Dragonslaying on a Timetable:

Running Tight 4-Hour Dungeon World One-Shots

With Zero Preparation
by John Aegard

INTRODUCTION
My literary background is in short genre fiction, so when I run a one-shot of Dungeon World, I
want our game to resemble a simple, traditional fantasy adventure story -- a story in which
some characters travel somewhere, do something, and in the end are all changed by the
journey.

I also dont want to do any preparation beforehand. I dont want to show up with a setting or a
scenario or a situation. For one, thats work, and Im lazy. For two, I dont want to be telling my
story, I want to be helping to tell our story. I want everyone to contribute ideas. I dont believe
that players have to always squeeze their contributions through the narrow aperture of their
character. I want all the important stuff about our game to happen right there at the table, not
in my head beforehand.

Ive evolved some techniques that help me hit this mark pretty consistently. If you want to
run tight Dungeon World one-shots, these may be helpful to you!

In my experience, these techniques work for an absolute maximum of five player characters.
At five, the spotlight time is squeezed pretty thin, especially during fights. I think 3-4 is the
optimal number.

TIMELINE OF THE GAME

Here are the milestones I want to hit in those four hours:

0:00 Intro. Talk about safety, RPGs, and so forth. Begin making characters and doing Q&A.
0:30 Q&A complete. Characters, setting, and premises set. First encounter begins.
2:15 1st and 2nd scenes done; take 15 minutes to level up and for bio break.
2:30 Final scene begins.
3:45 Final scene done, debrief with the players, thank them for playing.

INTRODUCING DUNGEON WORLD

Here's how I introduce the game and my philosophy:

"Dungeon World is a game of adventure fantasy. You'll play an adventurer in a dangerous world.
Maybe you fight for glory, or for profit, or for good or evil, or out of loyalty to your friends.
You'll decide that here at the table, and the adventure will emerge around your decisions."

"We're not going to play the origin story of this group. We're going to play through one of their
adventures, so we start with everyone knowing each other and traveling together to the same
destination. We'll figure out the dynamics of their relationship and the specific details of our
journey after we create our characters."

Today my goal is for us to use Dungeon World to make something that is cooler than any of us
could make on our own."

CHARACTER CREATION
Players select their playbooks and fill out everything as usual, saving Bonds for later. Don't go
around the table and have them introduce their characters. We'll learn about the
characters by learning about their relationship to the story. See my list of common DW
character creation confusions in Appendix D.

MAKING THE MAP

I like having a map. I dont use it for
anything formal, but its a nice
grounding of our setting and a
chance to doodle.

The map will be a grid of index

cards arranged where everyone can
see. As the game proceeds, locations
will be mentioned. Capture each of
them on a card and add them to the
map. Also, as NPCs and premises are
added, make sure that you figure
out where those live. Add location
cards for those places.

A map made of cards is super

flexible and totally helps you earn
your Draw Maps While Leaving
Blanks merit badge. See, if you want
to add a location between two other
locations while youre in the middle
of play, you can just insert a card in
between those two locations. In the
game map pictured, we discovered
the Burn Zone partway through
play, so it was simple to insert it.
Q&A
This is the most important pre-play step; this is where we generate the setting, premises, and
bonds, where we weld five strangers into roleplaying Voltron.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF Q&A

First, a super important point: All questions are addressed to a specific player, not to the
table as a whole. Asking the table a question just invites the louder people to contribute
more. We want our Q&A to be equitable! Make sure questions are spread evenly around to
everyone at the table.

The GM leads Q&A and asks questions, but everyone is welcome to butt in with their own
questions if they like.

Some classes get to select stuff from a list in character creation-- the Barbarian selects an
appetite, the Bard selects an area of expertise, the Wizard selects spells, etc. Its powerful and
engaging when the story directly reflects those choices! So look for opportunities to include
those choices in your questioning.

Use multiple questions around a single topic to generate nuance in your setting and to create
different -- perhaps contradictory -- goals for the PCs. Think about Rashomon, about how
different people see and know different parts of a whole.

Keep asking questions until your premises are clear and every character has a connection to
at least one of them.

Its totally legit to ask questions in a way that lets you nail down a fictional element you want
to include in the game. For instance, if you want to use the Chimera-Hydra (detailed later) as
your boss monster you can put it in a question: Fighter, why do you want to face the vicious
Chimera-Hydra?

