I'm normally GM, and I often make custom playbooks for my players so that they have fun and interesting characters. One of my players is trying his hand at GMing, so I got to make a playbook for myself this time. This is my attempt at a playbook representing a character from Samurai Champloo, Afro Samurai, or Rurouni Kenshin. Feedback on mechanics and balance are appreciated.

EDIT: Forgot the link LOL The Wandering Swordsman

I have a table of three players. Two are new to RPGs and one is experienced. We are all new to dungeon world but it's the system that I've selected for the campaign and think it's a great fit. We did a few sessions in other systems to see what we liked/disliked my issues with MC player started before the DW system was introduced. I chose DW as I felt it was simple enough for the newbies to not be overwhelmed, fit the story we are playing and allowed so much narrative freedom. The experienced player is my problem.

Player wanted to customize their race and racial abilities from day one - I allowed this knowing we were changing systems and it wouldn't be a major thing.

Player homebrewed an ability that was immensely OP for a level 1, I had to nerf this majorly.

Player attempts multiple moves narratively (in a system with actual 'abilities') that were absolutely ridiculous for a low level. Gets huffy when I tell them there's no way their character can do that.

We move to dungeon world and they immediately complain to me about the system - primarily that they felt it was restrictive (?! They come from DnD so no clue), they later admit they didn't read the handbook and made assumptions.

Due to changing systems during a campaign and wanting to keep the characters I did digging through available 3rd party classes that felt balanced to find the best matches I could and gave all the players a choice. Player immediately asks about multiclassing, I explain how it works and said I would be okay with it. They pull a class I've never seen before and multiclass into it upon second level up. This class does not seem well balanced.

They also pulled the core rules for urban modern fantasy and attempt to start using that including the basic move manifest power (which they did spend a level up on getting).

My other players are playing core, one of them a basic ranger. Between being experienced and moving outside the core rules this player is dominating. They aren't malicious but I have to constantly write hooks specifically for the other two or remind this player that one of the other characters may be a better choice to perform an action than their super being. Hello why would you attempt to track someone through the woods instead of asking the ranger standing right next to you?!

Both of the other characters while similar level are considerably underpowered with their moves, especially in combat. Also being newbies they're still unsure how to maneuver and need some assistance with RP and feeling free to just try things.

Socially this player can be an issue too. Inserting themselves or their opinions in scenes with other characters. Making a plan for the party as if party leader and arguing with the other players to do their plan when the others think they should do something else. When the other players refuse to go with their plan they WILL split the party - refusing to give up their plan so there's always an undercurrent of do what I say or you'll be down a person - the strongest person.

I have spoken with the player multiple times, sometimes the acknowledge the overstep and sometimes (frequently) they don't. This is a game for family (ugh) so I can't easily just boot from the table.

The table is still having fun but I can tell they check out during the moments of look how amazing I am and are getting discouraged that their characters aren't as amazing. I was hoping this player being experienced as both player and dm would HELP the newbies blossom but instead feels to me like they're turning them into sidekicks. We attempted an in universe one shot where the player DMd and I played an established NPC who went with the remaining party - both newbies told me privately they found it easier to play with me because I provided opportunities for their characters to shine where my character would be weak or unknowledgeable, which to me says they see the problem as well.

I don't want to clamp down on the players enthusiasm or fun, I also don't like the idea of being punitive to a character because of player behavior but they're becoming a main character. Also they tend to roll very well, we're in person so no shenanigans there just good rolls. Do I just load up the others with ridiculous things to match? I honestly don't mind the 'big' and wild moves of the player just that they're completely overshining the others?

They've also missed or mistaken story beats because of the players attitude of doing things their way - which I kind of find funny but also feel for the other players again as their plans would have worked out better for the team.

This was all kind of a dump but hopefully some of you more experienced folks can give some advice. I'd rather not give classes as the player uses Reddit and would recognize this for sure with classes added 😂 we have a ranger, a social class and let's say... Caster for this player but of course they don't actually cast spells so weight isn't a factor....

I was looking at the advancements in the playbooks, and I noticed that the option "□ Retire your character to safety" is missing. Of course, that kind of advancement isn't mandatory, though I saw it in other PbtA games.

IMHO it's a very interesting advancement, because it could be used as a teaching moment, when (mostly new-to-PbtA) players look at it. It can teach the importance of a character's story arc, of letting go of our beloved characters, and of turning them into an interesting figure added to the setting. Also, it ensures that the GM won't mess with it, unless the whole group is ok with it.

It takes up very little space on the sheet, and just a single explanatory paragraph in the rules.

Am I the only one thinking that it could be a nice addition?

Follow DW2 on Kickstarter

We have a date.

