Thank you for the reply.

I was curious after seeing it applied to a whole community where the other characters were located. I wasn't in on the session zero so I didn't see if anyone discussed it but I was perplexed at how the other characters were supposed to realistically deal with the Waterbringer's rules.

I kind of didn't like apocalypse world when I first encountered it.  The playbooks seemed cool, but... eh? The mechanics seemed over simplified.
Still, I love Post Apoc settings. Tried it again and still was kind of meh.
Bought the book and decided I hated it. (The aggressive writing style was not my cup-o-tea-Sorry Vincent!).
Still, I love Post Apoc settings. I decided to read the forums more, see what I (And probably more importantly, the group that introduced me to it) had been missing.
Watched Richard Rogers and his Intercontinental Group of Awesome play it on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru7Bm7J_1rU Watching them made me want to play so much my teeth hurt.

Played a game of Monsterhearts at a Con and discovered that HOLY SHIT, this game system can be amazingly fun when it is done right. (John Stavropoulos ran that game)
The more I played PbtA games at cons, the more I found other games lacking. (PbtA particularly shines in that setting IMO)

So why didn't I love it at first? I don't think those MCs gave the players the kind of control they needed, or prod them to take control. So our groups tended to be built waiting for adventure to happen to us, rather than being the source of those adventures. While our characters might have been cool (hard not to be given the playbooks), we didn't embrace just how cool they were.
Is it a perfect game? No. Throw away all your other RPGs? No. But it is a ton of fun. My wife hates the tone of AW, and isn't a Post Apoc fan, but after trying it, it is her favorite game system by far.

Does it require trust, yes. But all games require trust. But if you and your fellow players buy into the fact that you are all here to have fun and not ruin other people's fun, then AW is amazing.
It is fun. Easy to learn. Easy to get into the good stuff. You can sit down with a group of strangers with no setup and be playing within minutes. When done correctly, you are empowered and everyone gets to enjoy the sense of discovery and creation. 7-9s...love those choices. A ton of stuff to love really. Can't wait for AW2 so I have even more to love.