@CodexofRome: Do you talk about the water situation after that first session? In my current game, we decided that people eat seabirds and scant vegetables from rain-watered rooftop gardens, but since then we've just kinda assumed that the PCs are eating more-or-less regularly. Should I have added more detail, maybe, like giving random farmers names and making them human?

@pooka: Yeah, but I'm wondering how to turn those general scarcities into actual problems for the characters, without making them detail every time they have to drink, eat, bathe, etc.

Finally we get to play again, but the downtime gave us a chance to play Dungeon  World, so it all worked out ok.

After the last session, we left the guys standing on the docks outside At The Gates in a gray and wet dawn. From inside, moaning and occasional sobs could be heard. The crew checked out the boat situation and realized that there were plenty to choose from now that the owners were dead. Collecting the two Uptown Girls he'd got for barter, and the machine gun, Grave and Bran ran into (literally) the little kid who snatched the mold and maybe caused this whole thing in the first place. Bran tried to grab him, but the kid got away and ran into a room down the corridor. [[Seize by force, failure]] Pursuing, Bran realized it was the room where Storm's friend Ba was recuperating after being shot in the shoulder during the scuffle a couple of days ago. She tells Bran that Wisher is her sister's kid, and she's promised to look out for him. Bran fills her in on the current fiasco, and they both head out to the docks (with Bran reluctantly not pounding the kid), whereupon the whole gang abandons ship in a couple of boats, one with a machine gun sticking out the side.

It's a treacherous journey through the drowned city, the water is still fitfully burning, and navigating across 11 miles of ocean in the rain isn't an easy job. [[Under fire, failure]] Bran tries to help by reaching out to the maelstrom, but his eyes roll back in his head. [[Open your brain, failure]] At the same time, the two Uptown Girls scream and flip out, throwing themselves into the water. Grave dives in after them, but can't catch up before being cut off by a patch of flame. [[Under fire, failure]] Returning to the boat, they follow the edge of the skyscrapers to Uncle's place, a group of some 20 river barges circled up like a wagon train, with shacks built on barges in the middle. Grave knows that it's perilous going into another holding without a bargaining chip, so he offers up Storm's services as a companion. [[Read a sitch, success]] The guard tells them they can't take on any more mouths to feed, but that they're welcome to tie up outside the wall with the other flotsam and jetsam hoping for some crumbs tossed their way.  They do, but Storm manages to seduce a guard on the wall into letting him in [[Seduce, success]], and after he and the guard fuck, he makes the guard promise to set up a meeting with the head honcho Uncle. [[Sex move, NPC]] The guard agrees, but only if the meeting happens right away.

Grave and his bodyguard Junker climb up--Junker's allowed only after he leaves his shotgun behind--and they enter Uncle's shack, the walls of which are completely covered by faded and torn magazine pictures: centerfolds, tennis stars, moms showing off the storage in their new minivan, whatever--all sorts of women.  Uncle knows Grave from visiting At the Gates, and gives them a hearing, but he's not willing to let them set up shop in his tiny community. He does offer to let them stay, though, in return for the machine gun they brought with them. [[Read a person, success]]  Eventually, the PCs accept, and are shown to an empty shack on an out-of-the-way barge by Uncle's tomboy daughter Mice.  Along the way, it comes out that Mice is into machines, and Storm takes her to meet Bran the Savvyhead.

Bran and Mice go back over the wall to check out this machine she's working on (a desalinization unit, which is getting more and more urgent considering the lack of drinkable rain lately), while Storm tries to tell Preen's boyfriend Parcher that Preen--being a woman and all--is going to have to put out if they're going to get in good with Uncle. Parcher goes all Pretty Woman and claims he won't let his lady love be a whore. Storm goads him into throwing a punch, and Parcher ends up knocking Storm into the side of the boat and splitting his head open. [[Seize by force, failure; harm move, 10+]] Not intending to deal so much harm, Parcher runs to get Grave, who quickly discovers that the only Doc around is itinerant, and not due back for at least a week.

Grave convinces a couple of surly guys to go get her, but only by promising them they can have their way with Storm as a reward. [[Read a person, success]] (Shame about that little epidemic of VD people keep joking about, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?) Meanwhile Bran is working his mojo on the machine, and learns that Mice needs a rubber gasket that isn't brittle as shit. [[Things speak, success]] Who knows where one of those is, except there's probably one on a similar machine back at At the Gates. Bran and Mice decide to go back to get it, despite the expected arrival of a shitload of bloodthirsty pirates. But not before everyone finally gets some fucking sleep. (After five sessions we've covered less than 48 hours, with most of the action in less than 24! Another post asking about dealing with time and action is probably forthcoming...)

