Dungeon World 2

Designing Struggles: With Three New Examples

Last week, we announced that Dungeon World 2 is coming to Kickstarter on January 12th! Please follow the Kickstarter so it reaches as many people as possible when it launches.

This week, we're here to talk about Struggles, DW2's mechanic for exploring PC backstories and individual arcs. We'll explore what makes Struggles tick, and provide some guidelines on designing new ones. We're also going to show off the first draft of a few new Struggles coming in the next Beta.

Gaining a Struggle

Struggles are powerful narrative aspects of a PC that they grapple with during play. At their heart, each Struggle is a question about who a PC is, what matters to them, and what choices they're willing to make. While a PC's past might be full of twists and turns, choosing a Struggle signifies to the group what their player wants to explore at this time.

PCs don't start with a Struggle by default (though there is optional rule for that), but instead can gain one through the Reveal Your Struggle Campaign Move:

Reveal Your Struggle

When you Make Camp with a locked Condition, or when you Level Up, you may confess a new, terrible truth about your PC’s Struggle. If you do, choose and reveal a new Struggle, change to a new Struggle that better fits, or add a new detail to an already revealed Struggle. Either way, clear the locked Condition, if any.

You can only have one revealed Struggle at a time. When your revealed Struggle is resolved, Level Up (keeping marked XP), erase the Struggle, and lose both its Benefits (+) and Drawbacks (-). Clear the Advancement box if marked; you can choose a new Struggle in the future.

We decided to give this move two different triggers with their own "costs", to engage multiple kinds of players. For those who don't want to "spend" a Level Up on a Struggle, the first trigger will most likely happen at some point anyways during your adventures. Reach Your Limit and Face Death are the two most common sources of locked Conditions, and such harrowing experiences can easily bring a PC's slumbering emotions. Meanwhile, those who are more directly interested in Struggles, who don't want to wait for a locked Condition, can Level Up and Reveal a Struggle immediately in exchange for an advancement.

There are currently twenty two example Struggles in the DW2 Beta, but here is another one. It's a work in progress, so we'd love your feedback.

Example 1: Blackmailed

Leverage ☐ ☐ ☐

Someone knows a deeply compromising secret about you, and is using it against you

Questions: Who is this enemy? How did they discover your secret? How do they communicate their demands? Why can't you easily make them go away? Which PC already knows about this?

Under the Thumb (+ -) — When you Make Camp, your blackmailer may covertly deliver you a new demand; the GM will say what. While you roll a Move to fulfill the demand, you may mark a Condition to treat a ✷6- as a ✷7-9. When you fulfill it, mark 1 Leverage (max 3) and 1 XP.

Disgraced (-) — When someone discovers your secret, if they're a PC they erase 1 Depth with you. If they're an NPC, the GM chooses one:
- They rescind aid or add a complication to your adventure
- They'll treat you differently from now on (even if they insist otherwise)
- They'll tell someone else before long

Ashamed (-) — When you know someone new has learned your secret, mark a Condition. If they're a PC, erase 1 Depth with them.

Cut the Strings (+) — When you escape your blackmailer's hold (by defeating them, outwitting them, confessing in advance, etc.), mark XP and clear Conditions (including Locked ones), both equal to Leverage, then resolve this Struggle.

The General Structure

As you can see, Struggles contain a small group of elements that focus on important details and an emotional core:

A name and description that summarizes the Struggle's core tension (and hopefully is easy to understand at a glance)
A list of questions that draw out the Struggle's critical details and context
Multiple benefits (+) and drawbacks (-) that incentivize a player to portray the Struggle dramatically, while also keeping the Struggle relevant when a session isn't focused on that PC

You might have noticed that we didn't specify how this Struggle (or almost any of them) might be resolved. We intentionally leave that open-ended and in the hands of the group; even Struggles that say how to resolve them only provide another way, not the only one. The first step to resolving a Struggle is to talk about it as a group—players and GM. Does the Struggle feel satisfied and well explored, or is there still a part unfinished? Would it make more sense to change to a new Struggle rather than resolving it entirely? If it feels resolved, then it is.

Over DW2's development, we've done a lot of refining to get the balance of this framework just right. It's not a matter of what more we can add, but what we have cut that isn't absolutely necessary. We want Struggles to ask questions that prompt creative answers, to guide dramatic play without restricting freedom, and to add mechanical weight without mental fatigue. Each Struggle is a bit different, and some of them push against this framework in their own way, but each one has something interesting we think is worth exploring.

