Barf Forth Apocalyptica
barf forth apocalyptica => Apocalypse World => Topic started by: lumpley on October 17, 2010, 02:32:38 PM
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I'm finishing up a new character playbook! It's called quarantine. You're a person - a soldier - held in stasis since the world ended. I'll be publishing it in the next couple of days to support Shock: Human Contact (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/JoshuaACNewman/shock-human-contact-a-hard-sf-far-future-roleplayi), which is a game I'm playing and enjoying and I believe in.
(http://lumpley.com/apocalypse/graphics/quarantine.jpg)
More info to come!
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Sweet! I was thinking a Morrow Project crossover would be fun.
So...how do we get this?
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I wanna know about this one too, so I can pick it when the time comes to get a second character. :)
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It's here: Kickstart Shock:Human Contact (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/JoshuaACNewman/shock-human-contact-a-hard-sf-far-future-roleplayi/posts/34708)!
Everyone who has already backed the Human Contact Kickstart should get the PDF tomorrow, we're proofing it tonight. If you haven't backed the Human Contact Kickstart, please do! It's a great game and J has big plans for it, plus of course that's how you get a copy of the quarantine.
Here's the flavor text:
introducing
QUARANTINE
It's possible, when the Golden Age of Legend fell, that no one saw it coming. It's possible that it came upon them unprepared and unsuspecting. Maybe they, like we, were simply fucked.
It's also possible that they knew.
What else should I spill for a preview? Any requests?
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Favorite new move? Favorite new Hx relationship? I'd be interested in either. I think the moves are a good way to figure out what each playbook does, so I'd be interested in seeing some of the examples of the Quarantine's moves. Otherwise, I might be interested in knowing what the Quarantine's +2 stat is, or if it's not +2, which stat the Quarantine is supposed to be best at. I'm guessing Hard right now, based purely on the fact that he's a soldier, but that's really no more likely than anything else. (Although I guess this whole thing could entirely screw with my head, and the Quarantine isn't awesome at any one thing, but pretty good at everything.)
O'course, what I want might not matter, as I donated to the project already, so really I'm just rubbing my grubby little hands together, hoping for any crumbs that might fall from the table before the real dish gets put in front of me tomorrow.
Regardless, this is awesome, and thanks very much!
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Sure!
As quarantine your +2 stat is cool, and you have access to a +1cool (max cool+3) move, which is otherwise currently absent from the game. It's called combat veteran. You also get military body armor (3-armor valuable hi-tech)! You're quite unlike a gunlugger, in that all of your combat moves are about discipline and teamwork. For instance:
Disciplined engagement: when you inflict harm, you can choose to inflict any amount of harm you like, less than or up to your harm as established, including s-harm. Decide at the moment you inflict the harm; you need not tell anyone in advance how much harm you intend to inflict.
The stasis you've been in for 50 years has kept you isolated from the world's psychic maelstrom, so during character creation you make a move, roll+hard, to find out what your weird is. So that's pretty interesting.
You create your stasis like a driver's car or a savvyhead's workspace or whatever. It has several cool facilities, and it still has other people in it.
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A bit more. Being a soldier means that you're prepared in some ways for the Apocalypse World, but also that you're doubly dependent on other people. You need people, you're most effective working with others in a common cause, but you're a serious outsider.
The stuff about the past - the people still in stasis, your returning memories about what happened - are good too. Nice and melancholy, with some potentially world-changing hooks.
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I am excited about getting my mitts on this thing.
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I had missed the kickstarter thing for Human Contact, so this is doubly cool.
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I had missed the kickstarter thing for Human Contact, so this is doubly cool.
Same exact situation for me.
This was a nice reminder.
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I'm backing Human Contact because I like Shock but wasn't quite willing to re-ante for 1.1 and 1.2 after buying 1.0.
I'm curious about the Quarantine playbook though; I've found the Gunlugger's 2-Armor a little problematic in the two campaigns I've seen him, so I'm a bit agog at the concept of a 3-armor character.
I'm sure it's all fine...
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Is this at all like being a Vault Dweller from the Fallout series?
Seth
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Nemomeme: Actually oops! My mistake. Military body armor is still worth 2-armor, not 3.
Greatwolf: I don't know! Quarantine is a person emerging from suspended animation, is that what a vault dweller does?
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You...you haven't played Fallout?
*boggles*
In the original Fallout, you play a Vault Dweller. When The War happened, your parents entered one of the Vaults that were supposed to serve as a shelter. Then, the doors were locked.
Time passed.
