My Review: Dungeon World

So if you like pretending to be an elf, or know someone who does, you've probably heard of the thing called "Roleplaying Games", or RGs as they're most frequently called by everyone. Now most people know about these from computer games, like Final Fantasy and Skyrim and Ultima and Neverwinter Nights and its cancelled sequel Alwayssummer Days. But shocking to some, this genre actually existed before you could play them by yourself the way games are meant to be played. The most well known of which is called Dungeons Or Dragons, so named because while you will frequently encounter dungeons and less frequently but more memorably encounter dragons you almost never encounter them both together because why would a giant flying dragon choose to live in an underground dungeon? A cave or lair or something with a nice open air access would be preferred. Dungeons are for goblins and orcs and zombies and liches.

But anyways as everyone knows D||D is the love-child of Tolkien and Tactical War Games that people used to play with actual armies until we decided to fight mainly with drones and missiles and the boards got too big to fit everyone in the same room, which is why those who play it are obsessed with tiny miniatures and how many squares they can move per turn, assuming each square is 5 feet square which if you think about it means that in D||D only one person can fit in an elevator at a time.

Dungeon World is still a child of Tolkien, but is just a step-sibling to D||D. Their mothers have met at parties and been cordial to each other, no doubt, but while one is obsessed with the tactical options available the other is far more relaxed and interested in the story. If you are obsessed with deciding if you should use a weapon that does d12 slashing damage or one that does 2d6 bludgeoning because you get an extra die of damage if you crit but you can reroll ones for damage and also the creature might be resistant to bludgeoning damage then Dungeon World is NOT your preferred choice. If you want your DM to insist you describe the exact motion you made while attacking the zombie minotaur ooze, whether you deked left, then right, or right, then left, then Dungeon World might be the game for you. If your wizard fumbled his spell and is about to be crushed by an ogre, if you want your DM to give you the option of taking the damage instead, then grab some dice and pull up a chair.

Plus you get XP whenever you fail at anything, which is something I fell in love with once I heard of it. 10/10