SETTING QUESTIONS
Ask one of these questions to get the baseline of the setting down. I like to direct these
questions at playbooks that intrinsically suggest a place: the Druid, Ranger, Barbarian, or
Thief.

Here are some examples:

Druid, what is your homeland? How is it beautiful?

Ranger, what lands do you range? How are they beautiful?
Barbarian, what is this land you have traveled to? How is it strange?
Thief, what are your stomping grounds?
Anyone, what is this place you have traveled to?

You can ask other players some follow-on questions if you want to butter up the setting:

Bard, when was the last time you were here? What was the place like then? How has it
changed?
Bard, what does your <bards chosen expertise> say is special about this place?
Cleric, why do pilgrims of <clerics god> come to this place? Why is this place special to
the god of <clerics chosen domain>?
Fighter, what battle was fought here? Who fought it?
Thief, what have you stolen from here before?
Wizard, why is this place a place of power? What kind of rituals are held here? What
ritual would you conduct here?

PREMISE QUESTIONS
By premise, I mean what are the characters doing and why? Premise generation is the
most critical part of this setup.

HOW MANY PREMISES? In my experience, it definitely works to have multiple distinct

premises in a four-player game. Sometimes they'll tangle up in weird ways in the final scene,
which is usually pretty satisfying. Having just one premise is fine too; itll just make the game
simpler.

THE FINAL DESTINATION: Make sure that all premises point towards a single location on
your map. That's the location where your final scene will take place. I'm going to talk about
that location a bunch, so I'll give it a name and call it the Final Destination.

When you make the first premise, the space you assign it to becomes the Final Destination. If
you establish another premise, make sure it references that Final Destination.

Here are some basic questions that will establish premise:

Paladin, what is your quest?

Thief, what have you come here to steal?
Wizard, what magic or mystery draws you here?
Cleric, what prophecy are you trying to fulfill or thwart here?
Druid, what troubles this land, and how can these adventurers help?
Barbarian, what appetite has brought you here? How will you satisfy it?
Bard, what legend drew you here? What do you hope to see while you are here?
Anyone, why are you traveling to this place?

Once you've established premises, it's time to tangle the party in them. You'll use your GM
skills to draw triangles between two characters and the premise in classic Apocalypse World
fashion.

For example, you can use player-premise-player triangles to place characters in tension. For
example:

<GM> Paladin, what is your quest?

<Paladin> I'm here to prevent the Necromancer from completing her spell.
<GM> Thief, what do you need to steal from the Necromancer?
<GM> Wizard, are you still friends with the Necromancer? Where did you first meet her?
<GM> Fighter, who do you know who is a thrall of the Necromancer?

If youd like a less contentious game, you can use also use triangles to make characters'
objectives complement each other. For example:

<GM> Druid, what troubles this land?

<Druid> The swamp dragon Poxtoxalis, who takes too much prey.
<GM> Fighter, why do you want to slay Poxtoxalis?
<GM> Thief, what have you stolen from Poxtoxalis?
<GM> Ranger, what happened when you tried to hunt Poxtoxalis?

BEYOND DEATHS DOOR LIES THE PREMISES: The Last Breath move is a killer feature of
Dungeon World and in my experience players really respond to it. To showcase it, you need a
great Death bargain, so let's make one here.

Put on your evil GM cap and consider your premises. Think about what's going to happen if
the characters don't intervene -- just like if you were creating an Impending Doom for an
adventure front. If you haven't got any ideas, then just ask. "Paladin, why are you trying to
seize the Book of Elite Summonings from the archmage Doorva? Why can't he be allowed to
keep it? What is he going to do with it?"

When someone does shuffle off, have them roll Last Breath as normal. On the 7-9 result, Death
offers a bargain: if the dying character vows to help make the Impending Doom come true,
Death will let them go free! Consider treating the 2-6 result as the 7-9 result. These bargains
are hella fun.

Also, keep that Impending Doom in mind for all the usual reasons -- like when you want to
rock show signs of an approaching threat or reveal an unwelcome truth.

OPPOSITION QUESTIONS
Ask one or more of the following questions to get ideas about the opposition.

