Apocalypse World [GAMING]

Apocalypse World is an extremely promising game recently brought to my attention by way of the Walking Eye.



No...not that kind of Walking Eye. I am talking about a nerdy podcast focused at paper-and-pencil games like D&D.

Apocalypse World is a largely story-driven RPG and goes about it in a way that I so far haven't seen the like of. The rules are beautiful in their abstract simplicity, and while the rulebook can be quite confusing in places: it only takes a small measure of talking it over to figure it out.

The setting is definitely more 80's style nuclear apocalypse then the more common Zombie apocalypse in conventional pop-culture.  It doesn't even have to be a desert, give your chracters parkas: enjoy a nice brisk nuclear winter. 

The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic hell of you and your player's creation. On the first session the group sits down, discusses what kind of stuff they would like to see in the wasteland of their choosing, and through character creation establish histories and relationships. From there the GM/DM (or MC in the case of this game standing for 'Master of Ceremonies') using a set of guide lines to advance the story. The players hvae nothing gluing them together except the desire to survive, and can go any direction they want with the story. The MC takes on less of a role as writer/director of the adventure as perhaps a set designer and the guy who supervises the Extras. It is very low-over head for him.

A lazy MC doesn't even need to work with an abstract idea of a shitty nuclear wasteland.  They can just googled 'pictures from New Jersey'

The game's simplicity is built around afew core stats (Namely Hard, Hot, Cool, Sharp, and Weird) which more act as descriptions for character actions then quantifying attributes of physical performance. What I mean is they don't measure 'my guy is X strong which means he can lift x pounds'. What this does is work with 'moves' to determine the outcome of what the player describes when coupled with 2d6 (which is all the game needs).

So one of the players might be trying to gain the loyalty of a local (leaderless) gang. The player may choose to make an example one of the biggest guys by saying 'Jeremiah is going to get out a baseball bat capon style and wail on him', the MC would call for a 'Dice+Hard' roll, and the result would yield a measure of the desired effect.

So the MC might say on a soft success (a 7-9) "You get to choose one of the following: 1) The gang accepts your lead, 2) You are unharmed, or 3) They don't fight it any more." A hard success (10+) will yield maybe two of those results. The MC will then describe what happens. Maybe if just option 1 was chosen, you get beat up in the fight and have to take down a few more members before the example is set. If 2 & 3 are chosen, You are unscathed but a few more might have to get beat up (and you don't have a gang, but it might make a future attempt easier).

Some other possible examples:
-You can try to seduce someone with Dice+Hot
-If you are pondering a problem or searching for something it might be Dice+Sharp
-Opening up to the Psychic Maelstrom is done with a Dice+Weird


I still haven't figured out what rolls would be required of "Hawk rolls down the highway shooting his wrist-bow while his boy-slave rides bitch"

 And none of these are 'Oh Chip goes aggro on him' or 'Chip shoots his gun'...the players must be descriptive and have a set goal in mind. If someone tries to seduce someone its not just "Burroughs tries to get in X person's pants" you would have to start with something like "Burroughs smiles coyly and give a knowing glance and...".

I will leave it at that (for now)...but by making the game mechanics based on cause and effect in a narrative sense (I do this with X effect on the story) as opposed to the conventional phyisical sense (I move seven squares and do Y effect on my environment/enemy with my greatsword)you create a system that is far more likely to lend itself to interesting story and character development.

I think that is possibly the coolest thing about this game. You can say 'Buzzsaw forces the gas pedal to the floor and starts drifting to the right, trying to force the biker to fallback or run him off the cliff' and with that free-form description not only get across your own mental picture of what is happening, but further events more and in a interesting direction. Too often most paper and pencil RPGs boil down to "I move, I hit it with my sword", and while many systems try to come up with ways to componsate for that (D&D4E's abilities namely) it is still just the same. There is no reward for particularly descriptive players outside of house rules.

"Humunculous strips to his thong and starts shooting at the Gyrocopter" is a far more interesting character action then "I shoot it with my gun"

I digress...

There are a number of archetypes that (while not limiting what they CAN do) outline the specialty of your character. They are things like Angel (You are a medic and doctor extraordinare), Chopper (you are the leader of a biker gang), and Brainer (Previously sighted weird guy).

They have a set series of stats that you can select from, and all come with their own particular flare and flavor. For instance: a Hocus runs a cult or religious group, and has a bunch of abilities that involve either bringing hope to these people, manipulating them to do your bidding, or drive them into a religious frenzy and send them to smash heads in. A Hardholder has something similar: Choppers have a gang too, but their abilities more focus on using their gang to mess people up or keeping their snarling group of banditotos in line.

Tank Girl would be a (hot) Driver with the 'My other car is a tank' ability

Hardholders are characters that have a gang and a stretch of turf they call their own. But if they personally try to shoot someone, patch-up a teammate with a medkit, or drive a tricked-out car they aren't going to be unable to do those things because of their class. They obviously won't be as good as a gunlugger, medic, or driver...but they can certainly try.

Gary Oldmann in 'Book of Eli' is the coolest example of a Hardholder

At last there is only one thing I can think of that needs to be mentioned: Sex moves.

Yes this game has 'Sex moves'. No they are not 'Doggy', 'Missionary', or 'Cowgirl'. No you are not going to be too explicit about it and this game isn't pornography.

His move might be 'Settle for the dog in frustration' but I don't know.  I'm really just looking for an excuse to reference this flick (It's good.  Go netflix it now.  I SAID NOW, DAMMIT!)

Sex moves are things based on the player class, that have a particular effect if they are intimite with another PC or NPC. In general this builds history and gives them insights into how that other character's head works...in some cases LITERALLY. The Brainer (A weird almost shamanistic creature that fills the roll of 'magic user') will conduct a deep brain scan on someone automatically in that situation.

A post-apocalyptic setting is always desperate, scarse of resources, and an extremely stressful place to live. Sometimes your body might be the only thing you have to barter with for the water or medicine that will keep you alive. Sometimes it might just be the only fun past-time available when two consenting adults are stranded in an atomic wasteland.

Which brings me to the biggest possible detractor I have seen so far...

This came up when searching for 'Apocalypse World Brainer'...no idear why.

This game needs to be played by mature players. I don't necessarily mean 'old' and I don't mean it in the sense of ESRB ratings. I am thinking mentally mature in the sense that when talking about sex you aren't going to get (too) giggly and you can avoid being judgemental. You also need to know where to draw the line and not go overboard and creep everyone out with the WAY overboard amount of drooling, sweaty interest you put into this aspect of the games. It might be worth having a discussion with the group before the game even starts to know where all the lines are.

This is my last chance to post a picture of Mad Max, and I've been looking for a reason too this WHOLE time.