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[Apocalypse World IRC] The fleeing and collapse of Sodom begins
simonwolf
i can feel a differencetoday, a differenceRegistered User regular
i can feel a differencetoday, a differenceRegistered User regular
"You gotta do what you do best to survive these days, kid, and me? I'm real good at killing. Ain't nothing personal."
- - -
You don't want to be around when Plum walks into a room. She's got eyes like mirrors, ain't nothing you can see through them but a reflection of yourself. I know a guy who tried to touch her, once, he walked out of that place with one less hand. She grabbed a knife and stuck it through the hand on the wall above her table, like she was sayin', that's what happens if you mess with me.
Then she just started having lunch, like it wasn't no goddamn deal that she just maimed a guy.
Bitch is cold, man, and you'll stay away if you know what's good for you and yours.
- - -
- - -
You don't want to be around when Plum walks into a room. She's got eyes like mirrors, ain't nothing you can see through them but a reflection of yourself. I know a guy who tried to touch her, once, he walked out of that place with one less hand. She grabbed a knife and stuck it through the hand on the wall above her table, like she was sayin', that's what happens if you mess with me.
Then she just started having lunch, like it wasn't no goddamn deal that she just maimed a guy.
Bitch is cold, man, and you'll stay away if you know what's good for you and yours.
- - -
APOCALYPSE WORLD
Apocalypse World is a game about living in a world that has been destroyed, shattered, brought to its knees and forced to beg for its enduring survival. There's people alive, sure, but they're living in post-apocalyptica. It's a world where you're surrounded on all sides by fundamental scarcity, and you don't just have to worry about people - the land itself, the air, the feelings in your heart? They're all against you, too.
Nobody remembers how or why. Maybe nobody ever knew. The oldest living survivors have childhood memories of it: cities burning, society in chaos then collapse, families set to panicked flight, the weird nights when the smoldering sky made midnight into a blood-colored half-day.
Now the world is not what it was. Look around you: evidently, certainly, not what it was. But also close your eyes, open your brain: something is wrong. At the limits of perception, something howling, everpresent, full of hate and terror. From this, the world's psychic maelstrom, we none of us have shelter.
- - -
"You got enough barter, you can live for a day - you build yourself an idea and make it real? Man, you'll live forever, you know?"
"You got enough barter, you can live for a day - you build yourself an idea and make it real? Man, you'll live forever, you know?"
- - -
The Chinaman had seen deals go bad before, but nothing like this. When Balls had opened fire on him and the crew, shit, he couldn't get out of there fast enough. Too bad about Dremmer, though, she was a good kid, but he'd had to leave her behind. Otherwise, how else was he supposed to get out?
Of course, now he was trapped in Balls' compound, probably with half of the fucker's gang hunting him down.
Breathing slowly, the Chinaman started to skulk his way through the ruined remains of buildings that comprised Balls' holding. He knew that if he got to the fence, it'd be an easy escape from there - Yusuf was waiting in the bus, and that ride had enough armour and firepower on it to pull out of any shitty situation.
He turned a corner and found himself face to face with one of the gang. A kid, barely old enough for his own balls to have dropped. Eyes wide like hubcaps, incertain, gun still held askance and unready to fire.
The Chinaman grabbed the kid by the throat and applied pressure until he wasn't breathing anymore.
- - -
The Chinaman had seen deals go bad before, but nothing like this. When Balls had opened fire on him and the crew, shit, he couldn't get out of there fast enough. Too bad about Dremmer, though, she was a good kid, but he'd had to leave her behind. Otherwise, how else was he supposed to get out?
Of course, now he was trapped in Balls' compound, probably with half of the fucker's gang hunting him down.
Breathing slowly, the Chinaman started to skulk his way through the ruined remains of buildings that comprised Balls' holding. He knew that if he got to the fence, it'd be an easy escape from there - Yusuf was waiting in the bus, and that ride had enough armour and firepower on it to pull out of any shitty situation.
He turned a corner and found himself face to face with one of the gang. A kid, barely old enough for his own balls to have dropped. Eyes wide like hubcaps, incertain, gun still held askance and unready to fire.
The Chinaman grabbed the kid by the throat and applied pressure until he wasn't breathing anymore.
- - -
Apocalypse World is heavily defined by the mixture of prescriptive and descriptive that comes up in play. The world itself is created pretty much on the fly in the first session, and in the sessions after that, the MC (Master of Ceremonies, this game's GM) will introduce threats against you, each with their own desires and wants. You'll have to choose your battles wisely, and hell, that's if you even decide to battle at all. The game isn't about the MC being your adversary, it's about everyone being a fan of the characters, and wanting to see what the hell happens to them, what they can do about the problems in the world.
