So, I've been on leave and got a chance to 'sell' and play through the villager playbook with an old hand at D&D (3.5) and a complete noob to roleplaying with great success! 'Trouble' the halfling (as in here comes Trouble) played by the noobie and 'Al' the dark? Elf (the player is a Wil Wheaton fan) by the D&Der.

They have spent two short sessions finding their goodwill in the heaving Port Blacksand (from Fighting Fantasy fame). After much skulking about avoiding the law and the clutches of the local thieves guild, (stolen from the Spanterhook starter) the daring duo ended up with some strong bonds and even stronger motives to leave town.

Trouble levelled up to thief and Al to a ranger using the new beta 1.1 rules. I decided to play RAW in order to give some feedback to Sage and Adam. So we went through Chargen with our backstories in mind, '1st' session principles and agenda in play. I grabbed a whole stack of Dyson's maps and printed the map on side and the 'blurb' he introduces them with on the other on an A3 page. This leaves lots of room around the map to write on other stuff or add sticky notes for relationships.

Chargen was a breeze, and I'm getting rather proficent now at letting the players do their thing and really ask some pointed questions to set up the starting situation. We already had established the stat blocks and alignments from the villager session.  Both players got the 7-9 hit on leaving home for the life of adventure.

Arwen (the elf) chose You’ve been rejected by the village. You no longer belong here, and maybe never will. Narrating that the thieves guild has no use of elfy, rangery types and she should head back to where she came from. The player really liked playing up the theme of alienation and predjudice, thus getting Arwen voted in as chaotic good.

Sketchy (the halfling) chose You are abandoning something precious to be claimed by a loathsome rival. Establishing without doubt his unrequited love toward an elusive, beautiful wizard named Morgan le Fey hinted at during the villager sessions is indeed the head of the Thieves Guild's (Silk's) mistress. One shall not covet thy boss's squeeze.

This gave me a few cool stakes questions that I quickly scribbled down - Is Morgan or Silk in control of the Spanterhook thieves guild? and Will Morgan develop 'feelings' for Sketchy? and How are inter-racial relationships perceived by folks? (given that Silk is human)

Look was next, Arwen having Animal Eyes, Wild Hair, Camouflaged Elvish Clothes and a Lithe Body. Through questioning it became apparent that her 'mentor' from the village sessions - an aged (drunken) elven veteran of the 'old' wars turned beggar named Thranduil - gifted his shifting elven war rainment to her, after having held onto it for 200 years in a tatty box hidden deep within the catacombs under the temple of Lolth 'What lies beneath' in Port Blacksand.

Ooooh, he's definitely coming under my cross[bow] hairs. I asked Arwen to write a bond for him, and she didn't like any of the Ranger options listed, so chose from the fighter playbook instead: I have sworn to protect Thranduil, as he has mentored me and been as my father. She likes the idea that her own background is ephemeral and to be discovered in play.

Sketch chose Criminal Eyes, Hooded Head, a Cloaked Outfit, and a Well-fed Body.

In terms of moves, there wasn't much to do other than choose from a few lists. Sketch went with the Poison Bloodweed (of course) cementing his evil ways. We established his source is a halfling smuggler named Caleb Deathcap, who tends to lurk down at the docks. I asked Sketch to write a bond with him and he chose: Caleb knows incriminating details about me. We easily re-incorporated that it was knowledge of Sketchy's sordid lust after Morgan, thus giving leverage to Caleb when he asks for 'favours'.

Arwen then had to detail her animal companion. She went with an tom cat from the seedy backalleys of Port Blacksand. She went with a Highly Ferocious, (stealthy / quick reflexes) Exceedingly Cunning (search / scout) and Instinctual (forgetful) English Blue named Cheshire.

Alignment came next and it was fairly obvious that Arwen was Chaotic Good, claiming that the inspiration for freeing folk was her mentor; Thranduil. Sketch is Evil through and through, though he likes to keep that little detail out of the public eye, going for a fairly neutral demeanour most of the time. I explained the new XP system (not that the players had experienced the old) and explained it was similar to the Goodwill from the villager handbook.

