NEW PLAYERS: I wrote a Beginner's Guide to Dungeon World

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Re: NEW PLAYERS: I wrote a Beginner's Guide to Dungeon World
« Reply #45 on: October 19, 2012, 04:01:29 AM »
Could we get a second version of the printer frilendly pdf where all even pages would be flipped ?
When I try to print the current pdf (the printer friendly one) on a duplex printer, the result (ie the booklet) is unusable.

Thx.

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Re: NEW PLAYERS: I wrote a Beginner's Guide to Dungeon World
« Reply #46 on: October 19, 2012, 11:06:51 AM »
Could we get a second version of the printer friendly pdf where all even pages would be flipped ?
When I try to print the current pdf (the printer friendly one) on a duplex printer, the result (ie the booklet) is unusable.

Thx.

You should be able to flip it short edge, not long edge, and the booklet will work (landscape orientation, not portrait). I've printed it dozens of times, myself. The page imposition should give you a fold-in-half-zine when you're done.

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Re: NEW PLAYERS: I wrote a Beginner's Guide to Dungeon World
« Reply #47 on: October 27, 2012, 01:53:09 PM »
Has anyone checked out the Take on Magic Items? I'm curious about it, I kinda want a sneak peek.


Re: NEW PLAYERS: I wrote a Beginner's Guide to Dungeon World
« Reply #49 on: November 08, 2012, 09:25:25 PM »
Has anyone checked out the Take on Magic Items? I'm curious about it, I kinda want a sneak peek.

I'm the author of Take On Magic Items. Do you have specific questions? RPGNow has a preview of a few pages. And my website has some more information.

Re: NEW PLAYERS: I wrote a Beginner's Guide to Dungeon World
« Reply #50 on: November 08, 2012, 10:28:28 PM »
Hello! I'm the guy who wrote the compendium classes. So if you have any issues with those, yell at me.

Sure, I have an issue: where can I see other DW resources you've made? I saw in the guide that you're active on SomethingAwful. Are they on a thread there?
All my posts (unless stated otherwise) are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

Re: NEW PLAYERS: I wrote a Beginner's Guide to Dungeon World
« Reply #51 on: November 09, 2012, 03:26:22 AM »
Sure, I have an issue: where can I see other DW resources you've made? I saw in the guide that you're active on SomethingAwful. Are they on a thread there?

All the stuff I've made is in this SA thread. (Well, one thing isn't, but it ended up in the guide anyway.)

I also have an archive of all the stuff I've made uploaded here.

Re: NEW PLAYERS: I wrote a Beginner's Guide to Dungeon World
« Reply #52 on: November 09, 2012, 05:46:43 AM »
Thanks Emong! I don't have access to SA, but that ZIP is terrific.
All my posts (unless stated otherwise) are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

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Re: NEW PLAYERS: I wrote a Beginner's Guide to Dungeon World
« Reply #53 on: November 09, 2012, 04:04:54 PM »
I think Emong's stuff is awesome; full of really fun ideas. His Abysswalker and Skinchanger are so evocative. I really think you oughtta put out a supplement!

@TakeOn: no specific questions, no. I was just really excited for more fan-made stuff!

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vsh

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Re: NEW PLAYERS: I wrote a Beginner's Guide to Dungeon World
« Reply #54 on: November 26, 2012, 08:22:54 AM »
I've got you an illustration for moves snowballing:
http://i.imm.io/N1cf.jpeg

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Re: NEW PLAYERS: I wrote a Beginner's Guide to Dungeon World
« Reply #55 on: November 26, 2012, 11:30:32 AM »
Hahahaha