If you want some media examples, think Firefly, The Road, The Proposition, maybe even Sons of Anarchy. The characters are special and set apart from everyone else, but they're still threatened by almost everyone they meet, either by ambition, hunger, love, or decay. It's a game where we don't have a proper storyline, no pre-arranged plot points that the MC throws at you. We have all the threats coming at you, and it's up to you to see how you deal with them.
The fun also comes from the fact that the PCs don't need to all be allies - they can dislike each other, conspire against one another. Hell, maybe sometime, the characters will go to war. But that's the fun of Apocalypse World - how will things resolve?
- - -
"Don't worry, child, I'm very brilliant and sane. Now let's take a look inside your brain."
- - -
"Don't worry, child, I'm very brilliant and sane. Now let's take a look inside your brain."
- - -
All of this discussion is pretty useless, though, unless we have ourselves a game going on!
I'm looking to start an IRC game, played on a weekly basis. If you can regularly set aside three or four hours on one night a week (preferably a weeknight), and think you can do well at being a good storyteller, you should think about signing up. New players are welcome, but please be warned that if I don't have any experience of playing with you, or seeing you in a game, it might be harder to decide on who plays. But that can all be talked out!
Apocalypse World plays best with smaller numbers, so I'm looking for three or four players. Character signups will last until I have enough, maybe extend a little while longer.
Character creation and a basic outline of the rules are in the posts below.
A few points about this game:
- The game will be run on IRC, in the SlashNet channels #aw and #awooc
- If you want to ask me any questions, just go ahead and either ask me on IRC (I am online most days) or by posting here in the thread.
- If you want to see how the game looks in play, I can link you to the IRC logs of one of my previous games that lasted about 10+ sessions before we ended the storyline.
simonwolf on
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First things first, go here and download the one document I'm providing you with, because it's all you need. It has the character types, playbooks, and an explanation of all the basic moves.
You play one of many character types, and you choose your playbook at the start of the game - there's no duplicates, though! So if one person chooses Hardholder, that's it, they're the only Hardholder in the game. Just keep that in mind for your applications - if you choose a playbook somebody else has chosen, then you're effectively halving your chances.
Starting characters can be of any real age, and any real background. I'm going to feed you some setting information, though, just so you understand the kind of world these characters have been born/raised in:
For the most part, the world is a toxic, fungal desert. Creatures that live out there are either insects, giant fuckin' things, or animals that have devloped some kind of symbiotic relationship with the fungus. Wild dogs and hyenas that breathe out dancing spores, live in the ruins of civilisation, amongst the mold-covered houses filled with decaying relics of the age that once was. There's people out there, sure, but they're either insane or slightly more insane - the main difference being that the latter don't wear gas masks to keep the poisoned air from rotting their lungs away.
There's still pockets of civilisation, though, places where either the natural terrain, ancient fortifications, excellent quarantine measures, or a little of each, have managed to keep the fungus from blooming in their homes, destroying their water and their crops. Of course, just because they don't have to worry about the decay of the world outside so much doesn't mean they have nothing to worry about. There's always scarcity, not enough food, water, children, love. Rival holdings fighting one another, trading with each other, doing whatever they can to keep their people living.
The world's gone to shit, kids, and you're living in it. What are you going to do about it?
So let's make a character, step by step.
STEP ONE: Your name, look, and outlook
Your look is comprised of several different options, usually including your gender, your fashion, your face, eyes, body, sometimes even hands. Choose one option from each of the little lists provided for your playbook, and that's what your character looks like.
As for your outlook: give me a single line that describes your character's take on the world, what they're all about. It doesn't need to be specific, just something you think your character bases their actions around, mostly. Look in the OP for a few examples, the ones in yellow. One line, definitely not a paragraph - it's supposed to be simple, not a fuckin' essay, dig?
STEP TWO: Place your stats
Here's a basic outline of what these stats mean, by the way:
• Cool, meaning cool under fire, rational, clearthinking, calm, calculating, unfazed.
• Hard, meaning hard-hearted, violent, aggressive, strong-willed, mean, physically and emotionally strong.
• Hot, meaning fucking hot, attractive, subtle, gracious, sexy, beautiful, inspiring, exciting.
• Sharp, meaning sharp-witted, clever, alert, smart, perceptive, educated, skilled, trained.
• Weird, meaning a weirdo, psychic, genius, uncanny, lucky, strange, prophetic, touched.
