Dungeon World's appeal to a combat-heavy gamer

[Asmor]

I just received my hard copy of Dungeon World, and would like to run a one-shot of it to get a feel.

I'm in a bit of a pickle, though, as I can't decide whether I should invite my girlfriend to play. The problem is, when we play D&D, she gets really bored with the roleplaying, and really only cares about the combat. I'm not entirely sure what it is about the combat she most enjoys, other than the fact that she likes characters that deal lots of damage (as opposed to, for example, a character with more control-oriented powers).

My concern is that in DW, combat is basically an extension of the roleplaying. There aren't as many dice being rolled, there's no map and minis, etc. I've had to ask her to bow out of games in the past because her lack of interest and focus outside of combat was bringing the whole game down. I'd prefer not to invite her to the first game I run because I don't want my first experience with the system soured by her reaction.

The obvious answer here is that I simply shouldn't invite her... but I'm hoping that there might be people out there who've been in a similar situation and found that the combat-heavy gamer really enjoyed DW. I guess I'm sort of grasping at straws here... >_>

 

[Gilladian]

Lend her the rules - isn't there a free player's guide? - and let her take a look at it. She knows what she likes. Ask her if she'd enjoy playing a one-shot in that system. If she says "no", knowing that you're running it, she's got no beef. If she says she's not sure, then run a short sample of the game just for her with an NPC and see what happens. If she says she's willing to try, then go for it.

Communication with the person involved trumps random internet advice every time, in my book!

But yes, after my reading of the rules, I doubt a person who just wants to make orc jelly on a regular basis is going to find DW to their taste.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Communication with the person involved trumps random internet advice every time, in my book!

Indeed!!

 

[Asmor]

Talked to her about it today. Asked her what she liked about combat in D&D, she said she liked dealing damage. I asked her why she liked dealing damage, and she said that she liked kicking ass.

So then I told her I was thinking of running this game with no map or minis, and less dice rolling, where the combat was an extension of the roleplaying. So you wouldn't say, "I attack the orc," you'd say, "I swing my axe at the orc..." [yeah, not the greatest example, I need to work on my improv ]. She said something along the lines of, "so my character would actually be kicking ass?" "Yeah." She said it sounded good.

So... yay! I guess the problem here is that I didn't really understand what was actually motivating her. Object lesson in making assumptions, eh?

 

[mach1.9pants]

She should kick your ass for making assumptions about her