Hey, gang! I am starting a kind of sprawling West Marches campaign using Dungeon World. I am planning to have all the characters take the last leg of their trip to the Marches together, and I’m thinking of kicking things off with love letters to the characters. Complications: I don’t know what people are going to play, and I don’t know anything about their characters at all because they don’t even exist yet! I want to do this to create a sense that the campaign has already begun when we start, that there’s already history there.
So, my question is this: would you (or did you ever) write love letters to your characters for the first session? How did you or would you accomplish this?
Thanks!
Hugs and kisses,
Your GM
Write a letter from the father of one of the PCs who is aware of their plan to go to the marches, thinks it’s suicide, and is trying to say goodbye without being obvious about it.
Write a letter from the father of one of the PCs who is aware of their plan to go to the marches, thinks it’s suicide, and is trying to say goodbye without being obvious about it.
The love letters should be all about expectations for that great expeditions, rumours about the marches, etc.
That way your characters will help you define the unknown. And the love letters can be generic and even be similar between many players. It’s the answers to them that will change.
The love letters should be all about expectations for that great expeditions, rumours about the marches, etc.
That way your characters will help you define the unknown. And the love letters can be generic and even be similar between many players. It’s the answers to them that will change.
What kinds of moves would you include in the letters? I’m wracking my brain and just can’t come up with anything. Maybe have them tell me about the Marches, Spout Lore style? It’s so difficult when there’s absolutely nothing to go on!
What kinds of moves would you include in the letters? I’m wracking my brain and just can’t come up with anything. Maybe have them tell me about the Marches, Spout Lore style? It’s so difficult when there’s absolutely nothing to go on!
Maybe have them assemble a crude map like a puzzle. Each piece they fit- explain the region. Also leave map pieces out for them to find later.
Maybe have them assemble a crude map like a puzzle. Each piece they fit- explain the region. Also leave map pieces out for them to find later.
The issue there Warren Denning is that since the West Marches kind of dictates a sandbox campaign, in contradiction to the Dungeon World style map, I’ve already made a map. I suppose I could give the players regions of that map and remake it, but I’d rather not.
I’m thinking about doing these love letters as a sort of mad libs fill in the blank thing, ie: “Your (authority figure) warned you not to go” and “(organization) was after you and you fled to avoid (punishment)”. That let’s the players insert or bills their characters’ back stories.
The issue there Warren Denning is that since the West Marches kind of dictates a sandbox campaign, in contradiction to the Dungeon World style map, I’ve already made a map. I suppose I could give the players regions of that map and remake it, but I’d rather not.
I’m thinking about doing these love letters as a sort of mad libs fill in the blank thing, ie: “Your (authority figure) warned you not to go” and “(organization) was after you and you fled to avoid (punishment)”. That let’s the players insert or bills their characters’ back stories.
I planned a West March game using DW last year. It was fun but dnd would have worked better.
My advice is to use random tables like is typical of WM, but allow thr players to give you allot of input that leads to which table you end up rolling on. Does that make sense? You don’t plan which table and when to roll on. You play to find out which one to roll on…i know its confusing.
I didnt use love letters in my game. It may have worked better if i had. But my players took 30min to give backgrounds and answer bonds. It did its job.
Eitherway, DW is doable just not the best system.
I planned a West March game using DW last year. It was fun but dnd would have worked better.
My advice is to use random tables like is typical of WM, but allow thr players to give you allot of input that leads to which table you end up rolling on. Does that make sense? You don’t plan which table and when to roll on. You play to find out which one to roll on…i know its confusing.
I didnt use love letters in my game. It may have worked better if i had. But my players took 30min to give backgrounds and answer bonds. It did its job.
Eitherway, DW is doable just not the best system.
Robert Doe We saw something similar using what I felt were “pre-planned encounters”, an heavily modified Perilous journey move and the die of fate in Jason Cordova’s a red and pleasant return game. He might have more input on that. I though it informed the exploration of this strange land in great way.
Robert Doe We saw something similar using what I felt were “pre-planned encounters”, an heavily modified Perilous journey move and the die of fate in Jason Cordova’s a red and pleasant return game. He might have more input on that. I though it informed the exploration of this strange land in great way.
I have to plan my adventures out a little more than the DW book suggests because I only get, say, four or five sessions with the same group of people. I have a lot more pressure to get cracking on our story arc, and so I tend to put a heavier frame on things. The way I hook the player characters into the world is by asking them highly specific, almost leading questions about why the character is on the adventure. It’s not so much a love letter as much as it is a really, really tight framing procedure.
And here’s some real talk: the idea DW can only be played in the sort-of extemporaneous manner the book suggests is just total bullshit. I straight up run OSR modules in DW all the time and it works fine. You can pre-plan maps, you can pre-plan encounters, or you can do it in the more collaborative, freeform style. It’s all good. The system can totally support it.
I have to plan my adventures out a little more than the DW book suggests because I only get, say, four or five sessions with the same group of people. I have a lot more pressure to get cracking on our story arc, and so I tend to put a heavier frame on things. The way I hook the player characters into the world is by asking them highly specific, almost leading questions about why the character is on the adventure. It’s not so much a love letter as much as it is a really, really tight framing procedure.
And here’s some real talk: the idea DW can only be played in the sort-of extemporaneous manner the book suggests is just total bullshit. I straight up run OSR modules in DW all the time and it works fine. You can pre-plan maps, you can pre-plan encounters, or you can do it in the more collaborative, freeform style. It’s all good. The system can totally support it.
Jason Cordova I totally agree with you, and that’s part of why I picked DW. I’m looking for generalizations on types of benefit or drawback these moves present, in an abstract form. Bearing mind that this is an Issue Zero kind of move, as the characters travel to the West Marches. Like, so:
Roll +nothing. On a 10+ pick three, on a 7-9 pick one:
-Material gain
-Mechanical gain
-Fictive benefit
-Material loss
-Take Damage
-Fictive drawback
-WHAT ELSE?
I’m writing a dozen of these love letters, so I feel like I need a greater variety of options so each player isn’t getting the same options, ending with the possibility that everyone chooses to get a horse. I’m not writing these to the characters but to a question asked the characters, ie: “Which of you is on the run?” and “Which of you has wanted to go to the West Marches since you were a child?”
Thoughts?
Jason Cordova I totally agree with you, and that’s part of why I picked DW. I’m looking for generalizations on types of benefit or drawback these moves present, in an abstract form. Bearing mind that this is an Issue Zero kind of move, as the characters travel to the West Marches. Like, so:
Roll +nothing. On a 10+ pick three, on a 7-9 pick one:
-Material gain
-Mechanical gain
-Fictive benefit
-Material loss
-Take Damage
-Fictive drawback
-WHAT ELSE?
I’m writing a dozen of these love letters, so I feel like I need a greater variety of options so each player isn’t getting the same options, ending with the possibility that everyone chooses to get a horse. I’m not writing these to the characters but to a question asked the characters, ie: “Which of you is on the run?” and “Which of you has wanted to go to the West Marches since you were a child?”
Thoughts?