Barf Forth Apocalyptica
barf forth apocalyptica => Apocalypse World => Topic started by: Erik Weissengruber on August 31, 2011, 10:49:28 AM
-
Bandlands Banditos and Canadian Survivors
Female players and characters welcome!
Looking to start a medium-length campaign (12 -- 16 sessions) of Vincent Baker's post-apocalyptic game.
Thinking of setting it somewhere in the Canadian prairies, near the ruins of the Alberta tar sands. Imagine Mad Max taking place in the ruins of Dog River. Soundtrack: "100th Meridian" by T. Hip.
Looking for serious badass protagonists. Your characters will be tough, competent, but human and have things that they care about above simple survival, which will be hard enough.
It's going to be a long-running thing meeting on alternate Thursdays. Looking for maximum of 5 other players.
Same Page Tool
Do you play to win?
- Good play isn’t a win/lose kind of thing, and your characters are not fragile, but you will never be comfortably in control of your situation
Player characters are:
- expected to work together; major conflicts might erupt and never see reconciliation - think Firefly: Mal and the doctor guy need each other but too much history has passed between them to ever fully let their guard down in each other's presence
- your characters can develop through violent or romantic interactions between each other, so be prepared for drama
The GM’s role is:
- The GM has no plan – the GM simply plays the NPCs and has them act or react based on their motivations
- this is my default GM style
The players’ roles are…
- to fling their characters into tough situations and make hard, sometimes, unwise choices
- "unwise" doesn't mean "suicidal": it's really hard to put your badasses in the dirt, but your guys are the sort who flip the bird when some biker dude says "submit to Lord Humungous!"
Doing the smartest thing for your character’s survival or thriving
- is what a good player does: in this game you have to work hard to get the food, water, fuel, love you need to keep going
The GM’s role to the rules is…
- my default approach: follow them, come what may. (including following house rules)
- that said, the game system is straightforward and full of consequences, not fiddly bits
After many sessions of play, during one session, a player decides to have her character side with an enemy. This is…
- a meaningful moment, powerful and an example of excellent play.
- BUT only going to last until the other player characters find out and do something about it, including killification
-
Sounds great. Wish I was still in the area. I think the Hip make a great AW soundtrack.
Has it started yet? How's it going?
-
It has started
1st session was a little short, so the feel wasn't as jelled as I would like it to have been.
2nd session was violent and bizarre. Some details of life around The Fort but some crazed apocalyptic pseudo-messianic business involving the Quarantine. Wasn't doing the Harm move right, but things will work out.
-
http://apocalypseworldfortscott.wikia.com/wiki/Fronts
The only content so far is the Fronts map
(http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111001201904/apocalypseworldfortscott/images/thumb/3/37/Fronts.jpg/479px-Fronts.jpg)
-
Cool, Erik!
I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops.
What did you feel we did wrong about the Harm rules?
I felt you did some strange things with the go aggro/seize by force moves, but the harm seemed by the book to me.
For me, it was cool to see some of the less obvious implications of the Quarantine playbook, and how it leads the group to discover the past of the apocalypse.
I really like how we discovered together that my character doesn't remember the apocalypse... but may, indeed, have been *responsible* for the apocalypse. That's pretty heavy stuff!
-
>What did you feel we did wrong about the Harm rules?
I forgot about the rolls! That didn't matter because the harm that was exchanged was "harm as established" and rolling might have produced worse results for the PCs.
The game flowed together despite my inattention to the rules
>I felt you did some strange things with the go aggro/seize by force moves, but the harm seemed by the book to me.
There was some glitching. What I need to see is more people using Read Person or Read a Sitch. People were saying what they were doing or how they were interacting in ways that suggested a very different understanding of the situation than what I had. The "Read" moves will help me feel that a shared understanding of the fiction is unfolding at the table.
Listening to the AP, I can hear me making calls without really having thought through the implications.
> my character doesn't remember the apocalypse... but may, indeed, have been *responsible* for the apocalypse. That's pretty heavy stuff!
"Responsible" in the sense that you might have been IT support for the evil dictator that destroyed the world, or was the janitor at the bio-warfare facility, etc. Or maybe you were the evil dictator. But when the shit went down you were definitely working for The Man.
And it is basic psychology: one can have a strong impression of being guilty for "something" without being able to explain why, or without even a specific impression of what one is guilty about.
-
I'm totally with you there, Erik.
As for the harm rules, well, it says they're at the MC's discretion, and that makes sense to me. I asked we roll them for my character and fell unconscious! And that's all good, too.
Looking forward to the next game. Have you seen The Faceless? There's an interesting move there called "Norman", which I'm thinking could be a fun way of mechanizing the interaction of my character with some kind of "AI" in the stasis ship/pod/station, should we ever go there in play.
-
I will check that Faceless out.
-
Some notes on the state of affairs.
Fronts ready to go:
Fort Scott
Hagar's Tribe
The Storms
Fronts not ready to go
The Mounties
The Pumps
The Eye
I have a strong ideas and details worked out for the "Ready to go" but any interaction with "Not ready" fronts will be sketchy and shadowy.
I encourage use of the "read" moves. They force us to slow the pace of inter-player exchanges and clarify the fictional reality. They will impel me towards some consistency too!
-
If you want to know some of the Apocalyptical imagery that I am riffing on, do a search of:
* Atlantropa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantropa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcqB26jemwA
* Aral Sea
* Messinian Salinity Crisis
-
Terms to Describe Apocalypse (based on revelations so far)
* Fascism
* Space satellites
* psychic power
* mini nuclear generators
Questions Answered to My Satisfaction
* will Newton give ammo?
* what is Hagar's prophecy?
* what is the storm?
Questions Still Open
* will scavenger dudes return?
* how did a digi-cam survive?
* what will Putrid's revenge be?
* what is the disease?
* how do the Pumps/petro work?
* how is the storm linked to the Psychic Maelstrom?
* where do basic food staples (grain, sugar, salt, pepper, cooking oil, fundamental proteins, coffee) come from?
-
Paul, you noted some wonkiness in my use of the seize by force and aggro moves.
Any comments on how I should approach them in the coming session?
-
Terms to Describe Apocalypse (based on revelations so far)
* Fascism
* Space satellites
* psychic power
* mini nuclear generators
Questions Answered to My Satisfaction
* will Newton give ammo?
* what is Hagar's prophecy?
* what is the storm?
* will scavenger dudes return? (they did, you wasted them and stole an ATV)
Questions Still Open
* how did a digi-cam survive?
* what will Putrid's revenge be?
* what is the disease?
* how do the Pumps/petro work?
* how is the storm linked to the Psychic Maelstrom?
* where do basic food staples (grain, sugar, salt, pepper, cooking oil, fundamental proteins, coffee) come from?
* what are the effects of the drug that Flare has been feeding to Big Dog's pack?
-
Cliffhanger from last session complicated by player absence
* Widow (Brainer) and Big Dog (Chopper) are face to face after W. had killed a henchman
* Widow attempts a brainer move, Big Dog seizes the situation by force, gets Widow into the stasis chamber opened by the Quarantine
Ethan (after rolling his cool move) shows up on the scene right on time
* Big Dog scrounges for flammable material outside of the crashed and buried orbital escape pod
* they head down to the pod, Quarantine comes awake
* arguments about what to do with Widow and Bloodhound's corpse
* Big Dog tries to establish dominance, Ethan the Savyhead peace, as Quarantine backs into a corner, refusing to act as dogsbody and carry the corpse to the surface
* a flurry of gunshots, a jammed pistol, Ethan backs out, hefting the corpse himself
* Q. and BD come to an understanding and some measure of trust
* stasis pod is turned on
On the surface
* E. picks out strange lights in the dust storm, a tempting will-o-the-wisp that he declines to follow, but makes a mental note
* People keep calling him "Messiah" and he is unsure of what is real and what is fake, so he tries to resurrect the comatose Bloodhound. It works
* freakout follows
* E. volunteers to ride ahead on his horse and take Bloodhound to Fort Scott
* Q. and BD drag foot to the Fort, bump into members of the scavengers who have the drop on them, but bold, insane action and powerful rolls turn the tables and net them an ATV
Back at the Fort
* E. rides in with the body and gets the worse of a negotiation with Newton, having to pay upfront for the services of the Medic (name?) and has to promise a free repair job.
