Dungeon World Gets New Owners, Second Edition Planned

Luke Crane has purchased Dungeon World from its original creators and has plans to make a new edition of the game. Earlier this month, Crane, who previously designed The Burning Wheel and Mouse Guard Roleplaying Games, announced on the Dungeon World+ discord that he had "bought the game from the original creators" (Adam Koebel and Sage LaTorra) with a business partner and was preparing to work on a new edition. Crane did not specify whether either Koebel or LaTorra would be involved in the new edition.

Dungeon World's first edition won several awards when released in 2012, including the 2012 Golden Geek RPG of the Year and the Ennie Awards for Best Rules Gold Winner in 2013. The game was a Powered by the Apocalypse system in which players gained experience points when rolling a 6 or below on a check (which resulted in "trouble" occurring on the check and the opportunity for the DM to make a DM move. The game's co-creator Adam Koebel was a prominent creator and early TTRPG personality until accusations emerged of poor behavior by former partners.

Crane was previously the head of community at Kickstarter and attempted to run a campaign for The Perfect RPG zine back in 2021. He cancelled the campaign after it emerged that Koebel was involved with the project and later resigned from his job as a result of the backlash.

 

[Gradine]

Aren't there other PbtA games that do this, instead of trying to change DW into it

I've yet to find one, but were one to exist, I'd love to play it. Of course, the world would be plenty wide enough for both of them.

 

[Aldarc]

I've yet to find one, but were one to exist, I'd love to play it. Of course, the world would be plenty wide enough for both of them.

Maybe check out the PbtA game designed by the two co-creators of Dungeon World 2:

• Against the Odds by Helena Real
• Chasing Adventure by Spencer Moore

There is also Fantasy World by Alessandro Piroddi

 

[zakael19]

Maybe check out the PbtA game designed by the two co-creators of Dungeon World 2:

• Against the Odds by Helena Real
• Chasing Adventure by Spencer Moore

There is also Fantasy World by Alessandro Piroddi

My read of AtO is that it doesn't feel like "d&d" and is instead leaning into more modern heroic fantasy lit and media to ask questions about what it means to be a hero (some really cool stuff in there!).

CA seems to have been Spencer's version of a DW 2.0, so interesting to see him brought onboard...

I've been assured by folks that have run it extensively that DW core is actually bad for "dungeon crawling" (thus Freebooters on the Frontier coming about as a more B/X or dungeon crawl focused game). So I'm interested (genuinely and not in a sealioning way ) in what you mean by "What I really want is a PbtA game that copies the aesthetic feel and tone of modern D&D" @Gradine ? What does that mean to you, and how is it missing from core DW?

Edit: I should note that as of right now, the absolutely most compelling and enjoyable game I've run is Stonetop - which takes the DW core moveset with refinements and then drops in a concrete premise (you're members of a small village and you want to defend & improve it) + setting.

 

[Gradine]

I've been assured by folks that have run it extensively that DW core is actually bad for "dungeon crawling" (thus Freebooters on the Frontier coming about as a more B/X or dungeon crawl focused game). So I'm interested (genuinely and not in a sealioning way ) in what you mean by "What I really want is a PbtA game that copies the aesthetic feel and tone of modern D&D" @Gradine ? What does that mean to you, and how is it missing from core DW?

Actually, how you've described AtO sounds very much like what I'm looking for. Maybe a little bit of Stonetop too, to be honest. It's not kicking down the doors, killing the orcs, and taking their stuff; it's heroics, it's found family, it's community.

I'm also not at all surprised that dungeon crawling aficionados find DW not great at it; that's the PbtA "the play determines the fiction" factor at work. Which often left me wondering who DW was for, but it undoubtedly has its fans, so who knows.

 

[Arilyn]

Congratulations @Helena Real! I too am looking forward to seeing you and Spencer Moore's DW 2 design.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Actually, how you've described AtO sounds very much like what I'm looking for. Maybe a little bit of Stonetop too, to be honest. It's not kicking down the doors, killing the orcs, and taking their stuff; it's heroics, it's found family, it's community.

I'm also not at all surprised that dungeon crawling aficionados find DW not great at it; that's the PbtA "the play determines the fiction" factor at work. Which often left me wondering who DW was for, but it undoubtedly has its fans, so who knows.

When DW1e came out, there wasn't really anything around that had any nods at all to dungeons, but were less, I don't now, D&D-y. DW1e was the first to scratch the itch, but I think we can all say in the intervening 13~ years, we've all grown up some

I hope DW2e will do well. But it has a MUCH higher bar to clear since there's the entire NSR space, as well as what Jeremy/Jason are doing with Stonetop/Freebooters on the Frontier 2e (beta).

Here's a goal though - release DW2e to the masses before Stonetop is released. I might have to create a poll here on ENW to see what folks think will arrive in dead-tree version to their hands first

 

[mamba]

I've yet to find one, but were one to exist, I'd love to play it. Of course, the world would be plenty wide enough for both of them.

Google says

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

with the last one being a DW offshoot and the first one having its rules (minus art) available for free below

Introduction · Fantasy World

fantasyworldrpg.com

 

[zakael19]

Actually, how you've described AtO sounds very much like what I'm looking for. Maybe a little bit of Stonetop too, to be honest. It's not kicking down the doors, killing the orcs, and taking their stuff; it's heroics, it's found family, it's community.

I'm also not at all surprised that dungeon crawling aficionados find DW not great at it; that's the PbtA "the play determines the fiction" factor at work. Which often left me wondering who DW was for, but it undoubtedly has its fans, so who knows.

I mean, if you conceptualize a "dungeon" as a set of miniature scenarios/situations, it works great in the PBTA realm. See: Jeremy Strandberg's work (and his stuff for Stonetop), or just about any DW starter. Especially since they're "built" respondent to the character's drives/goals/bonds to challenge their assertions of who they are and let them demonstrate that. All very 3E heroic play inspired (with maybe a bit of what 4e was doing?).

Now, a pixel smashing OSR dungeon it aint.

Besides the art & some DM guidance, what does DW1.0 not do for you in that realm? The bonds are pretty concrete things that mechanize the "found family" aspect of both classic and modern adventuring fantasy. I'll be honest and say that I haven't run DW as written, I've only been running Jeremy's lighter and revised Homebrew World hack, but it was trivial for me to create a very "current 5e play culture" sort of premise for the play area and unleash players on a set of situations to tackle & communities to engage with & relationships and bonds to build (Keep Company is a brilliant little move there).


Given all the above games linked and what's out there, I do remain very curious how far DW2.0 is going to drift from what I see as its premise of "this is the heroic adventure game you thought D&D would be when you read/watched/consumed any media."

 

[Faolyn]

I'm way out of the loop, apparently. What's the deal with Adam Koebel and Luke Crane?

 

[zakael19]

I'm way out of the loop, apparently. What's the deal with Adam Koebel and Luke Crane?

Edit: see the comments on the first page of this thread with links.