When you want to play Apocalypse World, roll +Weird and pray . . .

Started by Cold Heritage, April 09, 2016, 02:22:39 PM

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Cold Heritage

I know it's a long shot. A terribly long shot.

But I want to play Apocalypse World, here, on Elliquiy. There's playbooks I want to play and apocalyptica I want to bring into being, but it's gauche to put that out here now, isn't it? Is there someone out there who would be the Master of Ceremonies and run a game of Apocalypse World? Please?
Thank you, fellow Elliquiyan, and have a wonderful day.

Shjade

I know that feeling all too well. It's a system I've been dying to dig deeper into for years and never quite found a session that lasted. I'd jump all over this with a character playbook if someone wants to be the Master of Ceremonies.

But if no one does?

...I might not have tremendous confidence (having only run one game before), but I could give it a shot myself. Any AW is better than no AW, right? n.n;
Theme: Make Me Feel - Janelle Monáe
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Conversation is more useful than conversion.

Cold Heritage

The game I ran was my first time running Apocalypse World. I don't think you could do any worse than me. I'd love it if you did decide to act as MC, Shjade.
Thank you, fellow Elliquiyan, and have a wonderful day.

GloomCookie

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Ons and Offs Updated 9 October 2022

Shjade

That was your first time? Holy shit, Cold. xD

Linna: not to worry! All the (good) character playbooks are available online for free at http://apocalypse-world.com/ and include more or less all the important things for how to mechanically get involved in the game.

The things that AREN'T in those playbooks are the parts I should explain as they become important, but at its core it's a fairly simple game, mechanically.

It's the fiction that's interesting. :D
Theme: Make Me Feel - Janelle Monáe
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Conversation is more useful than conversion.


Ebb

Quote from: Cold Heritage on April 10, 2016, 10:34:21 PM
The game I ran was my first time running Apocalypse World. I don't think you could do any worse than me. I'd love it if you did decide to act as MC, Shjade.

All: This man speaks lies. Do not listen to this man. He did an awesome job.

CarnivalOfTheGoat

Quote from: Cold Heritage on April 10, 2016, 10:34:21 PM
The game I ran was my first time running Apocalypse World. I don't think you could do any worse than me. I'd love it if you did decide to act as MC, Shjade.

Unless I'm misremembering terribly, you didn't do a bad job at all.

And gosh, don't these faces look familiar...

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

Shjade

Quote from: CarnivalOfTheGoat on April 12, 2016, 04:01:14 AM
And gosh, don't these faces look familiar...

Pretty much matches the list of people I'd planned to invite if they had any interest. ;p

At this rate we should just make a little AW club and rotate MCs.
Theme: Make Me Feel - Janelle Monáe
◕/◕'s
Conversation is more useful than conversion.

CarnivalOfTheGoat

Quote from: Shjade on April 12, 2016, 09:19:18 PM
Pretty much matches the list of people I'd planned to invite if they had any interest. ;p

At this rate we should just make a little AW club and rotate MCs.

That is far from the worst idea I've ever heard! I've never MC'd AW, though, and right now I'm not sure I've got the time to...

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

CarnivalOfTheGoat

NEW MOVE:
When you try to start an ongoing AW group with round-robin GMing, roll: On a 10+ pick two from the list, on a 7-9, pick one. On a 6 or less, nobody responds.

  • Someone is actually willing to start out as GM.
  • Everyone is enthusiastic.
  • Astounding character ideas flow freely.

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

Shjade

Ha. ;p

I'm thinking I should probably make another thread - either in the group seeking section or just straight up making an OOC organizing thread in the RP sections somewhere - for people to post prospective playbooks, rather than turn this thread into that. It occurs to me I haven't actually gone about setting up a group RP on E before. xD But! That just seems like the thing to do.
Theme: Make Me Feel - Janelle Monáe
◕/◕'s
Conversation is more useful than conversion.

CarnivalOfTheGoat

Quote from: Shjade on April 14, 2016, 04:40:28 AM
Ha. ;p

I'm thinking I should probably make another thread - either in the group seeking section or just straight up making an OOC organizing thread in the RP sections somewhere - for people to post prospective playbooks, rather than turn this thread into that. It occurs to me I haven't actually gone about setting up a group RP on E before. xD But! That just seems like the thing to do.

I'm sure Cold can provide advice on this.

If it's in the RP sections, though, we may want first to determine whether it's Extreme or whatnot. And how generic-ish will the setting be? I've seen some crazy darned things done with AW of late...There is more than one Apocalypse, after all. ;)

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

Shjade

Yeah, point, probably better to wait on that until after playbooks are in, questions are answered, the world has a basic framework.
Theme: Make Me Feel - Janelle Monáe
◕/◕'s
Conversation is more useful than conversion.

Cold Heritage

Aw, jeez. I haven't run a game since we had our little thing like . . . two years ago? I guess like, we could decide a section now and just make an OOC there for everyone since I think that this is all of Elliquiy's Apocalypse World playing population right here, give or take one or two. I am also not against going Extreme with the caveat that we respect each other's limits; I don't particularly want to have my character be the victim of a non-consensual sexual episode in any sort of permutation, really.

