Last game, John's hardholder Uncle has had enough of his rioting savage gang and wants to shotgun them into submission. I call it seizing control by force.

The thing is, he has a shotgun, and they're mostly armed with machetes and knives.

I'm wondering if it's reasonable to say that they do 0-harm since they're effectively out of range.

We were both thinking it was a little weird afterward that he was covered in wounds (going up against a medium gang) when the fiction had him initially up on the hood of the ambulance yelling. The result made it feel a bit more like that one TV game where you say, "okay, you won, let's figure out how you won."

Oh, the other thing related to that would be going aggro by killing someone. Like, I want all these assholes to know I mean business, and I'm doing it by killing this particular asshole. Like, "I'll keep killing you fuckers until you do what I say."  How have people handled that in game? It's another way we might have handled what he was doing.

This thread is for telling everyone about your maps. What's on them?

When do you make your first map? Do you come to the first session with one?

How have you used them in play? How have they evolved? What's the scale?

Share links to images! I'll share first.

I'm hopefully going to be MCing a game starting after Gen Con, and I was reading about how much the sea level might rise if the polar caps melted, and that gave me an idea for a cool "Flooded World" setting. So I made this map, using some online references and taking a few liberties to make the environment more badass:

http://www.dog-eared-designs.com/img/apocmap.png

The boxy things are the ruins of skyscrapers, sticking up out of the water. The grayish area is The Seep, where the water is poisonous and foul. The little circle in the middle of the water is a strange green statue of a woman rising up out of the ocean, holding a torch.

I'd probably revise this a little and make the scale a little smaller. I'm imagining lots of boats in this setting, especially airboats, so it would be easy to explore this size map pretty quickly.

Nightmares in EB are the hot potato. Everything else you can get rid of, but nightmares you have to pass back and forth until someone goes mad again.

When I see that someone "desperately needs to talk to me" it's like back in high school when some girl I liked wanted to talk to me about her boy troubles. "You're such a good friend that I will never have sex with!" Their nightmares go down, mine go up. Yeah.

I had this idea floating around that uses fudge dice, and I don't know what to do with it yet (maybe in the vanguard hack, but too early to say). It might be neat for games that want a little extra layer of fiddliness.

+0 stat is 2dF.

+1 stat is 3dF

+2 stat is 4dF.

Count only

• on the dice when you roll.

Rolling dF and getting 1

• is the same as 7-9. Getting 2 or more
• is the same as 10+. Getting 3
• is like getting a 12.

The probabilities are really really close.

Things maybe you could do with the above is make more list-oriented moves where you roll and choose.

[ ] You do it
[ ] You don't suffer a consequence
[ ] You're really awesome and get something cool out of it

and so on.

In the above, if you got at least 2

• you could check "you do it" and "you're really awesome" but have to deal with a consequence.

Expanded moves might let you gain extra options.

Then maybe some moves or gear would let you re-roll [-] results, that kind of thing. Since a +1 is really awesome in AW, this allows for some smaller "nothing to complain about" kinds of bennies.

Drawback is that there's no good -1 stat analogue. Rolling only 1dF is harsh.

As with STWT, the GM makes up the basics of the homeworld and makes maps of the "adventuring area."

WORLD

What’s the World Like?
Choose 1:

• An arid, rocky world with deep rivers and fierce winds
• A cold, glacial world with a large, shallow sea along the equator
• A hot, flat world covered with jungle and marshlands

By default, your world has these:

• A population of 100-150 million souls, spread across various sovereign cities and settlements (surplus 1-trade, want +balkanized).
• A fleet of about 40 warships, plus some smaller support craft (3-harm 1-armor {medium scale tbd})

Choose 3:

• Your world’s population is large, 200-300 million souls divided among many warring states (surplus +1 trade; want +rebellious).
• Your world’s population is small, 50–75 million souls (surplus -1 trade, want +anxious instead of +balkanized).
• Resources: extensive agriculture (surplus +1 trade; want +idle)
• Resources: extensive manufacturing (surplus +1 trade; want +idle)
• Resources: a widely-known trade center (surplus +1 trade; want +idle)
• Your fleet is +1 scale, whatever that means.
• You have a network of  orbital stations around the planet. Your fleet gets +2 armor when fighting to protect your world.

Choose 1:

• Your world owes protection tribute to an alien clan (surplus: -1barter; want: +reprisals).
• Your fleet is small instead of medium, fielding only 10-20 warships.
• Your fleet is outdated and underfunded. -1 harm
• Your cities are poorly protected. Your fleet gets -1 armor when defending your world.

