Powered By The Apocalypse: It's All In The Conversation

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Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Cyphoderus posted:

I'm really intrigued by Worlds in Peril. Has anyone here run it?

I am just waiting for someone to post a recruit so I can jump on that poo poo.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2015 16:51

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 12:04

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Evil Mastermind posted:

I remember one hack that was kickstarting that had like 20.

Jeezy pete!

# ¿ Jun 26, 2015 21:14

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Evil Mastermind posted:

Adam Keobel just announced that he's going to be writing the official Rat Queens RPG, using DW as a base.

loving Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

# ¿ Jul 8, 2015 04:23

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Tevery Best posted:

Is there a PbtA hack that deals with Cold War (or Cold War-esque) espionage?

I forget who it was, but a goon here was working on a hack called enemy action.

# ¿ Jul 12, 2015 18:15

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

QuantumNinja posted:

The real problem is that none of the Shadowrun hacks are good. Or, more accurately, none of them feel like you're playing Shadowrun. Shadowrun has a certain level of detail, of minutiae, that underlines most of its appeal. Unfortunately, Apoc World is all about jettisoning minutiae to push the plot forward with every move. It's hard to reconcile tiny bits of math that give you tiny advantages in specific situations with broad moves. For example, "'Wared to the Gills" is a reasonable 'move' that a Street Samurai would have on their playbook, but it completely drops away the potential pleasure for digging through a list of gear and perfectly skating the essence line and price just to get yourself actually 'wared to the gills. The minutiae is the appeal. And until an AW hack manages to get it in without it feeling like the Shadowrun gear system just added to the *World system, there won't be a good hack for it.

So then, how much minutiae is enough? Assuming there's a sweet spot between RAW shadowrun and AW...

Like, you can look at The Regiment, which is a tactical/modern combat hack that has (relatively) waaay more crunch than the aw we know and love but still has that zip and fiction first mentality. Like if I were doing a cyberpunk/shadowrun hack this is where I'd start.

Or would taking a look at the battlebabe's custom weapon rules, expanding them, and integrating them for everyone with some kind of essence/fatigue mechanic be enough?

# ¿ Aug 12, 2015 03:59

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Zorak of Michigan posted:

I think maybe the commitment to gear-dork-ness should also be reflected in the Moves. I'm not sure how tightly to tie them but (for example) the Street Sam's special killy move should require them to mention the brand name or a tag from a weapon or cyber-enhancement to trigger the move. You want to just punch somebody? Basic move. You want to disembowel some dude with your razor-sharp finger blades by Hanzo Global Industries? Now you're triggering Sonny Went To Chiba.

The Hacker/Decker should totally get a special harm move whenever they take M-harm (Matrix harm) or dumpshock or whatever. Call it The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2015 04:39

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Bear Enthusiast posted:

I remember someone had a great writeup on writing an Agenda and Principles for a hack, but I'm not sure if it was someone here or a link to the official forums, or something else. Anyone remember something like that?

I would subscribe to that newsletter.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2015 00:49

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Luminous Obscurity posted:

Oh my god that's amazing.

I've never seen this skin before, I need to fix that.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2015 17:48

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Golden Bee posted:

I contend The Parent is more playable than 80% of custom skins for this game.

Thank you for posting this.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2015 19:01

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

I would play Monsterhearts again if I could play the Parent. Holy poo poo.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2015 20:25

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Arashiofordo3 posted:

For instance. You can only defy danger one way with one stat, Bold. When as far as I can see, every other game gives you an option for each stat.

Apoc World does this. Act Under Fire has you only rolling Sharp.
It works pretty well imo.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2015 16:40

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Really Pants posted:

"Seize by force" is intentionally vague--maybe the thing you're trying to seize is a possession, maybe it's an enemy-held location, maybe it's just victory or the upper hand in general, maybe it's the enemy's BLOOD AND SKULLS

This exactly.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2015 16:41

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Biomute posted:

The answer is almost always Go Aggro. Seize by Force is used only in situations where you have two forces with weapons drawn fighting it out over something. It could easily have been an optional combat move.

You can use Go Aggro to deal harm just fine, and I use the move for just that routinely unless the harm has already been set up with some other move (like doing something under fire to get into an advantageous position) in which case I might just allow the harm to be done outright. If a character just walks up to an unarmed mechanic and decides to punch him in the face, well they're going aggro and what they want is for the other character to get his face smashed in. If the character decides to drag the mechanic off and interrogate him at gunpoint, but his buddies show up carrying blowtorches and wrenches and you're suddenly in a standoff with the poor sod in the middle... Then it's seize by force.

