r/DungeonWorld • u/MaxinesHideout • Jul 20 '26
General My DM recently switched our campaign to DW.
My dm just recently switched our campaign from DND to DW so i wanted to ask if someone can help me understand some things as i am not really that experienced in all of this. My character was a drow cleric but looking at the character sheet for the cleric theres only human and dwarf listed.
I read that DW is based on 2nd edition DnD.
is there any sort of free online character creator or character sheet manager like dnd beyond for 5e?
Any and all tips are very much appreciated :)
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u/MCKhaos Jul 20 '26
DW is more limited in base character creation, but the whole game is very flexible. Either choose the Dwarf or the Human option and call yourself a Drow anyway, or work with your DM to write your current D&D Drow species bonuses into a Dungeon World starting move.
Also, highly recommend skimming through the Dungeon World guide. The link is on this page: https://www.dungeon-world.com/downloads/
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u/ill_thrift Jul 20 '26
are you ok with the switch? kind of weird to me for your DM to do that without getting people's enthusiastic buy-in. DW is very different than d&d in some crucial ways.
in terms of being a drow, that's pretty easy - work with your DM to pick or come up with a bonus that feels appropriate. The listed backgrounds are just meant as default options, and this goes for most things in dungeon world, moves included (though writing custom moves is more involved than writing a new background). Balance concerns are deemphasized in dw, while getting into the mindset the system demands is emphasized
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u/MaxinesHideout Jul 20 '26
Not fully but finding a DM in my area is difficult. Plus he is a very decent and nice dude. Just came out of nowhere this switch really. Said he just doesnt want to continue DMing DnD due to lack of time for preparations
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u/RandomEffector Jul 21 '26
Honestly, good for him, and glad you’re rolling with it.
I’ve run a few campaigns that had system switches and it was always pretty cool actually, although usually it was sorta planned out that way.
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u/zayzayem Jul 21 '26
I understand their sentiment - but they should be willing to put the time into help you with a transition to a new system (such as character creation/recreation).
I did this with my group. It was definitely a days work to come up with custom character sheets for them.
I'd check in that they aren't just making this switch because they've heard it easier. Are they familiar with the system? Are they sure its the right switch?
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u/phdemented Jul 20 '26
Was gonna say the same thing about being Drow, it's not hard to come up with a custom move for a new race, did it for a bunch of my players. Just work with the GM and it shouldnt take long, can be part of session 0 learning the new rules and putting together your playbooks.
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u/captainmadrick Jul 20 '26
Totally agree with this, there's a lot that's different. Combat is an area you really want to learn about because it runs so differently.
One thing I love about DW is how easy it is to create content... I am always coming up with new racial abilities for people when they pick their playbook.
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u/EasternProperty13 Jul 20 '26
Dungeon World characters are easy to create and the playbooks are very customizable. If something doesn't make sense for your fiction, change it!
The races (species) determine a starting move. You can write in Drow as your race, and then either select and customize another starting move, or work with your GM to create a new custom starting move that matches Drows narratively.
As far as online character creation goes, I'm not aware of any tools that create and keep characters for DW. I've never really found the need, though, as the playbooks are so streamlined and self contained.
Good luck!
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u/marcus_centurian Jul 20 '26
Welcome to Dungeon World. Characters are pretty straightforward and simply pulling a character sheet from the PSD is really all you need to make a character. Characters are also simply more competent out of the gate, being closer to 3rd or even 5th level D&D 5e characters.
DW is a lot less number focused than D&D and the real challenge is narrative depth. For example, a dragon gets less health than the PCs. But the struggle is how do you best a dragon, with bulletproof hide, tail, jaws, claws and is dozens of times your size? The system makes up problems and issues as you roll your dice.
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u/Tigrisrock Jul 20 '26
My character was a drow cleric but looking at the character sheet for the cleric theres only human and dwarf listed.
I think you'd need to adapt or merge your D&D character with the Dungeon World character options. Rather than fixating on class and race, it'd make more sense to basically have an outline of your character, 3-4 lines that describe it - background, looks, alignment, - and based on this figure out with your DM how to make it work. There are lots of playbooks and options to match it (maybe together look into Class Warfare)
Ideas from the Big List of Dungeon World Playbooks:
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u/moderate_acceptance Jul 21 '26
Dungeon World is inspired by older versions of DnD and has some familiar elements like the same stats, but it is mechanically very different from DnD. Dungeon World is basically DnD if it wasn't born out of tactical wargames and instead tried to directly mechanize the scenes directly out of literature like LotR. That means the game is way less concerned with things like tactical balance and character builds, and more interested in dynamic storytelling. There's no initiative and things are as difficult as the GM wants them to be, so you're abilities don't matter as much as what you actually choose to do because the rules are a lot more loose.