* a jet of exploding methane from the Dwellers' complex draws his attention
* it turns out that the line carrying bio-derived methane leaked into a heating shaft and a spark ignited a fire
* the Dwellers were panicking and the militia unsure how to deal with it
* Rum impeded E.'s efforts, but he entered some of the maintenance tunnels despite her, and made it to the scene of the accident. In the confusion, Rum got trapped near the source of the fire, and E. had to abandon her while he ran to get help and fire retardant. The intense heat overcame her. Ethan does get the fire under control.
* The repair job will take resources and tools that neither Ethan or Newton have.
Drugged Bikers
* B. and Q. show up at the gate. Militia leader Gnarly gives no guff, but the creep Corbett shows attitude
* Q. and E. and B. meet up, much dumping of information follows
* Newton barges in and inquires about Q. The story B. tells is that he is a trader from The Pumps, but N. too distracted by disaster to follow up. She leaves with the notice that Big Dog had better get his guys under control has they have been drugging and drinking while he was gone. Poodle comes up to invite the crew to a party at the Militia's headquarters, and his state demonstrates how messed up the gang is.
Party with the Gas Mask Crew
* the militia are returning to a party-in-progress to unwind from the night's adventures
* the Pack are lying about in an absolute stupor
* B. gets his crew back in line, despite their state, but Fuse, a low-ranked militia lieutenant interferes
* B. gets into a show down with Fuse, but the militia are in fact not drug and drink besotted -- they have been staying sober while plying the bikers with a strange brew. The leader is cut off from his boys and they get slapped around by the militia and are too bagged and apathetic to do anything about it.
* Gnarly defuses the situation by calling his team to order.
What will happen next?
-
Die resolution, character advancement, and fiction, all gear together in an incredible way.
The Quarantine makes a bunch of rolls in a standoff with the Chopper. I was concerned that we might just be rolling for rolling's sake, but the negotiation scene was pretty tense. Then, when Q. got to the surface and saw the dead body, he decided to bring in a character advancement that he had just earned by the preceding rolling (so much for my concerns).
His first encounter with the Brainer involved being called Messiah. Given that he could not sort reality from hallucination, he tried to resurrect the comatose biker. And he chose the advance that allowed him a "healing touch." And the dice came together to allow him to do it, freaking out the dubious Chopper and Savvyhead.
The player had made such a bold intervention in the game's fiction, and did it by using the experience system and a clever move choice, that I felt compelled to jump out of my chair and give him a hug. Really, if there were instant replay moments for RPG-ing, the resurrection move would have been ESPN's "play of the day."
Way cool!
-
Thanks, Erik!
I really enjoyed that moment, too: it was a fun way to apply the rules to create an unusual and bizarre situation. Given the way the move works, it still leaves room for many different outcomes in the future: for instance, if I roll failures in the next few attempts to use the move, from the "audience perspective", we could say that it's not something the Quarantine Messiah is capable of doing at all, but was just some kind of weird coincidence. Lots of different ways to interpret what happened there!
Some other stuff, vaguely organized:
1. The list of questions is excellent! If I were writing it, I would love to add something to your list: what was the deal with the protest/resistance movement during the Apocalypse itself (as hinted at during one of our "flashbacks" to the Quarantine's memory)?
I'm also really curious to see how Bloodhound perceives what happened to him. Did he see "the other side" while he was dead? How does he see the Quarantine's intervention into his... soul?
Is he talking to Newton's people (or whoever is taking care of him)? How are the people of Fort Scott reacting? (Heck, maybe Newton and her people want to keep it quiet for some reason, and then they wouldn't be reacting at all, but if it gets out *and* it was being kept quiet, it'll have a very different impact later...)
2. The "wonky" use of moves, in my opinion, could become an issue in the future. I'm just pointing it out: if you like the way you're running the game, then please continue doing so. But, in my opinion, we're applying some of the basic moves a little too freely.
For example, remember the scene where Widow was talking to Newton (session 2), and wanted to touch her? You had her roll to "seize [the moment] by force". I think that's interpreting it way too loosely: the design of the move is such that it should only be used in situations where actual violence is being perpetrated by both sides. Otherwise, it just doesn't make sense: we have to narrate in harm retroactively instead of it coming from the fiction we're creating.
Likewise for some use of the "reading" moves (for instance, when the Savvyhead was trying to examine the equipment in the space station or whatever the Quarantine's space vehicle is). "Reading a person" is designed to take place in conversations; "reading a charged situation" means feeling out a situation where there is a potential threat of violence of something similar between people.
There are a lot of things happening in Apocalypse World that are, simply, not moves. I think we have gamer instincts that say, "It feels like we should be rolling something right now..." But the AW rules are often silent in those situations: I think stretching them to try take the place of, say, perception rolls could lead us astray a bit. (I'm thinking of an instance where we had a character roll to read a charged situation because they were lost in the storm, for example.)
None of these were game-breakers, but I feel they're kinda... wonky! We'll get further if we talk about this in person, though, so feel free to hit me up for that next time.
(Have you read John Harper's post about how "seize by force" is like a peripheral move? I agree with that.)
3. Erik has been assembling this amazing "atlas" or scrapbook of maps, notes, and various photos and drawings of our Apocalypse World, and it's AMAZING. We've got it open at the table, it's all scrawled in pen, and it feels like we have a book right there at the table that's a window into this fictional world, like a traveller's diary or something like that.
That's really cool! I was tempted to pick it up and just read through the whole thing, except I didn't want to be rude.
Similarly, Erik's made this huge map out of the "first session" worksheet (with the scarcities in a circle and all that stuff), and instead of doing the typical "GM" thing and hiding it behind a screen we just have it out on the table. There's a cool effect on play, where we can look at the notes and not only get an insight into the MC's prep, but also reminders of what this world is like, since the characters know more about it than we do: a sort of snapshot. Nice!
-
I'm going to move this thread down to the Apocalypse World forum. Don't be startled!
It takes a little bit of retraining, but when you feel the "we should roll dice now" feeling, and no one has made a move, the MC should glance at HIS list of moves. One of them will be perfect. The act of pulling the move from a list usually fulfills the same creative need in that moment that rolling dice would - "this is real and fair."
-
I'm going to move this thread down to the Apocalypse World forum. Don't be startled!
It takes a little bit of retraining, but when you feel the "we should roll dice now" feeling, and no one has made a move, the MC should glance at HIS list of moves. One of them will be perfect. The act of pulling the move from a list usually fulfills the same creative need in that moment that rolling dice would - "this is real and fair."
Yes.
I was getting that vague "time to roll dice" feeling. But my intervention is not diced: it takes the forms of the MC moves. So I should make one of MY moves, not prompt the players for moves when they might not feel like making any of the central or peripheral moves. When getting edgy, announce future badness or off-screen badness ... do not pressure players into making inappropriate or fuzzily established moves.
-
Similarly, Erik's made this huge map out of the "first session" worksheet (with the scarcities in a circle and all that stuff), and instead of doing the typical "GM" thing and hiding it behind a screen we just have it out on the table. There's a cool effect on play, where we can look at the notes and not only get an insight into the MC's prep, but also reminders of what this world is like, since the characters know more about it than we do: a sort of snapshot.
That is just me doing a riff on the standard issue 1st session sheet. I couldn't fit all of my scrawl onto it. What you guys don't see are some of my Threat Countdowns.
