Influences

If we have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. Hill giants and stone giants mostly, but some frost giants and even a fire giant one time. That got messy.

By this point it’s probably pretty obvious that Vincent Baker’s Apocalypse World, as well as Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson’s Dungeons and Dragons are the reason we made this game. The Dungeons and Dragons Basic Set, edited by Tom Moldvay, and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons were our references of choice.

Our version of Alignment is closely related to Keys from Shadow of Yesterday by Clinton R. Nixon as seen in John Harper’s Lady Blackbird.

XP on a miss can be seen in a lot of designs—the version seen in Luke Crane’s Burning Wheel was an inspiration, but this particular take on it comes by way of John Harper and Paul Riddle’s The Regiment.

Bonds are a perversion of Hx from Apocalypse World with a little bit of the memories from Freemarket (by Luke Crane and Jared Sorensen) thrown in for spice.

Dungeon World wouldn’t exist without cross-pollination from many other projects powered by the Apocalypse. Sagas of the Icelanders by Gregor Vuga, The Regiment by Paul Riddle and John Harper, Monsterhearts by Joe Mcdaldno, and several unpublished games by Jonathan Walton all were part of our process.

The original idea to mash Apocalypse World and D&D together belongs to our good friend Tony Dowler. He was gracious enough to let us build on his concept and carry it through to the shape you see today.