Dungeon Delvers Twelve

I ran a game of DungeonWorld when I arrived in Australia in 2012 and the players were both overjoyed and exhausted. Character creation was ok, because of the staggered system I use, but the rules were quite a bit heavier than they were used to.

No-one had played and of the crunchier, Rolemaster/Gurps end of R.P.Gs, and which 20% of the players were happy and excited to use a system which gave them full control, the other 80% were staggering against the weight and strain.

Normally, I'd have asked the 20% to join my other group, but instead I asked myself.. has my system evolved enough over the years to be able to have a 'kids friendly' version?

And so, Dungeon Delvers was born.

Because DungeonWorld is a bit of an R.P.G. for accountants and physics majors, I had to identify what was the most confusion.. thank-you to the Uni group that helped by playing both full rules DungeonWorld and half baked Dungeon Delvers.. See I wanted players from both sides to be able to play together.. I don't want the 20% of my original market, my core desired players, to miss out on a game session because they have to 'simplify' their character, nor do I want the players who desire less crunch to have to slog through rule books and mathematical constructs to make a decision.

If you ask yourself.. why would I do this.. I see Dungeon Delvers as a bit D&Dish, a bit straight forward, cookie cutter, choose template A and be either A-1 or A-2, choose A-1 skills or A-2 skills, when you reach 10th level, you can choose prestige class A-1-1 or A-1-2.

DungeonWorld was always about giving players full agency over their goals and futures, no 'class restrictions' or 'stat requirements', more about story path blockages that players can overcome with time and ingenuity.. Want to be a Paladin? don't have the strength? find out how to impress the Elite with your speed instead to be accepted..

But player agency means massive lists of choices and charts.. or at least guidelines.. So Dungeon Delvers needed that.. guidelines.. 

Yet players are not always creative, they want some cookie cutter choices.. So we've added in a bunch of pre-chosen careers, some guidelines how to 'change' those careers to suit their own flavours, and more 'guidelines' on how to custom build one.. yet, if a player really wants to build a customised character, training regime and future skills lists, we do implore them to try adding some of the DungeonWorld Full rules into the mix..

That's the other thing we've started working on.. Customising the system rules.. Want to run Delvers rules, but use full rules, just for the arcane arts? or blacksmithing your own weapons? maybe you prefer the full rules for breaking down and barricading doors, or just the really nice way we allow improvements to characteristics.. its now possible to pick and choose the 'home rules' you want, to get the right kind of balance that your players want.. 

Oh and Dungeon Delvers really pushed me into getting the 4 hub lifestyles together.. or maybe the name pushed me to add 4 .. or maybe matching the 12 archetypes to the 8 existing lifestyles & matching 4 more.. either way, the game name Dungeon Delvers Twelve means the abbreviation of the game name DD12 or 2D12 which just happens to be the systems dice roll too... just saying...