Erik has been assembling this amazing "atlas" or scrapbook of maps, notes, and various photos and drawings of our Apocalypse World, and it's AMAZING. We've got it open at the table, it's all scrawled in pen, and it feels like we have a book right there at the table that's a window into this fictional world, like a traveller's diary or something like that.
The rules demand a certain kind of prep: daydream apocalyptic images. I daydream by looking at Google and other images. This is me just externalizing the game prep in a way that can inform the players. The images say more about what is going on in my head than a short phrase or sentence could. AW prep demands a kind of unconscious engagement and that can be communicated non-discursively.
1. The list of questions is excellent! If I were writing it, I would love to add something to your list: what was the deal with the protest/resistance movement during the Apocalypse itself (as hinted at during one of our "flashbacks" to the Quarantine's memory)?
The list of questions is, again, standard prep and the rules imply that that list is to be written down and crossed off on the 1st session sheet. Having those questions visible is something I interpreted as a rule -- a lot like setting up the character web on the back of the Sorcerer character sheet. There are some statements and relationships between statements that must be inscribed on paper and committed to, referred to, updated, or corrected. These are rules that are conducive to certain types of interactions between the players. They aren't just "hey, here's a neat tip for GM organization."
-
Terms to Describe Apocalypse (based on revelations so far)
* Fascism
* Space satellites
* psychic power
* mini nuclear generators
* what was resistance to the Administration like in the early days of the unfolding Apocalypse?
Questions Answered to My Satisfaction
* will Newton give ammo?
* what is Hagar's prophecy?
* what is the storm?
* will scavenger dudes return? (they did, you wasted them and stole an ATV)
Questions Still Open
* how did a digi-cam survive?
* what will Putrid's revenge be?
* what is the disease?
* how do the Pumps/petro work?
* how is the storm linked to the Psychic Maelstrom?
* where do basic food staples (grain, sugar, salt, pepper, cooking oil, fundamental proteins, coffee) come from?
* what are the effects of the drug that Flare has been feeding to Big Dog's pack?
* where did Flare get the drug?
* how Bloodhound perceives what happened to him (the resurrection)
-
Great insights, Erik! Very cool.
And I'm with Vincent on the moves: I think it'll make for a more interesting game than trying to shoehorn moves into spots where they don't *quite* fit.
-
Paul: hold me to the commitments I make here.
I need to do some more RULES prep, which is why I asked folks to post their characters. I want to make sure I know how everyone's moves and gear work.
And to get back to the basics.
(I tend to get caught up in improvised fiction and dialogue and lose concreteness and let mechanics slip)
The game is a lot like Poison'd: we resolve actions that take place in the presence of immediate violence. (Or charged with sexuality in Seductions, or the struggle for scarce resources in Barter). Much can be done with MC moves, but the context should be immediate harm.
Seize by Force
- the design of the move is such that it should only be used in situations where actual violence is being perpetrated by both sides.
Reading a Person:
- takes place in a conversation or other action
> (the negotiation between Q and BD worked, the Savvyhead thing didn't)
Reading a Sitch:
- means reading a situation charged with violence
> (now, when the Savvyhead tried to probe the dust and saw misleading lights, that was a custom moved related to interacting with the Storm in its Dust aspect, but the rolling in the space station was a mis-application)
read a charged situation because they were lost in the storm, for example.)
(Have you read John Harper's post about how "seize by force" is like a peripheral move? I agree with that.)
> maybe it's time to write down his "walk through the fire or something" move!
> "Going aggro is for when you care what your enemy does, and seizing by force is for when you care what your enemy has." This seems to work for me. Thoughts, Paul?
-
Erik,
I'm down with all that! Vincent's quote from the book (in your last paragraph) is good, too, although it's not 100% fool-proof: for example, if I want you to *give me* something you have, that's probably go aggro, too, even though you might say in that case that I "care what my enemy has".
I'm trying to remember (but can't find) a nice breakdown someone else posted somewhere. It's for what happens when you act violently against someone, like hitting or shooting them. I don't remember it exactly, but here's my interpretation:
* If you catch them completely by surprise (from behind, say), you just do it. The response is the MC move to inflict harm, except you're inflicting your harm on the target. (Here's a good post about it: http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=1946.msg11500#msg11500 (http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=1946.msg11500#msg11500).)
* If you've got the momentum, you're springing this on your target from a position of advantage or surprise, but they see you coming early enough they'd have a chance to get the fuck out of the way, if they're fast enough, then it's go aggro.
* If they're ready for you, like guns/knives/fists out and they're just as ready to use violence as you are (like a standoff or straight-up battle), then it's seize by force. But, like, you gotta be pretty crazy or desperate to do that, right? Because you're gonna get hurt, maybe killed.
Another good example: they're ready for you, not surprised at all, but not willing or able to use violence against you in return? Sounds like go aggro.
Hopefully Vincent will correct me if I'm wrong anywhere in there, of course.
My friend John ("jenskot") described his favourite way to do AW combat as being like "a shooter videogame": you read the situation to get your bearings, act under fire to get into a position to have the drop on someone, then go aggro to see if you can pull it off, and repeat until you're done!
So if I want to take out a gang holding my cousin hostage, I don’t want to just run out there guns blazing using Seize by Force. Even if I roll amazing, I’m likely going to be hurt bad (I can minimize how hurt but likely still hurt, I am after all shooting at an entire gang with no cover). Instead I want to Go Aggro if I can to take out a gang member or two to start to even the odds (making the Gang smaller which means something mechanically). I can’t just Go Aggro by rolling and if I want to position myself to be able to Go Aggro, I may need to Act Under Fire to get there. But if I describe myself fictionally in a position to roll Read A Situation, I can give myself bonuses to my Act Under Fire roll which can set me up for Going Aggro like finding out which target is most vulnerable to me and even scoping out an exit if I fail and need to run. The game feels like I’m playing Metal Gear Solid, sneaking around and kicking ass!
-
Ok, my character: (let me know if you need any more details)
Name - Unknown (name tag was scratched out on the pod), called "Messiah Quarantine" by Widow
Look - Male, faded orange jumpsuit, young face (currently very scruffy), lost eyes, rangy body
(I figure he's not actually all that young. But certainly *looks* incredibly young, not only because he's got an innocent look, but also because Apocalypse Worlders must show age much more than people did in his time!)
Stats
Cool +2 (Highlighted)
Hard +1
Hot 0
Sharp +1
Weird +1 (permanently highlighted, because he was "overcome" by the psychic maelstrom when emerging from stasis)
Hx
Big Dog +2
Widow -1
Ethan -1
Harm
Currently at 6:00 (2-harm from electrocution)
Moves
Disciplined Engagement (can choose to inflict less harm)
Eager to Know ("when you go to someone for advice..." move)
Inspiring (If another PC rolls+Hx to help the Quarantine, they mark experience)
Healing Touch (from Angel playbook)
Gear
Currently an M16 (or similar) assault rifle, and the ATV. Also has a set of military body armor back in the ship/station/stasis thing. (We really need a name for this, huh?)
Stasis
* Recently emerged from here.
* Stasis contains what I think is my family, and
* is securely hidden.
* Specialist JACKSON, TAMMY H. is missing: her pod is empty. Was she the one who dug the tunnel to the surface?
Developed in play:
* My daughter, Lucy, may be the dead body in one of the pods.
* At least some of the armoury is missing, looks like it's been pillaged.
Unlocked facilities:
* Psi-isolation rig. Looks like a black chrome sarcophagus, standing vertically. Isolates contents from the psychic maelstrom and can keep a person in stasis. (Interesting implications here: how and *why* was this thing designed and built? What for? Why did someone think it would be needed or useful?)
