Fallen Empires (dark fantasy Apocalypse World, started, still accepting)

[ZincStandard]

I'm lowkey hoping for a sword master or child of battle to get into cool fights, but hey, if you want to go for the strongholder for that reason, by all means

[pdragon]

sword master

Introducing Hilde, a Sword Master.

Herm, light skin, immaculate armor, worn face, cunning eyes, hard body.

Cool -1 Hard +2 Hot -2 Sharp +1 Weird +2

History:

Knight-killer: in battle, you count as a mounted warrior even on foot (+1 harm, +1 armor against non-mounted enemies; mounted enemies get no advantage against you).

Battle-hardened: when you go into danger, roll+hard instead of roll+cool. When you make a battle move that calls for you to roll+cool, you can roll+hard instead

Sword Master special: If you and another character have sex, you take+1 forward. At your option, they take +1 forward too

Gear: Staff-sword (deadly: on the field & vs mounted)
Cat-gutter [short sword] (deadly:hand-to-hand & in fighting)
Battle pick (pierces armor)
Fighting knife (deadly: brawling)
Breastplate, helmet, boots (2 armor)
2 keep

Harm: O O O   O O O   O

Experience: O O O O O

Improvements:

[Chanticleer]

sword master

Introducing Hilde, a Sword Master.

Herm, light skin, immaculate armor, worn face, cunning eyes, hard body.

Cool -1 Hard +2 Hot -2 Sharp +1 Weird +2

History:

Knight-killer: in battle, you count as a mounted warrior even on foot (+1 harm, +1 armor against non-mounted enemies; mounted enemies get no advantage against you).

Battle-hardened: when you go into danger, roll+hard instead of roll+cool. When you make a battle move that calls for you to roll+cool, you can roll+hard instead

Sword Master special: If you and another character have sex, you take+1 forward. At your option, they take +1 forward too

Gear: Staff-sword (deadly: on the field & vs mounted)
Cat-gutter [short sword] (deadly:hand-to-hand & in fighting)
Battle pick (pierces armor)
Fighting knife (deadly: brawling)
Breastplate, helmet, boots (2 armor)
2 keep

Harm: O O O   O O O   O

Experience: O O O O O

Improvements:

Positively

Oh.
My.

Unexpected but certainly interesting!

[ZincStandard]

Yeah, I'm...not sure I'm comfortable with someone playing a cat-taur character.  I don't think the game is really meant to support it.  Would you by any chance still be interested with a human sword master?  Or at least human-shaped?

[Chanticleer]

Yeah, I'm...not sure I'm comfortable with someone playing a cat-taur character.  I don't think the game is really meant to support it.  Would you by any chance still be interested with a human sword master?  Or at least human-shaped?

Apocalypse World isn't meant for playing a bunch of mutant rats in the rubble of humanity, either, although I've seen it done. I've also seen some very un-deserty AW games which is intriguing, but we'll have a chat about the world soon I am sure.

It doesn't bother me if it doesn't bother anyone else. But you do say you're not comfortable with it, and everybody being comfortable is very important.

I'm going to go ahead and put my finger on the Strongholder after all. Should have something up tomorrow (human, fear not, indeed probably more human than what I was considering for a bonepicker).

[pdragon]

If you're against it that's fine, though I'll be withdrawing my interest then.

[ZincStandard]

Well, you know, on second thought, I guess there's really no reason it can't work, as long as it's kept consistent with the tone of the game.  If you haven't gone anywhere yet, pdragon, welcome aboard

[CeruleanSerenity]

That's fine with me, too. I don't mind having some unusual non-human characters in the group, and considered playing one myself (though probably more human-shaped in appearance).

[pdragon]

Thanks for reconsidering. I figured a fantasy based apocalypse game would be more interesting if there were actually other races involved, instead of just all human/humanoid races like every other post-apocalypse setting. I tried to keep her consistent with the mechanics, like taking knight-killer to account for the fact that she's inherently a "mounted" fighter, and I have no intention of going against the overall tone of the game. If anything I would think being a pseudo-monstrous creature in a settlement of mostly humans/elves would lead to more interesting interactions and conflicts: forced cooperation, racial distrust/paranoia, feelings of isolation, etc. etc.

