World of Dungeons is a great game by John Harper, kind of a demake of Dungeon World. Even if you’re not really into story game-ish mechanics, World of Dungeons does a lot of fun things, I’m especially fond of its magic system, where Wizards are abusing quicksilver and binding spirits to do their bidding.
One thing I do not like, however, is the skill system. World of Dungeons operates on a 2d6 roll, often plus or minus a small number based on an appropriate attribute. Results of a 6 or less is a total failure, 7-9 is a complication where you sort of get what your character wanted at a cost, and 10 plus is a total success.
When you are rolling and have a relevant skill trained you can never failure. What is suggested is that the character suffers the mixed complication, but one that is worse than had they rolled a 7-9. I feel this is annoying on several levels.
One is just that I feel completely removing the chance for failure is thematically unaligned with the source material. I feel that it removes the possibility for a style of GMing that I am partial to – where even if there is a small minute sliver of a chance of a character succeeding, they get a shot at rolling. Why this is removed is because I now have to grant a partial success to someone with a relevant skill no matter how crazy or incredulous the situation is.
The other aspect of the skill system that particularly bothers me is that it adds a conditional fourth tier of resolution. Not only do I have to be able to think up (or ask for) complications on the fly, but then I also have to be able to twist them ever so slightly. There is no guidance for how to accomplish this. This ALWAYS slows down my game.
I do not run a ton of World of Dungeons any more, but I think when I do next I will just house rule skills to roll 3d6, dropping the lowest result. This gives the character a benefit for taking the skill, while still keeping the chance of failure present.
Let me know what you think of this or your experiences or thoughts working with skills in World of Dungeons.