''Dungeon World'' is a tabletop

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

roleplaying game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

created by Sage LaTorra and Adam Koebel. The game uses the

Powered by the Apocalypse Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) is a tabletop role playing game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game ''Apocalypse World'' and later used for '' Dungeon World'', ''Monsterhearts'' and numerous other RPGs. ...

engine originally designed for ''

Apocalypse World ''Apocalypse World'' is a post-apocalyptic roleplaying game by D. Vincent Baker and Meguey Baker, published in 2010 with only an implied setting that is fleshed out by the players in the course of character creation. It was the game for which th ...

'' and used in ''

Monsterhearts ''Monsterhearts'' is a role-playing game about "the messy lives of teenage monsters", developed from '' Apocalypse World''. It is known for its handling of sexuality and LGBT content.

'' and other games. The game is advertised as having old school style with modern rules. The text of the game was released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. ''Dungeon World'' raised just over $80,000 from 2400 backers on

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

before it was released.

Setting

The setting for ''Dungeon World'' is created by the

game master A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are ...

following the instruction of "Draw maps and leave blank spaces" allowing details to emerge in play.

Gameplay

''Dungeon World'' uses the

engine. The game uses six

ability score In the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game, game mechanics and dice rolls determine much of what happens. These mechanics include: * Ability scores, the most basic statistics of a character, which influence all other statistics * Armor cla ...

s (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma) and a

character class In tabletop games and video games, a character class is a job or profession commonly used to differentiate the abilities of different game characters. In role-playing games (RPGs), character classes aggregate several abilities and aptitudes, ...

model with choices of Bard, Cleric, Fighter, Immolator, Paladin, Ranger, Thief, or Wizard. Like other Powered by the Apocalypse games, actions in ''Dungeon World'' are called moves. When a

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

makes a move, the player rolls two

six-sided dice Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...

and adds the appropriate ability modifier. On a result of 10+ the move succeeds without complication. On a result of 7-9 the move partially succeeds or succeeds with a problem, allowing the GM to make a move of their own. On a result of 6 or less there is trouble (which may or may not mean failure). The character gains an

experience point An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experi ...

and the GM makes a move. Characters share general moves and gain unique moves from their class. To represent character relationships and facilitate quick setup, each class lists bonds that show, before the game starts, how the characters see each other, filling one name of one other player character in the blank space of each bond. Example bonds are: * _______________ owes me their life, whether they admit it or not. * I have sworn to protect _______________. * I worry about the ability of _______________ to survive in the dungeon. * _______________ is soft, but I will make them hard like me. The full rules for ''Dungeon World'' were released in a Dungeon World SRD.

History

''Dungeon World'' was developed starting in 2010 and an introductory edition was brought to Gen Con Indy 2011. Fundraising for the game itself begun via

in mid 2012. More than a year after being launched it was still the eighth fastest current seller at DriveThruRPG.

Reception

''Dungeon World'' was the 2012 Golden Geek RPG of the Year, the 2012 Indie RPG Game of the Year (as well as winning the awards for Best Support and Best Production) and was the Best Rules Gold Winner in the 2013

Ennie Awards The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World i ...

References

External links

Dungeon World
- Official website
Sagelt / Dungeon-World
- Official source text from the book on

GitHub GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continuous ...

Dungeon World
- Text from the book, formatted for the web.
Dungeon World GM's Screen
- Nate Marcel official artist for Dungeon World {{Powered by the Apocalypse games, state=expanded Creative Commons-licensed games ENnies winners Fantasy role-playing games Indie role-playing games Kickstarter-funded tabletop games Role-playing games introduced in 2012