[It currently contains Widow, note. But I tried to give you a potential "out" for framing future scenes by letting slip that "it" might decide to release a person if certain (unspecified) conditions are met. Use that as you like!]
Past
What we know so far:
* The first sign of the world ending was the storms.
* The apocalypse was gradual.
* I lost my daughter, Lucy, in the apocalypse.
* I believe I am somehow responsible for the apocalypse.
* I remember betraying my friends during the Protest Times to the Administration, a memory I'm very ashamed of.
Of course, this is AW, so there are no status quos and all that: but that's a current snapshot.
(The Quarantine also has a kind of vulnerability/romance/loneliness sort of sex move/special, note.)
-
Name: Ethan Cullen
Look: Male, Vintage Wear + Tech, Expressive Face, Squinty Eyes
HX: Widow -2
Messiah Quarantine +1
Big Dog +2 (uncomplicated, but problematic, potentially)
Gear and Barter: Vintage Cowboy fashionings
Submachine Gun
Cool +1
Hard +1
Hot -1
Sharp 0
Weird +2
Moves:
Things Speak
Bonefeel
Oftener right
Workspace:
Garage
Junkyard of Raw Materials
Horse: Cash
Rode North from Wyoming [long ride dude] when things got rough [nature of roughness?] found an abandoned dump & set up shop. Rides patrol at dawn & dusk.
-
Sequence of Events from Last Session
1. Protagonists in little tavern
* Big Dog throws out challenge: You want my help Quarantine? Kill and behead the Militia man slipping drugs to my gang!
* Ethan wants to get to know about Dwellers and their strange cult
* Quarantine trying to negotiate a position with anyone
2. NPCs Have Needs Too
* Quarantine approached by Militia head: hearing that Q is a trader from the Pumps (a petroleum reserve, and Q has fibbed a cover story to get into hardhold), asks Q to accompany Militia on a bit of agribusiness, by way of setting up some kind of exchange.
* Joe's Girl, a medic working for the hardhold's holder, Newton, asks Ethan for assistance in getting a heart/lung assisting machine working again.
* Bloodhound is out of the hospital, 2 bikers are in withdrawal from the drug, and Big Dog has to whip them into shape. Decides to scout out newcomers.
3. Quarantine
* Militia's boss, Gnarly, eager to work with him. Offers him a room where he can shave and get ready to help with the planting of smillet (a soy-millet gengineering experiment Q. remembers from around the time of the collapse).
* Q is creepily spied on.
* Q joins Dustwich and Fuse in packing up for the planting run. Fuse tosses a few vials of something -- the addictive drug -- into the ATV.
* Q makes some headway in befriending Dustwich. Turns out that her brother, Fuse, was called Joe before picking up a gun in the Militia and taking a new name. Joe's Girl was his girl before she decamped and gave up a subservient role in the Militia for the greater freedom of working with Newton.
* Before departing, Q. has a tense encounter with Newton. Q. lays it out that he has had an encounter with the Brainer Widow: and turns his actual resurrection of Bloodhound inside out. Newton is given the impression that Bloodhound used mindfuckery to resurrect himself. Thus, Q. covers himself against anyone further accusing him of being the messiah worshiped by the Dwellers AND creates some hassle for Big Dog and his gang. Newton starts to trust Q a little more.
-
Sequence of Events from Last Session II
4. Big Dog
* Tired of his fellows getting corrupted by the twisted priorities of Fort Scott's inhabitants, BD and his bikers hit the road.
* BD's long-stated aim has been to scout the incoming new tribe, and test their strength
* A lucky roll gets them out of an ambush (the raider's custom move). BD plans an ambush but then hits them full on. Good rolls and a few demolition packs get the barricade blown up, a few of his guys get caught in his blast, and the dudes collapse in retreat.
5. Ethan
* Intrudes on a ceremony for Rum, the defacto head of the abject Dwellers.
* She threw herself into the fire prevention efforts in last session's game, whipped into some religious frenzy.
* As the Dwellers prepare to place her in the rendering tanks (tip of the hat to Dune there), Ethan reads a thing -- Rum's dead body. He experiences her great sadness and disappointment at being unable to better the lot of her people. A trip to the maelstrom has Ethan aware of a vision that the Dwellers have shared -- a woman with a child wandering the desert, looking at the place where the Quarantine's pod is buried. The woman turns to the visionaries and says "He is not here, he has risen." The Dwellers erupt into a frenzy of glossolalia.
* Ethan has a deal with Joe's Girl. She has promised to sneak him into Newton's place to check out some of her medical gear. In conversation it becomes apparent that J'sG is not at all happy with Newton's greed. She intimates that she wants out of the constraints of Fort Scott society. It is clear that she admires Ethan's independence on his ranch. The two ride off together with plans to fix the medical device. And very likely get busy.
The storm makes a sudden return. Ethan will be free of it, Big Dog gets ready, and the Militia and Quarantine stand to get a whuppin'.
Very fun.
-
I will be bringing in the optional battle moves and some of the stealth moves.
Hagar's tribe will probably change the custom move for their bike gang to reflect the whoopin' that Big Dog gave them.
Big Dog: sorry that we can't develop the antagonism between you and Widow. Don't worry, the Widow will be back. But I like the challenges you are throwing in the face of every other Apocalyptoid. [To Peter: The character interactions are about THAT, not about whipping out dice every time character agendas clash]. [To Peter: Making the Quarantine do something to earn a place in your estimation is just what this game requires]. Big Dog: Making the Quaranting do something to earn a place in your estimation is just what you will need to survive in Apocalypse World!
-
Right on.
-
What are some of Jensnot's pieces of advice for PC/NPC triangles again?
-
Erik,
It took me a moment to realize what you were talking about! You're referring to our conversation after the last session, right?
If so, it was about a technique John and I (that's quite a mean typo you made there!) were working on a few years ago. It's not strictly relevant to AW, but could be made to fit.
The idea was to take traits important to the characters and then create NPCs that reflect them or subvert them. For example, if one character is struggling with issues of loyalty, you might create a strongly loyal villain (perhaps someone who takes that trait to the extreme), or a disloyal hero (Robin Hood?). Or simply an NPC who reflects a particular angle of that issue. Then in play you see how the protagonist relates or reacts to that NPC.
It's a very character-centric view, not along the lines of NPC-PC triangles, but...
OK, new thought on adapting this to AW:
* Take an important issue from a character. (We don't have too many of these yet, maybe some more "reading" moves and/or provocative questions will help here?)
For example: Big Dog clearly believes that respect is based on relationships of power, a "might makes right" kind of philosophy.
* Create a basic idea for an NPC who pushes that idea to the extreme or subverts/inverts it.
Example: A warlord/cult leader who believes in equal rights, loyalty, the value of the community over individual power. Might does not make right to this guy!
* Now do the same thing for another character.
Example: My Quarantine desires to find his family, it's his drive at the moment. Let's create an idea for a character: someone who believes family ties are an evil philosophy, that people are what matter, that we should erase all ties of blood, separate children from parents, etc.
* Finally, you create an NPC that combines those two things.
In our example, we get this warlord/cult leader figure who a) believes that people are equal, that violence is not the basis for respect or leadership, and b) wishes to destroy family relationships and create a society that values community above family ties: everyone is "equal", and ideas of blood lineage and family should be thrown out the window (probably at gunpoint, since this is AW).
Silly example, maybe, but that's basically the line of thought.
You could easily assign such "angles" to existing NPCs instead of creating new ones, of course.
-
Didn't really advance any of the fronts' agendas as a new character has entered the fold and the setting had to bend a little to fit her in.
