The World

Overview

• Much of adventuring is spent in dusty tombs and places of terror. When the characters
  emerge — laden with spoils or beaten and bloody — they seek the comforts of
  civilization: a warm bath, mead and bread, the company of fellow folk. Thoughts of
  these places often keep an adventurer from giving up entirely.
• This chapter covers the wider world outside the dungeon. The GM's fronts shape the
  world; the world reflects the players' actions to stop or redirect them.

Steadings

• Steadings (as in "homestead") are all the communities and holds with a place to
  stay and some modicum of civilization — at least a handful of inhabitants (usually
  humans) and some stable structures. As big as a capital city, as small as a few
  ramshackle buildings.

Creating the World

• When the players leave the first adventure's site for civilization, start drawing
  the campaign map: a large sheet of paper (pencil — this map will change), placed
  where everyone can see. Mark the adventure site near the center, small, leaving room
  to grow. To-scale or abstract, your preference — just make it obvious.
• Add the nearest steading — where they rest and resupply — within a day or two of
  the adventure site (a short trip over rough terrain, or wider by road), and fill the
  space between with terrain features.
• With time (after the session, or during a break) create the first steading using the
  rules below, and add marks for other places mentioned so far — from character
  creation or the steading rules.

While You're In Town...

• Steading visits unlock special moves — covering respite, reinvigoration, and resupply.
  They still follow the fictional flow: on arrival, ask "What do you do?"
• A steading is not a break from reality: you still make hard moves when necessary,
  and the players' actions (or inaction) advance your fronts. The impending doom is
  always there — fought in the dungeon or ignored in the tavern.
• Don't let a visit become permanent respite. If players ignore that Dungeon World is
  dangerous, they hand you a golden opportunity for a hard move. Fill their lives with
  adventure whether they seek it or not.

Elements of a Steading

• A steading is described by tags. All steadings have prosperity, population,
  and defenses tags; many have more unusual ones.
• Four sizes (how many people the steading can support; population tags tell you if
  the current population is above or below that):
  • Village — smallest, usually off the main roads. Defense is rabble with
    pitchforks, if anything. Sits near an easily exploitable resource (rich soil, fish,
    old forest, mine). Trades mostly among themselves; coin is scarce.
  • Town — a hundred or so inhabitants; springs up around a mill, trading post, or
    inn. Fields, farms, livestock; maybe a farmer militia. Basic goods, a local product
    or two, some trade with travelers.
  • Keep — built specifically for defense of an important location (river delta,
    gold mine) at civilization's frontier edges. Tough folk, a hundred to a thousand.
    Little beyond supplies traded from nearby villages — but almost always arms and
    armor, sometimes a rare magic item from the local wilds.
  • City — largest, from trade hub to metropolis. Many races and kinds; at trade
    route confluences or places of spiritual significance. Rely on nearby villages for
    food and raw materials, but always have crafted goods and stranger things for sale.
• Tag math: -Category moves down one tag (Moderate → Poor); +Category moves up
  (Shrinking → Steady). Tags compare like numbers: lowest tag = 1 (Dirt), each next = 2,
  3, etc.
• Tags change over play — creation is only a snapshot. As time passes and fronts
  progress, steadings change with the world.

Adding Steadings

• The first steading appears with the campaign map (name and location only at first),
  usually a village — a town if the first adventure was closely tied to humans.
• Then add places referenced in its tags (oath, trade, enmity) or mentioned in play.
  Don't add too much in the first session — leave blanks and places to explore.
• As play progresses, add new steadings, dungeons, and locations as they're discovered
  or heard about. Villages sit near resources; towns at trading crossroads; keeps watch
  important locations; cities rely on smaller steads; dungeons anywhere and in many forms.
• Add distinctive features nearby — forests, standing stones, abandoned castles. A map
  of only steadings and ruins is dull; don't neglect what's in-between.

Steading Tags

Prosperity

• Dirt — nothing for sale; nobody has more than they need. Unskilled labor is cheap.
• Poor — bare necessities only; weapons scarce unless defended or militant.
  Unskilled labor readily available.
• Moderate — most mundane items available; some skilled laborers.
• Wealthy — any mundane item; most skilled laborers available (demand is high).
• Rich — mundane items and more, if you know where to look; specialist labor at
  high prices.

Population

• Exodus — population lost, on the verge of collapse.
• Shrinking — less than it once was; buildings stand empty.
• Steady — in line with the steading's size; some slow growth.
• Growing — more people than buildings.
• Booming — resources stretched thin keeping up with the people.