Quick question: how do you introduce custom moves? Say you've made up a threat as part of prep, and given it a custom move, something like "When you spend the night in the Waste, roll + hard...."

Do you tell the players up front that this move exists, so they can decide whether or not to risk spending the night out there? "So you've been scoping out the desert, and it looks like bad news. Spending the night out there would be tough. In fact, there's this move for when you decide to make camp..."

-bh

I may have forgotten some failed rolls made in this session (if any players are reading this, feel free to fill in the gaps). It was the successes that were really memorable; the failures just seemed to keep the moves snowballing along.

We were picking up right where we left off after a couple of weeks downtime, so I worked up some love letters to get people back into the characters. Since no in-game time had passed, the letters called for rolls to fill in backstory or catch up on off-screen events.

It came out that At The Gates used to be a pirate haven, until the pirates ran afoul of the local strongman Been. Been hired a chopper gang (on jet-skis naturally) to burn 'em out, and after the smoke cleared, Grave and the NPC Junker were the two surviving gang members. Been then sold the platform to Grave on credit as a reward for his gang's service. It was also revealed that Storm has a sister back home that he still cares about, and that Grave recently 'hired' a couple of girls some scavengers found in the ruins of Uptown. He's got them stashed away in a spare room 'till he can figure out what to do with them. Outside the floating club, there's a ragtag community of people living on whatever they can find that'll float: oil drums, styrofoam, boats and pieces of boats, etc. It's the same all up and down the coast; someone'll found something relatively stable, and people will gravitate towards it, circling together for safety, for trade, for community. Colorful flags fly above many of the shacks and lean-tos, marking family rafts, markets and craftspeople, or just to break the monotony of sea and sky. The village is lit, intermittently, whenever there's fuel for the gas generators or someone willing to crank (or pedal) up some power. Strings of tiny colored bulbs are particularly prized, and the scavengers who find them count themselves rich.

With that, we carried on with the episode already in progress…

Bran and Grave, still reeling from the psychic shock of the Maelstrom, find Fuse in a bad way, with her head in Lamprey's lap. When the two approach, Lamprey pulls out the speargun he's been holding and refuses to let them come closer. Grave convinces him that they only want to help, and Lamprey agrees to help take Fuse to Camo, provided he can stay with her the whole time. As Lamprey and Grave carry Fuse out, though, Bran steps behind Lamprey and brains him with a crowbar [[Seize by force, success]]. Lamprey falls with a fractured skull, still breathing, but barely. Ignoring his moans, Grave and Bran pick Fuse up and take her upstairs. Along the way, they run into Junker, who tells them that things are getting tense out by the bar. Grave sends him back to keep an eye on things, giving him permission to start shooting if necessary.

Back at the bar, the crowd of patrons turn ugly as they accuse Parcher of holding out on them. Parcher pulls out a crowbar from under the counter and shouts at Storm to help calm things down. Climbing down from the cage, Storm makes his way to the bar, where he tells Parcher to give the crowd what they want. (It's always worked for him, after all.)

"The boss said not to sell this batch, Storm," Parcher protests. Storm reaches under the bar and grabs the stash--a rusty steel box full of powder. Holding up the box, he says loudly to the crowd: "This stuff is BAD! If you take it, you'll all DIE!" A bull-like man in a leather harness steps up. "Bullshit," he says. "I'll take it." Storm, nonplussed, shrugs. "Have it your way," he says, and tosses the box into the crowd.  Of course, it's a mob scene. Thirty or so people manage to get a hit before the box is empty. In minutes, everything seems back to normal. A few minutes after that, people begin to collapse in convulsions on the dancefloor.

Meanwhile, Bran and Grave deliver the unconscious Fuse to Camo. He accepts that their end of the deal is fulfilled and hands over the machine gun + ammo. Bran confirms that it's in perfect working order [[Things Speak, partial success]] As the two leave, they see Camo bending over Fuse, stroking her cheek and smiling gently.

