David Ewalt, "Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons..."

https://www.amazon.com/Dice-Men-Dungeons-Dragons-People/dp/145164051X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529489269&sr=8-1&keywords=david+ewalt

Dungeon World Sandbox Campaign Arc

I start with Goblin Shrine of the Spider Gods:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=15Sbgsyc_XRRVoIqhWXJw8OvMRdDlOMHX

Then convert to Dungeon World:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=16QDMjicjwLOQUYxXKiNTnl9xTtxGEDw8

The "Upper Caverns" on the Shrine of the Spider Gods map become the lower level of my Unknown Adventure Dungeon: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XuThPajNjMdapZKjsw3acdjbgxtCV1hT

To which I swap out the too similar Ragnar's Axe  for this adventure arc's more colorful the Mace of Mog and update the adventure to its current version. The CC Classes are now purely voluntary.

The "Lower Caverns" on the map I convert to a  morlocks' lair. I place an eloi village in a deceptive paradise "Shangri La" hidden valley near the spider goblin shrine surface entrance. My notes for this became the basis for my Temple in the Dark Dungeon World Starter:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=16_mvyeHaIbADQSZv_oEVN18KlZTBjF3S.

This is more than enough if the party ever gets here.Should I revert to the tougher "cinematic morlocks" as opposed to my H.G. Wells goblin cannibals? I lean that way despite my H.G. write-up as it will help make them different than the spider goblins who are a bit like goth arachnid "pathfinder goblins". I will make these morlocks slow but deadly and less afraid of light.

Cinematic Morlock	Horde, Stealthy, Intelligent, Hoarder
Stone  (d6 damage)	6 HP	0 armor
Close
Special Qualities: Darksight, Blinded by bright light, Slow

Descendants of humans who fled underground long ago,  these morlocks have lost much of their past. Adapted to the dark, they skulk around, fighting to survive in an environment filled with danger. While not stupid, they have been set back millennia technologically, relying on clubs and simple traps to defend their lair and Dark Naga leader.

 Instinct: To protect their lair

• Devour enemies
• They deal an additional +1 damage when attacking in groups
• Avoid sunlight

The spider goblins know of the eloi "halflings" and the "hidden valley" but leave the area alone in an uneasy truce with the morlocks. The spider goblins are noted for raiding human settlements and others in this wilderness area of the "Frozen Waste" already noted for its already dangerous mountains, endless steppe and treacherous taiga.

It a region most avoid despite tales of fabulous lost dwarf cities, mysterious ruins and the associated terrible monsters, cunning traps and awe inspiring treasure hoards.In other words add Jason Lutes' Perilous Wilds as needed:

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/156979/The-Perilous-Wilds

After all the characters start as spider goblin captives. The spider goblins religion is all caused by confused dreams from Mog (somehow via the now lost goblin ESP medallion), who ends up with another giant spider cult he can't stand.

There is a small viking village to the south ("Iceport") by the coast in a remote frontier jarldom called "Markland" :}Otherwise the map is pretty blank for now. I wouldn't be shocked to find the Death Frost Doom dungeon somewhere nearby or the Stellarium of Vinteralf. Or maybe a trip to Newhon?

"Can't Sleep-The Clowns Will Eat Me!" Dungeon World Conversion

Minor Revisions

The Stephanie Bryant Starter: http://trilemma.com/blog/adventures/41%20Clowns.pdf

My Dungeon World Conversion Notes: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KpvH1kELiU30kCYtacz-d4HC3RCQ039U

Fun Fact

Portal Under the Stars Complete Conversion

Wayne Peacock has done something marvelous with my crude conversion notes:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WqdSitGlWO-DT737dqLQaZN_QX_4BTmkL94TCZJetAY/edit?usp=sharing

Mace of Mog

Mace of Mog (Weight 1)

This enchanted mace blessed by the Newhon God Mog allows the character to double their damage roll only against corporeal monsters and hit incorporeal monsters for normal damage. Any bearer of the mace will find their eyes will change to resemble a spider’s eight eyes. This will cost the player four points of charisma as long as the character owns the mace. Should the player lose the mace the effect will fade in a few days. It in no way actually impacts the player’s vision.

Mog

“If there is a God he's a great loathsome spider in the darkness.”
  ― John Fowles, The Collector

Lesser God

Symbol:  Silver medallion with the image of Mog

Home Plane: Newhon

Colors: Black and Silver

Alignment: Neutral (Chaotic Neutral)

Portfolio: Secrets, Arachnids, Underworld, Wealth

Worshipers: Thieves, Explorers, Scholars, Criminals, Assassins, Seers

Cleric Alignments: Neutral

Domains: Spiders, Secrets, Fate and Wealth

Favored Weapons: Mace, Dagger

The Lord of Newhon’s Arachnids rules over creatures both eight-legged and two-, dwelling in the paradisiacal environs of Godsland on Nehwon’s southern continent. Mog’s physical form is that of a four-legged spider with a handsome, but not yet all-together human face. Some say there is a passing resemblance between Mog and “that mongrel and long-suspected cutpurse, burglar, and assassin, the Gray Mouser.”

The Gray Mouser worshipped Mog the Spider God for a time (and also robbed his temple, but Mog was happy for the few worshippers he still has and forgave his wayward son), and by the end of his adventures was one of the god's few surviving worshippers. This god is a human-sized spider with a man's head. His worshippers claim that he sits in the middle of a vast web which contains the fates of all humans. Some say that a human can survive only so long as he or she can evade Mog's grasp. Mog’s worship is now rare. Those few who still worship him usually do so in private in order to avoid the scorn of others. For his part, Mog would like to attract new worshippers, but all his attempts have failed. He does not have a temple on the infamous Street of the Gods in Lankhmar. He is considerably less evil (he is amoral) than often portrayed and sometimes confused with Newhon’s voracious and evil Demon Spider Deity of Ilthmar. He is more like the Anansi, the trickster spider god of African folklore than Lolth.

Mog enjoys hanging out with the Newhon barbarian war god Kos and Death (Newhon).

Mog is always eager to acquire new servants and the players will do nicely. Characters that bear his mace can expect Mog to begin contacting them in their dreams offering rewards for quests and promising curses if ignored. He would like to see the artifact the Mace of Mog recovered so that he can expand his influence further on this Dungeon World…

Anansi is the trickster spider god of West African. He often takes the shape of a spider and is considered to be the god of all knowledge. He is also one of the most important characters of West African and Caribbean folklore.

He is also known as Ananse, Kwaku Ananse, and Anancy; and in the southern United States he has evolved into the “Aunt Nancy” of folklore. He is a spider, but often acts and appears as a man.

The Anansi tales are believed to have originated in the Ashanti people in Ghana. (The word Anansi is Akan and means, simply, spider.) They later spread to other Akan groups and then to the West Indies, Suriname, and the Netherlands Antilles. On Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire he is known as Nanzi, and his wife as Shi Maria.

Anansi is depicted in many different ways. Sometimes he looks like an ordinary spider, sometimes he is a spider wearing clothes or with a human face and sometimes he looks much more like a human with spider elements, such as eight legs.

Orlando Jones plays a version of Anansi on the Showtime cable television series American Gods.

Stranger Things