FRI-00: Dungeon World

[xenopulse]

Reposted from Story Games.

Friday early afternoon, Matt Gagan and I arrived in Seattle, then met up with Andy K., Remi Treuer, Jeremy Tidwell, Eric Boyd, and Matt SB. After some lounging and chatting at a cafe, we spontaneously busted out Dungeon World. We played schoolmates at something like an adventurer's college. We used all of the classes except for the wizard.

(Possible little spoiler for Purple Worm's Graveyard coming up!)

Remi played the evil halfling thief Bug, and I was the evil fighter with con 8 (so we bonded over the whole backstabbing approach). We were running theft and fencing cons at the college. Matt G. was the bard, and through the bard's bonds, he decided he was habitually mocking Bug. In fact, when Jeremy's ranger read the tracks inside the Purple Worm Graveyard dungeon and told us there were disfigured goblins shuffling around, Matt's character was like, "Just to get a good image of them, are they more or less disfigured than Bug?"

So when Bug found a trapped door that when closed would lock the heroes in a room and unleash monsters, he was like, "it's all clear, go ahead!" So the ranger, cleric and paladin went right in, but Bug stopped the bard, slammed the door shut, and jammed his dagger into her gut. "THAT'S FOR ALL THOSE SONGS!" Maybe there was minor resentment over the mockery.

Short game told even shorter, the three heroes that were locked in lost the paladin to the unleashed monsters (they didn't have a fighter to help them out), and I, sworn to protect Bug, had to run down the hightailing bard with my sinister mace because I couldn't leave any witnesses against Bug alive. Then Bug trapped the entrance to the dungeon and we went home, whistling joyfully.

THE END!

PS: Dungeon World is a lot of fun, even when you're not getting to slay the party bard! The bonds are awesome relationship starters.

[sage]

Ha! Two rooms into the dungeon and it all falls apart. I love it.

[Ben Wray]

PS: Dungeon World is a lot of fun, even when you're not getting to slay the party bard! The bonds are awesome relationship starters.

Man, totally! In the game of Dungeon World Tony ran which I played in, I was playing a evil thief, and took the bond that she had stolen something from the fighter. The Fighter was described as fairly attractive (well, fairly buff, but same diff am I right?), so I secretly decided that she had stolen it not because it was valuable, but because she had a secret crush on him and wanted something of his to keep close to her. So when, for example, Thelian decided he was going to barge into a room before Trixie checked it for traps, rather than just telling him to stop, I decided Trixie would use the opportunity to make discreet and plausible physical contact by gently holding him back (or "shoving" him aside), and agreeing (perhaps a little bit TOO vocally) with the theory that he would have to get naked to get the most benefit out of the Invisibility Spell when we finally faced the Butcher.

So, yes, the Bonds are awesome springboards for interesting party dynamics, even if you just take them completely straightforwardly.

[skinnyghost]

Hearing stories like this is the reason we made Dungeon World. Seriously, so so happy to see everyone having such a good time with it. If there's anyone at all who played the game at the Con this weekend and wants in to the Adventurer's Guild (get PDFs of updated rules, new and exciting stuff for the game as we come up with it, etc) just drop an email to GM@Dungeon-World.com and let me and sage know!