Session Prologue:
* Character Generation & Background
Dust grew up among the hardscrabble Hillfolk somewhere in the USA. They have been lodged up in their hills since the collapse. When Hagar's tribe came by, they were cautious, interested in their herd animals, willing to pay a little tribute to the bikers, but not at all interested in their cult. Dust was hanging with The Flock and had a quick fling with a shepherd boy. Not being aware of the Flock's prohibition against the spilling of seed. Or their insistance that marriage follow upon spillage. Bored with the Hillfolk and looking for a way out, Dust agrees. She also does not put up much objection when, for no clearly stated reason, Hagar insists she go home and slay her 1st spouse. Dust's prologue ends with her walking out of the hut, husband 1 laying dead on the floor.
* Torture you, yeah, that's a good idea ...
Big Dog terrifies some of his captives from the time when he broke the blockade on the road outta town. 2 are gruesomely dismembered outright to make a point. Then he has a few fight to the death for the right to bear his message back to Hagar's Tribe. The pious fervour of Hagar's followers is exhibited. The nature of the bike gang -- followers of Hagar's son, Ishmael -- is revealed. Big Dog and the gang head back to headquarters.
* Snipers!
The militia is facing a botched planting of the s-millet (soy-millet frankengrain) and their attempts to save the crop are stymied by a brief return of the hazy dust clouds. Quarantine gets closer to Dustwitch and learns more about the strict gender roles of The Militia society: those who chose to take up domestic duties are to act as women and those who wish to bear arms and operate outside the compound are to act as men, regardless of biology. And that vow is for life. Joe's Girl -- now working as Newton's medic and curently AWOL in the company of Ethan Cullen -- broke that vow and left The Militia. Joe -- renaming himself Fuse -- still resents that. While the Quarantine is getting to know Fuse, Fuse is picked off by unseen snipers. And the camp comes under attack from co-ordinated sniping. At night. Which scares the hell out of everyone.
* Showdown in Ft. Scott
Dust has been deputised to speak for Hagar in a parlay about the ambush/rout/torture events. She makes it to Ft. Scott and encounters Big Dog. They exchange a few tense words. Newton takes them into HQ for formal negotiations. Newton seems willing to allow Hagar's bunch to occupy the basin, and to make good the deaths of those tormented by Big Dog with a payment of narcostabs. BD is disgusted by this mollification. Situation takes a sickening lurch when Quarantine rushes in with news of the attack. Convinced that Dust has been diverting her while Hagar's people make an attack, Newton calls for Dust to be arrested. The battlebabe's acrobatic moves get her out of the meeting room in a flash, and she makes her escape from the poorly guarded fort. Newton's demands that BD high tail it after her are met with derisive laughter. BD does Newton the favour of leaving one of his prisoners in her custody. Concerned about the source of the drugs affecting his gang, BD resolves to head to the mindfuck known as The Eye.
* Revelation on the Road to Ft. Scott
Quarantine catches up Dust on his ATV. Makes it clear that he is not like the maniacs around him. Moreover, Dust has run into some of the goatherds from Hagar's camp who are also bearing rifles with night scopes. Resentments about Hagar's failure to reveal this sortie to Dust are expressed. The goatherds hail Quarantine as the "Son of Light" that Hagar has been sending them to rescue from the hands of the ungodly.
Dust wants to clear things up: tells the boys to watch the road and escorts Quarantine to the camp.
* Welcome
Hagar welcomes Dust and Quarantine to her private tent. Bizzare questions insinuate that Hagar has known Quarantine for some time. Dust's displeasure with Hagar's scheming is expressed but Hagar tires to avoid the issue. Ishmael breaks in armed, and aiming at the Quarantine. Dust's spike-covered chain disables him but he continues shooting blindly and yelling something about "Father, how could you have treated us like this" and "Father, why did you forsake me?" The Quarantine reaches out to the boy, and with his healing touch repairs the damage to his legs. The boy reaches out through a psychic link and interrogates the man he believes to be his father.
* On the Road Again
On the way to The Eye, Big Dog and Gang treat with The Mounties, a gang that ride horses. The Mounties have the spoils from an ambush on a caravan from The Pumps. They seem awfully eager to trade jingle for a van that Big Dog boosted from Ishmael's gang. What do they need all that storage space for? They defer to Big Dog and the pack, acknowledging that the area around Fort Scott is their turf, but ask his permission to roam the place while BD and friends are down with The Eye. BD insinuates that Hagar's bunch would be a better place for them to do their raiding.
Session ends.
New Questions to Address
"Is Hagar actually Lt. Tammy Jackson? If she isn't, what happened to Tammy?"
"Is -- whatever Ishmael might believe -- really the child of Hagar and Quarantine?"
-
An interesting session, for sure.
Dust was awesome! Love the backstory. She was intriguing enough for the Quarantine to follow her out to the Tribe, anyhow!
For some reason, I'm really curious to see how she will interact with Ethan the Savvyhead...
Another very interesting tidbit was Fuse's necklace/pendant, which, according to (someone?), is an emblem of the Eye, and can get the bearer into the Eye's presence, a favour from the Eye, or something similar.
Was Fuse a spy of some sort?
-
Terms to Describe Apocalypse (based on revelations so far)
* Fascism
* Space satellites
* psychic power
* mini nuclear generators
* what was resistance to the Administration like in the early days of the unfolding Apocalypse? (there was a time of protest)
Questions Answered to My Satisfaction
* will Newton give ammo?
* what is Hagar's prophecy?
* what is the storm?
* will scavenger dudes return? (they did, you wasted them and stole an ATV)
* how did a digi-cam survive?
* what are the effects of the drug that Flare has been feeding to Big Dog's pack? (highly addictive, withdrawal causes painful nausea and vomiting & sluggishness)
* what will Putrid's revenge be? violence and kidnapping!
* where did Flare get the drug? the eye
* how Bloodhound perceives what happened to him (the resurrection): he believes that he resurrected himself!
Questions Still Open
* how do the Pumps/petro work?
* how is the storm linked to the Psychic Maelstrom?
* where do basic food staples (grain, sugar, salt, pepper, cooking oil, fundamental proteins, coffee) come from?
* how will Dust interact with the Savvyhead
* Is Hagar really Lt. Tammy Jackson
* If not, what happened to Tammy?
* Is Ishmael really the child of Hagar and the Quarantine
* Will Mounties raid Ft. Scott or Hagar's Tribe?
* Will Newton pursue Dust for alleged betrayal?
* How does Gnarly plan to handle the snipers and the rest of Hagar's Tribe?
* What was Ethan's ride from Wyoming like?
* What happened to Lucy, the Quarantine's child that he remembers?
* What creepiness with the creepy militiaman Corbet do next
* How will the methane system get repaired?
* Is there a battery for the artificial life support?
-
Name: Dust
(a.k.a. Nimkii's wife, but no one says that to her face)
Look: Female, casual wear w. hat, handsome, indifferent eyes, angular body
HX:
Messiah Quarantine +1
Big Dog +2 (uncomplicated, but problematic, potentially)
Gear and Barter:
* Oddment worth 2 barter
* duds, straps, etc., +1 armour
* Cookbook
* Gun (antique [+1 valuable], automatic [area]. reload, loud) 2 harm, close
* Spiked Chain (chain, infinite, hand, area) 2 harm, hand
Submachine Gun
Cool +3 [as in waaaaaay cool]
Hard -1
Hot +2
Sharp 0
Weird -1
Moves:
Ice Cold
Visions of Death
Left the hill people of Appalachia after shooting husband. A superficial tie with Nimkii, he is just a boy, really.
-
Happy New Year, Erik:
Questions Answered to My Satisfaction
* what is Hagar's prophecy?
* what is the storm?
* how did a digi-cam survive?
* what will Putrid's revenge be? violence and kidnapping!
Really? I'm not sure I know these answers. Refresh us, please?
Also:
* how Bloodhound perceives what happened to him (the resurrection): he believes that he resurrected himself!
Whoa! Crazy son of a bitch.
Looking forward to the next session!
-
Happy New Year, Erik:
Questions Answered to My Satisfaction
* what is Hagar's prophecy?