I agree with the second part but not the first.
SBF is equally deserving of being a basic move. I typically end up in situations where I use it a lot more than GA.

As has been said, you can seize almost anything. The jingle, the element of surprise, the advantage, rolfball's gun, etc.
It sets the stakes in much the same way Read a Sitch does in that if the situation wasn't charged, it is now.

Nothing wrong with GA at all, but SBF deserves the place it has.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2015 22:08

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Meh Foo put it better than I did.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2015 22:24

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

What lies on the other side of the blood gate, and have you seen it?

# ¿ Sep 17, 2015 16:13

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Yeah I'm backing masks as well.
I've told the creators this, but my main gripe is powers.

I love that each playbook is all about 'how do I relate to my powers/abilities/being a hero?" And with some exceptions each playbook's moves follow their theme.

But each playbook has limited options for powers. The Robin/Nightwing inspired playbook will only let you have kung fu and gadgets like Robin/Nightwing.

In a supers game, your powers both are, and are not, critical.
Getting bogged down in poo poo like 'lifts X pounds' 'flies Y fast' will drag a game down and suck. But your hero and what they can do is a cornerstone of any supers story.

I really like how Worlds in Peril (another pbta supers game) handled powers.
You chose anything you wanted and ranked them by 'doing this is easy, probably won't even need to roll', 'doing this takes effort', 'doing this is almost impossible, pulling it off will be a character defining moment' etc.

In a perfect world, the Masks playbooks would be 90% as they are, with the powers sections written more like a story prompt, followed by WiP style power scale.
Bull: how do you kick rear end and take names?
this could be superboy, or it could be wolverine, or even blacksuit spider-man.

Nova: what happens when you lose control?
this could be a jean grey phoenix, or an incredible hulk, or even a tony stark in Iron Man 3

Legacy: what have you picked up from your predecessor and what's all you?
as mentioned you have your kid flash, but also blue beetle, any of the kids from runaways, etc.

Obviously this is all just throwing the first thought out there, but it's what sticks out to me the most.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2015 19:40

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

As I posted too many words above. I think Masks comes up superior in every aspect except power definition.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2015 01:39

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Thanqol posted:

Upon seeing the Doomed in Masks I became startlingly aware that the game could be used to run a Puella Madoka Magica Magi style crushing psychodrama rather than an uplifting superheroes story with remarkably little tweaking.

My mind is also blown by the MC getting new moves based on what Playbooks the players picked! I never thought of that and it's such a good way to bring the fundamental questions of each type into play.

Yeah this is a really great design.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2015 20:15

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Not sure if I'll throw up a playbook. But I have an idea for 'the possessed' where you share your body with a separate entity that grants you power ala jean grey/phoenix, or jackie/the darkness, some interpretations of banner/the hulk.

Highlighting a struggle between the person and this alien intelligence for dominance. Sort of a what if tyler durden also gave jack super powers? Kind of thing.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2015 19:31

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Covok posted:

Without further ado, here is The Kid v2.

So, one other suggestion based entirely on aesthetics, is to change the name of "Uh, Yes, Fellow Adult Guy" to something more like How do you do, fellow grown-up?. It's entirely subjective, but it just flows better in my opinion.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2015 21:41

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Error 404 posted:

Yeah I'm backing masks as well.
I've told the creators this, but my main gripe is powers.

I love that each playbook is all about 'how do I relate to my powers/abilities/being a hero?" And with some exceptions each playbook's moves follow their theme.
But each playbook has limited options for powers. The Robin/Nightwing inspired playbook will only let you have kung fu and gadgets like Robin/Nightwing.

In a supers game, your powers both are, and are not, critical.
Getting bogged down in poo poo like 'lifts X pounds' 'flies Y fast' will drag a game down and suck. But your hero and what they can do is a cornerstone of any supers story.

So yeah, I've decided to put up or shut up about DIY powers in masks. I hope y'all like it, I'll be updating and smoothing it out, but I don't intend for it to be anything big, I was shooting for something similar to the Alternate Harm rules for AW in terms of this being a 'plug and play' kind of thing.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2015 00:01

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Neopie posted:

I don't think it locks you out from the first list, though.

