Saturday 2 February 2013

Gleefully Late to the Party, Again

Reading Dungeon World.

But lo, mere reading is not enough. I must share its goodness with others (most of whom will probably say "Dude, we know" in Henchman 21 voice).

Gripes
  • the layout of the free pdf is a bit wonky (section headings at the bottom of the page? No! Bad layout monkey!); 
  • the idea of structuring adventures around Fronts ("...a collection of linked dangers -- threats to the characters specifically and to the people, places, and things the characters care about.") and Moves (IGOUGO as a dungeoncrawling mechanic?) is a bit unusual; 
  • the use of Warhammer-ish ability keywords in the statblocks might not be to all tastes. 
But!

Raves
  • the writing is clear and entertaining; 
  • there's at least one instance of "wish I'd thought of that" on every page; 
  • it has the kind of 'obvious in hindsight' GMing advice I'd have killed for back in the day; 
  • this is what the writers think of as an entire stat block:
Ankheg 
Group, Large
Bite (d8+1 damage) 10 HP 3 Armor
Close, Reach
Special Qualities: Burrowing
A hide like plate armor and great crushing mandibles are problematic. A stomach full of acid that can burn a hole through a stone wall makes them all the worse. They’d be bad enough if they were proper insect-sized, but these things have the gall to be as long as any given horse. It’s just not natural! Good thing they tend to stick to one place? Easy for you to say--you don’t have an ankheg living under your corn field.
Instinct: To undermine
  • Undermine the ground
  • Burst from the earth
  • Spray forth acid, eating away at metal and flesh

That's it. Next! (I especially like the inclusion of monstrous To Do lists for all.)

In conclusion: Dungeon World, my face when: 
"Ermagerd! So gooood."

Pic Source: the famous Dorf Fortress fun image.

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