STEP THREE - Moves
Choose the appropriate number of moves that your playbook specifies. Some books don't get to choose any at the start - that's fine! Just list what moves you do get in your character sheet. Some books also automatically get a move at the start, and then pick one or two - that's also cool, just remember to list all of them down in your sheet.
STEP FOUR - Gear
Sme of you get to choose armor. 1-armor can be whatever, it can be bulletproof vests, bike leathers, armored corsets, whatever. 2-armor, though, is serious body armor. Riot gear. I mean, it might be low-tech, it might be made out of a car or something, but the point is that you’re walking around in armor.
You'll notice some classes get "oddments worth n-barter", yeah? Barter is the money mechanic in the game. The playbooks have a list of things that 1-barter is worth, and also how you can charge someone for your talents. There's also moves in the game that use barter spent as the bonus you add to your roll! You don't need to specify what your barter is, by the way, just note it down. Probably in-game, we'll be able to specify what barter actually means.
Oh, one more thing - if the lists says to detail something, you should give a description of it. Your fashion, especially - give us an idea of what passes for fashion sense in post-apocalyptica. When you said "vintage fashion", did you mean like waistcoats and corsets? Stuff like that. Be evocative.
STEP FIVE - Hx
We'll only do Hx once the players and characters are confirmed, so just note down that Hx is to be determined in future.
That's it! But assuming you read the playbook descriptions, here's some further information to comprehend about the characters:
So after all that, you want to know what your character will look like? Well, here's a sample Gunlugger I whipped up:
man, custom homemade armour, scarred face, wise eyes, hard body
Cool+1 Hard+3 Hot-1 Sharp+1 Weird=0
OUTLOOK:
"Gotta do what you're best at to survive these days, and me? I'm good at killing. Ain't nothing personal, kid."
MOVES:
Insano like Drano: you get +1hard (hard+3).
NOT TO BE FUCKED WITH: in battle, you count as a gang (3-harm gang small), with armor according to the circumstances.
Prepared for the inevitable: you have a well-stocked and highquality first aid kit. It counts as an angel kit with a capacity of 2-stock.
GEAR:
[http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/5184/m60e4p.jpg]
[http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/3447/hawktype9712.jpg]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RKG-3_anti-tank_grenade and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M67_grenade]
Based on a picture of some warrior from the Long Long Ago, Orochi's homemade armour is built from a mixture of metal, kevlar, and leather. A bulletproof vest serves as the central function, shoulder pads made of flattened matte-black motorcycle fuel tanks attached with straps. Thigh pads, arm and shin guards made of similar metal are also in position.
HX
done later
See, easy, yeah? That's how your shit is done. I can't really provide a template, since characters vary wildly, but use that as a basic layout, and add as appropriate.
What that means is, in order to do something mechanically, you have to describe it narratively. Likewise, if you do something narratively, you do it mechanically. Some things you do in the game aren't going to need you to roll - likewise, sometimes you're going to roll, and I won't require you to describe it.
How about an example?
Suppose Orochi up there was trying to get out of a room, but Balls was blocking it. Orochi's player might say, "Okay, cool, I want to shove past him." As an MC, my reaction would be, "Awesome, you're going aggro?" From there, the player has two acceptable options: he can either say "totally, I'm going to threaten to beat the shit out of him if he doesn't move it," or he can say, "oh, no, if he's really blocking the door I guess I won't try and push throught".
What would be unacceptable is if the player said, "well, no, I want to shove past him, but I don't want to roll for it."
The rolling mechanic of the game is also really simple! You roll 2d6, and add your appropriate stat. On a 10+, that's a strong hit. On a 7-9, that's a weak hit. On a 6 or lower, that's a miss. Moves will tell you what happens on a 10+ or 7-9, some will even tell you what happens on a miss! However, if it doesn't tell you what happens on a miss, then it's this: the MC makes a move, as hard and direct as they want. And I promise, you ain't gonna like it.
The MC has moves, but his don't require rolling. He just makes them when it's his turn to speak. Mostly they'll be setting up something in future, or putting you in a spot. However, if you hand him a golden opportunity on a platter, he gets to be as hard as he wants, and baby, you don't want that to happen.
Oh, one more thing! At the start of the first session, look at your Hx. Whoever has the biggest number on there gets to choose one of your stats to highlight, whichever one they think is the most interesting. Then the MC will pick a stat of yours to highlight. Whenever you roll that stat, in game, you get +1 tick. Once you hit five ticks, you gain an improvement, off that list in the back of your playbook.
