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Pete
United Kingdom
Oxford
Oxfordshire
Brofist
I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox
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Sometimes I want to fall to my knees and curse the gods for making me cut the throat of the one I love the most. At other times I want to rock out the robot to prove that an otter's pocket is a thing of fragrant beauty. Shucks, often I just wanna hit a dude.
Sometimes though, I hanker for the simpler pleasure of unsheathing my bastard sword (2d4/2d8), strapping on my leather cuirass (AC8), hefting a backpack filled with caltrops and iron rations, and descending into dungeons to smite evil, rescue princesses, and fill my grimy pockets with bloody gold. You dig?
Happily, when the mood for the latter strikes me, the Dungeon World Basic Roleplaying Game is just the ticket.
What's This Game About And What Do You Do In It?
Dungeon World essentially marries the freewheeling play of Apocalypse World to the tropes of old school Dungeons & Dragons.
Players will assume the roles of brutal Fighters, crafty Thieves, pious Clerics, and fantastic Wizards hell-bent on exploring dank dungeons and ancient cities buried underneath icy glaciers in the pursuit of gold and glory. In turn, the GameMaster (GM) is responsible for presenting the characters with fantastic situations, colourful dungeons, testing challenges, and rich rewards.
Character creation is straightforward and should take no longer than 10 minutes tops: each character class has a dedicated tri-fold playbook, and character creation really just involves rolling up some stats and customising the basic class by picking a few Moves, Alignment, and colourful stuff like a name.
Dungeon World doesn't have any particular setting beyond what's implied by the character classes—it's a fantastic medieval world filled with dungeons, gods, and monsters—so it's easy enough to drop in your favourite fantasy setting: at IndieCon in November I'll be lightly Greyhawk-ing up my Dungeon World with some classic Temple of Elemental Evil action.
The Dungeon World I'm reviewing is just the Basic Game, which contains enough content to take characters up to fifth level: intent-wise, the game is kinda like the Dragon Age Starter Set and the Red Box D&D Basic Set of old. Dungeon World is suitable for one-shot convention play, and also has enough depth to support more extended campaign-style play.
The full game is due to be released in 2012.
Here are some of the things that immediately appealed to me at the first reading. (I talk about a few of these in more depth in the body of the review.)
 It's immersive, with play that flows from the fiction, to the rules, and then back to the fiction.
Combat is fast! And colourful, man, full of fantastic high-action.
Character creation, from scratch, takes ~10 minutes tops.
It totally feels like playing D&D did when I was a kid. But without THAC0.
GMs can prep a module, but don't have to: improv-play is well supported.
Wizards have more than one spell at first level, hurrah!
When your character dies, there's a Move that says Death might step in to offer a bargain.
Classes have some great signature moves—forex, the Fighter has Bend Bars, Lift Gates
The PDF is just $5 bucks.
Dude, What's In The Basic Game?
In the Dungeon World Basic Roleplaying Game—known as the Red Book, after the Red Box D&D Basic Set—you get:
 the basic rules for how to play
4 iconic character classes: Fighter, Cleric, Thief, and Wizard
character creation and leveling-up rules
plenty of cleric and wizard spells, and equipment, for low-level characters
a chapter devoted to GMing the game
a complete starter adventure, The Bloodstone Idol
I preordered the game and so I received a playbook for a fifth class, the mighty Paladin. Win! The buzz on the 'net is that the full version of the game will probably contain additional iconic classes such as the aforementioned Paladin, Bard, Monk, and the Barbarian. More win!
Presentation
The physical Red Book is a 122pp, digest-sized, perfect bound, softcover book. (This book had a short print run for GenCon, and it's sold out now, but you can still purchase the PDF.) The layout features a single column of text in a serif typeface that's easy enough on the eye, and sports generous margins that are punctuated with helpful commentary on the text or forward pointers to rules discussed in detail elsewhere. I got an "early-period Luke Crane" vibe from the layout, which bodes well for the full version of the game.
The writing is conversational in tone, and I didn't have any trouble understanding how to play just from the text, so kudos to the authors and editor. Black and white (b&w) illustrations are scattered throughout, and while there's not a great deal of it the artwork is suitably thematic. The Fighter class is accompanied by an illustration of an elven lady in a leather bikini: I thought we'd moved past the days of the bikini-as-armour, but this is one trope that just won't die. The map that comes with the packaged starter adventure is by Tony Dowler of How to Host a Dungeon fame, and it's a lovely example of his signature scratchy dungeon design.
