We finally had our 1st session!The flashy afterglow is slowly subsiding and I think I'll be coherent enough to tell you about it. This might be a long read; just thought I'd warn you up ahead.

Before making characters we started off with brainstorming about the apocalypse we would play in. My players felt like setting up some simple non-specific things beforehand because they felt it was necessary to get at least a vague ideas of
their characters.
We established that the people in the world had gone crazy for no known reason and society fell apart / was torn apart by its inhabitants. We also established that the same thing has happened to the world itself: laws of physics, nature and time went down the drain and only work occasionally and behave in a completely different manner next time. No reliabilites there. The session will start out in a shattered mid-size town of central Europe near a river whose inhabitants are for some reasons relatively non-crazy and managed to fortify the inner city into a compound.
 
After that the characters are created and introduce themselves to each other:

Tamaris, the Angel who lives in the old butchery and only treats people who promise to bring her "pretty thingys" next time. She wears golden sneakers and a rain-cape.

Aeki, the Brainer who completely conceals themselves in a bulky coat under which one can see their body move strangely and in spasms.

L Carmino (with no 'e', his player insists), the Battlebabe who doesn't own a bed because he sleeps in someone else's every night. He is a lean handsome guy with a pair of leather pants and a neat shiny chain wrapped around his waist. He also likes to swim in the river and he doesn't get what everyone is so worried about.

Graywolf, the Gunlugger is a dusty old guy who still remember bits and pieces of the Apocalypse from when he was with his dad who fought in the last war. He got into town as a salvager and moved into the old castle ruin outside of town where he domesticates a swarm of gaint honey-bees. ("Is there one of these old keeps just outside town I can live in?" - Sure, why not? - "Can there be some kind of a drawbridge that connects it to the town's wall?" - That sounds like a good idea. - "Will you throw me off of it you day?" - Probably. - "Damn, I want it anyways.")

Crow, the Savvyhead who came into town someday and moved into the junkyard after setting up a weird machine with lots of smoke and antennas (the water engine). No one exactly remembers when or how he got there, not even as what he introduced himself to the towns-people. They call him Crow because of the shitload of crows that seem to have moved into the junkyard with him and annoy the hell out of people.

Estrella, the Skinner who is living in the old schoolhouse and wants to teach the people reading and writing. She's kind of a merchant, loves to take care of her vegetable garden and has a little pet dragon.


Yup, a pet dragon. Funny and wonderful things happened while the characters were introduced. I didn't really have to say "Okay, now we have to do Hx!" or "Okay, now it's time to start playing!" It all transitioned from one thing to another. I'm sorry if I'm full of little stories and anecdotes today but it was just so beautiful considering that I know the "Okay, what's next, GM?-look from other groups / systems.
So yeah, Estrella the Skinner turns to me while introducing herself, grins and asks "And can I have a pet dragon?" We already established that time/space-anomaly-thingies take place constantly so I just say: "Of course you can." That moment Crow the Savvy leans over and says "Obviously she can" - looks at his hands with a confused expression and continues like talking to something he holds in his hands - "'cause I remember cleary.. well not everything that clear.. the day I had constructed that.. thing and it bend and turned and exploded when she came by. And then that thing with the flapping wings was suddenly there.. man, I still wonder where that machine went.." Estrella nods and says "Yeah, that was a strange day, indeed."

(I'd like to mention that I've never RP-ed with those two before and they're both more or less inexperienced in terms of p&p / rpgs; the girl that plays the Skinner has never even played anything like this at all. From that point on I just thought 'yup, that's gonna work somehow.')

Second anecdote: When Tamaris the Angel says 'So I live in the old butchery' the others start to muse about what their characters home's look like (if they have any.) Even before I can say "Well, obviously we should start drawing a map!" my roommate who plays Tamaris goes to her room and comes back with big piece of paper and puts it into the middle of the table.
While I watch them somewhere between suprise and fascination the other player lean over and start talking about the city and what it might look like. My roommate draws a building and the others add some outlines to the city while Tamaris finishes to introduce herself. At one point two or three of them turn towards me (more or less at the same time) and ask "Is that okay?" (the vague outlines of the city are already half drawn at that point) and I just nod and say "sure, perfectly fine." At some point they actually stop adding any details when L Carmino's player suggests that "it will sure be more fun to find out what is out there." Everyone agrees and we move on to Hx.

Some interesting history is established. Best thing, Tamaris the Angel says: "So Crow the Savvy, remember that one time when I needed your help to replace Graywolf's arm with a bionic one because he got fucked up so bad?" - "I can remember that day perfectly clear but don't ask me what I did to make that thing work but it made sense back then. You just probably shouldn't let someone hold hands with it. How do you like your arm anyways, Graywolf." - "I think it's pretty sweet. But I need to get back to you on it 'cause it's been acting up a bit lately."
There's so much more but this post is going to be pretty long anyways.

