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Messages - Michael Pfaff

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1
Apocalypse World / Re: Evening Redness in the West (Western Hack)
« on: June 22, 2016, 12:22:04 PM »
This looks terrific!

I love Vice for Weird, and the Preacher being a high-Vice Hocus; that's a great, resonant setup.

I have a few qualms about representation: AW cultivates a great sense of gender ambiguity, for instance, while the phrasing here makes it feel awkward to play a male Madam or female Preacher -- even it's easy in principle to imagine a pretty-boy gigolo/con man getting by on Suave, or a female religious visionary in the mold of Mary Baker Eddy. There's a lot of incidental language (the Proprietor providing "pussy", or "the more gold you spend, the finer your accommodations, foodstuffs, drinks, women, etc. will be") which implies that the PCs are rootless straight men, which is an understandable default for a standard cowboys & indians narrative... but the possibilities are broader.

The Savage playbook feels tonally more over-the-top dime-store-novel absurd and less historical than the other playbooks; the fact that the Savage is lacking firearms and definitively talks to spirits (i.e., isn't at all Christianized) makes them seem like a mythical pre-contact Native, rather than someone living on the fringes of a late-19th c. town with a post office and pharmacy. That latter guy definitely has a gun. Also, the names list needs some German and Southern and Eastern European names (the West was a major locus of migration) and (particularly) Latino names; also, it would be great to have the Chinese who are there to build the railroads -- maybe even a specific playbook. (Laborer in general seems to be a missing playbook, as does Cowboy in the sense of the guy literally engaged in moving cattle over long distances -- vaguely the Driver).

There is of course a decision to be made about how much you're simulating the actual Old West, and how much you're simulating dime-store novels of the Old West. The dime store novels have no Italians or Germans or Chinese or Latinos, and all the Indians have bows and arrows, because racism. Personally I vote for some of the romantic dime-store flavor, but informed and broadened by history, which means more inclusion.

"Gold" as the name of your currency feels awkward; feels more like D&D than the Old West. Sure, right around the gold rush, in California, people might have used ounces of gold dust as currency, but if this is a cattle town in Idaho, then that seems off. I'd prefer "dollars".

The Proprietor's atmosphere list feels like it's lifted straight from AW without being adapted to the Old West. Kink? Restraint? Canned fruit? Meat? A piano? I'm not saying there wasn't what we would now call kink in the West, but the language feels off, and surely canned fruit, meat and a piano aren't distinctively exotic things for a saloon to have. A virtuoso concert pianist, sure, or a French chef?

This feedback is brilliant. If I ever return to this, I will update with all this in mind.

In my defense, the Savage was written by one of my players, so yeah, it's a little more mythical. We actually wound up not using it. The town creation actually does have natives with firearms.


2
Apocalypse World / Re: Evening Redness in the West (Western Hack)
« on: May 31, 2016, 02:31:44 PM »
You're probably going to get more Deadwood or Hell on Wheels than Blood Meridian out of this. But, I guess you could ditch the stationary playbooks (Baron, Homesteader, Proprietor, etc.) and roam the west with a gang and it'd work okay.

3
Apocalypse World / Evening Redness in the West (Western Hack)
« on: May 31, 2016, 12:54:56 PM »
Oh, hey, I finally did something in the West with AW. It's mostly just a reflavor.

Reference Sheets:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_dOIZGCUXGkTFpGTm5lbkNWYlE

Playbooks:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iqYwxEVKtgYfQtp_aDxp7IwHuIRue_kOQmWoIQaXPnk/edit?usp=sharing

We did a 6 session game. It worked okay. Town Creation is fun.

4
Apocalypse World / Re: Apocalypse World with 11 players
« on: August 04, 2011, 10:38:59 AM »
Another option: hand off a couple fronts and a handful of less developed NPCs to your coMC to develop, and just agree to go lightly on the stuff you both have.

That's what I'd do. Have them develop some interesting Fronts that co-exist with yours, but are distinct in their cast and threats.

5
Apocalypse World / Re: When you reset Hx, learn a secret [custom move]
« on: August 04, 2011, 09:03:16 AM »
Yup. Using this next time I run AW.

Thanks for the post.

6
the nerve core / Re: what's cool
« on: August 02, 2011, 04:54:36 PM »

7
In my limited experience, THE most suspect behavior in Apocalypse World is generosity.  Give people enough gifts as an MC or as a PC and it will drive them insane.

This is so true.


8
Dungeon World / Re: DW Module - The Goblin Hole
« on: July 29, 2011, 09:28:33 AM »
Impressions are $$$.

This is neat. Going to use the Goblin Hole for my home game. Nice work.

9
Dungeon World / Re: Feedback: Change Shape (Druid)
« on: July 25, 2011, 04:10:23 PM »
Yeah, I was going for a Bonefeel type mechanic. It's not necessarily about "I can only do this X times per day" but more about how in tune with nature the Druid is that particular session.

Because (for my move at least), Shape Changing isn't just a nifty ability the Druid gets to do, but it's direct connection to the primal world around them. So, it's almost them calling on a force of nature and not them actually doing it themselves, like Casting a Spell maybe.

This is why they don't dictate their form on a miss (well, sort of).


10
Dungeon World / Re: Feedback: Change Shape (Druid)
« on: July 25, 2011, 03:57:12 PM »
I think this move scores big on the generality, but it doesn't help draw out detail on the new shape much, and it may not be interesting enough to hinge a class on. That's fine if the druid also casts spells, of course.

Yeah, I think our direction on the Druid is quite a bit different. My druid is far more traditional D&D Druid where Wild Shape is simply an Advanced Move you can take, and spellcasting being a big part of the Druid (very similar to the Cleric spellcasting, but with different spells).

I'm going with the 3 times per day, per the 1E PHB. That was the inspiration for the Hold mechanic. :)

But, these are good thoughts. I like the "Adaptations" rule, and may go with something like this:

If your new form would aid you in a move, tell the GM how, and take +1 on that move.

Therefore, a Druid shapeshifting into a bear, describes how he's powerful and has claws, so when Hacking and Slashing takes +1 on the roll.

11
Dungeon World / Feedback: Change Shape (Druid)
« on: July 25, 2011, 11:52:10 AM »
Working on a Druid class for my game. I'll post it here once we're finished writing it up, but I'm working on Change Shape at the moment.

Here's what it looks like:

SHAPECHANGE
At the beginning of the session, roll+Wis. On a 10+, hold 3. On a 7-9, hold 1. Spend your hold 1-for-1 throughout the session to change form, actually becoming, in all respects save the mind, a natural reptile, bird or mammal. On a miss, you still get one hold, but the GM chooses reptile, bird or mammal when you change form.

Thoughts? Feedback?

12
Dungeon World / Re: Save or Die
« on: July 22, 2011, 04:52:09 PM »
Still brutal, but I like it.

It is purple worm poison after all. >:)

13
Dungeon World / Re: Save or Die
« on: July 22, 2011, 10:34:26 AM »
Last Breath wasn't brutal enough for you? ;)

oooooh!

When you are inflicted with purple worm poison, make a saving throw as normal, except on a miss, instead of the GM choosing two, you're dying (make the last breath move).

14
Dungeon World / Save or Die
« on: July 22, 2011, 09:33:59 AM »
Anyone introduced Save or Die as a move yet?

When you are inflicted with purple worm poison, make a Saving Throw as normal, except, on a 6- you die. 

15
Dungeon World / Re: Drowning
« on: July 21, 2011, 06:15:55 PM »
Great advice everyone! Thanks!

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