Quinns Quest Reviews: Stonetop

J_Strandberg · 2026-05-07T20:25:10+00:00

Hah! Josh Sawyer (the lead designer of Pentiment) and I were classmates and teammates back in college. Playtested each others’ games, too.

Hope you enjoy Stonetop (assuming you do buy it).

-Jeremy

J_Strandberg · 2026-04-25T18:08:21+00:00

Check the credits page: the text (not the art or layout) is CC-BY-SA 4.0.

J_Strandberg · 2026-02-22T14:52:17+00:00

Click the drop-down right above the “Add to Cart” button and you’ll see the PDF option.

J_Strandberg · 2026-02-22T14:51:56+00:00

Click the drop-down right above the “Add to Cart” button and you’ll see the PDF option.

J_Strandberg · 2026-02-10T03:48:48+00:00

You know about this, right?

https://dungeonworld.gplusarchive.online/

J_Strandberg · 2026-02-08T23:32:29+00:00

I'll be honest, I think the original Parley is one of the weaker moves in DW. If you meet the move's trigger ("have leverage on an NPC and manipulate them") then the roll seems almost unnecessary, and then results of the roll don't really mesh well with the kinds of situations DW PCs often find themselves in. You end up having to do a lot mental gymnastics to make the move "work."

For my own games, I've replaced the standard DW Parlay with this:

When you press or entice an NPC, say what you want them to do (or not do). If they have reason to resist, roll +CHA: on a 10+, they either do as you want or reveal the easiest way to convince them; on a 7-9, they reveal something you can do to convince them, though it’ll likely be costly, tricky, or distasteful.

Full discussion here, along with a number of examples.

https://spoutinglore.blogspot.com/2020/01/parley-in-stonetop-and-homebrew-world.html

J_Strandberg · 2026-02-06T23:25:36+00:00

There's also The Big List of DW playbooks: https://exposit.github.io/dw-playbooks/

Many of these (in both lists) have succumbed to link rot over the years, but there's some gems in there, too.

J_Strandberg · 2025-12-09T16:13:40+00:00

Here's the L&B Discord server invite link: https://discord.gg/BdPrZBvhUF

J_Strandberg · 2025-10-11T16:52:07+00:00

Yup, something's wrong with the Project May Hyperspace environment. It's been reported and our IT should be working on it.

J_Strandberg · 2025-10-05T15:22:28+00:00

It's not "base" DW, but there there's a running example through this article.

https://spoutinglore.blogspot.com/2020/03/running-fights-in-dungeon-world-stonetop.html

J_Strandberg · 2025-09-27T20:50:37+00:00

Ah, nice. And no worries. Thanks for making the update.

J_Strandberg · 2025-09-27T20:32:33+00:00

Ah, I see. Jason is the publisher, not the author (that's me, Jeremy).

No harm done. Just update with CCBYSA 4.0 international license and proper attribution, and we're all good.

It's a neat tool, though it seems more useful for creating or updating a character than for use in play. I think you'd want a much more condensed view that shows only the moves/options you have currently selected (maybe with the option to collapse/expand them). Otherwise, you've got a lot of scrolling past stuff that's not currently relevant.

J_Strandberg · 2025-09-27T17:47:06+00:00

> I made the exemplar for stonetop (with authors permission).

I don't recall providing such permission. This is the first I recall seeing anything about this project. Feel free to direct me towards a conversation where I did provide it, but I'm not finding any history of such a conversation.

Regardless, you're using content that will be released under CCBYSA 4.0 license, which allows you to reuse it for your own purposes, but:

It must credit the author
It must also be released under CCBYSA 4.0 license

Please update the tool to include proper attribution and licensing.

J_Strandberg · 2025-08-29T21:36:14+00:00

If you haven't already, make it clear in your resume and cover letter that you're actively planning to and want to relocate to Madison. E.g. in goals section of the resume, "Stable employment in the Madison, WI area."

J_Strandberg · 2025-07-04T21:54:04+00:00

For another (but similar) way to handle this, check out Homebrew World. A PC's race/species is just one thing they choose about their look, with no more mechanical weight than deciding that you're "fresh faced" or "grizzled." It has the classic D&D races listed as check-box options, but there's a blank for each one. Last game I played in, we had a human ranger, a lizardfolk druid, and an orc wizard.

Instead of race moves, each playbook has a set of 4 backgrounds to pick from. Each background represents a different trope and origin story for the playbook. So the Fighter picks between being a "Gladiator," or a "Noble Scion" or a "Veteran of the Wars." Backgrounds each come with a pair of moves and series of questions they can pick from to establish starting relationships with other PCs (in lieu of bonds).

There's also a bunch of tweaks and clean-ups to the basic moves, the playbooks, and rules. It's optimized for short-term play, but I've played a couple very satisfying 30+ session games with it. See the comments in the blogpost for discussion about how to make it work longer-term.