After that we did a short session of "actual" gaming in the time we had left.
It starts with one of the kids, little Jameson, that help Estrella out in her garden yelling about that creepy guy who is lurking around the fences again. Aeki the Brainer just wants to be properly welcomed and given some food so he commands (whispers it) to Estrella whom just gets out of there and leaves the kids alone with the Brainer. They greet and feed him but he gets thrown out again after Estrella gathers up her courage to tell him off. Graywolf the Gunlugger just passes by -returning from a job he and L Carmino finished - and tells Aeki to fuck off and gets some lettuce in return from Estrella.
In a short scene of Aeki alone eating his carrots, we learn that he is mostly blind by now and the headache and pain from his old wound is getting stronger every day.

Graywolf visits Crow the Savvy and disturbs his sleeping schedule "that bounces between 16 hours straight and half an hour" as he tells us. The bionic arm is doing strange things after it got hit pretty hard in the fight last night. L Carmino and Graywolf tell us about Harley and his gang of raider whom they butchered last night. We also learn that they still have to get their compensation for the job from the local hardholder called Starbucks.
Crow examines the arm with mysterious tools in his workspace while talking and listening to it. I tell him that the mechanics themselves are alright, just a little off, but the function has been infected and must be cured on a more essential level. He opens his brain and asks what is wrong with the machine. He gets an impression so I tell him of a blurry self-perspective where he just finished working on something what lies in front of him. He's wearing this huge welding gloves and when he takes them off the skin of his arms and hands underneath are necrotic and charred to the bone. After he finishes up Graywolf's arm as good as possible he gets half a head of lettuce and falls asleep again with his head resting upon it.

Meanwhile Tamaris the Angel tells me they bring this guy called Müllermeier into the butchery and he's one of the stonecutters. We learn that there is a big white building somewhere outside town wherefrom they get massive stone blocks to fortify the wall. Müllermeier has this gore-y stomach wound entrails spilling out and all while an axe is still stuck into his shoulder. Tamaris ponders whether or not the man will be able to bring back pretty things in the future. I tell her about him dying in the next minutes and about his crippled wife back home.

At this point I start to wonder what L Carmino been up to because his player has been suprisingly quiet so far, so I ask. He grins and says: "I'Ve been with the MacDonald's twin - y'know the weaver girls who live in that building with the two golden arcs attached to the front? - the whole night and morning and I'm not in a hurry. But I guess we'll get up sometime soon. I have to see Starbucks and Mercedes has to discuss business with him as well.

Graywolf tells me he has already been there and a fight has happened in Starbucks' place. Some people talking about something called 'dee-moo-cracy' have been there and Starbucks wanted them dead. He explains all that while dragging two people with broken arms and jaws into the butchery and Tamaris is freaking out.
We rewind a bit and find out that the fight got messy. The water engine located in Starbucks' place got heavily damaged.

Graywolf also has a scene with Starbucks' secretary Gin which was probably one of my favorite, mechanic-vise: Graywolf reminds him that he still hasn't been paid yet and Gin brushes him off in an indifferent "Huh, sure"-fashion. He asks "Is that bastard lying to me?" - "Well, why don't you find out for yourself?" - rolls a 7 "So is he telling the truth?" - "No." - "I lean over his desk, grab him by his tie and tell him what's gonna happen if I don't get paid." - "He has a desk and a tie?" - "He has now" rolls a 6 "Oh shit." - "The tie not tied around his neck but just one of these clip-on things and before you know it he pokes this big-ass pistol into your jaw while still looking at his clipboard in the other hand. 'Is there anything else? Would you mind dragging those meatbags over to the butchery? Starbucks wants to question someone.', he says."
It took about two minutes and I had no clue who Gin is but now I wonder what the bastard is up to.

You know the rest of the story.
Oh, and on the way down the stairs kicking the bodies down there one staircase by another, Graywolf meets L Carmino and Mercedes. The latter one does not like his choice of words for her and his behaviour at all.

Aaaaaand there we had to stop. Considering it was my first time MCing AW, the first time playing AW for everyone and the first time playing p&p for two of them.. I think we had pretty much of a blast there.

So, sorry about the rambling. I promise to keep it shorter and more composed next time. Just had to get all the "aaaaaaaaaaah, this is so great what did just happen" out of my system. I hope some of you enjoyed at least some of it. :)
Oh.. aaaand, if you really really really enjoyed it: I'd love to get my hand on new playbooks, your favorite custom moves and everything else revolving around AW you treasure yourself. But just if you really really really enjoyed it. I mean it.

Oh and suggestions are appreciated if we are doing something "all wrong." Thanks!