That reminds me, there's more improvements than the ones you have in your playbook, but you can only access them after you've improved five times off your normal list. I'll bring it up when the time comes.
This was the quick character I worked up when we were talking , I'll alter it a bit
Custom FireArm- Base: Shotgun, Options: Silenced
Custom Hand Weapon- Base: handle , Options: long blade
Cool + 3 Hard -2 Hot +1 Sharp +1 Weird +1
Moves: Ice Cold, Visions of Death
Look- Formal Wear or Showy Armor, Striking Face, Arresting Eyes, Angular Body
2-armor
“You have to believe you are part of a plan to keep yourself going in this wasteland.”
“Without a plan and mind of your own this wretched hive of humanity will eat you alive.”
Alternate : wasteland
Custom Firearm: Big Silenced HandGun
Custom Hand Weaopn: Handle , longblade or handle, ornate blade
Custom FireArm: Rifle, Hi-Powered Semi Auto
Custom Handweapon: Handle, Heavy Blade
Just quit all your jobs, devote your life to the internet, it is the true path to enlightenment
or, you know, unending intangible horror
awesome trailer
man, showy armor, striking face, arresting eyes, and angular body
Cool +3 , Hard -2, Hot+1, Sharp +1, Weird +1
OUTLOOK
“You have to believe you are part of a plan to keep yourself going in this wasteland.”
MOVES
Ice Cold: when you go aggro on an NPC, roll+cool instead of roll+hard. When you go aggro on another player’s character, roll+Hx instead of roll+hard.
Visions of Death: when you go into battle, roll+weird. On a 10+, name one person who’ll die and one who’ll live. On a 7–9, name one person who’ll die OR one person who’ll live. Don’t name a player’s character; name NPCs only. The MC will make your vision come true, if it’s even remotely possible. On a miss, you foresee your own death, and accordingly take -1 throughout the battle.
GEAR
An assortment of black kevlar ,leather, metal and collected assortments. A crimson torn banner is strapped to his left shoulder, a kevlar vest adorns his torso with leather straps protecting his neck. Oxidized metal shoulder pads protect each of each of shoulders, they are strapped on tightly with bucklers; his knees and elbows receive similar protection but with less rigid (likely kevlar) material. Each of his arms are adorned from the bicep down in leather straps in a way that almost resemble a arm-tefillin, but the straps are not uniform and placement chaotic. Not to mention he is wearing gloves. His belt contains a number of empty bullet shells ranging in size , seemingly trophies, as well as a holster for his blade. He wears raw umber cargo pants with ankle high combat boots.
Appearance
Valentine is an attractive man with rustled brown hair and matching brown eyes . He stands around 6'2 and he has a somewhat worn demeanor but there is a devilish spark in his eyes that gives him some life.
HX
(more details when I wake up)
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
got those session logs simon?
woman, Vintage wear plus tech, plain face, calm eyes, and slight body
Cool +1 , Hard -1, Hot+0, Sharp +1, Weird +2
OUTLOOK
“There are mysteries in the fungus and I will do whatever it takes to discover them.”
MOVES
Oftener right: when a character comes to you for advice, tell
them what you honestly think the best course is. If they do it,
they take +1 to any rolls they make in the doing, and you mark
an experience circle.
Reality’s fraying edge: some component of your workspace, or
some arrangement of components, is uniquely receptive to the
world’s psychic maelstrom (+augury). Choose and name it, or
else leave it for the MC to reveal during play.
WORKSPACE
a controlled growing enviroment (with strange isolated plants making up an +augury)
weird-ass electronica
skilled labor(Vincent, Shy and silent technician; Harley, Bright teenage assistant who is still learning and acts as a gofer mostly; and Cina, Middle aged, alcoholic gardener and botanist)
GEAR
* many knives (2-harm hand infinite)
* Hardened leather cloak with bits of metal and dried treated fungus attached to the outside, 1-armor
* oddments worth 3-barter (recreational drugs and food)
HX
(none yet)
NotioriusBEN - Fancy times!
Arcanis - Sure thing, buddy, they're all up over here: blammy. I suggest reading maybe Session 8 or 9 if you want a good idea of how a mid-game session works, but if you read Session 1 of Jiim's game, that'll give you an idea of how the game opens up. Brainers are the sexiest.
Void Slayer - looks good! For some descriptive stuff, tell me about your fashion, what do you think "vintage plus tech" looks like? If you could also give me a basic idea of what your workspace is built in/around, like a bunker or warehouse or old storage units, that'd be awesome as well.
man, casual wear plus utility, strong face, hard eyes, compact body
Cool+1 Hard+1 Hot=0 Sharp+2 Weird-1
OUTLOOK:
"Hope? What do you know of it? Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment."