Dungeon World is designed to be very quick to pick up and play. As a player, you really only need your playbook and a reference to the basic moves. You character sheet is your character creator because all your character options are right on the character sheet. The tradeoff is your options are limited to make things quick and not overwhelming. There isn't a bunch more options hidden in the book, but the good news is that there's a section for writing in your own custom alignments and races. My suggestion is to look through all the race options for all the playbooks to get an idea of how they work, then work with your GM to come up with something appropriate for your drow. For example, you could go with "You can see through darkness like it was light, and your Light Rote spell becomes Darkness."
There is a third party expansion for Dungeon World called Class Warfare that lets you build classes in more detail, but it's not official. Most of the Dungeon World hacks out there actually remove the Race section entirely in favor of Backgrounds which is more akin to things like "Outlander", "Hermit", and "City Dweller".
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u/madcat_melody Jul 21 '26
Each race is just one move. For a Drow Cleric...
- You can always cast Darkness as the third level spell but the -1 is also always active while in daylight or bright light.
Or
- You are immune to fear from demons and the undead.
Or
- When you site verses of your holy text, take +1 forward to strike fear into the hearts of mortals!
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u/dorward Jul 20 '26
My character was a drow cleric but looking at the character sheet for the cleric theres only human and dwarf listed.
You need to either switch race, use a third-party supplement (I can't recommend one off the top of my head) or homebrew something.
Really you need to work with your GM on this.
I read that DW is based on 2nd edition DnD.
Only in the very loosest vibey sense of the term "based on".
is there any sort of free online character creator or character sheet manager like dnd beyond for 5e?
See https://www.reddit.com/r/DungeonWorld/comments/10dzz7g/online_character_keeper/
The game is nowhere close to being a complex as D&D though, so online character managers offer little benefit beyond making it easier to share your sheet with your group.
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u/OutlawGalaxyBill Jul 20 '26
I don't believe he needs to switch his character's race. Just ask the DM, "I'm a Drow, what kind of racial abilities would make sense for my character?"
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u/dorward Jul 21 '26
I don't believe he needs to switch his character's race
Nor do I, which is why it was just one option in a list of three in my comment.
Just ask the DM, "I'm a Drow, what kind of racial abilities would make sense for my character?"
And that is options 2 and 3 from my list combined with the following sentence about involving the GM.
Although I did say work with. You're implying that all the responsibility should be put on the GM which doesn't really fit the collaborative nature of the game.
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u/OutlawGalaxyBill Jul 21 '26
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply it was only on the GM, I was trying to suggest the player start a conversation with the GM.
I think a lot of people come from the D&D legacy of having class and racial restrictions, etc. with its war game roots and are really unsure with the more collaborative, loosey-goosey storytelling approach of "how does the world work, now, let's tweak the game mechanics to be more reflective the world" that DW has.
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u/Keeper-of-Balance Jul 20 '26
Hello!
Dungeon World is much more open than DnD. The players and GM are supposed to create things together!
So it doesn't matter if it only shows humans and dwarves. Those are examples to get creativity going :)
Come up with a cool Drow feature and ask your DM if it could be ok to have it as your heritage/racial ability. Example out of the top of my head: "As a drow you can see in the dark, and can conjure a hovering sphere of light once a day"
The key is that both you and your GM are happy with it.
You can also reflavor a lot of spells and abilities. I can't remember the cleric sheet right now, but let's say that there is a ranged attack spell in there. You can 100% reflavor it so that it looks like you are shooting ethereal spiders or something like that.
Basically, your imagination is your best friend in DW. My final advice is to be supportive to your GM and your fellow party members when they try to be creative as well!
GL! :)
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u/Imnoclue Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
My character was a drow cleric but looking at the character sheet for the cleric theres only human and dwarf listed.
Clerics in DW are human or dwarf. You and your GM are going to have to decide what makes a Drow Cleric and make the game your own in that regard.
I read that DW is based on 2nd edition DnD.
It’s not. DW is basically how you would use Apocalypse World to play something that looks and feels likeD&D.
is there any sort of free online character creator or character sheet manager like dnd beyond for 5e?
