Session Zero 8: on the Conversion and Creation of Adventures for Dungeon World
Session Zero 8: On the conversion and creation of adventures for Dungeon World
Sample file
Brian Holland – January 2019 Everything in Session Zero is designed to be used with Dungeon World by Sage LaTorra and Adam Koebel.
Session Zero by Brian Holland Session Zero is possible thanks to my patrons, and especially my contributing patrons: Marius Salsbury, Bryen Alperin, David LaFreniere and Stefan Albrecht
Art Credits: Cover Template: Dean Spencer Interior and Cover Art: From OldBookIllustrations.com
Session Zero inspired by: The Discern Realities Podcast by Jason Cordova and David LaFreniere Plundergrounds zine by Ray Otus Sword Breaker zine by Logan Howard
This issue inspired by: 20 Dungeon Starters & The Perilous Wilds: Lampblack and Brimstone Logan Howard, when using the words “Essential Elements” which started me down this rabbit hole “Because 2 Method” by Johnn Four of Role Playing Tips 7-3-1 Technique by Jason Cordova On the Cover: Arrival at Sharn Originally painted by Harry Clark and titled The Prince Inquires, I like this piece for a version of Sharn from the Eberron Setting. As you'll see mentioned throughout, the method I use doesn't care about the fine details of a published setting or adventure, only the broadSample strokes, allowing you to make them your own! file NOTE: Wizards of the Coast owns the Copyright on Eberron, Greyhawk and Ravenloft and all aspects of them, and Disney owns the Copyright on Star Wars. They are used herein only as examples of my conversion method. I claim no ownership of them! Introduction: 4
Essential Elements: 6 Eberron Essential Elements: 7
Adventure Backstory: 8 The Secret Forge Backstory: 9
Establishing Questions: 10 The Secret Forge Establishing Questions: 11
Sprites: 12 The Secret Forge Sprites: 14
Thoughts on the SZ8 Method: 16
Adventures The Slaughterings: 18 The Mad Plan: 22 SampleA Plea For Help: 26 file Links: 30
Summary: 32 (Back) Introduction
How much information do you need to run an adventure in Dungeon World? I have all 15 of the D&D 3.5 Eberron Books. Do I NEED all of that to run an Eberron adventure? Of course not. What about just the Eberron Campaign Setting book? There is a LOT of information in that one book alone. But do I NEED all of that information to run a Dungeon World adventure set in Eberron? No again! So how much DO you need? Very little really, mainly because of the Dungeon World Agenda and Principles, but also because neither you nor your players can hold THAT much detail in your head at one time anyway. This method presents four blocks of information that you’ll focus on: Essential Elements, which describe the world and setting as they are right now, Backstory using the “Because 2” Method by Johnn Four to create a chain of events that lead up to the adventure, Establishing Questions to “hard frame” the adventure for your players, and Sprites using Jason Cordova’s 7-3-1 Technique (okay, “sprite” is a computer gaming term, but I’ll explain why I use it later). Each of these areas of focus will be described in detail, along with how I use the game’s Agenda and Principles to justify them. Examples of how I’d use them to run games in various D&D settings including Eberron, Greyhawk and Ravenloft, and even the opening “adventure” of Star Wars: A New Hope are included. While this method works great at boiling down and converting published adventures for Dungeon World, it works equally well at creating adventures from scratch, or from a short paragraph of adventure text you’ll find in any published source book, withSample only a little thinking on your part! file
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