I like the new gear lists! Rather than doing the whole shopping 'mini-game'. The lists are quick and easy and narratively full of promise. Sketch went with a punch dagger and flamboyant but cheap 'fake elvish steel' short sword. His leather trappings included a  wide shoulder belt and pauldron, worn but servicable vambraces and a short studded kilt over his trews. His Bloodweed poisons are tucked away in vials on his baldric and he went with a healing potion too (just in case) and a bunch of adventuring gear stashed away in the many pockets and folds of his voluminous hooded cloak.

He also wanted some ubiquitous throwing knives. Hmmmm. I made a call and said sure, what do they look like? He described them as like a bandolier of death strung across his bulging belly. Nice. So I drew an analogy with a bundle of arrows, saying that his bandolier of throwing daggers was 2 Ammo, 2 Gold, 1 Weight. Sketchy grinned malevolently as he surveyed his kit.

Arwen went with a heavily personalised (albeit human) hunting bow and quiver of arrows, and a beautiful elven spear, in which the single edged blade was almost as long as a short sword. Her leather is the age old war suit of interlocking leaves and wonderfully decorated bands that camouflage her every move. She chose some adventuring gear and rations too, along with a herbal satchel, filled with poultices and unguents to prepare for her trip into the wilds.

The PC's have already been fairly well introduced, so on to bonds and a bit of further questioning....
Arwen says that Sketch doesn't know how to survive in the wild, so she will teach him. He's quite happy with that since he comes across to her as a happy, come-what-may rogue, when in actuality he is an evil, self-serving, sonofa[hobbit]bitch. They run a long running 'protection' scam together since being villagers which Arwen unfortunately thinks is communistically benevolent (though illegal).

The con is that they sell their services to interested merchants as 'guides to the safest toll-free routes through the wilderness'. They keep the pulse on the latest brigand movements and sell that information (protection) to the merchant caravans. This involves a lot of moving amongst both the merchant and smuggling fraternities. They take a cut from the premium paid to the Guild, and the merchants are (usually) safe from harm.

Sketchy infers a darker element to the arrangement, using his position to garner information on the movement of goods that may be of interest to more nefarious types.... Necromancers, ambitious nobles, slave traders, drug dealers and the like.

So I have this huge list of questions I've cobbled together to ask when I feel a little stuck, sort like the 'follow the characters around for a day' of AW.  So I got stuck in.
'When was the last time you two were in a fight with each other?'
Arwen pipes up and says it was over Sketchy killing someone (again) for money. She dobbed him in to Silk, hoping that the raw justice would change his ways.
'Oh yeah? Like he poisoned his targets?'
Just so. Sketchy concurs and authors in that the victims were one of the merchant clients - and his family - they had been fleecing under their 'wilderness guides' con.
 
So just like Sage advises I start the session with the group of player characters in a tense situation.

'OK, you are hauled up thieves court in front of a scowling Silk, demure Morgan and the caterwauling underworld masses deep in the bowels of the Spanterhook. Tell me why again?'

Next post - the Players are offered an ugly choice....

Inspired by Marshall, I adapted the 4e module The Slaying Stone into a DW Dungeon Starter (before the Beta came out!).

Included is the links to both the trifold quick start and the more traditional adventure outline.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B_6dr6i7xgyWYTg0OTgyNmQtNzYyMy00MGMyLThhMzctZDI5ODk2ZDUzZTE4

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B_6dr6i7xgyWOGUxZTE0OWMtOWRlYy00MWRmLWE3ODEtNWVlMTk3Zjg5ZmZi

Hope someone can find them of use :)

Ok, despite the very sage (pun intended) advice in DW to have Fronts and Dangers the purvey of the GM I’ve been desperate to embrace the pick-up-and-play principles and agenda with strong player shared authorship in mind. I want the players to make moves that tell me what Dangers they want to interact with. Why? Because I want to embrace their version of the fantastic too, I’m their biggest fan, and the flags they are given to choose from; namely their classes, moves and bonds are sometimes not as specific as a direct key or belief.  Plus it means I become more of a games facilitator than games master. So in that vein I’d like to offer a few of the things I’ve been mucking about with as we play Dungeon World.

