that allows you to control people.
It was the paladin that came up with this and I suggested he make his quest move using finding the crown as his fiction. Now he has a quest to destroy the crown, although he doesn’t know how that can be done.
End of session and I sit to write my Front. Front is destroying the crown and it’s a campaign front.
Danger: The Order
The order that the paladin is a member of. They are misguided good and seek to keep the crown from corrupting. Anyone who comes into contact with it are potentially corrupted and a danger.
Danger: The Orcs of Ashara
A horde of Orcs who wish to recreate the kingdom of Ashara, the evil kingdom the crown built the last time it was unleashed upon the world. They have raiding parties looking for it and will soon be coming across the border en-mass in a war of conquest
Danger: The Blue Eyed Man
The blue eyed man is a mysterious collector of all things arcane and evil. He has agents seeking the crown and he will collect it by hook or by crook.
Danger: The Demon
The source of the crown’s power. All suffering caused by the crown increases his power and prestige amongst the demons, to the point where he may be able to cross over into our world.
All this because I played my first session and asked lots of questions. Up to now I’d only played one-off dungeon crawls where I thought the dungeon would be my front. Doing it that way is hard. Making it fantastic is much easier.
I wrote a little more of it on my website: http://tyler.provick.ca/2013/10/16/dungeon-world-fronts/
Time to return to my Dungeon World Single Sessions.
Originally shared by Tyler Provick
Time to return to my Dungeon World Single Sessions. We last left the party in a ruined temple deep within an un-natural swamp teeming with hostile creatures. We will complete this quest and begin a new one so new players are very welcome.
No Dungeon World experience required. We use Roll20 so visit http://roll20.net/ and make a free account. Looking forward to see some returning players.
Oh wow, I am super excited to run my Dungeon World Single Session tonight.
Oh wow, I am super excited to run my Dungeon World Single Session tonight. I drew up a rough “map” of a swamp with some places the characters could stumble upon. I just drew a quick sketch and named the place. Things like “nest” or “boat” with a picture of a half-sunk boat.
What was the boat used for, how did it sink? Tonight we play to find out.
I should have done this two weeks ago while the memory was fresh.
I should have done this two weeks ago while the memory was fresh. Maybe Jamie Sue or Bryan Wood can pipe up to fix any mistakes.
I ran a Single Session on Google Hangouts with two complete strangers, neither of which had played Dungeon World. One had played Apocalypse World but I couldn’t tell her what the differences were because I’ve never played AW.
We created character, a halfling thief named Rook and a Elven Wizard named Fenfaril. They began the session in front of the burnt-out remains of some farmer’s homestead. Fenfaril was looking for Stones of Power for his mentor while Rook was along purely for the adventure.
The home was completely demolished with only a chimney and a few corner walls standing. In one corner that was slightly less burnt than the rest was a trap door. Fenfaril opened it and peered down. Looking up at him, slightly startled, was a fire beetle. It shot a gob of fire which Fenfaril barely dodged by jumping backwards. The hem of his tattered robe caught fire but Rook beat it out.
She then skewered the beetle with an expertly thrown dagger.
Danger averted the two climbed down to the charred remains of a root cellar with an open wooden door leading into darkness. Fenfaril called up some light but lost grip on his power, sending a flash out which attracted some more fire beetles.
The ensuing battle went from calm competence to frantic stomping but eventually the two were victorious, if a little singed. Fenfaril scrounged some undamaged jars and harvested the thoraxes of the beetles for their valuable chemicals.
Down the freshly dug tunnel they explored, discovering that the tunnel they were in had been broken into by another tunnel which appeared hastily dug to intercept it. Following this new tunnel they come across a magic trap, a type of electric force-field across their path which Rook discovers will discharge itself on any object passing through it so she expends its charges with some carefully tossed rocks.
Next the arrive in a larger chamber which appears to have been used by an intelligent creature. There they find some potions but are surprised by the sound of someone coming from deeper within the cavern. They quickly hide as a grubby pyromancer unloads his stolen lunch and heads towards the homestead tunnel to feed his pet fire beetles. Quickly the sneak past, assuming, I guess, that there must be another exit.
They come across a pyromaniac goblins toasting his fingers on a candle and munching on his lunch and decide to sneak by as they hear the pyromancer coming in their direction, calling the names of his beloved pets.
Unfortunately a loose rock alerts the pyromancer and his goblin to their presence and a fight ensures. The thief douses her blade in the potion she identified as poison while the wizard drinks the potion they think is healing. The wizard feels really cold in his tummy and gains some resistance to fire damage as he has drunk what is essentially a potion of fire dousing while the thief narrowly avoids the danger of spilling any of the healing potion on her skin.
Despite these mistakes the fight goes smoothly and first the goblin then the pyromancer goes down in quick succession despite the healing effects of the dagger which caused the final blow.
On the body of the pyromancer is found a Stone of Power: Fire, which gives the Wizard’s spells the “Fire” tag while he possesses it.
It was a fun session and I think I handled it better than my previous attempts at Dungeon World. The only preparation was a map of the homestead and connecting tunnels. I hadn’t decided what burnt it before the session. The Stones of Power were invented by Bryan when I asked him why he was adventuring and I’m thinking that there are a number of minor stones spread throughout the land, plus a number of major stones.
I should probably save this for my blog, but I want to dump the idea out before I forget it.
I should probably save this for my blog, but I want to dump the idea out before I forget it. Maybe this will be my first draft.
I had an idea for a Dungeon Front for those having trouble with Adventure Fronts. It’s one level lower than an Adventure Front and breaks down a danger into the front format for play.
Just recently I was describing a small dungeon I created as a first session for a Hangouts group. The dungeon was a Goblin Lair. There was a false lair with a hidden door to a chasm with the bridge on the wrong side. Then was the real lair with a bunch of goblins.
Describing it as a front I’d come up with my Dangers. For example: The Chasm. The players have to cross it against a small force of hostiles defending it. There’s a bottom but it’s “protected” by the Otyugh sleeping in the goblin’s trash heap.
Another Danger would be the Goblins, who want to protect their king and their lair.
Stakes would be: How will the party cross the chasm? What happens if the Goblin King surrenders? What item of value brought the party to the lair?
Grim Portents would be how the dungeon reacts to being threatened.
Chasm Guards alerted
Word sent to Goblin King of intruders
I thought of this because I have trouble coming up with adventure fronts. My ideas are always very local and very immediate. However, when I design dungeon’s I’m always thinking: Why is that here? How do they defend themselves. What happens when they are attacked, etc. I thought I would leverage that into a Dungeon Front.