Support
Project Vanguard is supported by a government agency. If your world has a small population, that agency may fall under a single planetary government. Otherwise it’s a cooperative venture between groups who don’t like each other that much.

Either way, getting the support you need can be complicated. Captain: every time you return to your world for repairs and to take on supplies, roll + favor(homeworld).

• On a 10+, your ship is fully resupplied and repaired.
• On a 7–9, your ship is resupplied and repaired, but the GM chooses a want.
• On a miss, or if your world is currently threatened or your mission performance under review, you must resupply and repair your ship out of pocket, and your world is in want.

MAPS

GM, make a map of explored space. You have a lot of flexibility in terms of size and scale, but go easy on the details. close by, a few settlements; further out, a couple regions claimed by alien clans; beyond that, the stuff of rumor, legend: riches, danger, etc.

Draw "routes" between charted worlds where travel is much faster and easier.

Make notes of what's valuable on the map. What does each new settlement provide? What could the alien clans provide? What dangers to they pose?

Missions

At the moment, I think missions can be easily served by the fronts process in AW. The only real difference is where the fronts are coming to bear.

The fictional stuff to address:

In this setting, there's more organization of people and resources, big machines, big groups, big armies and ships. What happens when the characters face the equivalent of a star destroyer in their little putzy ship?


The easiest place to start, probably, is creating a quick size chart and saying one step up from you is a small gang, two steps up is a large gang, and three or more is effectively untouchable. You can't invade a world with a small gang.

To borrow from the army really quick, the scale might be kind of like this:

Soldier
Squad
Platoon
Battalion
Regiment
Division
etc

But maybe not quite so many, I dunno. But the idea, is, say, that a tank all by itself probably counts as a squad, with good harm and armor. A squad with anti-tank weapons could probably take out a single tank, yeah? A bunch of tanks would count as a platoon, maybe, and then it gets scary for the squad.

So a regiment fighting a battalion would be like a person fighting a small gang. A squad fighting a regiment would be like the squad dying in a bloodbath.

The Commonwealth recruits operatives with a wide range of backgrounds. They’re interested in some combination of dedication, competence and ingenuity: whatever gets the job done.

Some would say that leaving solid ground to travel the stars is crazy all by itself. But there you are, taking it even further and risking your life some big damn hero. That’s a bold choice to make. Why are you a part of all this? Choose one:

• Running from Your Past
• Atoning for Your Sins
• The Money’s Good
• Plotting Your Revenge
• Making a Difference
• To Prove Your Worth

The Basics
Every character has the following knowledge and abilities:

• Spacesuit and Zero-G Operations – getting your suit on correctly and walking around in one, not getting sick in free-fall.
• Computer Ops – accessing information.
• Vehicle Ops – driving and simple maintenance on various kinds of vehicles.
• Self Defense – use of fists, small arms and melee weapons.

Who’s in Command?
One character is the captain of your ship and the leader of your team. Being in command means you have responsibility for the welfare of your crew as well as completing the objectives of your mission.

Choose a Command Move:

• Tactical Eye. When you read a charged situation, you can give your crew orders based on what you’ve learned, and if they follow your orders, they take +1 instead of you.
  
• Unflappable. If you get 10+ when acting under pressure, crewmembers who follow your lead take +1.
• Pep Talk. Roll +smooth to inspire your crew. On a 10+ hold 3. On a 7–9 hold 1. Spend your hold 1 for 1 to issue orders, and anyone who follows the order takes +1.
• Leading the Charge. If one of your crew helps you get rough with someone or take something by force, they get +1 to their helping roll.

note: the above moves don't yet seem equally cool -- and I still need a weird based command move. The goal is to make command doable for any character type.

Character Type
Choose a character type that fits your character. Only one of each character type per group, please.

Spy, assassin, thief. Whatever you are, you’re a master of infiltration, deception and other covert operations. 

Agent Training: You know how to use lockpicks, security gadgets, and listening devices.

Choose one:

• Working an Asset. When you try to manipulate or seduce another character, roll  +cool instead of roll +smooth.
• Cold. Roll +cool when intimidating or threatening someone instead of +tough.
• Exit Strategy. Name your escape route and roll +cool. On a 10+, no problem, you’re gone. On a 7–9, you can go or stay, but if you go it costs you: leave something behind, or take something with you, the GM will tell you what. On a 6 -, you’re caught vulnerable, half in and half out.

