Dungeon Worldbuilding
Melissa and I managed to get in a bi-weekly Dungeon World game. I'm playing a dwarf battlemind with the mutation background (he in infested with cosmic horrors), while Melissa is taking The Bard for a spin (and is currently enjoying it waaay more than the "official" one).
We spent most of the session doing some broad-strokes world-building, so didn't get much done aside from picking a fight with a handful dire-field rats. I don't think that anyone got to mark XP for anything, even misses. Anywho, here's what we came up with (plus a map):
Nothing fancy, just something to let us know what's where, with plenty of blanks to fill in down the road. I forget if we named the rivers and mountains: most of pre-game worldbuilding focused on the steadings, with a bit about the mountains and region to the north.
Taking it from the top:
The northern region, specifically the area in the darkened circle, is a frozen wasteland. There's no gradual climate change: it abruptly shifts from temperate to arctic. Nothing lives there, either. It used to be a considerably warmer, sprawling dwarven kingdom, but an undead army drove them away and blanketed the land in an eternal winter.
Bands of dwarves occasionally venture north, hoping to discover lost relics and riches.
The mountains to the east are believed to extend into the heavens (or space, if space is a thing in this world). They are also said to be impassable: the rare group of explorers that attempts to cross either return defeated (usually fewer in number than when they started), or are never seen again. Survivors speak of nightmare-induced dreams and eldritch horrors.
What lies beyond, none can say.
Dunwater is a mining town that produces an abundance of gold and gems, which are shipped to Willowspear. The refinery and other waste has polluted the river.
Willowspear is a big city with bigger problems. There are hedonistic noble houses, artisans, and merchant guilds, several thieves guilds, and strange, monstrous creatures that lurk within the squalid river and sewers. Protection from any combination means that there's no shortage of work for mercenaries and bodyguards.
The city is so-named after the leader of the undead army was finally stopped by a humble spear made from willow, the only material that could harm it. This merely rendered it inert, and after it was discovered that destroying the remains would release a malevolent presence, priests sealed it deep underground. There it waits for someone to remove the spear, so that it may once again walk the land.
We spent most of the session doing some broad-strokes world-building, so didn't get much done aside from picking a fight with a handful dire-field rats. I don't think that anyone got to mark XP for anything, even misses. Anywho, here's what we came up with (plus a map):
Taking it from the top:
The northern region, specifically the area in the darkened circle, is a frozen wasteland. There's no gradual climate change: it abruptly shifts from temperate to arctic. Nothing lives there, either. It used to be a considerably warmer, sprawling dwarven kingdom, but an undead army drove them away and blanketed the land in an eternal winter.
Bands of dwarves occasionally venture north, hoping to discover lost relics and riches.
The mountains to the east are believed to extend into the heavens (or space, if space is a thing in this world). They are also said to be impassable: the rare group of explorers that attempts to cross either return defeated (usually fewer in number than when they started), or are never seen again. Survivors speak of nightmare-induced dreams and eldritch horrors.
What lies beyond, none can say.
Dunwater is a mining town that produces an abundance of gold and gems, which are shipped to Willowspear. The refinery and other waste has polluted the river.
Willowspear is a big city with bigger problems. There are hedonistic noble houses, artisans, and merchant guilds, several thieves guilds, and strange, monstrous creatures that lurk within the squalid river and sewers. Protection from any combination means that there's no shortage of work for mercenaries and bodyguards.
The city is so-named after the leader of the undead army was finally stopped by a humble spear made from willow, the only material that could harm it. This merely rendered it inert, and after it was discovered that destroying the remains would release a malevolent presence, priests sealed it deep underground. There it waits for someone to remove the spear, so that it may once again walk the land.
Leave a Comment