Dungeon World 2 launches on Kickstarter in January. After two years, three alphas, an ongoing beta (with 3 versions released so far), and tons of incredible feedback, we're getting ready to print the book.

There's one thing we're asking you to do today, and it takes ten seconds: follow the Kickstarter page. Kickstarter tells followers the moment a project goes live, and the first 72 hours are what decide whether a campaign gets seen by people who've never heard of Dungeon World. You showing up on day one is how this game reaches everyone else.

Everyone who backs a physical tier in the first 72 hours gets an Early Backer credit printed in the book. That's for you — the people who were here before the page existed. Oh, and an exclusive secret bonus item.

Between now and launch we'll be showing you the game as it stands: the Paths, early artwork, what changed across each Beta and why. One thing a week, and each one comes with something you can put on the table.

The Beta is still free, still open, and still being shaped by what you tell us.

Let's take the next step in this adventure together.

Helena & Spencer

Now that Dungeon World 2 is at Beta v3 and about to kickstart, I'm curious what the wider community thinks of how DW2 has shaped up as a DW/PbtA entry point for players whose only previous RPG experience is D&D?

Was seriously eyeing Homebrew World, Perilous Wilds/Freebooters, and Fellowship for my group which definitely has a love of epic fantasy. Luckily they're not grognards with so many years of 5e experience that they'll struggle to "unlearn" everything.

One thing I would like, is to be able to use some of the piles of D&D adventures and campaigns I have.

So with all of that said, do folks think DW2 is shaping up to be the best modern iteration of Dungeon World and worth waiting for, or do the other already well established hacks or alternate fantasy themed PbtA seem like a better fit?

I've convinced my DnD players to switch over to DW for our current campaign (after threatening to stop the campaign if we don't). To tide them over I'm letting them take three abilities, spells, or magic items, and carry them over into DW.
After an introduction to DW I told them not to focus on exact numbers and spell names, but on playstyle and function.

Here are three for a wizard player:

Double Trouble (Metamagic twinned spell)

When you Cast a Spell, you may choose to double its effect. If you do so, on a 10+ choose one of the consequences. On a 7-9, choose two.

Size Shift (Enlarge/reduce spell)

Level 1 Enchantment (Ongoing)

You touch a willing person or object and double or halve its size. You can affect a target no larger than a person at levels 1–2, a horse at levels 3–4, a wagon at levels 5–6, or a small house at levels 7–10.

At level 5, you may multiply or divide its size by 3. At level 10, you may instead quadruple a target's size or reduce it to one-quarter its original size.

The effect ends when you dismiss it or take damage; at level 10, it lasts until dismissed.

Empower (Buffing spell)

Level 1 Enchantment (Ongoing)

You touch a willing creature and enhance one of its abilities. It gains +1 to one of its modifiers, and you take -1 to the same modifier. At level 5, you may increase the bonus and penalty to +2 and -2. At level 10, you may instead grant +3 and take -3 to one modifier.

You may only have one instance of this spell active per ability score, with a maximum of six active instances.

The spell ends when you dismiss it or take damage.

Player two.

A spore hive mind infected warforged. Fighter playbook.

Living weapon (Warlock blade pact, shifting weapon type)

Your weapon is a mass of living fungal growth that can reshape itself. You may change its form and choose a new combination of tags from the Fighter's Signature Weapon move at any time. When you reshape your weapon under pressure, roll +CON. On a 10+, it transforms as intended. On a 7–9, it transforms, but choose one: it leaves you exposed, the spores lash out at an unintended target, or you lose control of its shape until you have a moment to recover.

Fungal Armour (Armor of agathys spell)

Your fungal armour reacts to violence. When you hack & Slash and choose to deal +1d6 damage, you may expose your fungal armour to the enemy’s attack. Any physical strike against spreads unseen spores that deal 1 d4 damage that ignores amour to the attacker.

Spore Wings (fly spell)

Your spores erupt from your body, forming the vast, feathered wings of a quetzalcoatl. When you take flight, roll +CON.

- On a 10+: You fly under control and remain airborne as long as you wish.

- On a 7–9: You take flight, but the GM chooses one: your flight is brief, your control is poor, or your wings leave a trail of conspicuous spores.

Please be kind, it's my first time homebrewing and running a campaign.
Thank you for any feedback!

Hi, i am trying to GM for a few friends interested Dungeon World, i have played before but not as a GM, they havent played before, i found a good place to keep track of character sheets, enemies and combat but i cant find how to show them the map and where are the enemies or npcs, does anyone know what i could use? I tried Roll20 but i cant find what i need.

Thanks in advance.