All you have ever known is life in the Vault. But now the water purification system is dying, so you must venture to the surface to locate a replacement chip. Your experience of the outside world is nil.
Here's the intro for the game, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkBNKa2KXZE) which includes the setup for the game. It'll be worth your 3 minutes.
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I like this a lot! Of course I grew up playing The Morrow Project, so I would. In that universe not every frozen soldier was a representative of secular peace, reconstruction and democracy...
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I'm backing Human Contact because I like Shock but wasn't quite willing to re-ante for 1.1 and 1.2 after buying 1.0.
I'm curious about the Quarantine playbook though; I've found the Gunlugger's 2-Armor a little problematic in the two campaigns I've seen him, so I'm a bit agog at the concept of a 3-armor character.
I'm sure it's all fine...
Hey, Matthew, every Shock: owner gets free PDF point upgrades. Email joshua@glyphpress.com and I'll set you up with the 1.2 PDF. I of course want you to play with the best version of the rules available.
-J
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I'm kind of shocked and awed that Vincent wrote such a fine Post-Apocalyptic TTRPG and has never played the finest Post-Apocalyptic CRPG. But then, they are very different beasts... so I probably shouldn't be.
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Vincent - this is great. I just watched Pandorum recently and have been thinking about Apocalypse World on a dying world ship, and this is perfect for it.
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Nemomeme: Actually oops! My mistake. Military body armor is still worth 2-armor, not 3.
Does that go for both the armor the quarantine gets automatically (which IS listed as 2-armor) and the armor contained in the Armory stasis option (which is listed as 3-armor)? I'm assuming yes since they both have the same name and getting a hold of 6 sets of 3-armor sounds waaaay too freakin' good.
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Oops! Yes.
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Incidentally, this is one of those dumb questions that I feel compelled to ask nonetheless: is it technically allowed to switch to this playbook with an ungiven future advancement? I can't really imagine ANY situation in which that would make sense, but like I said: feeling compelled to ask. :)
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Technically allowed, sure, but not a guaranteed right. The relevant rule is on page 96, under "say this first and often."
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It's a very good rule.
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I'm glad to hear about the armor. With 3-Armor, especially if Quarantines are allowed to take Gunlugger moves on their advances, the ideal solution to every problem becomes "I shoot everybody in the room".
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Hm. I'm pretty sure that, armor quite regardless, shooting everyone in the room is the ideal solution to vanishingly few problems.
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"The children of the hardhold are all getting sick. Their eyes are puffed shut and their tongues are so swollen they can't speak. What do you do?"
"I shoot everyone in the room."
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Well, sometimes you need to tweak things a little. "I shoot people, one by one, until someone fixes this shit."
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By the way, I want to say that I love how the really "Whoa, shit, that's crazy!" type interesting stuff in this playbook isn't in the moves. That means I don't have to be worried about dropping the playbook on the table and saying, "Here's more options for you guys when you take moves from other playbooks."
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Yo,
Another cool playbook. I especially like the illustration with the blackness bleeding away, as if to suggest that the Quarantine has all the answers. Yeah right!
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By the way, I want to say that I love how the really "Whoa, shit, that's crazy!" type interesting stuff in this playbook isn't in the moves. That means I don't have to be worried about dropping the playbook on the table and saying, "Here's more options for you guys when you take moves from other playbooks."
I think that Disciplined Engagement is kind of amazing. The ability to decide how much harm you deal was, really, at the core of that whole Seize By Force debate we had a month or so ago.
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I think leave no one behind and inspiring will be popular choices for other types to snag.
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One of the characters in our present game has a move like Inspiring (but with +1 to help roll), but I've gotten my ass kicked a couple times helping, so I'm a little less inclined, even with the incentive.
Then again I did get my ass kicked because of it!
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By the way, I want to say that I love how the really "Whoa, shit, that's crazy!" type interesting stuff in this playbook isn't in the moves. That means I don't have to be worried about dropping the playbook on the table and saying, "Here's more options for you guys when you take moves from other playbooks."
I think that Disciplined Engagement is kind of amazing. The ability to decide how much harm you deal was, really, at the core of that whole Seize By Force debate we had a month or so ago.
I don't really understand that move.
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By the way, I want to say that I love how the really "Whoa, shit, that's crazy!" type interesting stuff in this playbook isn't in the moves. That means I don't have to be worried about dropping the playbook on the table and saying, "Here's more options for you guys when you take moves from other playbooks."
