When comparing Dungeon World vs Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, the Slant community recommends Dungeon World for most people. In the question“What are the best tabletop RPGs?” Dungeon World is ranked 4th while Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition is ranked 16th. The most important reason people chose Dungeon World is:
Unlike other RPGs where the GM creates the world and the storyline single-handedly, here GMs are specifically asked to leave blanks and players encouraged to fill them in.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Encourages players and the GM to build the world collaboratively
Unlike other RPGs where the GM creates the world and the storyline single-handedly, here GMs are specifically asked to leave blanks and players encouraged to fill them in.
Pro Great advice and systems to help GMs along
Dungeon World provides GMs with great advice on how to run a good session.
Additionally, GMs can set conditions that, if fulfilled, will give a player XP. It gives the GM a way of enticing players to perform certain actions they might not otherwise have considered or wanted to perform.
Pro Encourages creating relationships between characters
Relationships between characters are established during the character creation process as well as at the end of each session via Bonds. Bonds are simple statements that explain how a character relates to another character. An example of a bond would be, "Avon proved himself a coward in the dungeons of Xax’takar. He is a dangerous liability to the party and must be watched." Multiple bonds can be established at a time. At the end of each session bonds resolved and new ones created give XP.
Pro Narrative driven fantasy RPG
Dungeon World is set in a D&D-esque world with a distinct slant towards combat and treasure gathering while emphasizing narrative over combat mechanics.
The game includes classic fantasy RPG classes such as Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Thief and Wizard and D&D style ability scores such as Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
Pro Has a self-regulating power balance system
In Dungeon World, XP is given for failures, and automatically for any rolls that are 6 or below. It provides many benefits and chief among them is the fact that it allows players to catch up to the difficulty of challenges faced. Additionally, it encourages the group to attempt harder challenges, reduces grief caused by failure and clears the GM from having to track each individual player's level.
Pro Encourages playing according to character's way of thinking and morality
XP is given at the end of the session if a character is acting according to alignment. Alignments are categorized as Good, Lawful, Neutral, Chaotic, and Evil.
Pro Does not require special dice
The game can be played with common six-sided dice.
Pro Minimal rules though somewhat clumsy
5th Edition strikes a balance in keeping the rules simple in some areas, confusing and poorly thought out in others, while limiting the creativity of players and any real choice.
Pro Free basic rules PDFs
Wizards of the Coast provides free PDFs containing the complete core mechanical rules of 5th Edition D&D (combat, exploration, spellcasting, etc.) and a selection of iconic character options, monsters, magic items, etc. drawn from the full game. Though short on variety, the basic rules are almost playable and accurate to the full game.
Of course far more is free in older editions as well as cheaper, 5e is by far the most expensive edition, and it is almost as bad as 4th edition.
Pro Slightly encourages character immersion
Few core aspects of 5th Edition exist solely to encourage thinking in-character, including mechanical rewards for good roleplay and detailed character backgrounds with lasting effects in the game.
Pro Bounded accuracy
Bounded Accuracy is a core design ideal of 5th Edition. In short, it means the numbers don't get too big; this lets weak challenges remain relevant for longer, and strong ones become survivable sooner. In practice, it also places more focus on a character's inherent stats and less their class or on magical equipment than has been the case in recent editions, which is a another major downside to 5e.
Pro OGL content
As with other editions of the game, much of the content is released under the Open Game License (OGL) allowing custom modification, extension and alteration of the game.
Pro Advantage rule
Rolls 2d20 chooses best. This dramatically makes all classes feel the same and moves away from distinct, interesting classes.
Pro Lacks granularity
Overuse of lazy balancing systems such as concentration spells and advantage mechanic.
This removes player choices, fun and creativity.
Pro A good mix of the best rules of the previous D&D editions without the worst things
Pro New, popular & growing
This is the most recent edition of the game and is the only one for which official content is being produced. Do not expect to see new official adventures or splatbooks published for any of the older editions of D&D.
Cons
Con Hard for the GM with non-collaborative players
Con Combat system can be confusing for some
Dungeon World's combat system is not divided into turns in order to make it more fluid. But it can get confusing as to what happens in what order. It is purposefully frantic, but that can turn off some. Especially people with preconceived notions of how RPGs should be played.
In the most basic form - GMs narrate the beginning of an NPC's action to which the player responds. If the player's response triggers a move, roll the dice. GM narrates the conclusion.
Con It's not entirely free
The text is CC-BY but the game as a whole (graphics etc) is not free. You can make and sell your own games based off it but you won't find the PDF download for free anywhere.
Con You support Adam Koebel, a very controversial person
Con Lack of granularity
Due to the simplicity of the rules, responsibility lies with the GM to govern the game rather than hard and fast rules.
Con Lacks the soul of older versions
Con It's too combat-oriented
It's meant for fight-y campaigns. Way too simple too.
Con Bland classes and races compred to other versions of DnD
Overuse of concentration mechanic, no racial stat modifiers and hardly any differences at all between races and classes, compared to previous editions.
Con Only popular because most people playing it have not tried any other systems.
Only justification for the system is to let critical role bring more people into the hobby. Once players try Warhammer, Vampire or AD&D 2e, they will have no need to return to 5e.
Con Worse mechanics than other versions of DnD
Especially spells, races and classes are dumbed down with lazy attempts to balance them, blocking player creativity.
Con Too shallow
Easy to learn, but not much to the game overall. Limited character depth and customization.
Con Very unbalanced
Thieves and Rangers are pretty much useless.
Con Casters are more powerful than noncasters
Con Almost no published material for 5e
WoTC has been super lazy since 3,5 and even that had only a third of the material available that TSR published for AD&D 2e.
Is is sad that WoTC after 7 years has not supported 5e or other versions better.
This is a great reason to look into 2e or 3,5e systems instead of 5e.