Re: NEW PLAYERS: I wrote a Beginner's Guide to Dungeon World
« Reply #56 on: November 27, 2012, 01:13:40 AM »
I loved the DW guide. It's been super useful for myself, as the DM, and for my new players. I do have one thing that we've all struggled a little bit with that might be worth adding in: fictional positioning. It's a little difficult to wrap your head around at first, especially since so many RPGs rely on non-fictional/mechanical tools to create the context in which things interact. For some things it's easy to see how it works, like the example of Smaug/the dragon in the DW text, but other things are a little harder to relate and conceptualize starting out.
For example, I'm running my group through the Bloodstone Idol adventure to start and they attacked the Demon Urlaz rather than talk (notably the Paladin's doing there). They started attacking, and mostly missed at first, until the wizard burst through with magic and took it down nearly by half. It was then that I realized a bunch of adventurers with no magical tools, or real effort were going to take down a (low-level) demon, and I started to think better of it. Following the wizard people started to actually hit, but armor applied and caused less damage. I increased the demon's armor so that it wasn't dying that fast, but in hindsight they shouldn't really have been allowed to roll hack&slash/volley in the first place.
I guess my own confusion in this is how to relate fictional positioning to players when they can literally walk up and touch the demon (as opposed to the flying dragon). There's always the whole: it has lots of armor and mundane weapons won't ever harm it schtick, but after a a few monsters like that it seems like it would get old. I'd personally like a little discussion on how fictional positioning can be better used. It should be useful to both GMs and players since it'll give a GM tools and ideas, and give players an understanding of why they can't just walk up and beatstick the demon in front of them.
Just my 2 cents on it. I've really enjoyed your work and the effort you've put into it. Thanks again.
"Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)" -- Walt Whitman, Song of Myself

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Re: NEW PLAYERS: I wrote a Beginner's Guide to Dungeon World
« Reply #57 on: November 27, 2012, 12:33:54 PM »
Thanks for the kind words, and your point is a good one. I wish I had written some more on that topic, myself. The way I feel, you don't need armor to make a beast tough. You need to pause, picture the monster in your head like it was a movie scene, and describe it like you see it there. Talk about how fast the demon is, how it flits away in a puff of smoke. Its malevolent presence, the stench, the cruel and playful way it dances from foe to foe. How it's always just out of reach, taunting, when the characters run in.

Remember, the game fiction comes first and a monster is as fast and intimidating as you make it. Hack & Slash only triggers when they're in there slashing it; and they rely on your judgment for that to happen. You know, you don't want to cheat them but you want to be fair: if it takes a better plan than "charge!", you can make that a reality.

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zmook

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How to play boss monsters?
« Reply #58 on: November 27, 2012, 01:25:28 PM »
The way I feel, you don't need armor to make a beast tough. You need to pause, picture the monster in your head like it was a movie scene, and describe it like you see it there. Talk about how fast the demon is, how it flits away in a puff of smoke. Its malevolent presence, the stench, the cruel and playful way it dances from foe to foe. How it's always just out of reach, taunting, when the characters run in.

Thanks, that's really helpful.  I'm working up on starting a DW game after just finishing an AW one, and this is one of the things that I'm worrying about, finding ways to make the scary monsters genuinely scary, when DW discourages me from just giving them lots of HP and armour.  What other things might work?

* Incorporeality/immunity to mundane weapons
* Speed and evasiveness
* Flight and ranged attacks
* Environmental damage -- e.g. the burning lava demon
* Threatening claws/weaponry with extended reach, so characters have to defy danger just to get in range
* Highly dangerous counterattacks to bring out on 7-9 -- especially knockback, stuns, and pins
* Charm and fear moves
* Others?

Still, I worry a little about boss monsters ending up as glass cannons -- very frightening right up until a couple of lucky hits, and then they go down fast.  I mean, vampires only have 10 HP and 2 armor, which seems to make them more fragile than a typical first-level cleric.   

Is this not something I need to worry about?  If not, why not?

Re: How to play boss monsters?
« Reply #59 on: November 27, 2012, 03:04:24 PM »

Is this not something I need to worry about?  If not, why not?


Lurker sneaking in to snipe this question:
http://www.latorra.org/2012/05/15/a-16-hp-dragon/