Bran and Grave then make plans for defense against the expected pirate attack. Bran heads off to emplace the machine gun, while Grave returns to check on Lamprey. He's on his way when Toyota, a dancer, comes running from that direction and throws herself on him in tears. "Lamprey's dead!" she sniffs. Grave sends her to find Junker, reassuring her that they'll find and punish the killers. After confirming that Lamprey is, in fact, quite dead, Grave heads back to the bar.

By this time, as more and more people collapse from the tainted drugs, the screaming has started. Grave walks in on the chaos, and Junker tells him what happened. Afraid of Grave's wrath, Storm flees.  Grave gets up on stage and grabs the bullhorn from one of the band, "It's all Been's fault!" he says. "Trust me, I'll help you!" Unfortunately, the crowd's a little past caring. Grave realizes [[Read a sitch, partial success]] that Bran's the only one who has a clue what's going on with the drugs, and he thrusts the bullhorn at Bran's chest. Unfortunately, having a clue doesn't mean having the answers. Hoping for inspiration, Bran opens his brain to the Maelstrom. [[Open your brain, partial success]] He sees a vision: At the Gates is abandoned, half-flooded. Floating up through the collapsed roof, he sees that the ruined towers of Uptown are intact and shining. Trees grow where there should be only mud, though the restored city fades into nothing as it reaches the sea. Something vital seems to be flowing from the sea to the land. Camo is there, too, as a shadowy presence bending over another form, both of them enfolded in flames. In his ears, Bran hears a terrible screaming, and he recognizes the loudest voice as Fuse's.

Dropping the bullhorn, he turns to Grave and tells him they've got to flee before the pirates arrive, and head into Uptown, where even the scavengers fear to go [[Oftener right]]. Grave, not entirely convinced, orders Junker and the rest to start dealing with the sick and the few who stayed to help them. He then heads up to Camo's guest-room, where he sees Fuse laid out on the threadbare couch, unmoving. Camo is brushing her hair tenderly. "What a pity," Camo says sadly. "She's broken." Grave pulls his knife and charges Camo, stabbing him in the throat and killing him almost instantly [[Seize by force, success -- there was a special move for skin contact with Camo, but I decided that it didn't have time to take effect]]

Bran, leaving Junker, Parcher and Toyota to deal with the OD cases in the dancehall, heads down to find Storm in his dressing room. Like he did with Grave, he tells Storm that they've all got to leave before the attack. He and Storm argue a bit [[Read a person: partial success]] and Bran realizes that Storm won't go unless Grave orders him to. Bran brings Grave back down--not noticing or not caring about the blood on his hands--and this time Grave agrees that they all should leave.

Just as Storm is about to give in, Princey bursts in. "Boss, this is too fucked up. I quit!" he says to Grave, then begs Storm to run away with him to Been's pleasure boat. Apparently, Putrid (who split that morning with all his stuff) has been telling people that Been's place is like paradise. Storm refuses, and asks Princey to come with them instead. When Princey balks, Storm gives him a little sample of what he'd be giving up, and Princey melts in his arms. [[Princey spends the last hold from Storm's Hypnotic move last session.]] The three of them head back to the dancefloor, where they meet up with the three NPCs. Grave tells them that he's decided to leave At The Gates, and says they can come along or go their own way. All agree to come, but Junker asks what happened to Fuse. Grave spins a truly heroic line of bullshit [[Do something under fire, success]] about how Camo attacked them and killed Fuse and Lamprey, but then Grave managed to kill him in return.

Agreed to leave (though not quite agreed on where to go), the group steps out onto the docks. Dawn is just breaking, although low black clouds obscure the sun. An oily rain begins to fall, putting out torches and cookfires in the village, as people scramble to cover their belongings and find shelter.

And that's where we ended, with a completely unexpected turn of events. The Savvyhead is leaving his workshop, the Maestro'D is leaving his club, and the Skinner….well, I guess he can work anywhere. More importantly, some major players are very likely out to put the hurt on the PCs now, and they're leaving the only sure safety they know, striking out into the unknown without much of a plan.

Awesome. I can't wait to find out what happens.

OK, so I'm having some trouble finding the balance between being a fan of the characters and springing sudden unhappy revelations on them.

For example, let's say the PC Goldie has just gotten his hands on a working radio set--something he's been after for a while. Of course, he gets jacked by Junker's gang on the way back to the hardhold, and now he's holding the radio while Junker has him at gunpoint. The player reads the sitch, and asks for his best escape route.

