Dungeon World is a D&D’ish game utilizing the Powered by the Apocalypse (PBTA) system which was originally built for the RPG Apocalypse World. Games built using PBTA are known in the industry for being story driven, action-adventures in settings including gritty sci-fi, fantasy, high-fantasy, and even some Lovecraftian horror. Most notably, in my opinion, PBTA is known for being easy to dive into for both veteran RPers and noobs alike.
As a player you don’t need to do any reading before-hand, you’ll learn in no time. As a GM you’ve got some reading to do but it’s still a “rules light” game compared to D&D. Overall setup can be just a few minutes for a GM already versed in Dungeon World’s rules or about an hour to read and get comfortable with the mechanics and concepts.
The night we played Dungeon World with the Game Testers, most of the party were decently versed in a variety of systems but we also had a guest visiting from Nevada who is also entirely new to RPGs in general. Dungeon World acted as a great introduction game for the uninitiated player who in the end really had a good time.
Dungeon World is not for everyone though. PBTA requires that the GM and players are willing and capable of improvising just about every detail. A few basic rules are in place that somewhat establish a theme for the game, however outside of these basic directions the rest is up to those sitting at the table to create. The game starts with a bit of “who, what, where, when, and why” and continues asking those questions throughout. The GM might ask questions such as, “what city are you in?” followed by “okay, and what is this city known for?”
Getting Started
Players start by creating characters blindly in a nearly blank slate of a world. The only aspect of the setting that is set in stone is that it’ll have the classic fantasy element of swords, sorcery, and dangerous creatures. Everything else is pretty much up to the next step to determine so character creation is all about deciding the type of character you want tell a story about.
Next, the GM asks questions about the characters in order to start developing the world. The world is built simultaneously with the characters because the sole purpose of the world is facilitate the story. As soon as characters start becoming fleshed out their relationships to each other start coming together as well. Each character can have a bond with another character; these bonds help drive the story.
Once the players and GM have spent 30 minutes to 2 hours creating characters and the world it’s then time to go explore both and tell a story. The GM can kick off the story.
Game Mechanics – Roll 2d6
Any action a player may wish to make in Dungeon World may be described by one of the “Special Moves” or “Basic Moves”. The list of moves is short so this method may at first feel restrictive but once you’ve got the hang of it you probably will find it somewhat liberating. Dungeon World’s objective with the moves is to keep the system out of the way of story telling.
A player may say “I swing my axe at the skull of the dragon as it draws back for to bite me” which would be a use of the Hack & Slash move.
Every move triggers a roll of 2d6 plus/minus a modifier (-3 to +3).
- Less than 6: Miss
Whatever you were trying to do fails and the world (read “GM”) wrecks you. The GM gets to use one of their moves against the character. - 7-9: Weak Hit
You succeeded at doing what you were trying to but with the GM also uses one of their moves. Each type of move usually states likely what move the GM will take in response. - 10 or higher: Strong Hit
You successfully did what you set out to do without any trouble.
The extreme rolls for this system are -2 to 15 but the average roll for a +3 modifier is 10 which means that characters acting within their strengths are very likely to at least land a Weak Hit.
Conclusion
If the group maybe isn’t so good at improv a module may be used to help cut down on the world building that needs to be done but the primary function of the game is to tell an original story on the fly so there is not getting out of using your imagination.
I would certainly recommend picking up Dungeon World and other PBTA games if you and your friends enjoy imagining up intricate characters and worlds.