The game is available for sale as a 63pp, b&w PDF. (Representative screenshot to the right, ker-lick to embiggen.) The marginalia are hyperlinked if they refer to other sections, which is a thoughtful touch. The PDF doesn't feature the full-colour cover of the physical book, and since it's b&w throughout with only a few illustrations, it's quite suitable for printing out in full. It's also just $5.
A Conversation
The majority of the play in Dungeon World takes the form of a regular conversation between folks at the table on the topic of the fantastic world and what their characters are doing in it. This conversation will periodically be punctuated by Moves, which are Dungeon World's system for informing and mediating the conversation so that it really evokes D&D-style tropes in cool, surprising, and ultimately satisfying ways.
Almost all of the Moves in the game are triggered by the fiction. (Some Moves like End Of Session are triggered by the real world event of the gaming session coming to a close.) Moves can be broken down into three components: the trigger, the roll, the outcome. Forex, here's the trigger for the Hack & Slash move...
Hack & Slash Trigger wrote: When you attack an enemy in melee...
... and here are some of the many fictional descriptions coming from the players satisfying that trigger. (This list is not exhaustive.)
Ragnar hefts his mighty axe and smashes it into the face of the Fomorian!
"I swing my bastard sword in a flurry of death, cutting a bloody path through the screeching goblins towards the Ogre Mage!"
My character Snorri chops wildly at the legs of the enraged Giants with her poisoned daggers.
First Person, Third Person, whatever: all of the above descriptions, which are grounded in the fiction, map to the trigger for the single Hack & Slash Move. Simply saying "I do the Hack & Slash Move" at the table does not trigger the Hack & Slash Move. I really dig this because it invites everyone at the table to contribute to the world, actively promotes immersion in the grimy dungeon-delving action, and focuses attention on content that stokes the imagination.
Nearly all of the Moves in the game share the same roll mechanic: roll 2d6, add the appropriate attribute modifier, and then add 'em up. A total of 6 or below means the Move failed, 7-9 means the Move succeeded but with complications, and 10+ means the Move is a complete success. (The roll for the Hack & Slash Move is roll+Strength.)
The roll is a simple mechanic to grok, and makes the game a cinch to pick up and play. With just two dice and a little addition, you're off to the races and ready to interpret the result of the roll right back into the fiction. I dig how easily the system flows from the fiction, into the mediation of the roll, and then back into the fiction again.
The third component of Moves is applying the result of the roll and translating the result back into the fiction. The basic roll template of failure, success with complications, and outright success is enough to hang a game off of, but many Moves have dedicated tables that inform the outcome. Here's the outcome table for the Hack & Slash Move:
On a 10+, you deal your damage to the enemy and avoid their attack.
On a 7-9, you deal your damage to the enemy and the enemy makes an attack against you.
On a 6-, your Move fails and the GM gets the opportunity to make a hard move in the fiction.
Continuing with the example of the Hack & Slash Move - we'll use "Ragnar hefts his mighty axe and smashes it into the face of the Fomorian" - let's say that the player rolled an 8, which maps to success with complications. Applying the result means that the player dishes out a d8's roll worth of damage to the Fomorian Troll, but also takes a d12's roll worth of damage from the Fomorian. Naturally, we also need to translate the result back into the fiction...
The GameMaster wrote: Ragnar's axe cuts a cruel gash in the Fomorian's thick skull! (Success...) Enraged, the beast crashes its great icy fists into Ragnar's chest, sending our brave dwarf staggering backwards! (... and Complication.)
The game ships with a whack of Basic Moves that are common to all characters such as Hack & Slash and Make A Saving Throw; every character class also has a set of Class Moves that evoke the signature schtick of the class such as the Cleric's Turn Undead and the Thief's Backstab. There are also a number of Special Moves such as Level Up and End A Session that are triggered when certain meta-game events happen.