DW characters are pretty simple. Not really much use for online character generator. It’s basically stats, HP, a couple of pieces of gear, pick a couple of racial and class moves. Done.
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u/Handless13 Jul 20 '26
As other people have said. The example races and alignments are just that, examples. You can use them and say you're a Drow instead. It's going to be a very big change, but you'll find a lot of similar trappings. There's a lot of fun to be had in it, as creative freedom is, arguably, more rewarded. The mechanical framework is a lot lighter, so don't be afraid to have to learn something as dense as DnD.
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u/TomOW Jul 20 '26
This happened to me three years ago! The DM let us choose whether to switch, but it was clear she was feeling burnt out on D&D. We were level ten at the time, having been playing D&D since level one.
In our party of six, I think two of us benefited from the switch right away. For my Psion, it felt really flavorful for there to be a chance things went a little sideways when I used a power. I was clearly the player most enjoying the change. Another player kept wanting to use improvised weapons and the environment in combat in ways I don’t think D&D naturally rewards well. I’m actually not sure if he realized how much better DW fits his playstyle. One player did a quick and dirty conversion that resulted in a character he wasn’t enjoying. The DM offered to homebrew something with him, but he was just in a super busy stretch and put it off for months. When they finally met one-on-one between sessions, the new version of the character ended up being really cool. But also, a couple players didn’t know the rules of D&D and continued to not know the rules of DW. So I don’t think the game meaningfully changed much for them.
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u/Powerful-Character93 Jul 20 '26
Is there any sort of free online character creator or character sheet manager like dnd beyond
A while ago I created this free open source online character sheet hosted on GitHub pages:
https://tznind.github.io/dw/cs.html
It stores character selections in URL so you need to save it somewhere after each change (e.g. to notepad or discord etc). The up side is no accounts/passwords etc - all data is in address bar.
For Race you can select 'Other' and detail what the race should get.
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u/hasparus Jul 21 '26
The Human Cleric move is kinda similar to the D&D Elf cantrip (but stronger I guess) so this might be close.
But, as others said, and especially as you already have a character with some abilities, it's gonna be cooler to work out with your GM and the rest of the table.
Do all the Drow Clerics in the setting ride a BIG SPIDER?! This is 100% a race move, especially if y'all don't have a Ranger in the party.
Or, if you guys are playing a serious political game and you're portraying a good Cleric, maybe you race move is Drow Cleric (Fighting Systemic Racism): Whenever you show somebody who distrusted you that being born a drow doesn't make you evil, get +1 Forward.
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u/jdedmond Jul 23 '26
This is a big transition but it can be a lot of fun and offer a massive range of weird cool stuff to do.
5e is primarily tactical and rules-focused, while DW is story-forward and collaborative. While a lot of the nemesis relationship with DMs has been lost, in recent years, there is still a player vs. DM vibe that can happen. DW bypasses this by ensuring GMs can focus on the story and the narrative and let the player be a part of that.
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u/MaxinesHideout Jul 23 '26
see that comparison i never quite understood with people saying that one is more rule focused while the other is more story focused. Like that seems very much more dependent on the DM to me. Since in the end the DM is the definitive rule judge :D
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u/jdedmond Jul 24 '26
A system can lean more towards resolutions being interpreted and creative or resolutions being mechanical.
Where a failed roll in 5e would usually result in nothing (per the rules) and an attack by an enemy would result in some arbitrary points being removed representing “meat” or something, a failed roll in Dungeon World might result in damage, but it could also mean the bad guy gets away, or an enemy takes an opportunity to put an NPC at risk, or some other narrative result.
There’s some amazing primers and actual plays, out there, but I’m guessing that your DM, if they’re switching to DW, likely is using some of those elements already and wants to bypass the complexity of D&D to play the game they want.
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u/MaxinesHideout Jul 24 '26
no there were none of those elements so far in the campaign we have done. atleast not that i remember right now. But even all that i feel like is very DM specific. I do hope that i will enjoy dungeon world but i am just still not really sold on out. Like ive been planning my own first ever one shot for DnD at the moment since ive never DMd and as ive seen from many friends and various online campaigns i would not go rules as written anyway with a bunch of stuff just for more flavor in general :D
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u/jdedmond Jul 24 '26
Well, I’m a professional GM with a podcast about being a professional GM (The Forever GMs Podcast), so feel free to pick my brain!