* what is the storm?
* how did a digi-cam survive?
* what will Putrid's revenge be? violence and kidnapping!
* what is Hagar's prophecy? That the Son of Light will fall to earth and lead the outcasts to salvation. (It has been delivered in bits)
* the storm is a fusion of psychic maelstrom with the results of climate engineering by the authoritarian regime that brought about the collapse (again, delivered in hints)
* there seems to be many pieces of functioning high technology -- you were in an area with a surprising number of cached high tech
* the last one ... well, the first 2 minutes of next session will make that clear
Really? I'm not sure I know these answers. Refresh us, please?
Also:
* how Bloodhound perceives what happened to him (the resurrection): he believes that he resurrected himself!
Whoa! Crazy son of a bitch.
Looking forward to the next session!
Yep, he now believes that he has some strange powers
-
January 11 Resumption
Wow. Wow. Wow.
3 Love Letters
* Big Dog: checks to see if the silty black dust has affected his gun (and his gang's) -- it has
* Quarantine: rolls+sharp to see if he is aware of members of Hagar's tribe slipping off to try to access his cryopods
* Ethan: rolls+sharp to see if a Tribe member he doublecrossed earlier gets the drop on him and Joe's Girl. They do. Big time.
Ferris Wheel is Rusted, Off in the Distance* The Eye is not a person : it is the abandoned amusement park encampment of a drug maker and warlord, Hengelo, and includes a brothel (run by fraternal twins, Arroy-D and the androgyenous Cock Brand -- both are named after brands of hot sauce), a market for all sorts of folk to buy and sell and deal in the drug, and fun zone called Party Town, and coterie of smart operators that work under Hengelo to keep the place fucntional.
* Hengelo is in a fix since his dealer in Fort Scott, Fuse, has been rendered headless by the sniping of Hagar's gang. He fixes on Big Dog as a replacement for him, but Big Dog has other aims: corrupting Hagar's bunch with the drugs. After a pleasant lunch of smillet and please birds (pigeons who coo "please" after prolonged exposure to the Malestrom), Big Dog meets Omer, the psychic employed by Hengelo. Omer's mind has been shorted out by the violent termination of his psychic contact with Fuse.
* Big Dog departs, with Pushpin and Calex to serve as the infiltrators who will start the process of corrupting the Tribe. And with a vague awareness that one of his own gang is, once again, calculating a move against him.
Departing for the Visionquest
* Quarantine is weighing his options for chasing after the party of explorers when Hagar enders. She confronts him with the fact he is leaving again.
* After maintaining her distance while he adjusts to his new world, she breaks down and embraces him.
* She wrings a promise out of him: he will return, and he will take his alleged son, Ishmael, with him.
* He takes off on the ATV
Howdy! It's Payback Time!
[/list]
-
* Howdy, It's Payback Time!
Rabid and his gang surprise Ethan and Joe's Girl. She walks to the front door for a stretch in the rising sun, gets a riflebutt to the jaw and goes flying into the room. Ethan makes a grab for the gun, succeedes, while shots pepper him and Joe's Girl.
Rabid and 3 others want him to come out. After a frustrated attempt to peek out of the window, Ethan just starts pumping shots through the wall of his trailer. The ambushers respond with a teargas canister thrown in. Ethan lurches to his SMG, busts out of the door and brings the ambushers down. And kills Rabid. And then Ishmael and Quarantine come over the ridge.
* A Tricky Plan
Pushpin reveals himself to be a solid operator. And encounter with the refuse of a meal left by the cannibalistic Mounties makes him quake, but Big Dog reasures him that he will be safe. So long as he does exactly what he is told. They spot the party of raiders out to find the Quarantine's buried pod. Big Dog's plan: stage a raid to debilitate their vehicles, have Pushpin ride up with a bombpack, throw it at BD's gang to "scare them off" and proceede to inflitrate the Tribe under the guise of a friend. Good plan, aside from Pushpin's sidekick getting a bullet from one of the Tribe. Pushpin, a good actor, uses it to build up his role as a good guy. BD and crew take off to cache some of the drugs.
Note: Big Dog has promised Hengleo a fresh psychic to use in the manufacture of his strange drugs. The Widow is in cold storage in the Quarantine's facility. His maneuver is designed to both prevent the Tribe from making serious inroads there AND to start the corruption of the Tribe. Brilliant scheming, Peter.
* Father and Son
Tense: what will Ishmael think of his father aiding enemies of the Tribe? Well, the Quarantine uses manipulate to get Ishmael to eschew violence of the kind that resulted in the debacle at Ethan's shack. As a return, he is supposed to convert Ethan and Joe's girl to the cult. That is delayed a while while Q. takes Joes Girl and Ethan to Fort Scott. Actually, Q. and Ethan want to pursue the cultists heading into the lowlands to dig up Q.'s facility. Then the crew on the ATV bumps into Big Dog.
* Say, You're a Psychich, Arent' You?
* asdfas
-
Say, You are a Psychic, Aren't You?
* Big Dog and his pack circle Ethan, ATV, Joe's Girl, Quarantine
I was worried Big Dog was going to use Q's brain as the psychic battery. I needn't have. There was a lot of in-character parley. The upshot was this: Joe's Girl will get dropped off at Fort Scott to get serious medical attention, then Q., Ethan, and Big Dog will head past Fort Scott to Liebert's Cut, the only pass down into the lowland basin where the Quarantine's facility is buried. There, they will ambush the members of the Tribe.
* Big Dog had to change his plan a little. He was going to cache the drugs near the tribe so Pushpin could continue with his infiltration mission. Pushpin is travelling with the Tribe members who are on a journey AWAY from the main encampment. So the cacheing couldn't take place.
* So, next week a bit of a battle and we'll see where we go from there.
-
From post-game discussion:
Peter's comments about fictional post-apocalyptic worlds being way too forgiving -- unlike The Road.
He is right. And I like the way Big Dog acts out this thinking. He is amazed by how soft and forgiving all the people around him are and how they avoid making hard decisions that they should be making.
Case in point, Newton, who has been described as an effective leader but acts in a way that seems WAAAAY too conciliatory.
Think of it this way: Ft. Scott is in a region that is littered with caches of pre-collapse stuff. Let's put them in the top 10% of the living conditions on post-Apocalyptic Earth.
It didn't help the people who cached it, but Newton, Hengelo, and Hagar have all benefited from what was cached.
AND NOW IT IS ALL BREAKING DOWN
The power and recycling facilities of Ft. Scott are on the fritz. The Eye has lost a key component of its drug manufacturing process. The vehicles salvaged by The Tribe are being worn down by Big Dog's depredations, and by the dust of the local Storm. And, you don't know it yet, The Pumps are having technical difficulties, which means that the local petroleum supply is about to get cut off.
So: the upcoming struggle for the remaining stuff should prove interesting. Big Dog's clear assessment of the situation -- these folks are deluding themselves -- will become clear to all the big players real soon.
-
Sweet, Erik! Great writeup.
One question: what important ingredient is the Eye missing for their drug production? I can't remember that part, but it seems interesting...
Now, here's the thread I mentioned during our conversation on resetting Hx:
http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=1883.0
Looking forward to the next session!
-
One question: what important ingredient is the Eye missing for their drug production? I can't remember that part, but it seems interesting...
A psychic has to be hooked up to the production apparatus and catalyze it through conscious invocation of the malestrom's power.
So the ingredient is someone with malestrom proficiency.
-
Of course!
Omer's fried.