Choose one set of stats:

• Cool +2   Tough +0   Smooth -1   Sharp +2   Weird -1
• Cool +2   Tough +1   Smooth +1   Sharp +0   Weird -1
• Cool +2   Tough -1   Smooth +1   Sharp +1   Weird +0
• Cool +2   Tough +0   Smooth +0   Sharp +1   Weird -1

Gear
You get these:

• Pressure Suit
• Medical Kit: (to detail – includes stuff to heal low-level wounds).
• Handcomm
• infiltration toolkit
• tracking devices (tag) and tracking scanner (remote)
• Synthweave coat (1-armor)

And choose one:

• Needler gun (2-harm close)
• Stiletto (2-harm ap hand)

Merchant? Diplomat? Dilettante? Either way, you’re a skilled negotiator and a good judge of character.

Envoy Training. You know how to reach people in important places, how to circumvent bureaucratic red tape, and how to demonstrate proper etiquette.

Choose One:

• Connected. when you meet someone important (your call), roll+cool. On a hit, they’ve heard of you, and you say what they’ve heard; the MC will have them respond accordingly. On a 10+, you take +1forward for dealing with them as well. On a miss, they’ve heard of you, but the GM will decide what they’ve heard.
• Wormtongue. You can roll +smooth to threaten or intimidate someone. If they force your hand, your presence alone counts as a weapon (1-harm ap close).
• Sales Pitch. When you meet privately with someone, you can build their loyalty toward you. Roll +smooth.  On a 10+, hold 3. On a 7–9, hold 2. They can spend your hold, 1 for 1, by:
  
  • giving you something you want
  • acting as your eyes and ears
  • fighting to protect you
  • doing something you tell them to
  
  For NPCs, while you have hold over them they can’t act against you. For PCs, instead, any time you like you can spend your hold, 1 for 1:
  
  • they distract themselves with the thought of you. They’re acting under pressure.
  • they inspire themselves with the thought of you. They take +1 right now.
  
  On a miss, they hold 2 over you, on the exact same terms.

Choose one Set of stats

• Cool +1   Tough -1   Smooth +2   Sharp +1   Weird +0
• Cool +0   Tough +0   Smooth +2   Sharp +0   Weird +1
• Cool -1   Tough +0   Smooth +2   Sharp+2   Weird -1
• Cool +1   Tough +1   Smooth +2   Sharp +1   Weird -2

Gear
You get these:

• Pressure Suit
• Medical Kit: (to detail – includes stuff to heal low-level wounds).
• Handcomm
• Spectacular Wardrobe. Taking time to choose an appropriate outfit (not some scruffy synthweave coat) lets you take +1 smooth forward.
• Trade goods or valuables worth 3 fortune

Choose one:

• Concealable pistol (2-harm close loud reload)
• Ornate sidearm (2-harm close loud valuable)
• Decorative sword (2-harm hand valuable)

You might have charted new worlds, or maybe you scrounged in the ruins for valuable relics. Either way, you’re good at avoiding all the things out there that can kill you in an instant.

Scout Training. You know how to survive in any number of environments. You know how to stay warm, how to stay dry, and what not to step in.

Choose One:

• Uncanny Reactions. Your quick wits and sharp reflexes give you 1-armor if you aren’t wearing armor and +1-armor if you’re wearing 1-armor. If you’re wearing 2-armor it doesn’t help.
• Survival Instinct. When you read a charged situation and act on the GM’s answers, take +2 instead of +1
• Steady. You can roll + sharp when acting under pressure instead of rolling + cool.

Choose one set of stats:

• Cool +1   Tough +0   Smooth +1   Sharp +2   Weird -1
• Cool +1   Tough +1   Smooth +0   Sharp +2   Weird -1
• Cool -1   Tough +1   Smooth +0   Sharp +2   Weird +1
• Cool +2   Tough +0   Smooth -1   Sharp +2   Weird -1

Gear

• Pressure Suit
• Medical Kit: (to detail – includes stuff to heal low-level wounds).
• Handcomm
• Magnilenses (you can assess a situation from a distance)
• Survival kit - includes…
• Synthweave coat (1-armor)

Choose two:

• 6mm Carbine (2-harm close/far loud)
• 11mm SMG (2-harm close area loud)
• 11mm pistol (2-harm close loud)
• Machete (3-harm hand messy)

[/b]
By-the-book soldier? Mercenary? You’re at ease in the heat of battle, and you know how to throw your weight around when it’s necessary.

Warrior training. You know how to wear heavy armor and how to use all kinds of complex weaponry like machineguns, rocket launchers, and grenades.