Here is another new Struggle that does specify a way you might resolve it.

Example 2: Heroic Legacy

Ideal: ___________________________ Mantle ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐

You carry the namesake of a renowned hero. Can you live up to their legendary deeds?

Questions: Who is your forebearer? What is their most notable deed? What namesake of theirs (physical, social, or otherwise) do you have? Who or what is their greatest foe? What was their final fate?

Symbol of Peace (+) — What does "living up to your forebearer's namesake" mean to you? Write this Ideal down as a short actionable phrase, such as "never retreat from battle" or "always smile around others". When you End the Session, if you lived up to your Ideal (your call), mark 1 XP and 1 Mantle (max 5). Otherwise, erase 1 Mantle. Either way, you may then rewrite your Ideal to fit what you've learned. When you reach 5 Mantle, unlock your Moment of Heroism below.

Great Responsibility (-) When someone demands you pursue your Ideal (a PC calls you out, an NPC cries for help, an enemy taunts you, etc.), mark a Condition unless you follow their demand.

☐ Moment of Heroism (+) — When you boldly and decisively embody your Ideal, take brief control of the scene as if you were the GM; say what you accomplish here and now, and how that lives up to your Ideal. After this, you undeniably fit the namesake you carry, for better and worse; resolve this Struggle.

Tips for Designing Struggles

Center everything around the emotional challenge. They're called Struggles for a reason. Even when a specific goal or task is involved, it's primarily a means to explore a PC's pains, motivations, and priorities. How far will they go to get what they want? How will their chosen path change them? What secret pain might they carry with them? What actions or conversations might they undertake during a session? Consider questions like these, and keep them in mind as you design a Struggle.
Keep the name and description simple and easy to read. If (like us) you expect players to glance at this Struggle alongside dozens more, then make sure it plainly states what it's about. If you're making a custom Struggle for a specific player, then they'll probably read it in full no matter what so feel free to ignore this point.
Ask questions that dramatically establish the context. What important missing pieces need to be introduced before the Struggle can be explored in play? What are the first, most basic questions that you might ask? Try to ask them in leading ways that encourage suitably dramatic answers.
If it feels like the GM should provide a concrete answer, try to instead ask the PC about what they've heard, witnessed, or another "soft truth" filtered through their own experiences. Then the GM can flexibly work with these soft answers later without invalidating them.
Create benefits and drawbacks that appropriately represent the Struggle itself. Most of ours have one benefit and drawback each, but some have several. You don't need a unique mechanic, but feel free to bend the game's core rules if it fits better, as long as the game is still playable. Maybe a Struggle called Emotionally Stunted might stop a PC from marking Conditions at all.
Balance the benefits and drawbacks so they feel overall like a mixed bag—more challenging and flawed than a Path Move, but with its own advantages and opportunities.
Some Struggles can look quite similar narratively, but have a different focus. The Folk Hero Struggle found in the Beta is also about being seen as a symbol of heroism, similar to Heroic Legacy above. While the latter is about the PC's potential, self-confidence, and expectations, the former is focused more on inspiration, hospitality, and a foretold future.

That's all we can think of for now, but we intend to add a version of these tips to a future version of DW2, alongside more for Bonds, Magic Items, Artifacts, and Moves themselves.

Example 3: Exiled

Great Task: ___________________________________

You are forbidden from ever returning home until you complete a great task

Questions: Why were you exiled? What is your great task? If you ever return, are you sure it will still feel like home?

Reminders of Home (+ -) — Choose and mark three Reminders that joined your exile: ☐ mount or vehicle ☐ friend or family ☐ proof of identity ☐ book or record ☐ tool or weapon ☐ food or clothing. When you Make Camp, if you've made concrete progress towards your great task since last time, clear a Condition for each marked Reminder. Otherwise, mark a Condition and clear a Reminder; it is/they are unavailable until you recover it/them (wounded, depleted, departed, etc.).

Open Season (+ -) —When you Spout Lore or Unearth Secrets in pursuit of your great task, you may treat a ✷7-9 as a ✷10+, but if you do then a competitor or opportunist also learns what you learn.

We have many more ideas for new Struggles, but here is our last one for today. Thanks for reading.

Spencer & Helena