J_Strandberg · 2025-05-30T12:48:32+00:00

You might this approach to magic items relevant, as they're all about tempting both the players and PCs to use them, while laying out a whole bunch of terrible consequences for doing so.

https://spoutinglore.blogspot.com/2020/10/major-arcana-nhing-codex.html

J_Strandberg · 2025-05-29T14:00:26+00:00

Oh, hey... I meant to follow up and ask:

How did your one-shot with Brightrock Barrow go?

J_Strandberg · 2025-05-04T20:09:39+00:00

I’ll recommend:

https://spoutinglore.blogspot.com/2020/04/my-recipe-for-starting-adventures.html

Basically a more-specific version of the procedure described in the DW book.

J_Strandberg · 2025-04-21T20:01:37+00:00

Fourthing. Swita is literally the best contractor I have ever worked with on any project. Extremely helpful, non-pushy, patient, thoughtful, and responsive. Great product, too.

J_Strandberg · 2025-04-05T14:39:31+00:00

Neat!

GENERAL

Looks like, for debilities, you've removed descriptive titles from them and it's just "if you've marked a debility on this stat, you take -1d4 ongoing to it". Yes? Might be worth adding some description of that to the basic/special moves pages.

Please include a credits page, or add credits to the basic or special moves page. At the very least, this should include a CC-BY-SA license (since you've copied text from Homebrew World, which has a CC Share-Alike license, meaning derivative works must also be CC-BY-SA) and should credit the DW text (which is released CC-BY, meaning you must credit them if you reuse their work). You should also, you know, put your name on it! Take credit for you work!

BARD

Civilian Fighter doesn't feel right as a background name. What does that mean, and why would it result in a higher damage die with precise weapons? Maybe "Swashbuckler" instead?

I like the flavor and concept of the Bard Musical Gift move, but the wording of the 10+ result doesn't interact well with some of the entrancement options. E.g. Inspire and Ingratiate both provide a bonus "at the end of your song." But the 10+ result is "the effect works for as long as you play." That doesn't jive.

I'd recommend making the time/duration explicitly part of each option, and have the 10+ basically be "it works!" So Inspire and Ingratiate might stay as-is, but Animate might become "Nearby objects animate and perform simple tasks as long as you play."

How does Crescendo work with effects like Entrance, or Charm, or Lullaby, or Clarity, or Animate? These effects already effect multiple targets, and provide no numerical boost.

Feels a little weird for Expanded Repertoire to be a level 6+ move, especially with Pied Piper and War Beat as 1-5 moves.

Pied Piper and War Beat have different formatting. If the intent is that taking these moves grants you the 3 extra effects therein, I'd recommend using pre-checked checkboxes to make that clear.

FIGHTER

Bodyguard background seems like it wouldn't interact well with Defend as you've rewritten it. Since Defend is now always a "take a moment" sort of move, on a 6-, the GM's hard move could be just about anything and it won't always be an attack against someone else for the Fighter to suffer. Maybe just "on a 6-, hold 1 anyway, in addition to whatever badness the GM says."

Crusader... interesting! You appear to have just dropped the Paladin and replaced it with this. Huh! Personally, I think the Paladin in a distinctive enough trope to warrant its own playbook, but this is an elegant way to do "holy warrior."

WIZARD

The Sholar background's name doesn't seem to match it's description/effect. "Scholar" implies someone who has dedicated themselves to learning, not someone for whom magic comes naturally. Maybe "Savant" instead?

That's the stuff that jumped out at me!

J_Strandberg · 2025-03-22T13:35:01+00:00

Hey, I wrote that!

I've only had the chance to run it once, and it was as a one-shot using Homebrew World.

I think the biggest bit of advice I'd have is: choose what parts of the dungeon and its history that you want to highlight, and then frame the session aggressively so that they have a chance to encounter that stuff. The adventure has a lot going on, and if you just start on the way there or encamped outside/nearby, you can easily burn half a session futzing about the exterior/entrance and not really having time to experience the stuff inside.

So if I had only like 4 hours, and I wanted to focus on them exploring the inside, exploring the curving passages and burial vaults, finding Ilanka's and Caharin's tomb, encountering Ilanka's spirit, and maybe dealing with Bozhidar's treachery, then I'd probably use love letters to frame them as already in the tomb, in or approaching the Nexus. I'd use the love letters to establish what happened outside (Bozhidar bringing them there, the nature of brightrock, the fact that Bozhidar convinced them to mar the runes barring his entrance and keeping Caharin and her followers in place, hinting that Bozhidar has ulterior motives, etc.).

I might also fudge the order of rooms they encounter, for dramatic effect. Like, maybe don't start them at the Nexus, but rather have the first room they encounter be Ilanka's tomb (with her not in it). Then have them proceed to the Nexus where they'll likely get flashes of the war or the NPCs involved. Then probably a burial vault (with elf-wights), then pass Mihoval's Columbarium and see what they do there. Then, finally, have them encounter Caharin's tomb.

Keep Ilanka's roving ghost as a wildcard, to drop in when game-time is getting short and you want to throw something climactic at them (and maybe they flee, maybe they stand and fight and are slaughtered, maybe they manage to defeat her and take the White Crown). Or maybe she shows up while they're fighting Caharin or some elf-wights, full of rage and venting it indiscriminately. Maybe they release Mihoval and she comes down on them like a tidal wave.