Defenses

• None — clubs, torches, farming tools.
• Militia — able-bodied volunteers with worn weapons; no standing force.
• Watch — a few watchers who settle small problems and summon the militia.
• Guard — armed defenders at all times, pool under 100; always at least one patrol.
• Garrison — armed defenders at all times, pool 100–300; multiple constant patrols.
• Battalion — up to 1,000 defenders; manned, maintained defenses.
• Legion — thousands of soldiers; intimidating defenses.

Other Tags

• Safe — outside trouble doesn't come until the players bring it. Idyllic, often
  hidden. If another beneficial tag would be lost or degraded, lose Safe instead.
• Religion — the listed deity is revered here.
• Exotic — goods and services found nowhere else nearby. List them.
• Resource — easy access to the listed resource (spice, ore, fish, grapes); it's
  significantly cheaper.
• Need — acute or ongoing need for the listed resource; it sells for considerably more.
• Oath — sworn oaths (generally fealty or support) to the listed steadings.
• Trade — regularly trades with the listed steadings.
• Market — everyone comes here to trade; available goods may exceed prosperity.
  +1 to Supply.
• Enmity — holds a grudge against the listed steadings.
• History — something important happened here: Battle, Miracle, Myth, Romance,
  Tragedy (or make up your own).
• Arcane — someone can cast arcane spells for a price; draws more casters. +1 to
  Recruit when seeking an adept.
• Divine — major religious presence (cathedral, monastery); heals, maybe raises the
  dead, for donation or quest. +1 to recruit priests.
• Guild — the listed guild has major presence and influence; +1 to recruit
  hirelings the guild is associated with.
• Personage — a notable person lives here; name them and note why they're notable.
• Dwarven / Elven — significantly or entirely dwarves/elves; their goods more
  common and cheaper.
• Craft — known for excellence in the listed craft; its items are better or more
  readily available.
• Lawless — crime rampant; authority weak.
• Blight — a recurring problem, usually a type of monster.
• Power — holds sway of some type: Political, Divine, or Arcane.

Steading Names

Graybark, Nook's Crossing, Tanner's Ford, Goldenfield, Barrowbridge, Rum River,
Brindenburg, Shambles, Covaner, Enfield, Crystal Falls, Castle Daunting, Nulty's
Harbor, Castonshire, Cornwood, Irongate, Mayhill, Pigton, Crosses, Battlemoore, Torsea,
Curland, Snowcalm, Seawall, Varlosh, Terminum, Avonia, Bucksburg, Settledown, Goblinjaw,
Hammerford, Pit, The Gray Fast, Ennet Bend, Harrison's Hold, Fortress Andwynne, Blackstone

Making a Village

• Default: Poor, Steady, Militia, Resource (your choice), Oath (your choice).
• If part of a kingdom or empire, choose one:
  • Naturally defended: Safe, -Defenses
  • Abundant resources: +Prosperity, Resource, Enmity (your choice)
  • Under another steading's protection: Oath (that steading), +Defenses
  • On a major road: Trade (your choice), +Prosperity
  • Built around a wizard's tower: Personage (the wizard), Blight (arcane creatures)
  • Built on a site of religious significance: Divine, History (your choice)
• Choose one problem:
  • Arid or uncultivable land: Need (Food)
  • Dedicated to a deity: Religion (that deity), Enmity (a settlement of another deity)
  • Recently fought a battle: -Population, -Prosperity (if fought to the end), -Defenses (if lost)
  • Monster problem: Blight (that monster), Need (adventurers)
  • Absorbed another village: +Population, Lawless
  • Remote or unwelcoming: -Prosperity, Dwarven or Elven

Making a Town

• Default: Moderate, Steady, Watch, Trade (two of your choice).
• If listed as Trade by another steading, choose one:
  • Booming: Booming, Lawless
  • On a crossroads: Market, +Prosperity
  • Defended by another steading: Oath (that steading), +Defenses
  • Built around a church: Power (Divine)
  • Built around a craft: Craft (your choice), Resource (required for that craft)
  • Built around a military post: +Defenses
• Choose one problem:
  • Outgrown an important supply: Need (that resource), Trade (a source of it)
  • Offers defense to others: Oath (your choice), -Defenses
  • Notorious outlaw rumored to live there: Personage (the outlaw), Enmity (where the
    crimes were committed)
  • Cornered a market on a good or service: Exotic (that good/service), Enmity (a
    settlement with ambition)
  • Disease: -Population
  • Popular meeting place: +Population, Lawless

