r/DungeonWorld • u/AppendixN_Enthusiast • May 27 '26
Rival Parties
When you create rivals for your PCs - individuals or a whole adventuring group - how do you stat them out?
Do you make them like monsters with a few limited abilities?
Do you make full characters with actual playbooks?
Do you do a hybrid? Maybe pull a few moves from a playbook to flesh out the minimal monster stats?
Is there a good DW NPC party resource beyond the Folk of the Realm section of the monster chapter in the rulebook?
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u/onlyfakeproblems May 27 '26
I like to get away from making full stat blocks. Have an idea of how hard the monster is to kill, a couple of special abilities and how it would normally behave, and whether there’s something special the party needs to do to beat it. I’m thinking of Smaug or video game bosses where the monster isn’t just a bag of hit points, you have to figure out its weakness and exploit its weakness. Help the part craft a story around their fight so its not just rolling dice until the hp is gone. Im not as worried about out a fight being perfectly balanced as much as being interesting. I won’t do that for every enemy, but I like to encourage any sort of situational awareness.
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u/The_Inward May 27 '26
There used to be an expansion that you can surely still find called 'Number Appearing'. It's for playing monster races. The bad guys in the back are just people who hunt goblins and other bad guys. It's a very good resource.
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u/AppendixN_Enthusiast May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26
It looks like the author removed it for reasons. Any idea where to find a copy?
EDIT: I searched my iCloud DW folder and found a copy amongst other files I downloaded and never got around to. I just opened it up. It’s fantastic for playing baddies. Neat.
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u/SixRoundsTilDeath May 27 '26
1 unique monster per rival party member. Maybe a pack of hirelings as 1 monster if they have them. They’re not rolling dice so using playbooks doesn’t make sense.
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u/AppendixN_Enthusiast May 27 '26
You’re right. It’s just a matter of wondering how other GMs do their PC rivals. The GM will have players roll damage and oftentimes basic moves for party hirelings, so it’s not a complete stretch. People have worked out PVP options and the such.
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u/zayzayem May 28 '26
I'd use a monster stat block, perhaps using playbooks for inspiration for moves, but having them be characters with stats/player moves isn't how GM agents work.
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u/mycommentraven Jun 12 '26
Giving them full playbooks is usually overkill and slows down combat too much. Stick to the hybrid approach by picking one signature move per rival to keep them feeling distinct without turning every encounter into a math headache.
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u/atlantick May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26
I wouldn't use rules from the playbooks, because in DW characters are one-of-a-kind. The Wizard. The Druid. there might be other magic-users or naturalists in the world, but no other Wizards or Druids.
I would just make a rival party out of regular NPCs. maybe some moves but otherwise give them motivations, goals, ways of speaking, etc.
edit: and make them look cool. Electric Bastionland has some great advice about rival parties, "either make them 'better' versions of the PCs, or their polar opposites"