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aLjup934Rk
-
I shouldn't have forgotten Sigur Ros
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqJ8hFgYwVg&ob=av2e
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCFo0a8V-Ag
-
We were in the rubble of last session:
***********************************
_____/ \______ <------The Hot Gates
Bikers
* * *
* * Wreckage
[] Sarcophagus + Heroes
The Flock The Dwellers
************************************
Pre-game rolls
* Quarantine rolls bad: he had to give a horrible detail of the fall -- cannibalism onboard space stations in their degenerating orbit
* Chopper: rolled to see if he concerved supplies in the last battle -- he did not. Is now short on ammo
Challenge: 2 players gone (Battlebabe and Savvyhead): how to keep pushing foreward without doing injustice to them?
* Savyhead "volunteers" to track down one of the cryptic automated Behemoths that were escorting the flock back towards Fort Scott, but after Ethan deployed his signal disruptor, went wild.
* Dust agrees to accompany Quarantine on expidition into Hudson's Basin to check on his Pod.
Chopper pulls The Widow from the Sarcophagus. His crossdressing disgusts the puritanical Flock and Dwellers. Chopper beheads The Widow and claims that Hagar was trying to use this demon. Flock is confused by Chopper who persuades them to believe him. He promises to confront Hagar with his accusations.
Quarantine is more sure of his role as a leader. Maneuvers to get Chopper to watch the Flock and the Dwellers while he goes into desert. Sarah agrees to stay behind and help while she and Quarantine go check out the Pods.
-
Ethan volunteers for his mission.
A quiet meal of slaughtered "Please" birds provides a moment of peace amidst the deadly mayhem.
Quarantine heads to the desert to check pods. On his way, a pillar of fire erupts behind him. Dust pressures him to go on and continue the mission. They come to the pod: excavator machines have bared its top, and the stasis pod was pulled out of its slot. Other than the cylender from which the stasis chamber was removed, the hull is unbreached. Dust and Quarantine explore the pod, find some oddments and some high-tech armour. Someone comes down to investigate the pod. Dust and Quarantine throw some explosives and kill them. They are the representatives of Hengelo, warlord of The Eye. They recover a beat up VW bug in which is a supply of highly concentrated does of the maelstrom-conducting drug that was being peddled by Fuse at Fort Scott, and which the Chopper is using to corrupt the Flock. The 2 decide to wait for Ethan.
Chopper tries to get a good night's sleep. But a jet of fire errupts from Fort Scott, which torments the drug-addled Flock and Dwellers. In the groggy dawn, Big Dog acts quickly: Sarah is nabbed by the gang and Big Dog begins his own preaching. He tells the followers that Hagar's ambitions are bringing wrack and ruin to her followers. He commands them to nab the remainder of Fort Scott's s-millet planting and take to the hills. He then plans to set out for The Eye.
-
Last bit:
A cargo tanker of petrol pulls up to the Hot Gates. It is Majorca, a representative of The Pumps. He is ticked off that someone -- by the name of "Quarantine" has been going around claiming that he is a member of their holding and speaks in their name. He makes it very clear to Big Dog that if he grabs the Quarantine, he will be richly rewarded.
A lot of "scheming" and only one little firefight. But satisfying nonetheless.
-
Nice!
-
This is coming together nicely
Terms to Describe Apocalypse (based on revelations so far)
* Fascism
* Space satellites
* psychic power
* mini nuclear generators
* resistance was in "The South" and Authority scientists leaked data
* weather
* cannibalism
* secret facilities in the arctic
This is all old news
Questions Answered to My Satisfaction
* will Newton give ammo?
* what is Hagar's prophecy?
* what is the storm?
* will scavenger dudes return? (they did, you wasted them and stole an ATV)
* how did a digi-cam survive?
* what are the effects of the drug that Flare has been feeding to Big Dog's pack? (highly addictive, withdrawal causes painful nausea and vomiting & sluggishness)
* what will Putrid's revenge be? violence and kidnapping!
* where did Flare get the drug? the eye
* how Bloodhound perceives what happened to him (the resurrection): he believes that he resurrected himself!
Questions Recently Answered
* how do the Pumps/petro work? Steam pressure injected into coal shale underground
* how will Dust interact with the Savvyhead?
* Will Mounties raid Ft. Scott or Hagar's Tribe?: I know, you don't
* Will Newton pursue Dust for alleged betrayal?: No, way more important things on her mind.
* How does Gnarly plan to handle the snipers and the rest of Hagar's Tribe? Too late, point is moot
* What creepiness with the creepy militiaman Corbet do next: I have a very awful idea
* How will the methane system get repaired?: It won't, it didn't, it blew up.
* Is there a battery for the artificial life support? Yes, and they are running out?
Questions Still Open
* how is the storm linked to the Psychic Maelstrom?
* where do basic food staples (grain, sugar, salt, pepper, cooking oil, fundamental proteins, coffee) come from?
* Is Hagar really Lt. Tammy Jackson
* If not, what happened to Tammy?
* Is Ishmael really the child of Hagar and the Quarantine
* What was Ethan's ride from Wyoming like?
* What happened to Lucy, the Quarantine's child that he remembers?
* What kind of man has Nimkii become?
* What will the drug-addled break-off sect do?
* Where was the Leviathan going?
* Where is Ethan?
* Who will save Fort Scott's reactor?
* What is Bloodhound thinking?
* What does Hengelo (Maestro d' of The Eye) want?
-
My physics and engineering are really shoddy. But I am not COMPLETELY out to lunch on the whole mini-nuke thing:
http://www.economist.com/node/17647651
TerraPower, an American firm backed by Bill Gates, thinks it has the solution. It is working with Toshiba to design a small reactor based on a “travelling wave” design. Once kick-started with a tiny amount of enriched uranium, it would run for decades on non-enriched, depleted uranium, a widely available material. This will be possible because the nuclear reaction, eating its way through the core at the rate of about one centimetre a year, would gradually convert the depleted uranium into fissionable plutonium—in effect “breeding” high-grade fuel and then consuming it.
Mr Gates points out that nuclear power has historically been dogged by five worries: safety, proliferation, waste, cost and fuel availability. “This thing is a miracle that solves all five,” he says. John Gilleland, TerraPower’s boss, says that a single enrichment plant would then suffice to produce all the enriched uranium needed to spark up the world’s mini-reactors.
The prospects for mini-reactors, like those for large reactors, depend on a combination of technical, commercial and regulatory factors. The stars do not seem to be aligning for large reactors. But they are no longer the only game in town.
-
http://www.physorg.com/news145561984.html
Because of their small size, the mini power plants can be assembled relatively quickly and transported by truck, rail or ship to remote locations, even places that currently do not have electricity. The power plants provide an alternative to current nuclear plants, which are large, expensive, and take about 10 years to build. Also, large-scale power plants don´t fit the needs of small populations or areas without available land. Hyperion´s modules can be connected together to provide energy for larger populations, as well.
In addition, the Hyperion modules have no moving parts to wear down, and never need to be opened on site. Even if opened, the small amount of enclosed fuel would immediately cool, alleviating safety concerns. "It is impossible for the module to go supercritical, ´melt down,´ or create any type of emergency situation," the company states on its Web site. Because the Hyperion plants would be buried underground and guarded by a security detail, the company explains that they´ll be out of sight and safe from illegitimate uses. Further, the material inside wouldn´t be appropriate for proliferation purposes.
"You would need nation-state resources in order to enrich our uranium," Deal said. "Temperature-wise it´s too hot to handle. It would be like stealing a barbecue with your bare hands."
The reactors need to be refueled about every seven to ten years. After five years of generating power, Hyperion says that the module produces a total waste of about the size of a softball, which could be a candidate for fuel recycling.
-
No Ethan
The session is a bit of reboot of the series. I was attempting to do something like a first session exploratory operation.
A lot of apocalyptica was barfed (more on that later)
The characters are still separated: Quarantine & Dust are with the remnants of the Dwellers and the Goatherds, holed up in the cave complex. Big Dog is further south with Hengelo and The Eye.
Dust: revising relationship with Niimki. He is showing a violent streak, perhaps linked to the drug Big Dog smuggled into the Goatherds. He is showing intense loyalty to Dust and is determined to have the crew of survivors follow her instructions.