Bard or Wizard, why do you need protection when you travel here?
Cleric or Paladin, what enemies of your faith dwell here?
Druid, who troubles your land?
Fighter or Barbarian, what have you come here to slay? Why do you hate or fear them?
Thief, who controls this territory?
Ranger, what beasts hunt these lands?
Anyone, who else in the world wants to achieve <premise>?
Anyone, what is guarding <premise>?

MORE QUESTIONS!
Dungeon World warlock Tim Franzke has compiled a wonderful list of playbook-specific GM
hints that will help you be a fan of the characters. Check it out for more ideas about how to
tailor your DW game to your party.

BONDS
After youve got enough Q&A to establish your scenario, ask each character to write one Bond.
If they need a little prompting, here are some questions you can ask that address standard
Bonds:

Barbarian, who here nearly got you killed? How?

Bard, who here have you traveled with before?
Cleric, who here do you trust as a good and faithful person? Why?
Druid, who here have you shared a secret rite of the land with? Why did you trust them?
Fighter, who here have you sworn to protect?
Paladin, who here has stood beside you in battle?
Ranger, who here have you guided before?
Thief, who here knows incriminating details about you? <Other Player>, what do you
know?
Wizard, who here will play an important role in the events to come?

And here are some questions that could create alternate Bonds:

Barbarian, who here would fit in in your homeland? Who would you invite to come
home with you?
Bard, who here have you heard of before? What did you hear about them?
Cleric, who did you once refuse to heal? Why?
Wizard, who here are you experimenting on? What have you done to them?

A MOVE TO ESTABLISH MORE BONDS DURING PLAY

When you Aid or Interfere, roll +Bond like you normally would. If you have no Bond with
the recipient, roll +nothing. After your beneficiary makes their move, write a Bond with them
inspired by the outcome of the move.

SCENE ONE: GETTING UNDERWAY.

Okay, weve got characters, a setting, and some premises. Its time to roll dice! Here's my script
for kicking that off:

"Dungeon World is a conversation between all of us. Occasionally something will happen in that
conversation that'll trigger the rules and some dice rolling. At first, I'll call out those triggered
moves, but as you become more familiar with the rules, feel free to call them out yourselves."

Start the party in a location that is one or two cards distant from the final location. When the
curtain rises, they're face-to-face with some monsters. Start at the instant where the party
first encounters the monsters. Do not start with immediate hostilities. Give the players a
chance to short-circuit a fight with a social or knowledge move -- more on that below.

Describe the surroundings and the monsters and then ask, what do you do?

THE MONSTERS
Make sure you know why the monsters are there--it should be relevant to something revealed
in Q&A. Perhaps they are pawns of the big boss sent to fight the party, or perhaps they are
competing for the same goals as the party.

If people have contributed ideas about the opposition, then definitely use those ideas to create
these monsters.

My practice is to staff the first encounter with a mob of 6-10 mildly threatening little guys,
4HP, Armor 0, d6 damage, with an attack move that makes them a bit interesting and a
mobility move that'll prevent the battlefield from becoming too static.

My go-to intro monster is something with an entangling move -- a net, a whip, a prehensile
tongue, etc. I've used toad cultists with long item-stealing toad tongues, spider cultists with
spinnerets , jackal-headed Anubites with whips. I'll usually give some of them wings or
jumping or burrowing or swimming too.

Do not use familiar boring old monsters like orcs, goblins, kobolds,etc in the first
encounter. You want the party to be curious about the things they're fighting, to be asking
questions and triggering knowledge-gathering moves like Spout, Discern, and Bardic Lore.

EMPHASIZE INFORMATIONGATHERING MOVES

You want the players to be triggering these moves, because each is an expression of curiosity,
and each one demonstrates engagement, and you want to reward and respond to engagement.
Each knowledge move is a chance for people at the table to reveal plot or setting. And --
importantly!-- knowledge moves can be used to short-circuit encounters and are thus
supremely powerful enemies of hit point grind (see the Appendix for an explanation of hit
point grind.)

Early on, find an opportunity to demonstrate their power. Make the result of a knowledge
move obviously useful even on a 7-9. Use your answers to reveal encounter-deciding tactics.
Examples from my recent con games: 1) the Paladin's holy symbol is the thing that's stirring
up the lake ghouls and if the party hucks it into the water, the undead will dive after it. 2) The
jackal-folk of the desert obey their alpha. Defeating the alpha is the way to become the new
alpha.

