Dungeon Whatever Release and Designer Commentary 01

Dungeon Whatever v0.06e is now released!

Why call it v0.06e when it's the first version released? Well, because I entered it into the #6e game jam and some things need to be done right.

What is Dungeon Whatever?

First off: It's a d20 based system, which I think is a first for me. I wanted to maintain some familiarity with D&D style games so used the standard six stats and rolling a single d20 + bonuses + Advantage as the base dice system.

However, the impetus for Dungeon Whatever was wanting to mix in some PbtA/FitD ideas because that's what I'm familiar GMing. Kept it simple on the dice end with full successes depending on difficulty and partial successes always having difficulty of 10.

I also obviously used Clocks. I love Clocks, even back when I knew them as D&D 4E's Number of Required Successes to Succeed at a Skill Challenge. Speaking of D&D 4E, I basically structured Encounters like those Skill Challenges. You can totally play Dungeon Whatever without ever using the Encounter system, but I wanted to have the turn-based option in there since even in PbtA games I've often resorted to pseudo-turns to make sure everyone gets an equal chance to contribute.

This Encounter system doesn't mandate a fixed turn order or use an initiative order, though you could swap that in. Here, the World Player takes a turn every 1d4 turns using the Countdown die, and Role Players have a Focus die they pass around that lets them make big Moves. Players without the Focus die still take their turns using whatever turn order system you like, but make smaller Contributions instead, which don't require any dice rolling. I'm hoping this keeps turns fast and provides a feeling of momentum shifting around.

I was also deliberate in naming the traditional game master role as the World Player as I wanted players to remember they are a fellow player too and also because in this game, all players are able to make similar Moves to World Players. I think you could probably turn this game into a GMless one by having the designation of World Player be a fluid role that any player could pick up depending on the situation, but haven't really followed this idea through properly.

Let's look at the Moves. Address a Challenge is equivalent to the traditional Standard Action in a D&D style game. I structured the Move to remind players that not rolling dice should be the default, here, and you only roll when it's interesting to do so. I also rejigged Damage Rolls into the Effect Level table which still spells out DAMAGE because I'm like that and you can't stop me (Thank you to Index Card RPG for reminding me of the Magic Effort framing that let me make this silly acronym shit work). You can choose to roll the dice stated by the Effect Level or just use the static number if you're a coward (jk jk I actually prefer not rolling). Hold on to that Complication bit at the end of the Move. It'll become clear shortly.

Next up is the Discover Move. This kiiiiind of takes the place of something like a Perception or Spot check. Remember what I said about all players being able to make similar Moves to World Players? This Move puts authorship into more of a shared mode. Important thing to remember, and I could probably do a better job emphasizing, is that the World Player doesn't have to do shit. If someone is taking the piss you have the clear option to complicate their suggestion, but you can always just Say Yes, and move on.

Remember capital C Complications? Here's how they come into play. Any player can add new Challenges or Complications to an Encounter. If the Role Players do it, they get to bump up the Focus die which improves Action Rolls and also delay the World Player's turn. Delaying the World Player's turn is really funny to me since you're basically doing the World Player's job for them, but you are in control of what you introduce and can introduce fun shit that you're good at or would help you achieve your Goals (more on that later).

What this Move also does is introduce Complications. Complications are like mini linked Clocks that can only be dealt with by players who don't have the Focus die. Metaphorically you've got some players doing the main DPS and others managing Adds. You never roll for Complications, and they only take time/turns to deal with. However, you have to deal with them before getting to the main Challenge and each turn you take brings the World Player's turn closer. I'm hoping this dynamic is fun enough to warrant the rules baggage.

The other Contributions you can make without the Focus are helping out other players and asking questions, which I hope encourages more collaborative and inquisitive narratives.

On to Character Creation. As I mentioned before, I'm using the standard six stats from D&D for familiarity, but I decided to pair them up. I don't actually think the Paired Attributes thing will end up being useful or important, but I'm sticking it in there to test out. The intent is to cut down on the amount of numbers to track, but you still care about the stats individually, so I suspect it'll be moot.

I'll skip over details of the Traits, Trainings and Gear since there isn't that much new or interesting there either, but just noting that they also use a similar Effect Level scale for Training Ranks and Gear Quality (just omitting Dismal). You'll also see them in the Gimmicks.

Oh actually, there is one thing I wanted to note. There's no currency, but you just have a piece of Gear called the Ledger that you use to pay for stuff. The way it works with Uses still feels quite number-crunchy, so I might even simplify it further to just work off Quality.

There are no Hit Points for characters, just more Clocks. (I mean, Hit Points are basically Clocks). I did this to make the Player Characters work similarly to Non-Player Characters who are all abstracted out as Challenge Clocks in Encounters. The Defense Clock functions as the Quick HP and the HURT Clock works as the Slow HP. Defense get filled up easier but also is easier to replenish, while HURT needs the Defense Clock to get filled first, but also replenishes much slower and comes with more downsides. Really, I'm just here for the HURT acronym.

For progression/advancement, characters use a Goals system which is just basically more Clocks. I should change the name of the game to Dungeon Clocks. It's based on a mix of Blades in the Dark's Long-term Projects, Beam Saber's Drive Clocks, and Heart's Beats system.

Finally we get to the part I'm excited to show. Instead of Classes or Playbooks, Dungeon Whatever has Gimmicks. By default, you can just use the Gimmick like FATE's High Concept. Set up a High Concept, pick some Traits and just go. You can also bundle up a pre-set collection of Traits, Trainings and Gear, then add a Special Ability on top of it and call the package a Gimmick. The system itself is pretty normal (it's a Playbook/Class), but I'm excited to show what dumb Gimmicks I included as examples.

First up is the Weak-Point Striker. You have defeated the waterfall, and now you must defeat everything else. You can increase the range of success by identifying Weak Points based on successful rolls.

The next class is imo what makes this game a 6e. It's called Brand Synergy. You can play as a Cardomancer, a Wizard whose spells are all based on Magical Cards.

Finally you could also be The Forgettable. Very suited to stealthy operations but possibly doomed to be alone. So Edgy.

To me, these 3 Gimmicks represent what making a Dungeon Whatever character should be about. Weird rules experiments bolted to a pretty familiar formula, and exploring a high concept as much as possible. I'm hoping this provides enough guidance for players to make their own Gimmicks, and I'm planning to add more Gimmicks later as I playtest and develop the game.

I know there's still a lot to test and fix with the game, but I'm glad I managed to get a draft up before the end of May to keep my "game a month" streak going and can start trying to playtest it. If you have any feedback or comments, please let me know!