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Created October 12, 2012 22:00
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Dungeon World Session 1 plans (public)
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dungeon-world-plans-public.md

Dungeon World Session 1 plans

Goblins are defiling a sacred temple in the ancient forest. The party has been pressed into service by a dryad to whom they owed a favor. The goblins are mining crystals from the cavern beneath the tree.

Backstory: In the last war of the gods, Mirana, a fertility goddess, was struck by a near-fatal blow and fell from the heavens. She landed so hard, the ground was split and a giant crater was formed. As the war raged on above, Mirana was ignored and left for dead in the crater. Despite being unconscious, her divine powers continued to work to protect her. She formed a protective cocoon of crystal, where she stayed for a millennium until she recovered.

Alternate ending: she died, and the crystals are her coffin or corpse.

Either way, the crystals are highly potent magic. They must not be removed from the forest. Possible plot hook: if they're removed, the forest will die and the magical landscape will change (for the worse for the PCs).

If they try to rally an army from the nearby town, the dryad will refuse, saying the villagers cannot be trusted to protect the forest.

Encounter ideas

  • goblin patrol
    • goblin archers
    • goblin dogs
  • goblin camp at the base of the great tree
    • goblins, undead miners, goblin dogs
    • too many to fight
    • encourage sneaking
  • in the temple
    • goblin
  • in the tunnels
    • tunnel worm, etc
    • cave troll
  • in the cavern
    • undead miners
    • goblins
    • goblin wizard(s) (necromancy)

Possible antagonists/monsters

Goblin

  • Horde, Small, Intelligent, Organized
  • Spear (d6 damage)
  • 3 HP
  • 1 Armor
  • Close, Reach

Nobody seems to know where these things came from. Elves say they're the Dwarves' fault—dredged up from a hidden place beneath the earth. Dwarves say they're bad Elvish children, taken away at birth and raised in the dark. The truth of the matter is that goblins have always been here and they'll be here once all the civilized races have fallen and gone away. Goblins never die out. There’s just too damn many of them. Instinct: To multiply

  • Charge!
  • Call more goblins
  • Retreat and return with (many) more

Goblin Orkaster

  • Solitary, Small, Magical, Intelligent, Organized
  • Acid orb (d10+1 damage ignores armor)
  • 12 HP
  • 0 Armor
  • Near, Far

Oh lord, who taught them magic? Instinct: To tap power beyond their stature

  • Unleash a poorly understood spell
  • Pour forth magical chaos
  • Use other goblins for shields

Worg (goblin war horse/dog)

  • Horde, Organized
  • Bite (d6 damage) 3 HP 1 Armor
  • Close

As horses are to the civil races, so go the worg to the goblins. Mounts, fierce in battle, ridden by only the bravest and most dangerous, are found and bred in the forest primeval to serve the goblins in their wars on men. The only safe worg is a pup, separated from its mother. If you can find one of these, or make orphans of a litter with a sharp sword, you've got what could become a loyal protector or hunting hound in time. Train it well, mind you, for the worg are smart and never quite free of their primal urges. Instinct: To serve

  • Carry a rider into battle
  • Give its rider an advantage

Troll

  • Solitary, Large
  • Club (d10+3 damage)
  • 20 HP
  • 1 Armor
  • Close, Reach, Forceful
  • Special Qualities: Regeneration

Tall. Real tall. Eight or nine feet when they're young or weak. Covered all over in warty, tough skin, too. Big teeth, stringy hair like swamp moss and long, dirty nails. Some are green, some grey, some black. They're clannish and hateful of each other, not to mention all the rest of us. Near impossible to kill, too, unless you've fire or acid to spare - cut a limb off and watch. In a few days, you've got two trolls where you once had one. A real serious problem, as you can imagine. Instinct: To smash

  • Undo the effects of an attack (unless caused by a weakness, your call)
  • Hurl something or someone

Abomination

  • Solitary, Large, Construct, Terrifying
  • Slam (d10+3 damage)
  • 20 HP
  • 1 Armor
  • Close, Reach, Forceful
  • Special Qualities: Many limbs, heads, and so on

Corpses sewn unto corpses make up the bulk of these shambling masses of dark magic. Most undead are crafted to be controlled - made to serve some purpose like building a tower or serving as guardians. Not so the abomination. The last aspect of the ritual used to grant fire to their hellish limbs invokes a hatred so severe that the abomination knows but one task: to tear and rend at the very thing it cannot have - life. Many students of the black arts learn to their mortal dismay the most important fact about these hulks. An abomination knows no master. Instinct: To end life

  • Tear flesh apart
  • Spill forth putrid guts

Zombie

  • Horde
  • Bite (d6 damage)
  • 11 HP
  • 1 Armor
  • Close

When there's no more room in Hell... Instinct: Braaaaaains

  • Attack with overwhelming numbers
  • Corner them
  • Gain strength from the dead, spawn more zombies

Random encounters

Caves:

  1. Ankheg (3-6)
  2. Cave Rat horde
  3. Earth Elemental
  4. Goliath (1d6)
  5. Fire Beetle horde
  6. Gargoyle
  7. Gelatinous Cube (or other shape)
  8. Otyugh
  9. Purple Worm
  10. Spiderlord

Forest:

  1. Blink dog pack
  2. Centaur horde
  3. Cockatrice (group)
  4. Elvish Warrior
  5. Griffin
  6. Ogre
  7. Hill Giant
  8. Razor Boar
  9. Werewolf
  10. Worg

Lower Depths:

  1. Aboleth
  2. Chaos Spawn
  3. Deep Elves
  4. Dragon
  5. Magmin horde (Magma men)
  6. Salamander horde
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