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Post by suboptimal on Nov 3, 2014 0:09:00 GMT -8
Hi. I´m playing in a D&D 3.5 game at the moment, but plan on running some one-shots, shouldn´t the whole game group be able to make it for a session. I would like to use these one-shots to try out other systems that keep showing up in my library. One of wich is DW. I know that DW is more about world building ect. but i would just like to try the bare bones system first in a small one-shot.
Questions: - Does DW work with (old)D&D, DCC RPG... modules? - Did you ever try this? Which one? Did it work? - Got any suggestions for a good module? One with more than just combat encounters? - Or do you know of any published (free or otherwise) DW one-shots?
Thx.
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Post by joecrak on Nov 3, 2014 6:47:58 GMT -8
You could easily use a module, but dont be afraid to make everything up on the fly and react to what the players say/do/and create in the fiction
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Post by suboptimal on Nov 3, 2014 14:50:08 GMT -8
You could easily use a module, but dont be afraid to make everything up on the fly and react to what the players say/do/and create in the fiction That´s what happens regardless of which ever system one uses. I guess i´m just looking for plot/adventure ideas that fit into one session. The other thing that would be interesting: Are there adventures out there for Players AND GMs who are new to Dungeon World? Modules with helpfull text for the GM regarding the rules? Hmmm...
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Post by shadrack on Nov 4, 2014 11:18:50 GMT -8
Google up, "Indigo Galleon" or Jason Morningstar has written (at least two) a few 2 hour demos. I think they're on the bullypulpit website.
So those should give you a couple leads on DW specific resources.
(I'm at work, or I'd likely put links in here...)
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HyveMynd
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Post by HyveMynd on Nov 4, 2014 22:35:47 GMT -8
Questions: - Does DW work with (old)D&D, DCC RPG... modules? - Did you ever try this? Which one? Did it work? - Got any suggestions for a good module? One with more than just combat encounters? - Or do you know of any published (free or otherwise) DW one-shots? To answer your questions suboptimal. 1. Yes. Dungeon World totally works with D&D and DCC RPG adventure modules. 2. Yup. Most of the Dungeon World scenarios I've run have been based on adventure modules for other fantasy games. To elaborate on those two answers, my advice is don't attempt to run the adventure module "as is". Dungeon World is all about "playing to find out what happens", and if you have everything mapped/planned out, you're not able to do that. For one of the first games I ran for the Happy Jacks crew via Skype, I used a dungeon map from an old D&D module ( Temple, Tower, and Tomb I think). I stuck too closely to the map, and it hamstrung my ability to GM. Dungeon World's rules say that something has to happen when the player's roll a 6 or less. The GM has to make a GM Move. When sticking to the published map too slavishly, there we many occasions when I needed to make a GM Move, but nothing made fictional sense. The bad guys were behind closed doors over there. There was only one way in or out of the room the PCs were currently in. There was no way there could be a trap in the location the PCs were exploring. By sticking too slavishly to the map I had chosen, I made it very difficult for myself to run the game. That advice goes for all elements of the module you're going to use, not just the map. Read the module and pick out the cool parts, but don't treat them as being set in stone. Doing so will hamper your ability to GM. 3. As far as combat encounters go, if you follow Dungeon World's tenants of "playing to find out what happens" and "being a fan of your players' characters" than any encounter can become a non-combat encounter. One of my favorite examples of this was the first Dungeon World game I ran with D.T. Pints and jfever. The PCs were inside a circle of protection put up by jfever's cleric so that they could rest. A possessed knight strides into the room prepared to kill the intruders for him mistress, the Ice Witch, but can't get past the wards. Instead of fighting, @d20pint's bard starts talking to him. The bard asks this knight what he wants, and I suddenly think "Oh jeeze. What does this guy want? Turns out the possessed knight just wants to be free of the Ice Witch's curse, and tells the PCs so. So D.T. Pints' bard strikes up a deal to kill the Ice Witch and free this guy from the spell if he leads them through the witch's tower safely. Which is exactly what happens. The PCs bypass all the traps and hazards of the Ice Witch's tower, lead right to her chamber by one of her servants. It was awesome. Just about any encounter can be a non-combat encounter if you follow the "yes, and" school of GMing. For your first game, I would strongly recommend using a module for inspiration. Dungeon World is meant to be run as a collaborative game, with the players having a lot of input, but that's not the best model for a one shot. You don't want to spend the entire session fleshing out a setting or campaign idea. I find it far better to give the players a clear goal right from the get go. It can be heavy handed, but this is a one shot. I think it's fine to ask the group "So, why are you hunting the Legendary Keys of Ventoosler?" or " What ancient artifact are you trying to uncover by delving into the Nameless One's crypt?" Hell, I always start one shot sessions with the PCs either more than halfway to the adventure site, or already inside. That clearly says "This is the adventure, so get onboard." Which again, is totally acceptable for a one shot.