Quarantine: trying to unify his flock and get a better vision on what the status of the infrastructure at Fort Scott is.
There are charged interactions between Dust and Quarantine. Niimki is on Q's case, but because Dust sees a place for Q, Niimki is not overly aggressive. Gimlet, a withered old Dweller, has had enough with Q's messianic bafflegab and rebels, only to be put in place by Niimki. It appears as if the drug-enhanced orgy has not mellowed everyone out (pace Frank Herbert's Fremen and no disrespect offered to Yage and Mescaline cults around the world).
Up on top of the massif, Q enters two trances. At the end of one a sinister voice suggests that if he were to jump from the highest tower, his tempter could save him from the fall. At the end of the other, he feels serpentine tongues in his ear. After a sex-and-drug flipout with her husband, Dust finds herself trudging in circles at the top of the massif. She herself has had visions of various geographic points in the setting going up in atomic fireballs.
Dust, Q, Niimki, and Joe's Girl set off to explore the extent of the tunnel system. It appears as if the massif is shielded against the intrusions of Brainers, like Quarantine's wife, Hagar. The only "passkey" into the storage vaults of the complex is the DNA -- in the form of red blood corpuscles -- of Joe's Girl. Inside the complex there are stores of food and water, what seems to be another functioning power core, some walkie-talkies, and an old photo. It is a family, with the father in uniform, standing in front of some official-looking banner. The faces of the mother and 2 children have been burnt out by cigarettes. The man's face is that of the Quarantine. Niimki sees Q take the photo but says nothing.
Big Dog had to see what was up with Hengelo. He even put the captured Newton under H's guard. While his biker boys were celebrating in Party Town, he had a very tense interaction with Arroy-D, one of the twins who runs the brothel. Rejecting her advances, he seeks out his lieutenant Bloodhound. He comes upon him engaged in some psycho-sexual-ritual freakout with Cock Brand, the other twin. His mind is deranged. He comes to to find his core of bikers following Bloodhound in some state of ecstatic elevation. He tries to assert his authority and, after dealing with Bloodhound and his patron CB, finds himself repeatedly challenged to duels by every member of his gang. Suspecting chemical or psychic derangement of his crew, Bloodhound presses on to Hengelo's place. He and Newton pull a Chewbacca, shoot the place up. The heavily wounded Big Dog resolves to stay and get his crew back under control.
-
As you can see, I have been in reactive or reflective or visionary mode for some time.
With the big fort abandoned, the entire scheme of power relations in the area is up for grabs.
So I have been riffing on apocalyptica.
Step one: the word means "revelation" or "rending of the veil."
- some comparative religion types look at apocalyptic or end-time prophecies as visions were the founding moments of a mythology are replayed in extremis as a world comes to an end
- I sent my mind back to a few foundational myths and replayed them in the context of a burnt-out planet
Step two: a few foundational moments
- The Epic of Gilgamesh: as a primal king one of the first moves of Gil is to tame the wildman Enkidu. He does this by brewing beer and inaugurating sacred prostitution. Centers of ecstasy can be cornerstones as much as fortresses or farms. There is a place for Dionysus as well as Zeus, Ares, or Minerva.
- The messiah is tempted: Jesus on top of the temple with the tempter. The foundation stones of the temple were sometimes said to be the omphalos or founding stones of the world. Messiah is promised immense power if he trusts the tempter.
- Androgyne twins possessing unearthly powers. Some kinda Gnostic thing, if I recall.
More specifically, Cock-Brand was inspired by a photo I saw of an indignant, impassioned hijra gesticulating at a camera.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_%28South_Asia%29
In Hindu contexts, hijras belong to a special caste. They are usually devotees of the mother goddess Bahuchara Mata, Lord Shiva or both. Hijra culture draws upon the traditions of several religions.
Hijras and Bahuchara Mata
Bahuchara Mata is a Hindu goddess with two unrelated stories both associated with transgender behavior. One story is that she appeared in the avatar of a princess who castrated her husband because he would run in the woods and act like a woman rather than have sex with her. Another story is that a man tried to rape her so she cursed him with impotence. When the man begged her forgiveness to have the curse removed, she relented only after he agreed to run in the woods and act like a woman. The primary temple to this goddess is Gujarat[25] and it is a place of pilgrimage for hijras, who see Bahucahara Mata as a patroness.
Hijras and Lord Shiva
One of the forms of Lord Shiva is a merging with Parvati where together they are Ardhanari, a god that is half Shiva and Half Parvati. Ardhanari is especially worshipped in North India and has special significance as a patron of hijras, who identify with the gender ambiguity.[25]
-
Big Dog:
- your guys are drug addled and manipulated and tranced out
- I have taken your gang away from you TEMPORARILY: it's an MC move "take away their stuff" but does not represent a crippling of your character's effectiveness.
The Caves:
- I bobbled the description of the thing:
- They are not huge, super-fancy complexes, but more like the Taliban redoubts in the hills of Afghanistan:
(http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01589/CAVE_1589038c.jpg)
- There is one main, downward slanting shaft with stairs to assist transit, and a few storage rooms off to the side:
(http://www.gzbgj.com/english/img_geheyan/suidong2.jpg)
- There is undoubtedly on of the mini-nukes powering the thing
- It is limited in extent.
-
Thanks, Erik!
Good stuff.
Particularly enjoying the religious info: very interesting!
As a point of game theory, I'd love to ask you one of these days what you would have done if I had decided to trust the voice and thrown myself off the edge of the cliff. (But it's probably too early for that, since the identity of the voice is still shrouded in mystery, and you might want to keep fooling around with that in the fiction.)
Cheers!
-
When I did that, I had no idea what the consequences would be.
I suppose because I have been reading different critical histories of the New Testament and different theories about how Christian worship started, I wanted a moment that defied all rational, scientific reality. Or at least all participants were firmly convinced that such a moment had occurred.
There is a weird moment in Dorsai where the genetically-bred general Donal Graheme starts defying the law of gravity. Some sort of triumph of the heroic will over the constraints of reality, a bit of magic in the middle of a bog-standard space opera.
But I made sure that Dust saw you levitate too. There are group hallucinations, sure.
But I really just barfed that apocalyptica out with no thought as to what would happen if you acted on it.
But, remember, JC did not act on the temptation either.
-
Excellent!
I like the Biblical vibe.
Although it is (from a game design/play advice perspective) very interesting to consider what the MC might do in this situation.
Assuming the order to jump is just a hallucination, the options are somewhat limited. I suppose giving the player a full "clock" of Harm is a decent option, since the player can choose to take a debility and thereby survive.
What else?
Introducing some more weirdness, though, of course, there are many other options.
-
V.B. on Scares in RPGs
http://lumpley.com/comment.php?entry=660
"Here's one that makes sense to talk about in this thread. One of my favorite features of roleplaying games is that they can be actually scary. The best scares in horror films aren't visual, they're situational, conceptual - the visuals aren't scary by themselves, they communicate the scary idea. Roleplaying games let us create and share scary ideas of our own, for each other, right now."
... there was this moment in one of the 3-minute Murderous Ghosts demos I got to run at the con. The random congoer I was demoing with said something genuinely scary, all live and unrehearsed. You could see her think of it, get scared by it, then say it, and she could see us all respond as it scared us in turn. It's a neat moment."
This is a specific instance of a general practice in RPGs which is the selling point for me:
Frank T. Expanding VB's Point
http://lumpley.com/marginalia.php?entry=660&comment=17082
"Yeah, that's something I like about role-playing, too. Not necessarily with the scariness, but with something that's imagined, right there and then, and shared, and totally gets under your skin. Interestingly, in my experience it is also something that many die-hard trad gamers dislike, and/or feel very uncomfortable about."