One Special Move that deserves mention is Last Breath, which provides a great opportunity for player and GM alike to contribute some really fantastic colour when a character is struck a mortal blow:
The Last Breath Move wrote: When you're dying you catch a glimpse of what lies beyond the Black Gates of Death's Kingdom (the GM will describe it), then roll (just roll, +nothing—yeah, Death doesn't care how tough or cool you are). On a 10+ you're stable. On a 7-9 Death will offer you a bargain—take it and stabilize or refuse and pass beyond the Black Gates into whatever fate awaits you. On a miss, you are dead.
You catch a glimpse of what lies beyond the Black Gates of Death's Kingdom?! Death will offer you a bargain?! That there is fried gold.
The GM's Agenda, Principles and Moves
Similar to the way that Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software codified patterns from the Object-Oriented Programming school for the benefit of software engineers, Dungeon World codifies how to best run the game in the GM's Agenda, Principles and Moves.
The Dungeon World Agenda is to Make The World Fantastic, Fill The Character's Lives With Adventure, and Play To Find Out What Happens. Some of the Principles that follow from this Agenda include Draw Maps & Leave Blanks, Begin And End With The Fiction, and Address The Characters Not The Players. A whole bunch of GM-specific Moves flow naturally from these Principles.
The GM's Agenda, Principles and Moves are not just useful advice that you can gloss over if you've ever GM'd before: it's honest-to-goodness conversation to conversation, scene to scene, moment to moment process that you can use to GM a corking game of Dungeon World. Dungeon World gives names to some of what you probably do anyway, and frames the process and advice in the specific context of Dungeon World.
Forex, here's the GM's Principle to Address The Characters Not The Players. It's simple, it's obvious, and it totally contributes to great Dungeon World GMing.
Address The Characters Not The Players wrote: Addressing the characters, not the players, means that you don't say "Whit, is Dunwick doing something about that wight?" Instead you say "Dunwick, what are you doing about the wight?" Talking this way keeps the game rooted in the fiction and not at the table. It's important to the flow of the game, too. If you talk to the players you may leave out details that are important to what moves the characters make. Since moves are always based on the actions of the character you need to think about what's happening in terms of characters—not players.
Since Dungeon World is based on Apocalypse World, I'll direct you to this blog post which discusses the sweet hotness of the GM's Agenda, Principles and Moves. (Yeah, I know that directing y'all to read something somewhere else is The Sure Sign Of A Nub Reviewer, but dang, you don't have a dog and bark yourself right?)
Having written that, if there's a downside to the Red Book, it's that the text has just 8 pages of instruction and advice for the GM on running the game. Oh, all the good stuff mentioned above is present in those pages, but gosh, it's a little light on examples that really drive that good stuff home. I'd really have liked an annotated walkthrough of a sample session of play, such as a Dungeon World-coloured version of the Moves Snowball chapter from Apocalypse World.
The sample adventure, The Bloodstone Idol, is a fully-worked example of the kind of adventure that you'll be able to create using the process for creating situation, threats and whatnot that'll be in the full rulebook. The Bloodstone Idol is a bit too fully-worked for me and way more work than I'd do for a Dungeon World session: if you've got a strong handle on the kind of fantastic colour that makes for great D&D-like situations and dungeon-delves, then the GM's Agenda, Principles and Moves will support you in running Dungeon World off the cuff. Other folk have had success lifting stuff from older D&D modules: check out this Actual Play report of someone using Dowler's The Purple Worm Graveyard as the basis for play.
Support
If you're keen to try before you buy, check out the free Dungeon World Hack which is broadly representative of the Red Book experience. (You'll need to own or have played Apocalypse World in order to make much sense of it).
Coming back to Moves, Moves are also a well-defined extension point for customisation of the game, and there's plenty of fun to be had here creating Custom Moves. Marshall has created some colourful Dungeon Starters, freely available here, here, and here that detail Custom Moves for when characters Accept Faerie Gold and Step Off Of A Faerie Road. Very cool.
If you write about your Red Book session on your blog or a community website like RPG Geek, you can join the Adventurer's Guild. Hurrah! As a member of the Adventurer's Guild, you get access to the latest updates for the full game as they are written. I'm not a member of the Adventurer's Guild yet—I will be shortly—and so I can't comment on the value add, but it sounds like a pretty cool model for rewarding folk who contribute back by spreading the word and generating buzz. (I think Marshall is a guild member, so maybe he can comment.)