Not unless masks works very differently from aw and other games.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2015 16:24

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Covok posted:

Anyone working a template for Masks playbooks? Would love to port The Kid over to something more game friendly.

As they are now, there's not much to them. I'd wait until we can see if they do anything cool with the final version.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2015 23:20

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

It's not entirely undoable to make something fiddly enough to satisfy while maintaining the fiction focus of AW.
I had a similar idea for a sci-fi/shadowrun style "gear porn" system.

I'm not as much a fan of the anime mecha stuff as I am battletech, but if I were to take a stab at it I'd do something like:

Focus on effects via tags. So you have your basic moves, but mech 1 and mech 2 volley, but mech 1 has xyz tags, and mech 2 has abc and so it's all resolved different in fiction.
Use weight from DW, but split it up between sections of whatever. (You can fit 5 weight on the left torso, a machine gun is 1 weight, a laser is 2, add 1 weight for extra ammo, lightweight materials -1 weight but double the cost)

So you keep the fun gear lists and tweaks, everyone's mech can be unique, but in play you have a short statblock of tags and a couple stats to keep the basic pbta playstyle.

"I fire a volley at the enemy!"
roll +whatever
damage is n-harm (piercing, messy, forceful, EMP, etc.)

"I kick in my new ________."
Hyper-capacitors or whatever, +1 forward to 'escape danger'
Jumpjets which gave you +jump but take up some weight in the legs/torso

so on and so forth.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2015 00:27

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

spectralent posted:

It's not even that I'm big on battletech but encyclopedic schematic diagrams of gundams and development timelines of the different universe suits are things I associate really strongly with the games.

Exactly.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2015 00:46

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Galaga Galaxian posted:

Yeah, agonizing over giant robot statistics is what Mecha fans do, not what Mecha fiction does. Don't worry about bloody statistics.

Have you ever read a battletech book or played a mechwarrior game?

# ¿ Oct 17, 2015 01:22

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Galaga Galaxian posted:

Ok fine, Battletech. I'm talking about Japanese Mecha, which I thought was the focus of the conversation.

Sure. I was talking about btech, because that's all the mecha I know.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2015 01:26

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Golden Bee posted:

Was struck by inspiration yesterday and released a 12 page Masks supplement, In 400 Miles: Turn Left.

Primarily for teen supers, but useful for any road trip game.

It's really awesome.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2015 19:36

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

spectralent posted:

I had seen The Reg the other day but it has a similar issue of not being what I really expect from it. I like Death Moves though.

EDIT: Wait a sec, I thought The Regiment was WW2 Movie World, not Aliens World?

Its the former, with a semi hack to do the latter.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2015 20:42

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Captain Foo posted:

Battletech supremacy, Quiaff?

Ftfy

# ¿ Oct 18, 2015 19:19

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Captain Foo posted:

Dirty clanner!

Ghost Bear 4 Lyfe

# ¿ Oct 18, 2015 19:25

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Not everybody has an art budget! He shouted self-consciously at the thread.

# ¿ Oct 22, 2015 02:17

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Evil Mastermind posted:

I think it'd help more PbtA games if designers would split moves out between "Basic Moves" (the stuff you're going to use all the time) and "Special Moves" (the stuff that comes up only in specific circumstances or only every few sessions). Yeah, it's the same number of moves, but it helps the perception of your moveset.

It also helps new people when you can say "just pay attention to these, anything else we'll go over when it comes up."

My own sci fi thing has basic, special, and ship moves. All seperated out so as not to overwhelm, and so you only need to look over them when you're doing something with them.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2015 19:47

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Fenarisk posted:

Having finally dived into Witcher 3, I really really want to make a PbtA game with the same sorts of ideas, maybe playbooks are unique witchers/slayers or something.

I had a discussion on g+ with someone wanting the exact thing.

I'd say AW is pretty spot on with minimal hacking needed.

Basically, what I would do:
-Reskin the existing playbooks
-Take potions from the DW alchemist class, and make it a basic move.
-Give everyone one 'custom weapon' per the battlebabe rules (the battlebabe still gets two, and maybe an extra option if you feel it would be more fair that way)
-Port over some of the more 'in fiction' tags from DW, nothing like +damage, but like "glows in the presence of Y enemy".

# ¿ Dec 7, 2015 22:02

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

That all makes sense, but powers are kind of a sticking point for me as well.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2016 20:53

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Golden Bee posted:

The bolded options are "You don't get what you want" and might as well be misses. It's funny, but a partial success shouldn't include "you don't get what you want at all."