My job is to provide antagonism to the player characters through adversity right? The dangers within fronts personify this antagonism, make it direct, part of the ‘right here, right now’ action (move) driven fiction that we generate at the table. A Front is simply a grouping of dangers into a cohesive story element for the players to interact with, the impending doom gives that Front element immediacy, the grim portents establish consequences. How  can the players help me with my lonely GM fun? Tell me what they want.

Sage says of chargen;

‘During this entire process, especially character creation, ask questions. Look for interesting facts established by the characters’ Bonds, moves, classes, and descriptions and ask about those things. Be curious! When someone mentions the demons that slaughtered their village find out more about them.’

Lets take that one step further. What if there is no mention of a danger by the players? Grab a first session blank page and ask each this: Which doom embraces your darkest fear? Why? Choose: (these are straight from the Front chapter)
*Tyranny (of the strong over the weak or the few over the many)
*Pestilence (the spread of sickness and disease, the end of wellness)
*Destruction (apocalypse, ruin and woe)
*Usurpation (the chain of order comes apart, someone rightful is displaced) *Impoverishment (enslavement, the abandonment of goodness and right)
*Rampant Chaos (laws of reality, of society or any order is dissolved)

Now then, what danger’s impulses push toward this impending doom? The players may have already elucidated some monsters or NPCs that slot nicely into place, but sometimes not. So push a little and find out what they are interested in. Have the player’s choose a danger category they find filled with adventure and write it on the sheet.
*Ambitious Organizations
*Planar Forces
*Arcane Enemies
*Hordes
*Cursed Places

There is a move in there somewhere, but I haven’t grokked it yet...

This is all you need to create a front based on the players interests, though If you feel they are trying to narrate extra detail (specific dangers or impulses) without prompting they are probably making a move! Either spout lore or discern realities can give them the mechanical reinforcement of this colour into the situation at hand, whilst making your job via re-incorporation that much easier!
 
So a front is a few dangers, the most effective being two dangers whose impulses are at odds with each other. This gives you instant narrative tension. The Bloodstone Idol is a good example of this. The Turf War Front has the two Horde dangers with opposing impulses, the Bloodstone Front has an Arcane Enemy and a Cursed Place which are at odds. So do the same. Go with your immediate gut reaction.  Make it obvious even, jot it down. Tie them to the player’s bond questions. If you have things you wonder about, jot them down too as they are likely to manifest as stakes.

Say the Good Cleric player whose god sanctifies The Downtrodden and Forgotten through sacrificial ritual has identified a fear of the world descending into chaos and has the desire to adventure against a Planar Force of Chaos (impulse: to destroy all semblance of order)?

You already had a few ideas spinning around your head during chargen about an apposing evil Religious Ambitious Organization who is all about bloody conquest in the pursuit of their (impulse: to establish and follow doctrine). So you go with that. Easy.

Looking at the Planar Forces GM moves, you predict that the Chaos Lord will breed unrest, and turn the Evil cult to their own chaotic ends. The impending doom of the front (laws of reality, of society or any order is dissolved). But you have a few ponderings.
*Will the cleric make a stand against the Chaos Lord by allying with the rival cult?
*Who in the War Cult will turn to chaos first?
*Will the evil PC fighter, (who insulted the cleric’s religion in bonds) a lay member of the cult, be tempted by the Chaos Lord’s offerings of power?
*Does the chaos lord serve another?
*What traps will the Cult have in its Temple to challenge the thief?

You have a few ideas for the cast of each danger. Obviously the Chaos Lord, and his minions, perhaps the head honcho of the Evil Cult and his warlike priests. You have a few ideas for locations, maybe an ancient temple, a wasteland, an abandoned city of the ancients, crumbling and arcane. The wizard mentions a cursed tower in the wastelands that holds the key to untold power. Hmmmm best keep that juicy morsel available!