I think that Disciplined Engagement is kind of amazing. The ability to decide how much harm you deal was, really, at the core of that whole Seize By Force debate we had a month or so ago.
I kind of assumed that was where the core of the idea came from, but it's probably just as likely to be a parallel development thing.
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Seize by Force debate? Could a kind soul post a link, please?
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Here: http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=459.0
Summary: skinnyghost examines his options for attacking a dude without killing him/dishing out harm, though the suggestion of a move that allows you to reduce your damage doesn't come up until page 3.
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I just noticed, the Quarantine gets three "take a move from another playbook" improvements. The most mind-blowing thing of all! If my PbP Maestro D' ever hits his fifth advancement it's totally gonna be a Quarantine secondary character, assuming my MC is cool with it.
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He also gets no 'take a quarantine move' advances, which is even more interesting from a fiction perspective.
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I may be missing something obvious gang, but folks are discussing the playbook as if they have a copy to refer to?
I have pledged to Human Contact, but no email from the Unstore, nor has my Forge account allowed me access to the Quarantine playbook? Help! How do I get my hands on this thing?
Cheers, Noofy
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You should get an email from Josh, via Kickstarter. It may have gotten snagged in your spam filter or something though. Just log into Kickstarter and check your messages there. Or email Josh if you really haven't gotten it.
Note: you did pledge at least $10 through Kickstarter and select a reward when you pledged? You may want to review your pledge (which you can do) to make sure that's all in order.
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Ta John,
Yeah, got it via the Kickstarter link. Sweeeeet! This playbook is bound to snare a few newbs to the fold, though since watching much Sons of Anarchy, Choppers seem to be the sauce of the moment!
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I just saw an interesting potential for synergy between, so I thought I'd ask - would 'Eager to know' stack with the Savvyhead's 'Oftener right'? Because if so, damn.
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I wouldn't see why not. I mean, one of them's a dude who is really good at giving people good advice. Another is a dude who is really good at implementing other people's plans. Put them together, and yeah, it's like fire and gasoline: you're gonna get results.
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Got it!
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In the game I MC, our first session with Quarantine available had someone take one as a second character. Nifty!
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Sent in my pledge earlier today, looking forward to both of the things being offered! I'm going to be MCing for a group soon, so having this on the table will be neat.
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Human Contact sounds cool, but I really just want the Quarantine. :)
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Signed up! I'm extremely psyched for both.
I've got extremely bitter feelings in RL about liberal interventionism, and maybe this is the game to dispel them.
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Noooooo! I've missed my shot at this, haven't I? Damn, I've been working to much lately to follow this. :(
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Hey, Vincent!
Does paying Josh in advance for 10 copies for the shop count as support for the project? : )
-Jim C.
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Medlabs, infirmaries and angel kit stock. Any advice on this?
Using an infirmary and an angel, when I'm going through the savvyhead workspace rules, I'm usually working in terms of actual shit they'd need. Gauze, antibiotics, etc. Mechanically, this is usually just angle stock. So if the angel wants to fix an infection, well, you'd need x y and z and I'm figuring that's about 1 stock, for the antibiotics.
Now the quarantine. He's got no stock, but he's got a med lab. And I feel like an ass at the beginning of the game saying, Well, you've got no stock, no supplies, just a medical lab.
I'm leaning toward just giving him stock, but not an angel kit, but that feels weird too, because an angel kit is just stock.
The other option is that the medlab has whatever it needs, but I occasionally make him buy. This is what I want to do and that's awesome, but then I've got to worry about exchange rate between a class that quantifies their medical supplies and one that doesn't. Hmmmm.
I don't know. Just thinking out loud.
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Well, there's another character that can work on people without an angel kit: a savvyhead with lifesupport in his workspace. In the game I was (and maybe will be again, I have no idea at this point) MCing, one of the players has a savvyhead and was asking about it, because we have no angel.
I told him that he would never get to just roll dice to see if he can heal somebody straight up, like an angel can. He'd have to approach it like fixing the driver's car. I'd tell him things he needs, much of which would probably equate to "angel kit stock" and he'd have to acquire it, then probably make some rolls to act under fire as he applies the stuff, and if all goes well, the person would be in better shape.
I realize I'm probably not telling you anything you don't realize, but I see the medlab, or a workspace with life support, as being more narrative power than mechanical. If they didn't have that stuff at all and they wanted to patch someone up, I'd basically just say "How?" Now they can say, "We want to use the medlab to patch this guy up." and then I have to say, "No problem. You need this stuff, though."
