I remember picking the book up while in a game store in New Orleans years ago and the reason I put it back down was IT WAS TOO THICK. That's right. I'm at that age where anything over 120 pages is going to make me think "Oh man... I can't commit to reading this." *sigh*
Of course a large bulk of the book is apparently rehashed lists of standard D&D tropes, such as classic monsters and spells. So you don't have to just read all that... it's reference if you need it.
The system seems to be simple. It's 2d6 and you just have to hit a standard target number. There's also a gray area so rolls are not binary. It is based on Apocalypse World, of course, which is where the system comes from. Here's a video about that's fun to watch, though I think he wasn't aware that this is Powered by the Apocalypse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meov7EG163c
So yeah. This game is next on my to-buy-and-play list. Just as soon as my obsession with Troika! levels out.
Oh, Hank was aware DW is based on The Apocalypse. But his enthusiasm came to a grinding halt a few months later -- his main criticism is that the sheer amount of moves in the game requires way too much effort and memorizing. He has moved completely away from DW.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. In the first vid he praises the authors for creating the mechanics, but they mechanics came from AW so I assumed he didn't know.
DeleteI haven't ran, played, or even read the game yet so my enthusiasm is based on reviews. It is highly likely that I'll never get around to playing it, but maybe.
I actually recommend a Perilous Wilds instead, if you are interested in a shorter book? http://save.vs.totalpartykill.ca/review/the-perilous-wilds/
DeleteMy DW experience: https://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2015-11-18_Dungeon_World
Thanks, Alex. I love seeing your notes.
DeleteI played in an Apocalypse World game and a Dungeong Works at game at gencon when dungeon world was first released. As a player I enjoyed the game, but upon purchasing the book and reading it I realized the same thing that Hank came away with, and what others have said to me as well. There are simply too many moves to remember to play it by the book. Most of the people that I know that enjoy DW do so by playing with the rules loosely and they do not stick to the letter of the law with all of the various moves. Upon reading the book, I felt as if it was more of a chess game where every player has only a couple moves, I've been told it plays much better than it reads. If you're really interested you should ask Ray Otus as he loves the game.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I hadn't read far enough into the game to get much of it. I would have the same complaint if there were specific Moves with specific rules. As described, it reminds me of how 4e works (fun to play, but 100% a board game).
DeleteI not going to play games anymore. I'm just going to wait for Hank to review them and be happy with that.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I remember reading over DW. It seemed like a lot of fun until they dove into the whole Move and Effects and Fronts and other story game thingamabobs that did nothing but let the helium squeal out of my enthusiasm balloon.
My crude understanding of Moves is the polar opposite of what a story game is like. As mentioned above, seems more like chess. But I haven't played or read it so take my opinion with two grains of salt.
DeleteAaand of course I’ll stop by and suggest the SHORTEST version Dungeon World that I know of which was free and developed as part of the Kickstarter...World of Dungeons. (mixes quite well with things like Knave’s spell list, or Wonder & Wickedness or even like Black Hack)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.onesevendesign.com/dw/world_of_dungeons_1979_bw.pdf
There’s not anything wrong with DW in my opinion, it seems to be designed to emulate D&D 2e revised and wants you to play to become your own Elminster or Drizzt or what have you as you play. If you don’t care to buy it, you can always check out its SRD or the full rule book online as it was licensed interestingly.
https://book.dwgazetteer.com/
I do remember seeing World of Dungeons at some point. The character sheet is very familiar to me. Seems like a pretty simple little treatment.
DeleteWorld of Dungeons has no Moves rules or Fronts or anything that I can see. So how is it like DW? Because it just looks like a fairly simple D&D hack. Of course the dice mechanic from DW is there, with partial successes (which I first saw in Talislanta and I really love).
DeleteIf you get into it, I put this document together...
ReplyDeletehttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1ORjM3sxhQrwNI_chlNzYFMD5OFHj7u-Rs_gY4kHkzO0/edit
Thanks, that's a really good resource!
DeleteWould be fun to see James take on dungeon world.
ReplyDeleteThe DW bug will have to bite me hard. I can see myself doing a character sheet for it but not necessarily creating other content. I don't know. We'll see!
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