Fred Hicks groks Dungeon World

Fred Hicks groks Dungeon World

Originally shared by Fred Hicks

Some praise for Dungeon World, in brief, now that I'm getting around to reading the book more closely thanks to Rob Donoghue running a game:

- Very few pages you actually "have to" read to get the game goin' on.

- Layout's super smart and does not fear white space.

- Each standard move as a page spread with facing page showing several short examples of play: also super smart.

- Does not put me off the content of the text/discovery of the system like Apocalypse World did. (I normally don't give praise that amounts to "totally better than this other game", but here it feels important; if the Apocalypse Engine intrigues but the game does not, DW achieves much in terms of approachability.)

- Rob has observed that DW is essentially a diceless game where you occasionally roll dice. That's a useful perspective and an important fusion of approaches to system/play; for me it means that I can be heads-up focused on the fiction, but that there's mechanical scaffolding to interact with to give things structure that diceless and/or freeform play lacks. Structure gives such things (again, for me) more weight and significance. It's a sweet spot.

- I find it wholly objectionable that my schedule is not as compatible with how often the game's gonna get run.