Welcome to Dungeon World!

“Attention, ah, lost souls. It is I, the Game Master. You may know me for my recent work sponsoring spellcasters or teaming up with Thor and the Wizards Three to defeat Vecna, but I am an ancient being of *chuckle* unmeasurable power. After a long exile from a corporal existence: I am back! Well... I have started manifesting in physical form and do I have an opportunity for you!”

“I once again rule over my favorite pocket dimension. In my absence, bad things have happened. The dungeons below my cosmic adobe are a mess! As I still have a few hundred years until I achieve full physical form, I am flummoxed as to how to clean them up. This is where you come in. You see, I thought you could end your days of being adrift in the astral sea and, instead, come to my cozy dimension and be ADVENTURERS!”

“I am currently granting licenses for seven adventuring classes: cleric, dwarf, elf, fighter, halfling, magic-user, and thief! Some might find this strict policy old fashioned or maybe even out of touch. But I was thinking it is more as nostalgia. So, come on over and form an OFFICAL adventuring company sanctioned by me, the Game Master. For a small 5% fee (or 10% deffered until Taxgiving) for the civic upkeep of my favorite spot, you can extract and keep whatever you find down there. All I ask is that you help straighten out these trouble makers squatting in my dungeons. They are like the cosmic lint dirtying up my dimensional pockets!”

“I, the Game Master, implore you, future adventurer, heed my request to find your purpose and perhaps a fortune at... Dungeon World*”

Welcome to Dungeon World will be an Old School Essentials (OSE) campaign focused on following the exploits of one of the pocket dimension's officially licensed adventuring companies rather than any specific, fixed player characters. The characters, pulled from the poor lost souls adrift in the cosmic tides of the Astral Sea, have signed on to adventure in the underworld fo Dungeon World for the Game Master in exchange for a home in the dimension and as much treasure as they can collect. While adventurers will be organized in officially chartered adventuring companies with the purpose of "straightening out" the underworld for the Game Master, they will generally not be taking on missions assigned to them by him. Instead, these companies will undertake endeavors of their own conceiving (unless they royally upset the Game Master).

The campaign will move through phases as the player characters level. At the start covering Levels 1-3, play will focus on two phases: an adventuring phase inside the dungeons found in bowels of the demi-plane and a downtime one in the homebase settlement on its surface. As player characters reach Levels 4-8, a hexcrawl-based wilderness exploration phase will open up. Finally, as player characters achieve Level 9 and beyond, domain play will become an option.

Another facet of the campaign will be that play will shape the very nature of Dungeon World itself. While things like downtime activities or domain play allow players to put their mark on a campaign setting, I am aiming throw in something beyond these classic ways. One of the those ways will be that players themselves will be able to influence how the taxes on treasure collected by the Game Master are spent. Other that will change the very shape and fabric of Dungeon World will be revealed later in play. While this campaign will lean into the core fabric of the Old School Essentials take on classic B/X play, a number of house rules are in play. They will be accessible either on this blog or via handouts shared on the campaign Discord. There are two fundamental topics to cover here, though.

One of them is that we are using the downtime system developed by Ben L. as found in his zine, Downtime in Zyan. Many of his rules can also be found in a developmental stage on his blog Mazirian's Garden. A full list of regular downtime activities will be shared on this blog once the first dungeon adventure has been resolved. The other is player character creation. Here are some fundamental things to note:

• We will be rolling up several characters at the start of play. Two from those rolled will be activity characters in the campaign, both a part of the same adventuring company. They will be expected to share the same adventuring goals as the company but possess independent downtime objectives.
• Stats will be rolled 3d6 down the line. Strength, Intelligence, and Wisdom can be modified as described in the core OSE rules.
• The starting player character classes will be cleric, dwarf, elf, fighter, halfling, magic-user, and thief. Links to blog posts about each of these classes in Dungeon World will be added as they are published. Other classes will open up as options via play.
• We will roll starting characters HP, rerolling "1"s and "2"s.
• Instead of rolling starting wealth, 3d6 will be rolled for starting equipment based on class.
• Due to Dungeon World's position as a pocket dimension on the Astral Sea, player characters will feel tangible mechanical effects based upon their alignment due to weather-like cosmic forces of Law, Neutrality, and Chaos. The specifics of these effects will be uncovered through play.