Making a Keep

• Default: Poor, Shrinking, Guard, Need (Supplies), Trade (someplace with supplies),
  Oath (your choice).
• If owed fealty by at least one settlement, choose one:
  • Belongs to a noble family: +Prosperity, Power (Political)
  • Run by a skilled commander: Personage (the commander), +Defenses
  • Stands watch over a trade road: +Prosperity, Guild (trade)
  • Used to train special troops: Arcane, -Population
  • Surrounded by fertile land: remove Need (Supplies)
  • Stands on a border: +Defenses, Enmity (steading across the border)
• Choose one problem:
  • Naturally defensible position: Safe, -Population
  • Conquest from another power: Enmity (steadings of that power)
  • Safe haven for brigands: Lawless
  • Built to defend from a specific threat: Blight (that threat)
  • Seen horrible bloody war: History (Battle), Blight (Restless Spirits)
  • Given the worst of the worst: Need (Skilled Recruits)

Making a City

• Default: Moderate, Steady, Guard, Market, Guild (one of your choice); Oaths with
  at least two other steadings (usually a town and a keep).
• If it has trade with at least one steading and fealty from at least one, choose one:
  • Permanent defenses like walls: +Defenses, Oath (your choice)
  • Ruled by a single individual: Personage (the ruler), Power (Political)
  • Diverse: Dwarven or Elven or both
  • Trade hub: Trade (every steading nearby), +Prosperity
  • Ancient, built atop its own ruins: History (your choice), Divine
  • Center of learning: Arcane, Craft (your choice), Power (Arcane)
• Choose one problem:
  • Outgrown its resources: +Population, Need (food)
  • Designs on nearby territory: Enmity (nearby steadings), +Defenses
  • Ruled by a theocracy: -Defenses, Power (Divine)
  • Ruled by the people: -Defenses, +Population
  • Supernatural defenses: +Defenses, Blight (related supernatural creatures)
  • Lies on a place of power: Arcane, Personage (whoever watches it), Blight (arcane
    creatures)

Fronts on the Campaign Map

• Fronts appear on the map indirectly — they're organizational tools, not things the
  characters think about. Don't draw the front; add a feature that indicates its
  presence, labeled with the name the characters would use, not yours.
• The orcs of Olg'gothal: a burning village left behind, distant fires at night, a
  stream of refugees. Lord Xothal the lich: a tower where dead plants take root and grow.
• As fronts change, change the map: cleanse the tower, redraw it; drive off the orcs,
  erase the refugees.

Updating the Campaign Map

• Update between sessions or during significant downtime in a safe place. Updates run
  both ways: events change tags, and changed tags show in the fiction (a bigger fighting
  force means more armored men in the street).

• Between each session, check each condition in order for all steadings before
  moving to the next condition:

• Growth — a booming village or town with prosperity above Moderate may reduce
  prosperity and defenses to become the next largest type. New towns immediately gain
  Market; new cities immediately gain Guild (your choice).

• Collapse — population Exodus + prosperity Poor or less = shrinks. City → town
  (steady, +prosperity). Keep → town (+defenses, steady). Town → village (steady,
  +prosperity). Village → ghost town.

• Want — an unfulfilled need: -prosperity, -population, or lose a tag based on that
  resource (craft, trade) — your choice.

• Trade — trade blocked (source gone, route endangered, politics): gain Need (a
  traded good) or take -prosperity.

• Capture — a resource changes hands: remove it from the old owner's tags, add it to
  the new owner's. A craft or trade based on it becomes Need (that resource); the new
  owner's Need for it is erased.

• Profit — more trade than current prosperity: +prosperity.

• Surplus — a resource another steading needs (unless enmity prevents it): trade
  forms. Resource-holder gets +prosperity plus their choice of Oaths, +population, or
  +defenses; the needy steading erases the Need and adds Trade.

• Aid — oaths to a steading under attack: take -defenses to give the attacked
  steading +defenses.

• Embattled — surrounded by enemies: fighting back costs -defenses (and -prosperity
  if defenses drop to Watch or less); waiting it out costs -population (and a tag of
  your choice if population drops to Shrinking or less). If its defenses outclass the
  attacker's, it's no longer surrounded.

• Opportunity — enmity against a weaker steading: subtract the distance (in rations)
  between them from the attacker's defenses; if the result beats the defender's defenses
  plus one per step of size difference (village→town, town→keep, keep→city), they
  definitely attack — otherwise your call (anything stoked their anger lately?).
  Embattled rules apply to the defender while the attack lasts, at -defenses.

• Clash — two steadings attack each other: forces meet between them. Evenly matched:
  both take -defenses and go home. One advantaged: it takes -defenses, the other -2 defenses.

• Other updates — these are the basics; fronts and players make things far more
  complex. Tags are descriptive — add them as needed to reflect the players' actions
  and your fronts' effe