For my part, I want to be either the Faceless, the Brainer, or the Gunlugger, in that order.

And as for the world? Let's go to Pandora! Or at least, a lawyer-friendly one. It's got got guns, monsters, guns, bandits, ancient alien remnants, guns - everything Cold Heritages crave.
Thank you, fellow Elliquiyan, and have a wonderful day.

Shjade

Hunh. I hadn't considered playing AW in a pre-existing setting. That does simplify a lot of things, really. Has merit.

About the Faceless, though...I think I'd rather keep to the basic playbooks if that's alright. They just seem more...flexible? The limited ones are all sorta niche in ways that are harder to handle, or at least look that way on paper.
Theme: Make Me Feel - Janelle Monáe
◕/◕'s
Conversation is more useful than conversion.

Ebb

Quote from: Cold Heritage on April 14, 2016, 08:09:58 PM
And as for the world? Let's go to Pandora! Or at least, a lawyer-friendly one. It's got got guns, monsters, guns, bandits, ancient alien remnants, guns - everything Cold Heritages crave.

YOU ARE MAKING IT VERY DIFFICULT FOR ME TO NOT WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME.

Cold Heritage

Quote from: Shjade on April 14, 2016, 09:44:36 PM
About the Faceless, though...I think I'd rather keep to the basic playbooks if that's alright. They just seem more...flexible? The limited ones are all sorta niche in ways that are harder to handle, or at least look that way on paper.

That is a fair position to take. It is reasonable and understandable. In most cases, I agree. And if you are going to be MC, limiting things to the basic playbooks is your call to make and I respect that limitation. It is a perfectly valid thing to do. There are some of the limited edition playbooks that I would not allow myself. I still have no idea how to grok the Macaluso, and the Marmot and the Space Marine Mammal are playbooks I just cannot manage to be a fan of. The Faceless and the Maestro D', I think, are not more or less niche than basic playbooks - the former seems what the Battlebabe could have been if they were more Weird and tough or a Gunlugger with a lot less gun and lot more creep factor, while the latter seems a lot like a Hardholder on a smaller scale. But this is just me talking, and emphatically not me arguing or trying to change your mind. It is your call to make, and I respect it and do not in any way challenge it. Nor is any of it meant disrespectfully - it just how things look to me, Coldageous P. Heritageington, Esquire.

Quote from: Ebb on April 14, 2016, 10:02:35 PM
YOU ARE MAKING IT VERY DIFFICULT FOR ME TO NOT WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME.

Oatmeal raisin cookies for days, son. :P
Thank you, fellow Elliquiyan, and have a wonderful day.

Shjade

Theme: Make Me Feel - Janelle Monáe
◕/◕'s
Conversation is more useful than conversion.

Cold Heritage

I am a precious cinnamon roll, too pure for this world, devoted entirely to the service of the Immortal God-Emperor, Master of Mankind.
Thank you, fellow Elliquiyan, and have a wonderful day.

CarnivalOfTheGoat

Quote from: Cold Heritage on April 14, 2016, 08:09:58 PM
And as for the world? Let's go to Pandora! Or at least, a lawyer-friendly one. It's got got guns, monsters, guns, bandits, ancient alien remnants, guns - everything Cold Heritages crave.

I need help here; that's a ridiculously popular name for a planet in science fiction. Which planet named Pandora are we talking about? I don't remember bandits in the one from Avatar, and most of the others I can think of are old enough written SF that they have some of those things but not all of them...

Quote from: Cold Heritage on April 14, 2016, 10:19:06 PMThere are some of the limited edition playbooks that I would not allow myself. I still have no idea how to grok the Macaluso, and the Marmot and the Space Marine Mammal are playbooks I just cannot manage to be a fan of. The Faceless and the Maestro D', I think, are not more or less niche than basic playbooks - the former seems what the Battlebabe could have been if they were more Weird and tough or a Gunlugger with a lot less gun and lot more creep factor, while the latter seems a lot like a Hardholder on a smaller scale.

Some of the books are also more "sensitive" to "but it should be able to"-itis instead of "just what's RAW, son." As happened in the last game, alas, alas. I've seen the Macaluso played well, ditto the Faceless and the Maestro D' (there's a PHENOMENAL Maestro D' in one of the youtube "Let's Play" series, somewhere, who ends up pretty much winning everything by declaring ex post facto that they poisoned the Chopper...Right after the Chopper had cut the knees out from under practically everyone else.). The Mac and the Faceless both have MAJOR weird going, and if the game doesn't make room for that, they can feel misplaced.

And as for the ground squirrel and the dolphin, the general reaction from most people seems to be "If you're taking that, you're really not taking this game seriously, and the stupid random comedy is kind of going to wreck it for everyone else."

There are some amazing third party splatbooks, but for all of them, I'd recommend an experienced MC who has looked them over and gotten a feel for what they are...and how to sink the hooks into them.