Give similar respect to social moves like Parley. Do be a stickler about making the party
demonstrate its leverage, but don't be afraid to let plausible leverage and a great roll
completely decide an encounter.

Also, if it does go to blades, call attention to the fact that Hack and Slash and Volley dont
exactly specify that each roll may only hit one target. Barbarians and Fighters should be
jumping into frays and making relish of these pipsqueaks. Rangers should be mowing them
down like fresh hay.

SCENE TWO: THE BRANCH
Okay, the first encounter is done. Now we're going to figure out how the party is going to get to
the final location. Put three location cards in a row between their current location and the
final location. Let these locations be inspired by anything from the Q&A - the Ranger may have
mentioned that she's traveled some mountains, or the Thief may mention a secret entrance
via the sewers.

Tell them that they can travel to the final location via any of those new locations.

Once they make their choice, hit them with an encounter featuring an unusual monster that's
suited to demonstrate the power of fictional positioning. My favorite here is to use a
petrification monster like a basilisk or a medusa. These are notorious foes that can't be simply
fought, they need to be outwitted and outmaneuvered.

Also, partial petrification is a fun thing to do to a player character; I start with eyes, nose, and
hair. It's even more fun when you've got a self-sacrificing Paladin in the party who's eager to
show off their moral rectitude with a Lay On Hands, or a Wizard who wants to improvise an
anti-petrification ritual.

You can do other things in Scene 2 as well. Consider hitting them with a Location move
appropriate to the path they chose -- get them lost in the woods, expose them to the elements
in the desert, and so forth. You could also show an opportunity to give them some allies or
some help in the final battle -- perhaps a rebel camp full of soldiers they can recruit, an
itinerant wizard who knows useful things, a disgruntled henchmen with a map or a password,
etc.

INTERLUDE: LEVEL UP. GO TO THE RESTROOM.

Levelling up is fun and simple in DW. Some of the advanced moves are bananas -- check out
the Druid's Elemental Mastery, the Paladin's Bloody Aegis, and the Wizard's Logical. Logical
turns Wizard into tactical geniuses. Bloody Aegis makes Paladins indestructible. Elemental
Mastery is the gnarliest power Ive found in the book.

Most players can level up in ten or so minutes -- maybe a bit more for the spellcasters or for
people who take multiclass moves.

SCENE THREE: THE FINALE

Okay, this is it. The big finale! Generally I throw a big boss monster at them, one that is
inspired by the Q&A.

My fave final boss monster so far is something I call the Chimera-Hydra, a six-headed
regenerating beastie. I like it because its a single big epic monster that fights like six monsters
and its got lots of surface to interact with: you can be on top of it, underneath it, clinging to
any of six necks, in front of any of six heads, caught up in any of six jaws, etc. It also rewards
daring: its heads are formidable but its body is soft.

ChimeraHydra
huge magical construct

Goat Heads (2): b[2d8] damage, 10 hit points each, 3 armor, forceful
Knock them flying

Lion Heads (2): b[2d12] damage, 10 hits points each, 2 armor, messy
Stun them with a roar
Shake and break them

Flame Serpent Heads (2): b[2d10] damage, 10 hit points each, 2 armor, reach
Belch a cone of fire
Strike perfectly in the dark
Inject venom that boils blood

Body: b[2d8] damage, 16 hit points, 1 armor

Regenerate a head
Trample underfoot
Fly clumsily

Whatever monster you use, put some interesting terrain in the encounter area. Elevation is
always a winner, especially elevation that doesnt hamper the boss monsters attacks. Set up
water to drown in and fire to burn in. A theater / coliseum / bleacher full of spectators is a
good add too; nothing gets under a gladiator's skin like a taunt from a drunk man-frog
merchant. Maybe the spectators throw sour tomatoes or bricks, doing 1d4 / blinding damage

Even while the big battle is raging, there's probably premise stuff to be addressed -- items to
be stolen, princes to be rescued, rituals to conduct, etc. Draw the characters' eyes to these.
Use show them opportunities to get them thinking about the stuff they desire. Tempt them to
place their interests over those of the party.

