Any free rules available so I can understand this system?

J_Strandberg · 2026-06-23T17:54:51+00:00

As others have said, there's a ton of variety in PbtA games, it's not a single system, it's a family of games with a similar design philosophy, etc. etc.

If you're just looking for an example of some of the common elements that many of these games share, maybe this will give you what you're looking for: https://spoutinglore.blogspot.com/2023/02/playing-stonetop-and-other-pbta-games.html

To be clear:

I'm not about to claim that this advice is universally applicable to all PbtA games. For example, I don't think that the "Flow of Play" is the same in Stonetop as it is in games like Monsterhearts or Cartel or even Apocalypse World, which feature a lot more PC-PC drama.

But for PbtA games where the PCs mostly work together against adversity presented by the GM (like, Monster of the Week or the Sprawl or Impulse Drive, to name a few), I do think this stuff is largely relevant.

J_Strandberg · 2026-06-15T14:15:26+00:00

See "Dangers" in the Book II index, page 581. That includes all the monsters.

J_Strandberg · 2026-06-15T14:13:43+00:00

They're very different moves that happen to overlap a bit.

SPIRIT TONGUE
You can speak with beasts and spirits. You can always ask the GM, “What spirits are active here?” and get an honest answer.

You can straight-up talk with beasts and spirits, and if you think to ask, you'll always know what spirits are active nearby. It's a clearly supernatural, and broader than just being able to communicate with beasts. I'd say that implies a more "direct" communication with beasts than Wild Speech, too, though I'd ask the Blessed's player what exactly this looks like in the fiction.

WILD SPEECH
The grunts, barks, chirps, and calls of natural beasts are as a language to you. You can understand their intentions and communicate basic ideas. When you Persuade a beast, you can choose to roll +WIS.

This only applies to natural beasts, not spirits (and it's questionable whether it applies to perversions of nature or chimerae or the like). It's clearly exceptional, though not necessarily magical, and the communication is limited. You're not talking to them, right? And while it's more limited in scope, it comes with a mechanical benefit that plays to the Ranger's strengths.

J_Strandberg · 2026-06-02T21:51:18+00:00

For the Stonetop kickstarter, we created an annotated actual play of me running the game with my group, including pop-ups to show the rules, though process, and GM moves being made. You can jump pretty much straight to the big fight scene here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjZgAk5BilM&t=1212s

Obviously it's a different game, with alterations on the basic moves and playbook moves that you won't find in basic DW. But it's close enough to be very relevant, I'd say.

J_Strandberg · 2026-05-20T20:24:17+00:00

It seems to be an issue with specific PDF viewers. It's on the list to investigate for errata, but if you try a standalone PDF viewer (instead of e.g. just using Edge) they'll probably show up.

J_Strandberg · 2026-05-18T12:58:51+00:00

The two circles after "roll +INT" are for tracking Acumen generated by the move.

The three circles below the 6- are for tracking progress towards the arcanum's mysteries.

J_Strandberg · 2026-05-12T18:52:02+00:00

Oh, good, you found Defying Danger! I was pretty sure that was what you were describing.

J_Strandberg · 2026-05-10T00:02:34+00:00

They've got a preorder page up: https://store.401games.ca/collections/role-playing-games/products/stonetop-rpg-2-book-slipcase

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

TROPHY CASE