Barf Forth Apocalyptica
barf forth apocalyptica => Apocalypse World => Topic started by: Robert Bohl on April 06, 2011, 02:46:19 PM
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NOTE: If you're playing in this game, reading this thread will make you sad. I recommend against it.
So, I wrote up my first Front for the Treepocalypse (http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=1528.0) game. I'd welcome any comments or ideas.
The customers
* Expresses: Hunger
* Dark future/agenda: If the Rout's cast and crew don't cope with the ravening needs of its customers, Dickson is going to be merely managing something he used to own. That is, if the Rout is left standing.
* Description & cast: The customers (past, present, and future) of the Route. Includes Rolfball, Toyota, Ba, and the blacklist of former clients and those who wish to be.
* Stakes questions
- Will the protagonists have to kill Ba?
- What did Rolfball do to Balls & Absinthe's sister
- Will the blacklisters crack open the Rout?
Threat 1: Rolfball
Kind: Warlord (alpha wolf)
Impulse: hunt and dominate
Description & cast: 7' tall, missing most of his teath, gravelly voice. Leads a biker gang of "plant zombies," who are based out of the Gorge. There are about a dozen hard, well-armed thugs. Rolfball himself carries a sawed-off (3-harm, close, reload, messy) and armor-1.
Custom move: none yet
Countdown:
- 12-3: Subtle threats
- 3-6: Indirect moves against the Rout: supplies disrupted, ill-will raised
- 6-9: Direct threats
- 9-10: Seizing and murdering customers
- 10-11: The Rout under siege
- 11-12: Direct assault and takeover of the Rout
Threat 2: Toyota
Kind: Grotesque (pain addict)
Impulse: craves pain, its own or others'
Description & cast: Slim, 30s, friendly/slick, hidden knives (2-harm hand infinite)
Custom move: none yet
Countdown:
- 12-3: Rothschild, a working girl, complains about him again.
- 3-6: Toyota flirts with a PC
- 6-9: Propositions a PC for sex
- 9-10: Murder an NPC
- 10-11: Spread lies and disinformation about the Rout
- 11-12: Murder a PC in their sleep
Threat 3: Ba
Kind: Grotesque (disease vector)
Impulse: craves contact, intimate and/or anonymous
Description & cast: A kind, friendly, old, white-haired, dark-skinned man. He travels the world collecting little bits of treasure from before the trees. He trades these in to feed his compulsive sexual appetite with prostitutes, and as a result now has syphilis (though he doesn't know it). He's always got 2 oddments of 1-barter each to trade with.
Custom move: none yet
Countdown:
- 12-3: Ba starts frequenting the Rout more than usual
- 3-6: The workers are turning up sick
- 6-9: The clients are turning up sick
- 9-10: A PC gets sick
- 10-11: Ba knows about his illness and is hiding it
- 11-12: Ba betrays the Rout to save himself
Threat 4: The blacklist
Kind: Brutes (sybarites)
Impulse: to consume someone's resources
Description & cast: Assorted former clients who have been blackmailed, as well as people who want to be clients but haven't been let in.
Custom move: none yet
Countdown:
- 12-3: Supplies are interrupted
- 3-6: A rowdy gang shows up late at night demanding entrance
- 6-9: The people who know how to invite people to the Rout are showing up dead
- 9-10: Ula, who was definitively banned, returns and demands entrance
- 10-11: Total blockade of supplies
- 11-12: The blacklist is invited in as the Rout loses its exclusivity and secrecy.
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Nice!
Out of curiosity, will Rolfball work with the blacklisted ones at all? I notice that both of them have "supplies disrupted" in their countdowns (3-6 for Rolfball, 12-3 for the blacklist). I imagine this could lead to entertaining moments of competition to dick over the Rout, or a truly terrifying partnership. Or both! Or maybe they were planning on screwing the Rout's supplies in different fashions? Fun things to think about. Also, do you have any ideas on what in particular will push the countdowns further?
As for custom moves, maybe you'd want something for what might happen if you spent too long around Rolfball and his gang: first you have an odd furry moss on your limbs... next thing you know you have vines growing through you... etc. Hopefully this can be good grist for your creative mill. I look forward to seeing more.