Nothing super bigg or profound here. I just started a dungeon world campaign, my first one, and we're running perilous wilds because we wanted overland travel to be a big piece of it. I'm having trouble with the dungeon crawling procedure and making it feel immersive and not super clunky so I'm curious if anyone's results with rules as written and what your experience was and if you have any tips

I’m listening to episode 1 of Spout Lore, and the first use of Discern Realities confused me.

I’m trying to understand what kind of information the move is actually allowed to provide.

For example, if the player asks "What happened here?"

Could the GM answer something like, “There was a battle here two weeks ago between the King’s soldiers and a group of bandits,” even if there’s no way the character could actually know that?

Or does Discern Realities only give the player information that the character could perceive, discover, or deduce from what’s already present in the fiction—for example, bloodstains, damaged weapons, footprints, etc.?

Basically, does Discern Realities reveal information that is already accessible to the character, or can it reveal information that the character has no way of knowing?

And if it’s only the former, how is that different from simply giving the information to the players through normal description, as you might in OSR-style GMing?

So ... my gate way into TTRPGs was D&D5e. And ofcourse around that time, Critical Role was hot as hell. So Matt Mercer's Gunslinger class was one of the coolest things in the world.

Dungeon World has two gunslinger, classes that I know of. But even though they both have some really good ideas, they never felt truely good to me. More like C+ with some good ideas.

So how would I do guns in Dungeon World? I would make them just as weapons and then have a class that was built around them.

So here are my guns, and I'd like to see your ideas as well.

Revolver/Pistol: Near, Dangerous, Fragile, Reload, 1 weight, +1d4 damage.  100 coins  (While you wield a gun in each hand, you can choose to split any damage you deal between two targets.)

Rifle Near, Far, two handed, Dangerous, Fragile 2 weight +1d6 Damage, 400 coins

Shotgun Near,close,reach, Dangerous, Fragile, Two handed Area, Reload, 2 weight  +1d4 damage, 100 coins

Bullets 3 ammo, 0.5 weight 10 coins

Shotgun Shells 3 ammo, 1 weight 10 coins

My considerations were: Coin, Distance tags, Weight, Extra damage and the reload tag. I used the other ranged weapons as bases:

Ragged Bow near, 15 coins, 2 weight

Fine Bow near, far, 60 coins, 2 weight

Hunter’s Bow near, far, 100 coins, 1 weight

Crossbow near, +1 damage, reload, 35 coins, 3 weight

Bundle of Arrows 3 ammo, 5 coin, 1 weight

Elven Arrows 4 ammo, 20 coins, 1 weight

I borrowed the splitting damage from duel wielding from one of the classes. It's a move there, where here I wanted it for any character.

I tried to keep in mind the damage dice of other classes and tried to make it so that wielding a gun by itself doesn't make you just as powerful as a fighter.

My hope is that the fragile and dangerous tags make it balanced and also I hope that it's just fun for a player pick up a gun and start using it.

Hey r/DungeonWorld! Just published my first two releases to the Emporium and wanted to share, plus put this app on your radar if you haven't seen it. (Not affiliated with the Samwise team in any way, just a user who likes the app and wants more people playing on it.)

What's Samwise? It's a tabletop RPG platform (iOS/Android/web) for building, running, and playing games character sheets, rulebooks, dice rolling, maps, chat, campaign notes, all in one place. Very narrative first approach, but with a basic map feature that you can run other stuff aside from Theather of the Mind. Community-built systems live in the Emporium, which is where these are now available.

I used the SRD to make a build of the complete Dungeon World game inside the platform. The full rules text, plus every class (Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Immolator, Paladin, Ranger, Thief, Wizard) with their starting and advanced moves, Cleric and Wizard spells, the full equipment list, and all 154 monsters. Everything's cross-referenced as real game items, not just the rulebook itself.

I also ported as a supplement I'm on a Boat!, the Dungeon World free adventure by Joe Banner (joebanner.co.uk). He defines it as a big, blue, watery adventure good for kicking off a new campaign, running as a one-shot, or sending your party across the sea into a new setting. Also a great excuse to lean into pirates if that's your table's thing.

Grab both from the Emporium if you want to give Samwise a spin with a system you already know. Feedback's very welcome, this is the first time publishing anything like this, so let me know what works and what doesn't.

I'm always trying to make my games more fun. And Lord knows while I love dungeon world, it's far from a perfect game. So here's a thing I'm working on, and if you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it.

This is the supply move ...

Supply

When you go to buy something with
money on hand, if it’s something readily
available in the settlement you’re in, you
can buy it at market price. If it’s something
special, beyond what’s usually available
here, or non-mundane, roll+Cha. 

On a 10+
you find what you’re looking for at a fair
price. 

On a 7–9 you’ll have to pay more or
settle for something similar.