Tell It To Us Straight
I like it. The game marries a compelling, freewheeling conversational style of play to the spirit of heroic and fantastic adventure that so captivated me as a youth.
The desire to "unsheathe my bastard sword..." — hey, no smutty jokes from the peanut gallery — doesn't strike me very often, but when it does, I want to play a fast-paced game that smashes the grimy colour of the fiction right in my face. The Burning Wheel is one such game, but that game isn't particularly suited to the one-shot gaming that I do. I've certainly played some satisfying games using Savage Worlds, but in that game it's very easy to fall into a pattern of play that is full of mechanical exchanges with little fictional colour accompanying those exchanges. The Dungeon World dynamic of play puts the cool colour of the fiction front and center, and at just $5 for the PDF, it really hits the spot.
And dang, let's not forget about that Last Breath move... man, sososo good. I'll offer a bounty of 5  to every person who posts a pithy and fantastic description of what my Dwarven Fighter Ragnar glimpses lying beyond the Black Gates of Death's Kingdom as he crashes to his knees under a flurry of mortal blows from an enraged Fomorian! (Yeah, I know we don't have much context in which to ground the fiction, so er, um, just handwave some in, erm, urk.)
Further Reading
the official Dungeon World website.
the Red Book character class playbooks can be downloaded here.
Dungeon World gets a lot of love over at Story Games, so there's often good stuff to be found on that site.
(Edited to embed a picture of the GenCon release contents.)
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Marshall Miller
United States
Medford
Massachusetts
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As the blows rain down on Ragnar all light fades from his view and, for a time, it is dark. Then, just as suddenly it is bright, too bright. Opening his eyes he sees a pair of warriors. Barbarians from the look of their mismatched armor, all show and no protection. As the ringing in his ears recedes he hears the scarred one speak. "I dunno Rolfball, he just sort of fell from the sky..." he says. His head swimming, Ragnar turns to look at the prettier of the two. "I don't care if he fell out of your pocket," says the pretty one, "get rid of him." The scarred one frowns and produces a metallic object. In the back of Ragnar's mind, a weird voice says, "What do you do?"
[edit] Great review.
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IndyRick wrote:
The new Gang of Four: Fighter, Cleric, Thief, and Wizard.
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Chad Bowser
United States
Kernersville
North Carolina
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Thanks for the excellent review. It makes me glad that my copy arrived yesterday.
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Dan Owsen
United States
Redmond
Washington
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Very nice review of a great-looking game. I was so happy my buddy was able to pick up the red book with the extras at PAX prime for me. I also recently got a hand full of 1st edition D&D basic set modules to run.
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The Harnish
Germany
Duisburg
NRW
Cult of The Harnish Leader
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Awesome review and once again another game that was on my "to review" list that you've managed to scoop me on... time to finally find that spy cam you've obviously installed in my office.
I'm looking to start running DW with the after-school club this coming Monday and if all goes well as a test run, I'm going to try converting either U1: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh or UK2: The Sentinel and then using that as a basis for an ongoing DW campaign.
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Pete
United Kingdom
Oxford
Oxfordshire
Brofist
I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox
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Gee Mike, I hope that Dungeon World remains on your "to review" list, because although I'll give Pete marks for effort, he left out a few things that I'd have liked to read about in his review.
For one thing, there are a lot of "old school" fantasy RPGs out there. From Pete's review I know that play is quite free-flowing and filled with fantastic conversation, but um, is that the Unique Selling Point? Why wouldn't I just play Labyrinth Lord, Red Box D&D, or even some Old School Renaissance game? From Pete's review I know he likes Dungeon World, but it's not clear why he favours it over some of the other games I have mentioned.
For another thing, what kind of "prep" does the game require from the GM? Since the game ships with a complete starter adventure, I'm guessing that you really need a fully-prepped module in order to get the most bang for your buck from this game. Now sure, Pete mentions being able to run it off the cuff, but whew, really? I'd like to read a review - or a session report - that gave me some insight into how the game supports me in running games with little prep, and what tools it provides for taking classic modules like U1 and UK2 and Dungeon World-ing them up.
The Harnish, please review Dungeon World with your usual thoroughness, perhaps taking care to address the topics I have described.
Cheers
Meta Pete
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Brofist