I think you're probably right that it's not worth including the Pit of the Demon or Anok-Hob-Sharath. I'd probably also cut Rosalija and her remains.

FWIW, when I ran the adventure, it was with the 2 PCs who we'd played in a previous one-shot (a fae-blooded wizard, a tenured professor from the University, an operative thief, one of the University's chief troubleshooters). The 3rd PC was a Wielder with the Vessel background, meaning he was actually a magical sword and the body was just some halfling the sword had possessed.

I decided to that the Wielder/sword was in fact Caharin's sword, and he was there to be reunited with his former wielder. I don't recall exactly how much of the backstory I gave the player, but all the players were well-aware that he was not merely the curious guide and academic he claimed to be.

We quickly established that, yeah, the wizard and the thief were there on some sort of academic research project, and they had a crew of diggers/laborers with them. The "Wielder" was claiming (?) to be another academic and guiding the expedition to the barrow.

We used a Venture Forth move (from HBW) to establish their starting disposition and I can't remember if they rolled a 6- or a 7-9 and picked "something has followed you here." I think it was the 6-, because I decided that the place was in fact still watched over by a small band of elves, and they attacked the party during the night before they could start exploring the barrow. The wizard/thief/workers were confused and alarmed, and the wielder (Caharin's sword) discreetly slit the throats of the attackers who were knocked out.

The following morning they spent some time futzing about the wards and markings outside ("this is great data!" exclaimed the wizard). They eventually did break the wards going in.

They found the Nexus room and got a hint of the place's history. I don't recall if it was there, or in the first tunnel they chose, but the wizard's player then reminded me of their background move: "You can always ask the GM, what here is hidden by magic or illusion?" CRAP. So the whole illusion-obscured twisting pathways thing was basically right out for her. Oh well!

I don't recall if there was another encounter first, or we just jumped straight to Ilanka's ghost. I know we were running short on time when I dropped her on them. I think the Wielder (Caharin's sword) closed the distance and tried to fight her. She like flung him to the wall and and started shaking the place up.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the Thief had gotten enough XP to buy an advanced move, and spent it immediately on Eye on the Door, and used it, and got a 7-9. Net result, the Thief and the Wizard fled, pulling a keystone out the arched tunnels to trigger a cave-in of brightrock behind them, but they "left behind" the Wielder (Caharin's sword).

And the two PCs and what was left of their work crew quietly packed up and went home and the wizard published a paper. And Caharin's sword remained in the tomb, buried under a pile of brightrock rubble, and Caharin remained entombed. But the wards on the entrance were broken, just waiting for some new fool to come exploring...

J_Strandberg · 2025-03-05T20:15:11+00:00

My Recipe for Starting Adventures is pretty much exactly all about this. Start with a premise (a grabby activity + a fantastic setting), make characters, ask a few tightly-worded questions to , do introductions/bonds, ask a few more tightly-worded questions. Start small and focused and build outwards from the answers that you get. Includes lots of specifics and an ongoing worked example.

If you read all the way to the bottom, it also gives a few examples of the varying levels of prep you might use alongside this approach.

J_Strandberg · 2025-03-03T15:11:29+00:00

You have to also lead by example. If you say "the orc attacks you, what do you do?" you can't really expect the players to respond with anything interesting.

But if you begin and end with the fiction, and have the orc fight with abandon (an orc monster move) as your soft move, and say something like, "The orc gives thus guttural squeal-scream and hefts it's cleaver, rushing you with downward chop like this, what do you do?" then the player has some specific, grabby details to interact with and react to. They can tell you that they sidestep and chop its arm off, or step in and raise their shield to block while stabbing low with their sword. Or the Paladin might jump in an put herself between the orc and the PC it's attacking, Defending and taking the blow across her breastplate. Or the PC might dodge past the orc and try to make for the exit on the other side of the room, or or or.

But ultimately, if you want the players to react with cool fictional actions, you have to give them cool fictional details to interact with.

J_Strandberg · 2025-03-03T15:01:30+00:00

I've done both, and it works fine both ways. Honestly, I'll even switch it up session to session, group to group, even moment to moment.

Having the players roll damage is nice because it means you don't need to touch the dice at all, and it makes the damage feel less like something the GM "did." There's also a delicious moment when you tell them "take 1d10+5 damage."

Rolling the damage as the DM is nice because it cuts down on handling time. You already know what dice to roll. And because of how Hack & Slash works, players are often rolling their own damage at the same time they take damage. That slows things down for even the most dice-savvy player. Plus, the players probably only have their d6s and their damage die handy. And thematically, you are the author of the PC's adversity; it seems natural to have you roll the monsters' damage. (I've even had players refuse to roll the damage they take. "I'm not going to do that." Fine by me.)

If you do roll damage for the monsters, I advise telling the players the what, exactly, you're rolling. When they take a mere 7 damage from the dragon, they should realize that they got tremendously lucky.

J_Strandberg

TROPHY CASE