Perspective! Sometimes reading or listening to a different perspective brings a thing into focus, sharpens our understanding and deepens our appreciation of something that has been with us so long that we just take it for granted that we understand all there is to know about it. I call this unsettling occurrence a nice surprise. Independent game publishers like The Burning Wheel offer that unique experience by taking the most well known RPG system in the hobby to the next unexpected level. They go beyond what we take for granted and teach us something new about a game we thought we fully understood.
Dungeon World is just such a game. Written by Sage LaTorra and Adam Koebel, Dungeon World uses "Powered by the Apocalypse" mechanics called "Moves" and "Fronts" (and other system jargon), but that isn't what this post is about, rather I am focusing on how Dungeon World (DW) informs us about the Original RPG that inspired DW. Games like DW (and Torchbearer also by The Burning Wheel) have been called "love letters" and I think there is some merit to this description, but DW goes beyond praise and affection for the original and re-frames my thinking about it. Simply put, DW helps me better understand the Original Game.
Reading the character descriptions in DW, the classic archetypes of the class system are brought clearly into focus. Admittedly, DW looks at each class and race from a singular perspective in order to better frame the archetype, but I find it a useful and entertaining exercise.
Storyteller, poet, songwriter and charmer, the bard is both adventurer and recorder of heroic deeds. Armed with your father's mandolin, fancy clothes and a hidden dagger...DW paints a picture of the iconic bard. In contrast, BW depicts the druid as a wanderer, a spirit warrior draped in skins who rejects civilization and its gods in order to be closer to a greater power, that of nature itself. A shape-shifter with the ability to assume animal form and to speak with spirits, the adventuring druid assumes assumes a shepherd's role with respect to the party. An armored war machine and templar of the good, the paladin guides the party using gifts of righteousness and virtue because hell awaits.
Names, Look and Stats shape each individual character in DW. Alignment, Gear and Bonds round out the character concept. DW zones in on the unique elements that individualize each character and by doing so DW gives each player a handle on how to conceive of and role-play their character.
The GM section describes the job of planning and running the game and offers some practical and to-the-point advice such as... Portray a fantastic world, describe the situation, provide opportunities for heroic adventure and play to find out what happens. Regarding referee maps, leave blank spaces so that you may add things that arise during play. Talk to the characters, name your NPCs and play your monsters as if they are real creatures with sensible motives and individual personalities. Be a fan of the players' characters, but present riches at a price. Let them earn it.
The ability to bring key elements of play, those very elements so very common to the game we love and adore, is where DW and systems like it, really shine. Reading DW improves my understanding of "the game" and I believe, helps make me a better player.
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