Who is Dungeon World 2 For?

In our last blog post, we revealed some of the biggest changes in the works for Dungeon World 2. Changes that affect core parts of the game like stats, harm, and consequences, for the purpose of enriching scenes of exciting character-focused adventure fantasy. The reaction was, understandably, mixed. Some people were excited for the changes, or hesitant until they can read more, but many were also unhappy with the removal of things they believed to be 'core' to what Dungeon World is. So we wanted to talk in more detail about our vision for Dungeon World 2, the types of media it's trying to emulate, what types of new players we want DW2 to appeal to, and what we can do better about balancing that with what current players want.

Our Approach

When we initially created our vision for Dungeon World 2, we think we started with a similar question as DW1: how can we smash together D&D and PbtA to create a game that feels like one but plays like the other - that creates the kinds of experiences people want out of D&D in a way that is fast and easy?

We wanted to approach this sequel game like we imagine might happen if DW1 itself came out today. However, DW2 is being made in 2025, while DW1 released in 2012, and the general understanding of both D&D and PbtA have drastically shifted in the time since.

'Powered by the Apocalypse' was a brand new thing when Dungeon World came out, and people were excitedly making games and showing them off to each other. Now, PbtA is an established sub-genre of RPGs and its strengths and weaknesses are much better known. It even has its own spin-offs like 'Carved from Brindlewood' and 'Forged in the Dark'. The best PbtA games fixate on a narrow focus of cinematic media, and they build their game around exclusively emulating the stories from those media.

'Dungeons and Dragons' exploded in a different way - it became mainstream. Stranger Things, Critical Role, and more have influenced how many people know about D&D and what they think of it. Where in the past D&D was known for dungeon survival and powerful treasure, now it is more known for dramatic scenes involving fantasy characters. People still play TTRPGs for many different reasons, but someone looking for a 'D&D experience' today might mean a very different thing now than they would have twenty years ago.

We believe we've done the same process as DW1, but our resulting vision is very different today than in 2012 - a narrow game that seeks to emulate a type of D&D story and the media related to it.

The Focus of Dungeon World 2

The type of D&D story we want to emulate is a group of messy people embarking on dangerous fantasy adventures and growing into a heroic found family. This is the central narrative of not only many D&D campaigns, but also many stories in general, yet we haven't seen any other PbtA game that focuses on it quite like this. Some example touchstones are The Legends of Vox Machina, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and Guardians of the Galaxy.

We want DW2 to be the game that you can point to when someone says 'I want a game experience that matches what I've watched/heard/read'. The media that was inspired by D&D now in turn inspires us and this new game.

We considered other D&D story types, but many Dungeon World hacks or supplements already do them. Perilous Wilds adds exploration, Stonetop is about community, Chasing Adventure focuses on action, Against the Odds is about morality, Freebooters on the Frontier leans into OSR-style lethality, and many more. These games all narrow Dungeon World's broad focus into a specific type of D&D story, and that's what we want to do with Dungeon World 2 as well.

Finding a Balance

We want to open up DW2 to new fans of both D&D and PbtA games, ones who watch Critical Role and ones who play Masks: A New Generation. We also want to welcome fans who enjoy the 'middle ground of D&D and PbtA' reputation that Dungeon World developed over the years, who like the simple familiarity yet exciting potential the game provides. That's a difficult challenge, and one we probably can't fully succeed at. But here is how we're going to try:

1. We'll listen to feedback. All feedback is useful, no matter the feelings or tone behind it. We are noting down everyone's thoughts so far, and will continue to do that as the game evolves.
2. We'll keep designing. We said before that this is all subject to change, and we meant it. You've seen now how drastically we are willing to change DW1, but that also extends to DW2 while it's being made. While big changes might wait until alpha testing begins, this will be a true alpha, not a marketing trick. Entire groups of mechanics have already been added, removed, or renamed in pre-alpha testing, and that likely to keep happening. We will keep refining this game as much as we need to.
3. We'll keep communicating. Our last post focused a lot on 'changes', which act as 'removals' to those that love how things already are. But there are so many different things we are adding in DW2 that weren't in DW1 at all, such as group mechanics, expanded adventuring gear, the Sorcerer class, exciting advancement options, and more in-depth travel moves. We want to tell you all about them and why we're excited for you to try this game.

We've taken almost fifteen years of gradual TTRPG shifts and grouped them together all at once for DW2. That's a drastic change, which is why we want to be transparent on our reasoning and processes. Ultimately, we want Dungeon World 2 to be the best D&D narrative game around, and we'll keep improving it until it is.

Thanks for reading. On Friday we plan to talk about what the group mechanics in DW2 might look like.

Spencer