Dungeon World: Review

If you read Scott’s tale about our introduction to Dungeon World then you probably have a good idea of where this review is going. Terrible Gamers loves Dungeon World. We love it so much we are bringing you our initial review before our play test is complete. Do not worry too much about that though because Terrible Gamers has played Dungeon World quite a bit over the last week.   What we have not gotten to is, in our opinion, confined to small details that could not impact Terrible Gamers‘ overall perception of Dungeon World. For example, our play testers have not yet had the opportunity to take every character class found in Dungeon World’s core rules to level V. We find it highly unlikely that a Dungeon World Cleric plays differently enough at level V when compared to level II that Terrible Gamers would stop thinking that Dungeon World is awesome.   Nonetheless it is worth noting that our review was compiled while our play test of Dungeon World is ongoing. If our opinion changes as a result, which we highly doubt it will, our readers will be the first to know.   Terrible Gamers first heard about Dungeon World while talking with Eclipse Phase designer Brian Cross during Gen Con 2013. At the time we did not know what to think about Dungeon World. Brian informed us that the game had just won an ENnie award for best new rules, and was an indie “narrative” game with an “old school” feel. While we trusted Brian’s opinion on Dungeon World–the game was great–we had reservations about the games labels.   Narrative RPGs conjure up in our mind game systems that buck the traditional relationship between GMs and players that Terrible Gamers is used to. Being old and set in our ways, our general fear was that a game like Dungeon World might rob the GM of his role as the arbitrator of the game’s story. Nothing scenes, at least on the surface, to be scarier for GM that a game in which they are not allowed to respond to the actions of player characters.   Added to this concern was Terrible Gamers uncertainty about whether or not our players could handle an “old school” RPG experience. It has been quite a while since anyone at Terrible Gamers has played in an RPG where multiple hours have not gone into character creation and back story development for player characters days or weeks before a campaign begins. How then would our players react to a game in which half the party dies because the thief failed to properly disarm trap?   As it turns out our fears about Dungeon World were completely unfounded. Dungeon World is an amazing game that somehow manages to both encourage player participation in storytelling and give GMs narrative flexibility when it comes to determining the fate of player characters. What is more, the game’s designers have made the catastrophic “old school” elements of Dungeon World feels like a natural extension of game play. To put this another way, when playing Dungeon World players do not seem to fear the inevitable (and it is inevitable) demise of their characters— they embrace it.   Dungeon World So how does Terrible Gamers justify its use of the label “amazing” when referring to Dungeon World? It’s all in the mechanics!   At its core Dungeon World is a game that seamlessly integrates “indie” narrative elements and the type of order that players expect in more traditional RPGs. Dungeon World game mechanics are built around something called “moves.” Each move available to Dungeon World players, whether it’s a basic move or a class move, references narrative actions that are taken by characters in nearly every conceivable role-playing game. Everything from attacking a monster to checking an area for traps is covered by a move in Dungeon World.   While playing Dungeon World the players are encouraged to describe their actions in detail. The GM then decides whether or not any of the descriptions invoke a “move.” In practice this means that players do the types of things with their characters that they would do in other RPGs, but more descriptively. What is described simply as “searching a room” in Dungeons & Dragons becomes “flipping through the books, checking to see if any of the furniture is moveable, etc.” in Dungeon World.   When the GM decides a player has “made a move” a dice roll is made to determine how that move worked out for the player. This roll is a simple 2d6 added to a character’s relevant attribute bonuses. There are three possible outcomes whenever a player throws the dice: a roll of six or less means a character has failed to complete a “move,” a roll between seven and nine means that any “complicated” success, anything over 10 indicates a character succeeds in exactly the manner described by the player.   Dungeon World really shines when player dice rolls fall into one of the first two categories. Roles that indicate either failure or success with a complication operate as points of narrative entry for the GM. These are the moments when the GM gets to utilize his very own set of GM “moves” to describe the results of character actions in the game world.   