Monday 25 April 2016

Dungeon World Kool-Aid

So in this post, I didn't get it. I didn't understand why I couldn't win in Dungeon World, or how one should ideally manage the table.

It wasn't until trying some other games that I thought about the dice in terms of telling a story instead of winning. I wanted to run some open table games again and Dungeon World sounded like less hassle than D&D's mountainous paper work. Perhaps I should give it another chance. I would read the rules a little more carefully this time.


One of Dungeon World's principles is be a fan of the characters. What it should say before this, (especially for those coming from D&D) is be a fan of the rules.

Dungeons and Dragons does not currently ask you to be a fan of the rules. Change it up, find the way you want to have fun with it. Pedants may take their questions to Jeremy Crawford, but you are assumed to run a game like Chris Perkins. This is fine. D&D is a deep chest filled with treasure from many kings, take what you can carry.

Dungeon World, somewhat counterintuitively, requires you to pick the whole chest up. Which is weird because actual play is so much more flexible than what D&D is capable of. Players can create rich personalities and histories and there's less reason for the Games Master to turn away their demands. When I first looked at it, I did what any other person would do seeing STR, DEX, ETC, and thought, "oh, like a simple Dungeons and Dragons. That means I can carry less."


Not so. Knowing every move in Dungeon World is essential. It's not just a series of tools, it's a description of all the angles of play. In D&D combat we have a plethora of actions we can apply to a situation, many optional. However, ignoring a basic move in Dungeon World is ignoring a part of a player's character sheet. Just look at the Defend move - never before has dumping points in Constitution added so much to the narrative.

The player bonds are especially understated. These provide points of discontent between characters in the game, describing how much they watch and influence each other's lives. The Aid or Interfere move that uses bonds provides a necessary medium for player versus player conflict. It allows players to get into each other's business and the GM is provided with the right tool to moderate it. You get to explore drama safely.

It took building my own SRD and generator to get the whole picture. I'm painting a somewhat dogmatic picture at this point but when you have mastery of any well designed system it plays out like Bruce Lee recommends below. Your worries are aside and you are free to concentrate on the story without friction from the rules.


The past year has been a long return to roleplaying for me after a decade's break. I can thank mostly D&D despite its pseudo board game-ness being very different to the way I used to play roleplaying games: A freeform, collaborative story. It took re-examining a game I'd dismissed to return to that place I'd left. Paradoxically, the flexibility I sought was not within quantity but quality.

If you try Dungeon World, or even any game, try being a fan of the rules. It can make a big difference to your enjoyment of it.

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