from original article by Mike Shea.
As written Dungeon World fronts are already nicely stripped down ways to think about the major threats in your shared world. Some of the concepts, however, can be a little obscure and, for some, not as useful. Instead, we can break down fronts into a more simplified form. Here's an example:
- Who is the major NPC?
- What is their goal?
- Who is their lieutenant?
- What group enforces their will?
This alone is usually enough to build out a nice front. In any campaign its probably worth having three such fronts to keep things complicated and engaging. As fronts get wiped out, new fronts might appear. More than three might become too complicated to manage. Fewer than three makes the game feel a little too simple.
Grim Portents, the Impending Doom, and the 5x5 Method[]
Apocalypse World had a wonderfully named component referred to as the Armageddon Clock. Dungeon World renamed this the Impending Doom . If the PCs do nothing, what horror will villain unleash on the world?
The Impending Doom is led to by Grim Portents . What are the visible steps the villains will take to inflict their doom upon the world? This is very similar to Dave Chalker's 5x5 Method in which you define five major threats and the five steps those threats need to take to reach their goal. It's a simple and elegant solution that builds a wonderfully complicated nest of problems and threats in which your PCs can get involved.
It also doesn't take a whole lot of time.
It certainly doesn't need to be five steps either. Three steps are usually easier to come up with.
Andrea Parducci created a printable copy of the Armegeddon Clock for DW.