That’s just one player! Once you have the fighter’s choices (and the thief and the paladin and the wizard) your game will write itself. Just have a few of Tony’s micro dungeons at hand, or draw your own on the fly. Remember that a dungeon is primarily made up of Interesting locations – these are areas of the map where cool things are happening - and Uninteresting locations – which are areas of the map which are often added to make the map complete and logical. Tie the interesting locations identified through spout lore or discern realities to a danger and its impulse and voila! Dungeon done. Pepper with spice and some atmospheric jottings (like in the dungeon starters) and you are good to go.

I struggled with the principle of asking provacative questions when I first starting playing AW. I found that I developed this skill the more I played, but intially found it very helpful to have a list of questions to turn to when I got 'tongue-tied'. The folks over at Barf Forth helped enormously, and I collated all of their advice into a handy sheet to refer to during play.

I recently drafted a DW version of these question sets (much more generalised than the dungeon starters) and thought I'd share. Please feel free to add more questions if you have them!

Dungeon World First Session Questions:
I love the idea of Dungeon Starters like the Goblin Hole, and Modules like the Bloodstone Idol or the Spanterhook Guild. But I also get me the hankering for a group setting generation too, in the vein of Burning Wheel’s Worldburning session guidelines.

So I adapted that process to feed in to the Dungeon World Chargen. As the players are creating characters and establishing bonds and details, ask questions like crazy! Ask these of the players, allowing the others to answer too if they feel so inclined. Remember to address the characters, and use the answers to re-incorporate or make moves. You may even set-up ‘cut scenes’ or flashbacks to introduce the concept of using moves and the move flow from one to another in the ‘turns’ of the conversation.

What does (Character with highest Bond with you) know about the Big Picture, the greater goings on in the world?
What's going on in the world that makes it ripe for YOUR adventures?
What have you seen changing, evolving, or declining in the world?
What is (another character’s) most annoying cultural / racial trait?
What's the conflict in which you (and at least one other character) are involved? What are the sides? What's wrong?
What's the name of the most important place in this setting? Where all the action goes down?
Tell us about the place where you rest your head at night...
What do you know about what (other character) does with their day?
Who underestimated you once? What happened in the aftermath?
What monsters do you fear?
What environment are you most comfortable in?
Tell us all about the last time you visited the nearest mountains, desert, ocean or forest.
Choose one of these one page dungeon maps and keep it. Where did you get this information? What’s the dungeon called? Where is it rumoured to be? What monsters inhabit it? What treasures lie within? What was it once?
Who has a scar? Is it magical or mundane? Emotional or physical?
What’s the name of the wild space do your fear the most?
What's the name of a faraway place that folks talk about, dream about or mutter under their breath about?
Who would you die for?
What is your most prized possession? What would you do if it was stolen or lost?
Who / what do you love above all others?
Who are your hated antagonists? Who is opposing your goals?

Then hit them with this opening scene....
Tell us all of the vision you had in a dream / ritual / meditative state of you all standing a room/ruin/field with your hated antagonists or their minions.
Huh. (another character) What do you think the antagonists want from that meeting? (discern realities)
(Another Character) What do you want from the meeting?

That's where your game begins...

Alternately, Tell us all about when you were all standing at the scene of some great disaster or calamity clearly caused by one of the antagonists.  What's the disaster? How did it happen? What are you going to do about it right now?

I'll be setting up a campaign in two weeks using these questions, the Redbook and I'll let y'all know how it goes :)

Hey Dudes and Dudettes,
I realise that most of you have already read it, but I wanted to link Chatty DM's ideas on AW Front design as applied to Dungeons in his Blog:
http://critical-hits.com/2010/09/24/re-examining-the-dungeon-section-factions-and-fronts/

It particularly formalised and structured the adhoc improv model I've been using in the first few sessions. (Similar to what happened when we played AW!) It sorta hit me over the head that despite being such an iconic trope of D&D, the dungeon is just setting; a front for the threats.

