Adventure World Chassis

A spectrum of table styles with two extremities: crystalized and fluid.

Crystalized. The world is set in stone. The GM or an intellectual property has declared its boundaries. Details are made ahead of time like calendars with holidays and festivals, towns with maps and points of interests, major factions with motivations and rosters, magic systems with rules and such. If you’re running a setting Middle-Earth or Hot Springs Island or an adventure like Stonehell, it’s pretty crystalized. Much of the content is already there. I think of Old School Essentials as a game with plenty of crystallizations. I mean, the game has over 40 years of time settling. High prep.

Fluid. The world is in development. There are many blanks on the map. The GM asks players leading, open ended questions: “Which forgotten god is this temple dedicated to? How long have you been adventuring without a weapon? Which other player character did you immediately connect with and how?” If you’re running your own homebrew campaign and it has a lot of player input, it’s more fluid. Dungeon World is one of the most popular fluid games. Low prep. Solo games are highly fluid, many of the details being made as the player goes.

A fluid game, if run long enough, would eventually become crystalized. More details are set, more laws declared, and patterns emerge.

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I’m finding myself more drawn to fluid, collaborative styles the less time I have to prep. Re-reading Dungeon World and it’s GM guide made me nostalgic for it. Allowing for high levels of player input decreases the GM workload but increases the chance of a total trainwreck. Could be fun either way.

Anyway, here’s a quick game I dreamt up based on Dungeon World, although you should also check out Bound for Glory.

Adventure World, the bare-bones

Base assumptions of vanilla fantasy. Get out your copies of Maze Rats and Adventure Hour!

Something uncertain, roll 2d6. The GM may tell warn the player of possible consequences of good and bad rolls before the roll.

• 6- is bad, bad, bad. Epic fail home videos kind of stuff.
• 7-9 is good, but there’s a cost, choice, or consequence. Scrappy adventurer kind of stuff.
• 10+ is awesome. Treat this like rolling a natural 20 in D&D. Swashbuckling hero kind of stuff.

Everything has three strikes. Use a rope three times? You’re out of rope. Sword gets damaged three times? Needs repair. Your body take three strikes? You’re out of the action. Armor and shields each add one strike each, but remember, they’re heavy or take a hand to use.

Monsters may have more or less than three strikes. They may also deal more than one strike in a single hit.

In combat, a 7-9 roll usually indicates an exchange of blows with both combatants hitting each other.

Remove strikes in sanctuaries like towns.

Character Creation

Roll d66 once and read across the column or roll four times, once each item column (then come up with your own Archetype name if you like). Finally, give your character a name.

d66	Archetype	Item 1	Item 2	Item 3	Item 4
11	Disciple	Sling and rocks	Expandable fish net	Paralysis wand	Loaves of bread
12	Friar	Frying pan	Fire-starting kit	Jar of grease	Jar of honey
13	Initiate	Heavy songbook	Instrument	Polymorph potion	Portable hole
14	Monk	Bo staff	Leaping boots	Calming incense	Massage rock
15	Paladin	Lance	Bright shield	Truth serum	Horse whistle
16	Priest	Morningstar	Metal plate armor	Bandages	Symbol of light
21	Barbarian	Broadsword	Skull helmet	Energy potion	Bone collection
22	Blademaster	Twin swords	Metal chain	Lightning wand	Bladestorm scroll
23	Gladiator	Trident	Mirror shield	Glue pellets	Trapping net
24	Knight	Longsword	Squire attendant	Medicine	Blast horn
25	Mercenary	Oversized key	Winged shield	Stink bombs	Anti-magic potion
26	Pirate	Poisoned cutlass	Loyal pet	Delicious apples	Oak barrel
31	Beastmaster	Bow and arrows	Animal companion	Irresistible treats	Soap
32	Bounty Hunter	Crossbow and bolts	Handcuffs	Smoke powder	Grappling hook
33	Druid	Transform ring	Sunrod	Bird seed	Tea set
34	Survivalist	Crossbow and bolts	Lumber axe	Barkskin wand	Lantern and oil
35	Trapper	Shovel	Bear trap	Fireworks	Net
36	Warden	Sling and stones	Spike armor	Camping set	Ramming shield
41	Acrobat	Throwing knives	Living rope	Circus makeup	Bag of fruit
42	Hermit	Fireblower	Magic contract	Size wand	Sewing needles
43	Poisoner	Cane sword	Vial of poison	Rations	Loaded dice
44	Saboteur	Blowgun and darts	Spark stick	Tiny bombs	Royal crown
45	Spy	Hidden knife	Dark cloak	Web wand	Climbing gloves
46	Trickster	Slingshot and rocks	Invisible string	Fake jewels	Gremlin in a jar
51	Arcanist	Big bug net	Magic missile wand	Sleep powder	Teleport scroll
52	Illusionist	Daggers	Switcheroo orb	Mirror image wand	Invisibility dust
53	Water Mage	Wooden oar	Fishing rod	Icestorm wand	Infinite waterskin
54	Earth Mage	Stonefist gauntlets	Gem helmet	Stoneshape wand	Tremorsense boots
55	Fire Mage	Flaming sword	Ferret pet	Fire shield wand	Circus rings
56	Air Mage	Boomerang	Hover cloak	Gust wand	Golden flute
61	Sea Elf	Lightning spear	Seaweed rope	Waterform potion	Rotting fish
62	Wood Elf	Bow and arrows	Camouflage cloak	Alluring perfume	Paint set
63	Mountain Dwarf	Pickaxe	Headlamp helmet	Glow chalk	Thunderstone
64	Moss Dwarf	Boulder	Spore mask	Mushrooms	Fairy friend
65	Hill Halfing	Umbrella	Infinite string spool	Hot pies	Sheriff badge
66	City Halfling	Wooden bat	Wig disguise	Fire kit	Unbreakable lasso

Game Master

Remember: give information!

Draw a map with blanks. Label areas and select points of interest but leave the details unexplored. It’s vague, but this step is to taste. Know your level of comfort and discomfort with leaving things open.

List three or more treasure opportunities. They’re located in interesting and dangerous places on the map.

List three or more factions. Start with at least one lawful, one neutral, and one chaotic. Give them reasons to like and dislike adventurer types from their past history, present troubles, or prophesies of the future.

List three big approaching dangers, be they monster-summoning rituals, plagues, famines, invasions. Things that can be prevented, but are on their way. Keep these hidden, but hint at them over the course of play.

At the start of play, have players create their characters. Then ask questions, use the answers.

Show them the impact of their choices.

Adventure on!