Play hard enough so they'll go visit Death.

Then, once the fight's over, the party will have to resolve the tangles in their premises. In my
experience, this is the highest-energy part of the game, especially if there's contention. PvP is
not unknown to me here. Sit back and enjoy what you have wrought.

EPILOGUE
Okay, it's the end of the game and things have resolved! Go around the table, ending on the
character who had the most dramatic stuff happen to them. Ask each player in turn to narrate
a short epilogue describing their life in the wake of the adventure. I love epilogues; they're a
nice opportunity for players to solo a bit, let down their defenses, and just say pure story that
the GM can't mess with.

Also, you should describe epilogues for any of your favorite NPCs or locations as well.

That's it! Thank everyone for playing and maybe debrief a bit if there's time.

APPENDICES: VARIOUS REMARKS ON DUNGEON WORLD PLAY
APPENDIX A: DEFY DANGER ADVICE
The 7-9 result on Defy Danger can be very tough to adjudicate. Here's some guidance for how
to make those results fun.

LOOK TO YOUR MOVES: To make a worse outcome, look at Defy like this:

10+: PC defies danger

7-9: PC defies danger + GM makes a move.
6- : GM makes a move

Say Omar the Thief is running from the city guard and rolls a 7-9 with the Danger being that
he's caught. As the GM, I'm going to grant Omar his escape. But I can also:

Use a monster, danger, or location move -- Omar accidentally runs into a vogue of
Necrodancers and gets hit by their Fresh Curse move.
Deal damage -- Omar sprains his ankle while running.
Use up their resources -- Omar drops some of his loot while getting away.
Put them in a spot -- Omar escapes pursuit....but stumbles into the ogre pit.
Separate them -- Omar gets lost!

WORSE OUTCOMES CAN BE SOFTENED INTO UGLY CHOICES You can turn a worse
outcome into a hard bargain by explaining the worse outcome and asking the player to choose
between eating the danger or suffering the worse outcome. I think this softens the move
somewhat; you're collaborating with the player on their fate rather than just imposing it.

PUT SOMEONE ELSE IN THE CROSSHAIRS. Is another character in a questionable position?

Can they suffer the downside of the 7-9?

Say Omar has leapt aboard a panicking wooly mammoth and is trying to calm it while
Sanguinus the Paladin battles the crocodile folk nearby. The Danger for Omar is that the
mammoth will continue rampaging. The Worse Outcome version is that Omar calms the
mammoth, but not before it has bowled over Sanguinus.

Say Omar is creeping through the quarantine districts, looting the houses of the dead. The
Danger is that he gets the plague. On a 7-9, Omar doesn't get sick ... but he becomes a carrier,
and his friend Bug picks it up some time later.

Say Omar is reading the Canticle of Sog-Yothoth aloud to close the Murder Gate (danger: the
gate stays open) while Xeno the Wizard casts their Mirror Image spell to distract some cultists.
The Murder Gate is closed but the flux of freaky energy results in Xeno's mirror image
becoming a permanent, independent, reverse-alignment version of Xeno.

Sometimes I will totally cheat at this and cut away to another character just before a Defy
Danger move is rolled so that the situation can develop some more facets before we start
messing it up with mixed successes.

CONSIDER IMPLIED DANGERS AT EVERY TIME SCALE: I usually categorize dangers as

immediate dangers, scene dangers, or campaign dangers. I group them by asking when the
pain from the danger will come down. If it will come down right away, it's an immediate
danger. If it will come down by the end of the scene, it's a scene danger. If it will come down
sometime later, it's a campaign danger.

For example, let's say that Omar the Thief is jumping from rooftop to rooftop (immediate
danger) trying to escape the guard (scene danger) while also remaining anonymous
(campaign danger). That's three dangers in the single action. One of these must be the stated
Danger of the Defy Danger.

Let's say that the Danger is that he falls. The complications of the mixed success can be that he
makes the leap and escapes, but he is clearly identified by his pursuers and his anonymity is
toast. Another possibility is that he makes the leaps safely but so do his pursuers and so he
has to figure out another tactic to elude them.

Alternatively, say the Danger is that he's caught. On a mixed success, he might elude pursuit --
by falling and spraining his ankle while the pursuit concentrates on the rooftops. Or he will
escape, but lose his anonymity.