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Post by suboptimal on Nov 5, 2014 0:10:18 GMT -8
(at)hyvemynd: Wow, so much good stuff to quote, but i just gonna stick to this: ...using a module for inspiration... Yes, i guess i´m basically looking for inspiration & some "framework".
The story about the cursed knight is really cool. It reminds me of sessions from "back in the day". Stuff like that rarely happens anymore, at least i feel that way.
AND i found a short introductory(?) adventure on the dungeon-world site. I haven´t checked it out yet, but i will.
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HyveMynd
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Post by HyveMynd on Nov 5, 2014 1:48:00 GMT -8
The cursed knight thing happened because as a set up question I asked "How did the Ice Witch escape from her icy tomb?" (or something similar). jfever said that one of the thirteen knights charged with making sure she didn't break free betrayed his order and released her, dooming them all to be her servant. Which was an awesome answer. And of course gave me thirteen powerful NPCs that the PCs were going to encounter once they got into the Ice Witch's tower. I was rubbing my hands with glee as the GM. And then D.T. Pints goes and talks to one of them, convincing him to be their guide. Who could've foreseen that? I think that's a great example of how to set up a Dungeon World game. As the GM you ask questions that establish some things, but still leave space for the players to provide input. The things that you establish are the elements necessary for the scenario. Like "In addition to telepathy, what powers is the Crown of the Faceless One rumored to have?" That establishes the McGuffin the PCs are after, sets up why it's important, and gives the player a chance to add some awesome power. (Also, because the crown is only rumored to have that power, you as the GM can veto anything you think is ridiculous.) Or like "What is the name of the noble who sent you on this quest, and why are they unworthy of possessing the Crown?" This sets up that the PCs have a patron, that they've already accepted the quest, but gives them an opportunity to add a wrinkle to the story. The party feels their patron is unworthy of the item they've been sent to retrieve. What are they going to do once they get it? In all honesty, coming up with these setup questions is, for me at least, the hardest part of prepping a Dungeon World game.
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tomes
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Post by tomes on Nov 5, 2014 12:24:23 GMT -8
I setup a campaign based around the premise of one-shots, cause my players are pretty haphazard around showing up. So I effectively did a few sessions of character and setting prep with them, with some initial situations that needed resolving (just to get us into the system, do a combat or two, etc.) OK, now I needed one shots. Like, a lot of them. Whomever shows up, and into a one-shot they go... just like episodes on a TV show which don't have to be related to one another. My inspiration? Two sides, one epic: www.happyjacks.org/two-sides-1-epic-2012-collection-is-here/ (series of one shots that all fit on a 2-sided page, as put out long ago by the HJ community). What's great about many of those is that they are really short, and just give you the skeleton of an adventure (the main plot, mcguffin, NPCs, bad guys, etc.) and you can easily take parts of those adventures and tweak them to fit into your setting. I've used a few that aren't fantasy-based into my fantasy adventure. I guess if you look elsewhere for ideas, like larger proper modules, I'd recommend just getting the basic overview, write down the main NPCs, places, bad guys, and such, and just go at it. You could use the maps, but I found DW is good with the draw-as-you-go school of thinking, so better to borrow the ideas of their maps, and just add things as the PCs get around. That allows enough flexibility to avoid the pitfalls that HyveMynd mentions above with maps limiting the GM-ability.