MOVES:
All basic moves
Sixth Sense: roll+Sharp instead of roll+Weird when opening mind to the psychic maelstrom
Battlefield Grace: when you are caring for people, not fighting, you get +1armor
GEAR:
angel kit (6-stock)
9mm (2-harm close loud)
oddments worth 1-barter
Fashion:
Nothing quite as uniform and clean as the guy in the center of the left picture. Think tattered leather vest and short sleave shirt. Lots of pockets for angel gear and bits. Goggles are a must due to those lively 'squirters'.
HX
done later
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
"I just pretend that I'm the only one left and I realize that I must be the plug for the hole they punched in the world. Or who will make me soup?"
Appearance and Stats
Ambiguous, high formal wear, bony face, slight frame
Cool +1 *Hard +1 *Hot -2 (o) Sharp +1 Weird +2
Moves
Unnatural Lust Transfixion - use roll+Weird for seduction instead of roll+Hot
Deep Brain Scan
Gear
hidden knives (2-harm hand infinite/in inside and outside coat pockets and pants pockets and vest slot for pocket watch), violation glove (hand hi-tech), deep ear plugs (worn hi-tech), oddments worth 5-barter, tuxedo (black tail coat, white vest, black and white striped bowtie, white shirt, grey slacks and black shoes - slightly rumpled, surprisingly clean)
Hx
Valentine +3
Jezebel +1 (o)
August -1
i said i was gonna make a brainer above and you come in here and poop out a character?
GUESS I'LL DELETE THIS CHARACTER I WAS ABOUT TO POST BECAUSE JACQUES CANT READ
i called that fuckin spot like 9 hours ago goddammit and i will go aggro on jacques for being a turd and not bothering to read the thread
Possible two
I would like to spectate this thing however
but
i hope he gets wasteland aids
Salt - Yeah, I remember that game! Do not worry, everyone flaked out of that game eventually, it is the human condition. I'll announce whenever our games are running, so you can watch us play or whatever! I mean, it's going to be on IRC, people can enjoy that kind of thing, right, right
Egos - maaaaaan I forgot how awesome Akira's bike scenes were, now I have to set this game in a fungal blooming psuedo-Tokyo, are you happy now
Do you know which day you're hoping to block out for this thing?
So yeah, that's the "rough idea", I am super vague because I am a jerk.
Also, Egos, I fixed that lady for you:
I'm really interested in the Hardholder character type, but that would mean really grounding the game (or losing my character's primary resource?) Do I need to get permission from other potential players for that!
The characters aren't a "party" in the traditional sense! You start off knowing each other, and aren't openly antagonistic, but as play and characters develop, you can start pushing against one another, doing things that you couldn't really get away with in a regular D&D-style party RPG.
So yeah, make a Hardholder, they're awesome! When you come to gear, though, ask me about what you can take, I have a list of things I tag as "non-specialised" gear.
woman, fetish wear (dirty lace skirt, corset, thigh high heels), sweet face, laughing eyes, expressive hands, slim body
Cool+1 Hard+1 Hot+2 Sharp+1 Weird-2
OUTLOOK
"You'd be surprised what people are willing to pay for a little ray of sunshine and the touch of silky skin."
MOVES
Breathtaking: you get +1hot (hot+3).
Artful & gracious: when you perform your chosen art — any act of expression or culture — or when you put its product before an audience, roll+hot. On a 10+, spend 3. On a 7–9, spend 1. Spend 1 to name an NPC member of your audience and choose one:
• this person must meet me
• this person must have my services
• this person loves me
• this person must give me a gift
• this person admires my patron
On a miss, you gain no benefit, but suffer no harm or lost opportunity. You simply perform very well.
GEAR
Hidden knives (one in the boot, one in the front of the corset, four in the lining of the coat)
long, gorgeous coat
spectacular tattoos (a back tattoo of a phoenix with red, orange, blue, and purple feathers)
oddments worth 1-barter
guitar
HX
To be determined...
EDIT: You want a guitar, you've got it - don't mark it down in your gear, though, since it isn't anything special, just a medium for your Artful and gracious thing. I mean, I'm just going to assume singing is your main talent, so the guitar is just gravy, but it won't add any bonuses, etc. Wouldn't even be worth 1-b, if you tried to sell it.
i guess a guitar could be luxe gear!
EDIT: oh okay, yeah i just want her to be a general musician