Im with you on the apology option, but losing nerve and mumbling seems totally fair.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2016 18:28

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

spectralent posted:

I dunno; I was almost the reverse. Having said it, you can't unsay it.

The way I see it, you still stand up for yourself but instead of "Hey, gently caress Off!" you're more like "I believe you have my stapler and um..._{i will burn down the building}"

# ¿ Jan 4, 2016 18:46

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Vulpes Vulpes posted:

Yeah, that's the debate I'm having with myself. The options are either everyone with Hot Wheels of or no one- in both cases, the Good Old Boy is scrubbed.

Or give the good old boy more options. Like, everyone gets hot wheels for free? Give the GOB an extra starting move and/or extra options for their ride. Like, everyone's got their corvettes and camaro's and they get the General Lee.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2016 00:59

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Boing posted:

I'm planning a hack and I could use some help brainstorming. My idea is for a campaign where the players are all Time Cops* intent on stopping Time Crime, and chasing Time Perps who try and steal things or murder people and flee through multiple different epochs, dealing with challenges on the way. (there is already the Timewatch kickstarter for the Gumshoe system, but I missed the boat on that, and the type of game I want to run is more AW style anyway)

_{* Temporal Integrity Maintenance/Enforcement and Chronological Order Protection Squad}

So I'm thinking up playbooks. I want to play heavily to cop movie tropes and detective stereotypes, and there's a lot of material to go on there, but I'm having trouble with the basic divide into niche-protected 'classes'. I thought about distinguishing the academy ace, the loose cannon, the by-the-book cop, the two-days-from-retirement cop, the raised-on-the-streets cop, but those all seem to come out as character backgrounds (like DW's Race moves) rather than fully-fleshed archetypes with roles to play in the procedural. They could each be a move or two, but I don't think they're enough for a playbook (or are they?). When I think more about niches, they are less tropey and more 'D&D adventuring party' type stuff, which I'm also not sure about : The tech specialist. The detective. The SWAT guy. The psych. The undercover cop. The FBI agent. Those seem a bit too clinical, without enough archetypical baggage to define them and help the players play into their roles.

What do you guys think of the divide? I kinda just want someone to go through this thought process with me. Stats are probably gonna be the AW stats reflavoured as something (Discipline, Brutality, Moxie, Acumen, weird fifth one?). There are definitely gonna be XP awards or forwards or something for James Bond/CSI style one-liners delivered in a grizzly voice

First things that come to mind.

1. if you're cops then combat should be limited. Like, cut the gunlugger and most of the battlebabe, and people shouldn't carry more than a pistol (maybe not even that depending on time period)

2. If you haven't seen it yet, I would check out gnome7's clock mage. Yes its for dw and not aw, but every move in there is about messing with time in ways that are fun and move the game forward rather than cause headaches. If I were you, I'd look at it for inspiration for time based basic or playbook moves.

Also Ettin's Retrocausality comes to mind. Abilities like Gemini (bring in another copy of yourself to help for a short time) seem like good inspiration for moves.

3. Class ideas

The Butterfly: your loose cannon renegade who doesn't play by the rules. Battlebabe-ish without the combat.

The TSI: time scene investigation. Part brainer, part tech wizard. All about gathering info and clues.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2016 18:22

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 12:04

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Ilor posted:

Actually, this is pretty explicitly NOT the case with Apocalypse World. Orthogonal or outright competing agendas are often the norm. You start out more or less on the same side, but you don't have to stay that way. The story is about how the characters do (or don't) work together and the resulting situations in which they collectively find themselves. I find "party-based" AW play kind of boring, really, because the PCs typically make MUCH better adversaries than the NPCs (again, by design).

Note that this is markedly different from "everybody off doing their own thing," because yeah, that sucks. But avoiding PvP? Why, when PvP produces some of the most compelling stories?

And when I say "PvP," let's be clear that there is a spectrum here. You don't have to be shooting someone in the head to be engaged in PvP. Hell, seduce or manipulate is PvP. The point is, if everyone is "working together cooperatively to accomplish a mutually shared goal," you're missing out on a lot of the really interesting stuff that makes AW really shine. ALL of the characters should have their own agendas. When those agendas align, the characters work together; but the MC should be looking for ways to set those agendas in opposition, because then the story is truly in the players' hands and not the MC's.

This guy gets it.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2016 23:11

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