First thing that comes to mind? "Well, you could throw the radio at him and run. He'd have to choose between shooting you and catching the radio, and he'd probably choose the radio." That's an unhappy revelation, just like the book calls for.

But then I think: getting the radio was a success, and I'm supposed to let the PCs have their successes, right? It's also cool stuff, and I'm not supposed to take away their cool stuff. So is it OK to threaten the radio? And if not, what would be a better unhappy revelation (as an example)?

A related question... When the PCs have connections with NPCs, fuckery is easy: set up an NPC-PC-NPC triangle and let rip. But one of my players is playing a Savvyhead whose most meaningful relationships are with his stuff--electronics, machines, etc.; it's all very detailed, and very much a part of his character. I'm having trouble figuring out how to make the character's life interesting without fucking with his cool stuff. I can't just say, "you get back to your workshop, and your EKG machine is gone--nothing but stripped wires sticking out where it used to be attached," right? Should I bring in an NPC, just to be an intermediary: "you get back to your workshop, and Dog Head's there trying his best to jimmy the EKG out of it's rack. What do you do?"  Is that too much of an agenda, creating problems for the PC just to give them something to fight against?

I think the "to do it, do it" rule applies here.

If your character is trying to read some guy, then it's the "read a person" Move. The only reason I could see that this wouldn't call for a roll is if success was a given. Like, if you go aggro on a dude, the MC might say, "you know, don't even bother rolling. He totally caves." In other words, you did the move and got an automatic 10+.

Likewise, you can't read a person just by saying "I use Read a Person" and rolling dice. You have to do it in the fiction. You, the player, may know that your character's guaranteed answers to certain questions because of a successful dice roll, but your character still has to ask the questions. 

AW shifts back and forth across the player/character line a lot; that's part of the fun of the game, I think.

After our first session (see AP: At The Gates) we had a week off due to scheduling difficulties and the midwest's biggest snowstorm in years. I wanted to get people back into the feel of the game, as well as introduce some new NPCs and situations to build on during play.

-----
Hiya Bran,

It's been about a week since that kid Wisher ran off with a double handful of mold. Your shoulder's healed up just fine, and business has been good. That creepy scavenger Como even brought you a new radio from Dry Land. Shiny! But, hey, this is Apocalypse World, man. Roll + weird and see what gifts the Maelstrom's bringing to the party.

On a 10+, choose three from the list below.
On a 7-9, choose two.
On a miss, well, at least you've got your health. For now.

* That acrid smoke coming out of the desalination machine? Totally normal.
* Your greyish-purple thumb must be working overtime! The mold grew back with no problem after Wisher's little stunt.
* That new radio's picking up more than static. Sounds like pirates, and they've gotta be close. Good thing you got a warning, huh?
* Business is booming! Gain 1-barter, and tell me about your best new customer. What's s/he buying? Water? Mold? Gear?

Love and kisses,
Your MC



Hey, Grave. Looks like the neighborhood's getting a little crowded. That tanker out there may be a piece of junk, but it sure is drawing a crowd! Good thing you've got your regulars, huh? Speaking of, let's see how that's going. Roll + hot. On a 10+, answer two of the following questions. On a 7-9, answer one and pick one for me to answer. On a miss, pick two for me to answer, and answer the third yourself.

* That scavenger Como's drifted in again, and he's got oddments a-plenty to trade. What did he sell you, and what did you pay for it?
* Good old Lamprey can always be counted on, right? You've got what he needs, after all. Er…what is it he needs again?
* Couple of guys with holdings down the coast got in a little fight the other day. Right in your club, too! Good thing everyone's packing. When the smoke cleared, who won? And who took a bullet?

Love and kisses,
Your MC



Oh, Storm. You're a sexy beast, and you know it. Of course, if you weren't looking in the mirror, you wouldn't have seen the door to your dressing room start to move. By the time it  swings open, you're ready for whatever. And whatever turns out to be….what, exactly? Roll + hot.  On a 10+, choose 3 of the options below. On a 7-9, choose 1 of them. On a miss, well….

* Of course they're armed; this is Apocalypse World. But the gun's in the holster, for now.
* The Maelstrom's looking out for you. You automatically roll a 10+ on the Lost move, whether you have it or not.
* At least it's only one of them, right?
* Well, at least it's not Rolfball.

Love and kisses,
Your MC