[ZincStandard]

Actually, pdragon, you bring up something I really do want to nail down right now: no elves.  Or any stereotypical fantasy races.  Fallen Empires thrives on the weird and crazy and unexpected, and bringing Tolkien into the mix just kills that whole vibe instantly.  If you want to play a character who isn't entirely human, come up with something original and unique, give it its own name and background.  A cat-taur character is okay, but I want to know about how these cat-taurs fit into this world, what they call themselves in their language, what different cultures they come from, what sets them apart from the default image any given reader might have of what a half-human-half-cat species would be like.  But yeah, no elf characters, please, or dwarves, or halflings, or orcs, or anything of that nature.

[pdragon]

You've literally already accepted an elf character though.

[ZincStandard]

I've accepted a character with pointed ears.  That doesn't mean she's an elf.  And I don't even know if Cerulean wanted that part of the image to be accurate to the character anyway.

[Cold Heritage]

I'm going to back. I don't feel like I'd be a good fit for how this is shaping up. Happy trails.

[ZincStandard]

Sorry to hear that, Cold!  Well, in any case, with the three we've got, we'd have a totally functional group (once Chanticleer gets his character ready, that is).  Let's give it a little bit longer and see if we can get one more person, but either way, we should be good to go.

[Chanticleer]

The Trollbabe effect.

The Sword Master is the Battlebabe, right? That's a great character choice to be a bit of an outsider and something of a fox among the chickens. I'm quite okay with this.

I will note that adding nonhumans does change our worldbuilding a touch. Fallen Empires is kind of 'so far post apocalyptic that it wraps around into feudalism' more than it really is 'fantasy.' The medium of 'magic' is the same as in AW: the psychic maelstrom. If we run the full gamut of fantasy and add in 'real' magic and a lot of fantasy creatures that aren't relatively easily explainable as 'mutations that have stabilized' or some such, it changes the tenor of the game.

Not a criticism, just a point to think about when we come to worldbuilding, and in 'why is the Sword Master a cat taur?' What hand or eye framed, etc?

Hah. I wrote this and bam, 5 posts while I was writing it about roughly the same thing.

Fallen Empires (and AW) are far more gritty than general high fantasy, and part of that is that the desolation of the world is wrought by man, not magic.

[ZincStandard]

The sword master is the gunlugger analogue, actually--child of battle is the battlebabe (get it?)--but I don't think it works any less.  As for the past of the Fallen Empires setting, that's one way of looking at it, but not the only one.  The golden age might have been one of high technology that we now see as "magic", or it could've been a world of actual high fantasy.  It could've been all-human, or home to a plethora of sapient species, not even accounting for the new stuff that's appeared since the apocalypse.  In any case, I really don't think a character like pdragon's clashes with anything, though I agree it merits exploration.

"Gritty" is exactly the word to keep in mind, though, whatever kind of character you're playing.  Spot-on there.

[Chanticleer]

The sword master is the gunlugger analogue, actually--child of battle is the battlebabe (get it?)--but I don't think it works any less.  As for the past of the Fallen Empires setting, that's one way of looking at it, but not the only one.  The golden age might have been one of high technology that we now see as "magic", or it could've been a world of actual high fantasy.  It could've been all-human, or home to a plethora of sapient species, not even accounting for the new stuff that's appeared since the apocalypse.  In any case, I really don't think a character like pdragon's clashes with anything, though I agree it merits exploration.

"Gritty" is exactly the word to keep in mind, though, whatever kind of character you're playing.  Spot-on there.

Whups. I'll work this stuff out. It's been a while since I played AW1. Shame that we lost someone already.

I haven't found an image that sings to me yet for a character, but I'll keep at it.

[CeruleanSerenity]

I've accepted a character with pointed ears.  That doesn't mean she's an elf.  And I don't even know if Cerulean wanted that part of the image to be accurate to the character anyway.

I didn't even think about the ears when I chose that picture, to be honest... so I wasn't really thinking that she's an elf, or whether or not she has pointed ears.

Personally, I lean towards saying that she does have pointed ears and that trait is unusual, but why is something we can figure out later. It could be a mutation, a sign that she was touched by some magic or bears a trace of inhuman blood in her veins, or any number of things.

[Chanticleer]

Strongholder

Name: MacCrae

A man with weathered skin, practical clothing, and a stern face. His eyes are commanding, his body massive, and his weapons sharp.