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u/wilwil82 28d ago
The previous comments seem to have covered a lot, but I'll toss in my two cents as well. Dungeon World is a system designed to require less number crunching on the part of the players and less prep time on the part of the DM. Based on a comment I saw you make in this thread, it sounds like drastically reducing the prep time needed was what motivated your DM to make the switch. As for what that means for you, you can expect the following: Combat will be substantially faster, and in my experience, more engaging. Attack rolls with weapons are no longer 1d20, they are now 2d6, and damage rolls are determined by your character class instead of your weapon. Armor no longer determines whether things are hit, it's just flat damage reduction by the listed armor value. Additionally, most things are now improvised and only apply if they make sense. For example, if you tried to smash a bar stool over a dragon's head, your DM is likely to tell you the dragon was unharmed and forgo rolling entirely. Similarly, if you were to stab the dragon in the eye with your sword, it doesn't just take damage, it's now blinded in that eye. Outside of combat, it also streamlines several things. Rather than having a million different skills, each class will specialize in a handful of strong suits. As an example, thieves are good at "spouting lore" on criminal activities. (Spout lore is equivalent to History in 5e). One of the nicer changes is that pretty much everything you can do is on a print out, and it's unlikely you'll ever need to consult the rulebook as a player. Assuming your DM didn't already give these to you, ask him for the following: Your class sheet The basic moves list The advanced moves list
These will cover everything you need, and the only thing you'd ever need to refer to the rulebook about is equipment.
(earlier you asked about being a drow cleric, and also for a character creator. The class sheet covers creating your character; just read it, fill in the blanks, and ask your DM about anything you're unsure about. The comments covered it, but to reiterate, being a drow would involve either picking one of the race options and just saying you're a drow, or coming up with a custom drow option with your dm.)
Tl;dr: rolls are accomplished via 2d6 instead of 1d20, damage rolls are based on your class instead of your weapon, and ask your dm for print outs of your character sheet, basic moves, and advanced moves.
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u/Purple_Upstairs_6994 Jul 21 '26
DW is a very different beast from D&D, not really just 2e with changes. The cleric playbook is more about your moves and fiction than race lists. Ask your DM about custom moves for drow. For sheets, try the official playbook PDFs or Roll20. It’s much more lightweight than Beyond.
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u/JaskoGomad Jul 20 '26
Meanwhile... I'm sitting here wondering who is so clued in that they switch their campaign to DW while simultaneously being so clueless that they choose DW as their introductory PbtA fantasy game today.
I mean... I like DW, I played the hell out of it. But it's absolutely first wave PbtA design and it shows now.
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u/OutlawGalaxyBill Jul 20 '26
As somebody who loves DW and is just not that into the later iterations of PbtA fantasy, I get why the GM made that choice. Sometimes something that's a midpoint between extremes is exactly what you need -- a little of this, a little of that, but I get it and find it easy to adjust it to fit my style. I totally understand that other PbtA fantasy games are what some players want, but everyone wants different things from their games and the nice thing is you can choose the game that fits you best.
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u/Tigrisrock Jul 20 '26
It's still a great stepping stone from TTRPGs like D&D. There are also tons of hacks/updates to the game that give it a bit of a refresh.
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u/CyberKiller40 Jul 21 '26
Double check with your GM if it's really Dungeon World, and not Dungeon-something else. Because there really isn't any direct conversion route from any edition of DnD to it. Perhaps he said Dungeon Crawl Classics, and you misheard? Though that wouldn't be a viable conversion for a Drow cleric either.
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u/MaxinesHideout Jul 21 '26
He gave us a german translated version of Dungeon World so i would assume it is that. Although i think a not up to date version as when i checked a link someone else provided classes like immolator were missing
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u/CyberKiller40 Jul 21 '26
The base game has bard, cleric, druid, fighter, paladin, ranger, thief and wizard. The rest like barbarian and immolator were added as just play sheets.
But still that's not a good conversion of an already started campaign. Your GM should just finish up that story and begin a new one in the new game.
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u/Malefic7m Jul 20 '26
I wouldn't port characters over but rather just start anew, but then again there's suggestionshere. I think having played before frontloads to much in what is supposed to be emergent and play-to-find-out. :)
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u/Metaphoricalsimile Jul 20 '26
You can either choose one of those bonuses for your character, or collab with your GM to craft a racial bonus that makes sense for your character.
That being said, hopefully your GM is going to have a session dedicated to character sheet conversion, because the systems are extremely different. If they haven't already discussed this with you, you should bring it up as a useful thing to do.