APPENDIX B: MY FAVOURITE QUESTION OF ALL TIME

Sometimes a PC will be completely hooped. They'll wind up in a terrible spot where death
looks inevitable. When that happens, don't just murder them! Instead, deploy My Favourite
Question Of All Time:

"How on earth do you survive THIS?"

Every single time I have used this question, it has been a huge winner. To demonstrate, here's
one of my favorite war stories:

An elf PC has rigged a powerful magical bomb in the basement of the Tower of Sorcery. While
further exploring the Tower, he is cornered by dream warriors. With no escape possible, he
remotely detonates the bomb, which, as we have established, will definitely bring the whole
Tower down.

"Okay, how on earth do you survive this?" I ask.


"I reincarnate, he says.

Now this elf-wizard was a big old anti-human bigot. And so I sense an opportunity to impose
some good ol Twilight Zone moralizing irony on on his elven ass. "You better Defy Danger
with +nothing," I say, "or I am going to make you come back as a dirty human."

Of course, he boxcars the roll. He awakes in the arms of an elven midwife, centuries later, and
there was much applause at the table, even from those who had played humans.

APPENDIX C: HIT POINT GRIND IS DEATH.

Because Dungeon World is a game that appears to have "to hit" rolls (Hack & Slash / Volley)
and hit points, it is very easy to fall into the old style of tick-tock to-hit, miss, to-hit, hit,
damage, to-hit, miss, to-hit, damage, enemy falls, etc, while the fiction lies fallow. THIS IS
BORING, GRINDY DEATH.

If you feel this happening, transform the fictional situation with every move you make. Force
the players to maneuver. Draw a map to get them thinking about opportunities. Demonstrate
the supreme power of fictional positioning.

If some Fighter or Paladin is just whacking the monsters unimaginatively, get in their face.
Use a golden opportunity triggered by anyone at the table to hit them with a hard move.
Knock them over, get them dirty, get into Hand range with them where their fancy swords and
polearms are useless. Disarm them with a grapple move. Make them Defy Danger and make
them tell you how they Defy Danger.

Wizards and Rangers are particularly susceptible to boring play. With their moves, they can
just sit back and plink the target from a safe distance. The "you have to move into danger to
get your shot" 7-9 result on Volley is a wonderful, if incomplete, cure for this problem.

Throw those artillery guys into water, get their bowstrings and spellbooks wet. Light them on
fire. Send extra flying monsters or jumpers at them. Suggest that they'd be better off if the
Fighter could stand in defense for them. The Defense move is pretty great in Dungeon World.
I love mechanics that promote teamwork and I think a well-defended striker is a glorious
thing to see.

APPENDIX D: COMMON CHARACTER CREATION HANGUPS:

a) "HP is based on your Constitution score, not your CON modifier."
b) "Your standard attribute array is in the tiny black line atop the attribute block. Yeah, I
know it's hard to see."
c) "All the armour you have adds up to your armour score."
d) 1st-level Wizards have three spells in their spellbook. They can have two of those spells
memorized at any time. They can cast spells as many times as they like, but a poor roll on
their Spellcasting move may cause them to forget a spell."
e) "Ordinarily you'd get XP for failing rolls and doing alignment stuff, but it doesn't matter for
this game, we're going to level up halfway through."

THANKS TO
Gray Pawn, Morgan Stinson, Ross Cowman, Erich Lichnock, Philip LaRose, Jamie Fristrom, Jay
Loomis, Victoria Garcia, and everyone else Ive ever played with experimented on at Games
on Demand.

FURTHER READING
Play Unsafe by Graham Walmsley is an outstanding guide to the use of improvisational
techniques in tabletop RPGs.
Things To Do In the First Session of Your Dungeon World Game by Tim Franzke has a lot
of terrific suggestions that will help you to be a fan of the characters.

FURTHER CONVERSATIONS
See my other game stuff at http://john.aegard.com.

If youd like to talk about this further, you can circle me up on Google Plus, which is where I
have most of my RPG conversations these days. I welcome your comments and war stories!

REVISION HISTORY
2014-09-23: Initial publication.
2015-08-12: Added new Bonds Aid or Interfere move.