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tomes
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Post by tomes on Nov 5, 2014 12:41:13 GMT -8
Oh yah, in regards to the ones I've thought of using or that I've used so far: - Tiger 332: just change it to a horse (or monster)-drawn cart where the creature is struggling and eventually dies (runs out of gas). Epic battle could be between races, or just kingdoms.
- I Smell a Rat: Adds the lightest bit of mystery
- Roust
- A Shocking Surpise: I used this (or a tweak of it) in my campaign. Instead of a hidden city - the bad guys were from a neighboring kingdom and just harrassing the village, and holing up in a cave up the mountain. When the PCs got there I used the ancient locked door they found to be a starting point for the next story hook.
- Torn Souls: Used this as a one-shot side story in another campaign, where only a few players showed up. Made it set in a dwarven mining (underground) town. Instead of "injured soldiers", I had "injured miners" down in one of the mines. The PCs were each dwarves down on their luck and needing money, hence getting hired for a job to get those injured miners (and then sucked into the story)
- Lightning Ride: Used parts of this where Tesler was instead the mad alchemist (instead of scientist) and the items and setting were more magical than mechanical.
The biggest problem of course is getting these individually to fit as a one-shot. I would get distracted and take too long and sometimes we needed to finish or partially finish an adventure due to time contraints... this doesn't help if not all the same people show up the next time around, but was definitely good training in getting to run one shots! All of these were in Dungeon World except for Torn Souls I ran in Savage Worlds at the time.
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Post by suboptimal on Nov 6, 2014 9:41:21 GMT -8
(at)tomes: Thanks for the "2 sides - 1 epic" link, totally forgot about that & for the little session recaps / suggestions. I found a DW session by RollPlay R&D: RollPlay R&D: DW
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HyveMynd
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Post by HyveMynd on Nov 6, 2014 18:27:59 GMT -8
Good call with the Two Sides; One Epic, tomes. I think there's a few adventures, like Lend a Hand and Sparkle Hearts, that might work well for Dungeon World. (Yes, that was a shameless plug. Heh.)
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2014 7:33:20 GMT -8
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HyveMynd
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Post by HyveMynd on Dec 1, 2014 1:51:59 GMT -8
Hey suboptimal, did you ever run this one shot? I'm curious to hear how things went.
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Post by suboptimal on Dec 7, 2014 3:23:09 GMT -8
(at) photostyle: Hey, thanks for the link. Looks really cool. I downloaded the document to fully read it later, but what i´ve seen so far looks really great.
(at) hyvemynd: Nope, i didn´t run a DungeonWorld game yet. Instead we started a Call of Cthulhu game (with me as he Keeper), because our group is "reshaping" at the moment. One of our players is out for the rest of the year & she will quit for a while later next year, due to the fact that she´s expecting her 2nd child. BUT the way i see it, this might give me plenty of opportunities to run different systems from time to time. AND i found a german fan translation of DungeonWorld in a german RPG forum. It contains a short rules summary & fully translated german character sheets. This should help me introducing the others to DungeonWorld a lot. I´ll try to prepare a "classic" D&D/DCCrpg...whatever module style game & a "classic"/"the way it´s supposed to be run" DW game & then i´ll run what best fits the moment, something like that i guess.
I´ll probably post more questions in the future as i keep "struggling" with DungeonWorld.
(at) shadrack: !!!Sorry!!! I totally forgot to thank you mate. That introductory module looks great. Thanks for the help!!!
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Post by guitarspider on Dec 7, 2014 22:13:14 GMT -8
If you ever want to run a one-shot, you can also go to the G+ page of Planarch Codex (the Dungeon World Planescape). You can get a pdf full with 10 or so one page set-ups, which are all great to get an idea what a DW one-shot might look like.
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