Stats:
Cool +2, Hard +2, Hot=0, Sharp+2, Weird=0

Stronghold: Population about 150 (plenty: 2 keep, want: hunger/obligation/strangers/disease/savagery, +2 armor to defenders) The population survives by hunting, simple farming, and scavenging, but they are filthy and unwell. Mac receives tribute from local villages as well as taxes from the bustling market commons within his walls, but some of his keep is drained off by the need to keep happy a sybaritic cult which is widespread among his subjects. His stronghold is defended by concentric ditches and stone walls, and his warband is large, about 60 strong (large war-band, 3 harm, 1 armor), but he only has horses (fast +1, strong +1, hungry +1) for eight warriors, as well as some pack animals.

Stronghold Choices

Your  stronghold is home to around 150 souls who survive by hunting, simple farming, and scavenging (plenty: 1 keep, want: hunger)
You receive protection tribute from local villages (plenty: +1 keep, want: obligation)
Your stronghold includes a bustling market commons (plenty: +1 keep, want: strangers)
Your stronghold is defended by concentric ditches and stone walls (+2 armor to defenders instead of +1).
Your warband is large, 60 violent people or so (large war-band instead of medium).
Your subjects are filthy and unwell (want: disease).
Your subjects follow a sybaritic cult (plenty: -1 keep, want: savagery).

The strongholder doesn't get weapon choices, he just gets a list of specific things. Can I swap his sword for an axe? Just to fit the picture a bit better?

[ZincStandard]

Sure, go for it.

Well, let's give it until tomorrow evening to find someone else, and if no one shows up, we'll run with the three we have.

[CeruleanSerenity]

A couple of things I'm wondering about the rules...

If I'm not remembering wrong, forward adds to your next roll. But does it stack? Say, if my character had sex with pdragon's and we each chose the options to give each other and ourselves forward, would we each get +2 to our next rolls?

What is hold, and how does it work? One of the nightshade abilities references it, but I didn't see it explained anywhere in the rules.

From what I've read, history is used on rolls to help or interfere with someone, and gives experience when it gets high or low enough to reset. Does it have other roles in the system that I missed, or am I understanding it properly?

Does "character" (say, as used in the sex moves) mean any significant named character? Only player characters? Or does it include everyone, even minor background NPCs?

[ZincStandard]

A couple of those are edge cases that I've never been able to find a good answer for in the main AW rules, so I'll adjudicate them as follows.

Forward from different moves can stack, but not from the same move.  For example, if Leah and Hilde have sex and both choose to give themselves and each other +1 forward, they both take +2 forward.  However, if Leah has sex twice, she only benefits from her special move once until that +1 forward has been used, after which she can gain it again.

Hold isn't a generalized mechanic--it works specifically for the move that gives it to you.  So, if you have hypnotic and another move that gives you hold, they don't go to the same pool, they're separate currencies that only work for that particular move.  So, all the rules you need for a particular kind of hold are part of the related move.

History is only used for those two things in-game, yes.  During character creation, the person you have the highest history with also gets to highlight one of your stats, which gives you experience every time you roll with it (I also highlight another stat the same way).  This is an OOC way of encouraging you to play up certain parts of your character or have them do certain things the highlighting player thinks would be interesting, like if someone highlights Leah's hard, they probably like the idea of Leah having to get violent even though that's not really her thing, and you'd get rewarded for playing that way.

I'm gonna say that significant names NPCs do trigger your sex moves, though obviously you might not be able to use some of your options on them, since, for example, NPCs can't take forward.

[CeruleanSerenity]

That all makes sense, thank you.

But looking over things again, there's something else I'm not sure I understand in the nightshade moves...

Artful & gracious: when you perform your chosen art—any act of expression or culture—or when you put your chosen art 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:

What does "spend" mean here? Does the roll basically let you trigger the effect 1 or 3 times? The wording confused me, but after thinking about it, that's the only interpretation I came up with that makes sense.

[ZincStandard]

Yeah, you've got it right.  The rules are sometimes written inconsistently that way, but near as I can tell, spend is different from hold in that you have to spend it right away, rather than being able to hold onto it for later.  Of course, in that case, I don't know why it's not just written as "pick 3" or "pick 1" like every other move that works that way, but whatever

[ZincStandard]

Alright, it doesn't look like we've got any other interest, so I'm gonna go ahead and move things over to the OOC thread.  I'll leave recruitment open if anyone else does come along.