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Yeah, talking Mikey P, I think my main issue is that I don't want two forms of fictionalized medical supplies, in both "You need some morphine and antibiotics" of the workspace rules and the "You need 2 stock" of the angel kit with no connection between the two. Like I buy 1 barter of medical supplies that aren't stock. Or something.
I've been playing with it fine; my face game has a Quarantine and an Angel in it. The angel kit/gunlugger kit is always kinda a thing for me because it feels a little abstract, which is out of place when everything else is so concrete.
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Question to all
a savvyhead with lifesupport in his workspace?. What makes the "life support"?
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What do you mean? What is it, exactly? That's up to the Savvyhead. What kinda stuff do you think would be in facility that supported life? Rebreathers, lab equipment, etc. And in AW? A lot weird stuff.
How does it work? It's just the Workspace rules, except on people. And maybe animals. And maybe mutant rhinoceroses. Depends on your game.
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Thanks chris,
So what am I to do with the mutant rhinoceroses thou?.
I love the different ways that this can be handle and thank you for a quick reply.
Espatier--
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So what am I to do with the mutant rhinoceroses thou?.
Oh, you want to give the mutant rhino a cybernetic tracking system?
It's going to cost you a fuckton of jingle or the best you'll be able to do is a crap version, weak and unreliable and either way, you'll be exposing yourself and your colleagues to serious danger.
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For those of us who missed the Kickstarter project, how we can get our hands on the Quarantine playbook?
I'm sure I'm not the only one who is interested...
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All I can tell you is that there's no official way to get it. I speculate* that it's available somehow from someone or other, but not from me, not officially!
If anybody happens to know where Paul here can get a copy, maybe drop him a line?
I may publish a collection of the limited edition playbooks later, or reissue them in some other way, but I don't currently have definite plans.
-Vincent
* That is, I would be shocked and a little dismayed to learn otherwise.
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I may publish a collection of the limited edition playbooks later...
I'd love to see that. Like, pay-money-for-it love.
~Gary
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I just found Apocalypse World and I'm a huge fan. Found out about it from the Walking Eye podcast. Very much looking forward to playing it soon. But a couple of people in my group have also listened to the podcast, found out about the Quarantine character playbook and are really really interested in that. It seem Vincent is fine if someone who has the PDF passed it along. Could anyone help me out on that?
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I'm in a similar situation to the gentleman above me, except it's not one of my players who wants to play a Quarantine, it's me. I don't think anybody's posted it up anywhere yet unless my google-fu has failed me, so I'm going to have to hope some kind soul can help me out. I'd also love the other exclusives, but Quarantine is the one I'd like the most.
I'd also like to support Vincent in putting the exclusives together and selling them - I for one would pay for that.
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I don't quite feel guilty per se about having the Faceless playbook even though I didn't get it from a con, but yeah. I'd totally pay for a collection of of the limited edition playbooks anyway. Assuming it's a physical copy anyway. :)
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Just bought Apocalypse World recently and found out about the Quarantine Playbook. I was wanting to know if anyone would be willing to help me find out how to get the Playbook or help me acquire the Playbook (since the Kickstarter for Shock is no longer available)? Any of the other playbooks as well (sans Hoarder as I can still donate to get that one) would be awesome. I'm planning on running this soon, and I think my group would be more willing to try out the system if I had access to some more of the books.
Thanks all!
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There's a fun thread full of trades and shares over at Story Games:
http://story-games.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=13879
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Thanks! I posted on there, hopefully I will get some soon!
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Healing, eh? Well: An angel gets the full angel kit- not just 6-stock worth of healy goodness, but also all the assorted stuff that *doesn't* get used up to heal- stethoscopes, sensors, thermometers and what have you. If a first aid kit has, at most, 2-stock and can be carried around in a backpack with room for more but an angel kit can (probably barely) fit in the trunk of a car, I'm guessing there's a LOT of extra stuff in that angel kit.
What good is the angel if you can just restock the first aid kit? Well, for one the angel is probably better at using it, not to mention using it under fire. The angel can also try to just straight-up heal harm instantly, although it's kind of weird. Most of the angel's moves help them with that, while a gunlugger gets the kit as only one option among many, most of which would probably be more help at doing what the gunlugger does best.
What good is the angel or the angel kit if the quarantine can just heal what ails you in their neato-keen medlab, like a savvyhead and their workspace? Ever actually asked a savvyhead to fix you up? *shudders* You'll come out OK, but you'll often wish you had just asked somebody to fix you up the normal way instead. Less complications and often just plain cheaper.