So, I ran my first session of Dungeon World (Hack) saturday night. We had three players and (as expected) three characters; an elven fighter, a human ranger, and a dwarven bard(!?). The dwarf was a master artisan and craftsman who relied on his reputation and skill to get by; he was also something of a diplomat. The elven fighter was a wanderer who didn't like staying in one place, and the ranger was a lover of the wilderness who lived as a hermit in a nearby forest.
They all had history together, but the human was the only one who lived in the area; the rest had just gotten into town. Speaking of town, it was a mining village on the edge of a crater filled with a rare ore known as moongold. The dwarf, looking for a place to stay, bartered with an innkeeper. The dwarf would craft new cookware for the inn in return for room and board.
The dwarf, being a master as he is, decides he wants to make something special - enchanted utensils that imbue anyone who eat with them with a great sense of good will. In order to do this, he'll need a few things - primarily a heaping helping of pure moongold, not easily bought.
The elf, sitting on a nearby roof and watching the town's proceedings, sees a strange occurrence - a small, cloaked figure leading a dozen cats out of town. The ranger's also noticed the local animals acting very bizarre. The elf decides to investigate this, but his nosing around angers the cloaked figures... he's attacked!
The ranger and dwarf are both nearby, so they come to the elf's rescue. After killing one of the attackers and scaring off two others, they gather their information about their attackers. It seems they are degenerate, mutated dragon-folk who serve a local dragon who's been rising in power! In the alleyway near the battle, the elf notices a stone wall... with hinges!
The party decides to track the fleeing monster, who's bleeding rather profusely. They reach a nearby wood, where they lose the trail, so the decide to return to the settlement for the time being.
The next day, they return to the hinged wall and enter a carved stone passageway. After making their way through the passageway, they find a circular pit going down about 60 feet (it's similar to a well, but with no water at the bottom). They climb to the bottom and find a chamber with a sealed door studded with rubies and written on in an ancient language.
The door, it seems, was a relic of ancient times, designed to protect the town from dwarves tunneling in from the mountains to the north. The dwarf, reading the runes, warns the party not to continue, but the elven warrior is already working on breaking the door off. The dwarf is pulled violently down the corridor behind the door, and the rest of the party follow to help him.
They find themselves in an octagonal chamber, with the passageway behind them and seven more. The floor here is also studded with rubies and runed, another trap meant to defeat dwarven intruders. As the party hears hissing from many of the passageways, the dwarf tries to decipher the runes - it seems if a dwarf tries to leave this chamber, it'll cause a cave-in!
More dragon-folk surround the characters; the dwarf, initially, doesn't want to leave the chamber, but he makes a daring leap and traps most of the dragon-folk under the collapsing roof. The elf is separated from dwarf and ranger, but he tries to break through using a pick axe he packed.
After a few close calls, the party is victorious over the two remaining dragon-folk and they make their way to the end of the current passage. They find the bedchamber of one of the dragon-folk... it's occupied by a chained human, unconscious! It also houses a treasure chest and a magical tome. The tome is tied to the dragon who wrote it, and it leaves some nasty burns on the party as they try and examine it.
After freeing the various enslaved humans and clearing out the treasure chests, they attempt to return home. They find the well has been blocked by a stone pillar, however, another trap to keep the dwarves out. They despair, fearing they'll need to go out to the mountains to the north (where the nasty dragon lives), but some careful examination leads them to find a reset mechanism.
After returning alive, the party spends their well-earned loot stocking up and repairing damaged gear. The dwarf throws a great party, where one of the enslaved humans they freed introduces himself and offers to work as a hired fighter. The elf and dwarf dare each other to a drinking contest, and, shockingly, the elf wins! The dwarf collapses, face-down, crushing the bar.
The next day, recovering, they meet up and decide to pursue some rumors - it seems the dwarf has heard of a new, secret entrance to the mines - one that goes straight down to the best of the moongold!
- AD