Instead of drawing up a few maps (or stealing one page dungeons) tossing them at the players and then populating, now I'm thinking of the threats within, how they engage with the players and moulding the dungeon to suit them. I'm even applying the scarcity concept to the players resources and how the monster groups / traps / puzzles threaten them. Obvious but awesome.

I'm pretty excited to see Sage and Adam's ideas on Fronts and Threats and Dungeon Design! :)

So, in all iterations of D&D, HP have been handwaved away as a comparative score of a characters fortitude, combat effectiveness, heroism and luck prior to falling in a heap on the dungeon floor. (OD&D Magic Users were obviously quite un-heroic!)

That said, AW uses a similar comparative score, but most folks are generic in terms of their 'harm countdown clock'. The clock does have some nifty mechanical effects though - especially in lieu of healing times and recovery. I really like the commentary on Harm (p.163) where it gives the MC leeway in determining non- assisted healing in terms of 'in-time' and 'by itself' through the lens of the fiction at the table.

So I was thinking how to marry the concept of HP and the Harm countdown clock. Here's what I came up with:

*Rather than a clock (though you can still use it if you want, or a scale or a health 'bar', or a heart or whatever) I prefer a Harm 'hourglass' for DW. Draw one about the same size as your normal countdown clock. Avoid putting the clock numbers on your symbols as this will confuse you unless you have exactly 12HP!
*Mark your chosen symbol with the same segments as the clock from AW: at 1/2,  at 3/4 and the last 1/4 into thirds (3X 1/12)
* Calculate 1/12 (round down) of your HP, which is usually 1HP, and mark the last three thresholds with the result. The remaining 3/4 and 1/2 thresholds are marked as noted with 1/2 and 3/4 of your total HP (round down). Write the results at the appropriate segment.  (Yes this means if you have less than 12 HP the clock will effectively give you 1-3 extra HP!)
*As per AW, damage in the first half of the clock is less serious and will heal with time. In the third quarter it won't get better or worse by itself. - You'll need magical or practical healing. The last three segments will get worse if they are unstable (or bleeding), stay the same if they are stable, and only be healed through magical or medical help.

* as per AW, a player can opt to trade on of the last three thresholds for a permanent disability. If they do so, the clock will halt at the 3/4 HP threshold and they have to choose one of the following:
Shattered:    -1 Str Bonus
Crippled:        -1 Dex Bonus
Broken:         -1 Con Bonus
Enfeebled:     -1 Int Bonus
Traumatised:   -1 Wis Bonus
Disfigured:      -1 Cha Bonus

Mark the Stat, note the particulars of the disability and get used to it!

Hi gang, I've been loving AW and just started playing DW / apoc D&D with my nooby RPG friends. Its been great! After playing two sessions, I started thinking about pushing my version of DW more toward the 'play to see what happens' style of AW, and started by thinking about that stalwart of any D&D game: the town.

Stealing shamelessly from AW and Tony's ideas on his blog, I've cobbled together these moves and associated rules. Most are quite obviously AW moves in fantasy window dressing, but I feel the context is important. AW characters are already badass, whereas D&D characters are traditionally untried and slowly develop into figures of note within their world.

Thus the 'prestige moves' are ways of developing DW characters beyond 10th Lvl and also add something to the 'town experience'. I hope you find them useful.

I have thought about threats and fronts too, hopefully I'll write them up soon.

Oh, on an aside, I've been using 'Awesome points' from Old Skool Hack too. Instead of counters, they're dice. Everytime the GM plays a hard move or announces future dungeon badness, they plonk a die in the bowl. Any player may award another for 'awesomeness' during play with a die from the bowl. On any roll, one or more awesome dice from your awarded stash may be added to the roll, and any two die results chosen to make the roll. Used awesome dice are given back to the GM and experience checked for the usage of awesome!