Quote from: Shjade on April 14, 2016, 09:44:36 PM
Hunh. I hadn't considered playing AW in a pre-existing setting. That does simplify a lot of things, really. Has merit.

I've played AW in straight up Mad Max format, in Waterworld format (a pretty painless transition) and even a half-assed on-the-fly Eclipse Phase conversion to AW (most of the books transfer over just fine, and +Weird works great if your entire party has been exposed to the Watts-MacLeod virus or to TITAN femtotech). AW works very well in survival situations in general. There's a good reason it has spawned soooooo many conversions!

So, once people can point me towards which Pandora we're talking about, I think I'd like to try on the Driver this time, if that works for folks, or possibly the Hardholder, unless someone else wants it. (Whatever the setting is, I really doubt it's too out there or too weird for me, and I trust you lot for it to not be too mundane and boring.)

P.S. Ebb, dammit, you were the best Savvyhead I've ever seen, so I'd really love to see what you do with some of the other splatbooks if you can spare the time for this game.

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

Ebb

Crap, now you've made me go re-read / skim the last game and realize how much fun that was to write.

(For anyone reading along, go look here: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=200072.0  It's worth the read, IMHO.)


I believe the Pandora in question is the one from the Borderlands video game. (http://borderlands.wikia.com/wiki/Borderlands_Wiki)  Probably not a killer if you're not familiar with it. Shortest possible summary: Lots of Insane Dudes Shooting Each Other. Megacorp in Background. Leftover Alien Shit All Over.


So I guess that means... I'm in. Rack 'em up, Shjade

CarnivalOfTheGoat

Quote from: Ebb on April 15, 2016, 12:19:39 AM
Crap, now you've made me go re-read / skim the last game and realize how much fun that was to write.

(For anyone reading along, go look here: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=200072.0  It's worth the read, IMHO.)

Aaaah, thanks for that link! I just re-skimmed it. Rez was nasty, brutish and the PvP didn't come out pleasantly...But good grief was she fun to write!

Heh. Re-reading it, I see that I made a pitch that I forgot to catch later. Rez told Warner that she'd stand beside him and keep him alive as long as he could, and he'd go to the Sun without ever wearing black feathers. And she did just that and he did just that. But I forgot to reference it when it happened. Oh well! It was a rough patch, OOCly. Stitches, they do get dropped at times.

Quote from: Ebb on April 15, 2016, 12:19:39 AM
I believe the Pandora in question is the one from the Borderlands video game. (http://borderlands.wikia.com/wiki/Borderlands_Wiki)  Probably not a killer if you're not familiar with it. Shortest possible summary: Lots of Insane Dudes Shooting Each Other. Megacorp in Background. Leftover Alien Shit All Over.

*Peeks* Huh! Okay, I've heard of this game, but I don't play much modern vidya games (except Minecraft, which sucks down my time voraciously). Figure there's enough info online for me to parse the background? If not, you can always throw at me anything my character ought to know.

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

Cold Heritage

Quote from: CarnivalOfTheGoat on April 15, 2016, 02:10:43 AM
*Peeks* Huh! Okay, I've heard of this game, but I don't play much modern vidya games (except Minecraft, which sucks down my time voraciously). Figure there's enough info online for me to parse the background? If not, you can always throw at me anything my character ought to know.

Probably. Borderlands isn't exactly a game with deepest lore so everything to know is in that wiki there. The aesthetic of the games and content in the broadest sense is why I brought it up - check out the launch trailers on the youtubes for the first and second game if you feel like it.
Thank you, fellow Elliquiyan, and have a wonderful day.

CarnivalOfTheGoat

#24
Going to have to have a look at that.

I had the oddest little idea skid across my synapses while re-reading Rez's interaction with Los Buitres. The way she thought of her flock. Warbirds, Vultures...The Children of the Sun. Mama hen and her chicks, who'd happily rend her themselves if she showed weakness.

I was trying to figure what AW would look like if you just slammed it straight over into really weird fantasy, without the "stock trope" interpolation of Dungeon World, and pictured the Chopper as some kind of crow-avatar, surrounded by more of the same...Bikes traded for wings. The Driver ends up being a Rider, someone who can summon and control the most fantastic beasts. Just kicking it around my skull, punching up the surrealism...Postmodern punk meets the Sidhe and the Nevernever. The Hardholder is easy, but his castle is probably more dramatic, and the crawling peons who look to him for protection. The Brainer becomes that one freaky, terrible trickster-mage who can literally see into skulls, reach in, twist what's there...Tie little strings to your soul and puppet it.  The Angel might be a literal designation, and the Battlebabe...Well. That's the stuff heroes are made of, in that well over there. Drink deep, the Third Sword wandered off with a whole wineskin full of the stuff, and she might be coming back soon.

Probably the hardest one to translate is the Savvyhead, really.

See what happens when you don't sleep? It's wonderful freaky off the hook a bad idea.

AW is marvelously flexible.

EDIT: Last thought for the night: Apocalypse World meets Brom.

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.