Choose one:

• Seasoned warrior. When you act under pressure, roll +tough instead of +cool.
• Army of one. In a battle, you count as a gang (3-harm gang small), with armor appropriate to the circumstances.
• Battlefield tactics. In a battle, you can roll +tough instead of +rapport to help or hinder a character.

Choose one set of stats:

• Cool +1   Tough +2   Smooth -1   Sharp +1   Weird +0
• Cool +1   Tough +2   Smooth +1   Sharp +0   Weird -1
• Cool +1   Tough +2   Smooth +0   Sharp +1   Weird -1
• Cool +2   Tough +2   Smooth -1   Sharp +0   Weird -1

Gear
You get these:

• Pressure Suit
• Medical Kit: (to detail – includes stuff to heal low-level wounds).
• Handcomm
• Full-body Armor (2-armor)
• 6mm assault rifle (3-harm close/far loud)

Choose two:

• 11mm SMG (2-harm close area loud)
• 13mm  “Gutbuster” pistol (3-harm close reload loud)
• Combat Knife (2-harm hand)
• Grenades (4-harm hand area reload messy)

[/b]
Possessed of unique gifts, you were trained by the Order of Isabel in one of the secluded monasteries.

Monk Training. You understand religious doctrine and ritual, meditation and prayer.  They might have taught you some martial arts, but don’t tell anyone.

Choose one:

• Rabble Rouser. When you recite holy scripture to a crowd, roll + weird. On a 10+, hold 3. On a 7-9, hold 1. On a miss, the crowd turns on you. Spend your hold 1 for 1 to make the crowd:
  
  • Bring people forward and deliver them.
  • Bring forward all their precious things.
  • Unite and fight for you as a gang (2-harm 0-armor size appropriate).
  • Fall into an orgy of uninhibited emotion:  lamenting, fighting, sharing, celebrating, as you choose.
  • Go quietly back to their lives.
• Sixth Sense. When you assess a situation, roll +weird instead of +sharp.
• Mind Tricks. When you have time and close contact with someone you can plant a command inside their mind. Roll +weird. On a 10+, hold 3. On a 7-9, hold 1. On a miss, you inflict 1-harm upon your subject, to no benefit. At your will, no matter the circumstances, you can spend your hold 1 for 1:
  
  • inflict 1-harm
  • they take -1 right now
  
  If they fulfill your command, that counts for all your remaining hold.

Choose one set of stats:

• Cool +0   Tough +1   Smooth -1   Sharp +1   Weird +2
• Cool +1   Tough -1   Smooth +1   Sharp +0   Weird +2
• Cool -1   Tough +1   Smooth +0   Sharp +1   Weird +2
• Cool +1   Tough +0   Smooth +1   Sharp -1   Weird +2

Gear
You get these:

• Pressure Suit
• Medical Kit: (to detail – includes stuff to heal low-level wounds).
• Handcomm
• Scripture
• Holy Staff (2-harm hand)

Role
What purpose do you serve on the ship? Choose one:

• Pilot. You fly the ship and plot FTL jumps.
• Signals. You operate sensors and communications.
• Engineering. You keep the ship’s systems in working order.
• Defenses.  You operate the ship’s weapons.

Bonus Training
Choose one:

• Medic. You can perform medical care in the field with steadied confidence. Without this training, medical care counts as acting under pressure.
• Sniper. You do +1 harm when you use weapons with the “far” tag. If you have this one and Commando, they don’t stack for (close/far) weapons. Silly.
• Commando. You do +1 harm when you use weapons with the “close” tag.
• Jockey. When you’re operating a vehicle, treat its performance score as +1 higher than it actually is.
• Tinker. You can build gadgets in the ship’s workshop.

Secret Affiliation
Whose objectives will you further during your missions? Choose One:

• The White Wind (3-harm 2-armor savage treacherous mobile slaver/hunting pack) – a notorious pirate organization who have terrorized the colonies.
• The Eyes of Isabel (2 harm 1-armor covert fanatical prophet/cult) – a paranoid religious sect obsessed with the Scourge.
• The Crucible (1-harm 1-armor wealthy elitist collector/sybarite) – an alliance of territories who capitalize on lost and alien technology.
• TRIDENT (2-harm 2-armor jackboot special-ops dictator/enforcers) – the secret police of your world’s most aggressive state.
• Jobasa’s Syndicate  (3-harm 1-armor alien criminal alpha wolf/family) – the most influential and stable organized crime syndicate in the Remnants.
• Clan Obor (2-harm 2-armor xenophobic alien hive queen/mob) – an aggressive alien clan who claim humankind as their sworn enemy.