GM moves in the Dungeon World are a lot like player moves in that the moves encompass nearly everything a GM might do in a role-playing game. Dungeon World is different from those “other” role-playing games because Dungeon World moves give GMs infinitely more narrative control. For example, when the dashing hero rolls a six while trying to stave in the skull of the Orc King, Dungeon World allows the GM to describe that failure. It could be that the GM decides the dashing hero in failing to connect creates an opening for his opponent; perhaps it means the dashing hero loses the grip on his blade; or it could just as easily mean that the dashing hero’s attack pushes the Orc King straight into the party’s Wizard.   The way in which Dungeon World’s game mechanics focus the gaming experience on the collective articulation of a story, while still providing the feeling that the character sheets matter, is really what makes Dungeon World great. To put this another way, Dungeon World’s “move” system empowers both players and Game Masters by giving everyone around the table a reason to participate in the fiction. At the same time Dungeon World asks players to “roll the dice” at moments when experienced gamers subconsciously reach for their dice. It is precisely this interplay of storytelling—everyone enjoying being “in character”—and unobtrusive rules—roll whenever something is in doubt—that makes Dungeon World an awesome game to play.   First Time Role-Player (Or GM)? Try Dungeon World! In addition to being awesome, super fun, and cool, Dungeon World is also a great tool. For those interested in making the transition from other types of gaming to role-playing, or for role-players interested in running their first game as a GM, look no further than Dungeon World. Terrible Gamers found that Dungeon World has two things that make it the most well suited game (that we know of) for those just coming into the hobby (or GMing)—its simplicity and it “move” mechanics.   The simplicity and elegance of Dungeon World cannot be overstated. As Terrible Gamers pointed out earlier, the game itself relies almost exclusively on rolls of 2D6 plus a static number. What happens as a result of such rolls, while infinitely varied, is mechanically confined to three possible outcomes. In other words, unlike a lot of games, Dungeon World does not have the multiple sets of mechanics (or charts) that intimidate new players. More importantly though, Dungeon World has what no other game has—GM “moves.”   Like we discussed earlier Dungeon World provides GMs with a list of codified “moves” to use in particular situations just as it does for players driving characters. What makes these moves a wonderful tool is there completeness. The designers of Dungeon World have literally built a game that tells GMs—in a not heavy handed sort of way—that it is okay for GMs to do the things that GMs have always been doing. For example, Dungeon World explains to GMs that failing a roll does not always mean the same thing. In one context it might mean that a monster does damage to a player, while in another it means the player is given inaccurate information, and in still another it will mean that the players consume more of their resources.   Terrible Gamers is not exaggerating when we say that Dungeon World covers almost everything with GM moves. Even the campaign “rules” for Dungeon World help those new to GMing keep track of where there story is going by making keeping track of the potential consequences of player actions on the overall world part of the game mechanics. Hell, there are even some pretty damn good—and simple—rules that help GMs build the game world.   Conclusion: If we have not communicated it to you already Terrible Gamers is in love with Dungeon World. While it is not a game that we would use to replace other games in our repertoire—sometimes you really want a super tactical experience—it is a game that has been added to that repertoire.  Dungeon World somehow manages to be a narrative game that empowers everyone at the table, while still providing the sense that you are participating in, not making up out whole cloth, a story. In other words, Dungeon World is able to have rules which both give the game sense of order and open up a game’s narrative possibilities. On top of all that, Dungeon World, really does provide a framework through which people can enter either role-playing or GMing which is not intimidating. In fact, Dungeon World provides a codification to “the stuff GMs do,” which helps GMs understand what is involved in GMing (and gives them permission to do it!)   As it turns out, Scott had nothing to fear. Our only regret is that we did not take Brian Cross’s advice. We should have checked out Dungeon World at Gen Con instead of waiting.   (c) Scott Mills & Terrible Gamers 20013