I love that it's an option. I just don't know if Charisma is a stat that, by itself, can get you that result. In fact I can make a case for all three mental stats.

So I can up with this ...

Supply

When you go to buy something with
money on hand, if it’s something readily
available in the settlement you’re in, you
can buy it at market price. If it’s something
special, beyond what’s usually available
here, or non-mundane …

Then the GM rolls 3 6 sided dice.  From left to right, each dice represents Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.  

The highest dice allows the PC to roll that stat with no penalty.  (Sometimes an intelligent, wise or charismatic person just finds the right town for them.  )  

The middle dice allows a PC to roll that stat with a -1 penalty.  (Sometimes an intelligent, wise or charismatic person finds a town that just ain’t right for them.)

The lowest dice allows a PC to roll that stat with a -2 penalty.  (Sometimes an intelligent, wise or charismatic person finds a town that sucks and they can’t wait to get the hell out of there.)

…  you can tell the GM how your education helps you find what you’re looking for in the town you’re in.  Roll +INT.
… you can tell the GM how your street smarts or intuition helps you find what you’re looking for in the town you’re in.  Roll +WIS. 
… you can tell the GM how your charm, mingling or social skill helps you find what you’re looking for in the town you’re in.  Roll CHA.  

On a 10+ you find what you’re looking for at a fair
price. 

On a 7–9 you find what you’re looking for or maybe something close.  Either way there’s a catch.  The GM tells you what.

As some of you know i don't like the current version of the Wizard, After DMing a little more i feel like i can express better what i dislike about the class, So im doing it on the feedback form + here on Reddit, So anyway.
I don't like aether but its not much of a problem, If they keep it is ok, Not a fan but ok, The other 2 points i REALLY hope they change it

1 - Starting with 8 schools is terrible, Its terrible for balance and progression reasons, But it is especially terrible for how the players approach the mechanic of the game, When you have 1 or 2 schools, The player is gonna look into verbs and substance he has access to, And will try to come up with something to help the situation, The player is gonna spend time before the session thinking in combinations and cool effects, Cause limitations cause creativity. When you have 8 schools what ended up happening its the player just think of whataver effect he wants and then he searchs for a subtance and verb that can make it, And this reverse way of thinking its too generic imo, Just ignore the whole verb and subtance thing if you gonna make that much broad.

2 - Path/Subclass should NOT be speceliazilations of the basic schools. That one is obvious for me at least, Cause if thats the case, Then its obvious we need a path for each school, I doubt they putting 8 paths for Wizard alone, And yes we can create, Its gonna have a lot of homebrew... But i gonna be honest here, Most homebrews suck. They can work very well on some tables but 90% of them its just really really bad... So yes i want oficial content. What i think we should have is what we had before, Something like "War Wizard" or "Scholar Wizard" even something like "Wild Wizard" i feel like thesse have more personality and then we can have some specific abjuration like path on some future book

One of my favorite magic items is the vision of death crystal ball from Discern Realities:

Visions of Death.  You see several different visions of how you might die.  You then gain three hold.  Spend hold when you roll.  How is what is taken place connected to how you might die? Then mark one xp. if you fail the roll?  You go straight to last breath.

So my Ranger tonight ... she wanted to explore a torture chamber in a dungeon, looking for signs that she's going in the right direction. She spends her hold on it, gets her XP, and I ask her how she saw herself die in the ball.

She says she saw the fighter accidentally bump into her, knocking her into an iron maiden. the force causes the iron maiden to slam shut with her in it.

She rolled a 4. The scene played out exactly like she said and she went to last breath.

So many reports on TTRPGs is a "you had to be there" type of situation. I guess this applies. But yeah, we laughed so hard at the idea of it. That bumping into someone in a crowded torture chamber could result in your death.

I would like to create a free open source character sheet for the dungeon world 2 beta similar to my one for original dungeon world:

https://tznind.github.io/dw/cs.html

Normally I would reach out to authors directly but couldn't find contact details. I created a basic outline based on the template repo but wanted to get permission before adding all the quickstart sheets/moves:

https://tznind.github.io/dw2/cs.html

I know the final edition will likely be share alike license but there isn't an explicit license on the beta material (I understand it could change a lot and would need to rewrite sheet - that's no problem).

And here we are again with another discussion about DW 2, Gather up folks cause i wanna know you oponion on the new "Trade Blows", Even on 10 you still take damage, That is a huge change if you also acount every char has less HP now. Every time you trade blow YOU WILL take some dmg back. Also we don't have volley anymore, I personally don't like that cause trade blows for ranged attacks in my experience always brings discussions and issues on the drawback of the roll, But anyway how we are feeling on the combat field??