Though now, with the way the Gunlugger and Battlebabe's moves work, if you have either a good Cool or a good Hard, you can effectively ditch the one you're weak in by taking a Move from the relevant Playbook.

I'm not sure if that makes it better, really, but it's there.

I love the look of the new version! AW has been my favourite game for the last few years, and this looks like a great addition. The Waterbearer is great, as well!

I have a question though, about highlighting stats. A lot of this applied in 1st ed too, but now that things are being updated it seems like a good point to ask:

Firstly, I've never been sure how Highlighting was really supposed to work. For example, maybe the Battlebabe's low Hard is something that interests me - she's not actually that tough, just cool. But if she's taken the right move, she'll never roll Hard unless there's a custom move in play that lets her - so am I being a dick by highlighting the stat that interests me but she can't choose to focus on? That seems worse in 2nd ed, since there are more chances to simply overwrite one stat with another - the Battlebabe can roll Cool for all Hard moves on the sheets, the Gunlugger can do the reverse, etc.

Secondly, doesn't that mean that there's a double incentive to take the stat-swapping moves? It not only lets you use a much better stat, but it means that if the good stat is highlighted, you'll get a lot more xp out of it. And if it is a dick move to highlight someone's swapped-out stat, that also means they are more likely to have the good one highlighted - there are less options for the other players to pick from.

And thirdly, now that manipulating a PC can strip highlights off them if they don't go along... that seems like a weird incentive to me. Firstly, towards the end of the session it becomes less meaningful since there'll be less chances to roll left. Secondly, if you refuse to be manipulated twice, there's no longer any penalty for refusing since you're out of highlights.

Maybe there's something about how highlights are meant to work that I've never gotten, but I was half-expecting the xp system to have changed for the new edition. Since it hasn't, figured I might as well ask.

A friend of mine is interested in running this hack - which I am very much looking forward to playing! Are you still working on it? Is there anything new?

And would you like feedback, if we do go ahead?

Is it okay to stack the same effect multiple times? For example, taking both Merciless (from the Battlebabe playbook) and Bloodcrazed (from the Gunlugger) to inflict +2 harm whenever you inflict harm?

So, between PCs, this can lead to someone being hit with the stick:

if they refuse, it’s acting under fire [the stick]

Does that mean they need to act under fire to refuse? If, say, we consider Keeler's crush on Bran - had she used the stick rather than the carrot, would Bran's player have had to roll to successfully spurn Keeler's advances? I'm not fond of this interpretation, since it can force a PC to act in ways the player doesn't want if they fluff a Cool roll.

Or does it represent a level of distraction, making other things harder? But that's tricky, because what if there's nothing going on where that can be an issue?

How do people interpret this one?

I like the look of Nostronox :)

If you go for the idea of having been scared by one of us, then I'll remind you that Penelope hasn't been aboard her ship long - it might fit better with Silon.

As for tolerating him aboard, what are our options? Navigators are rare and vital, if we lose this one, who knows where we'd get another or what they'd be like.

I like your character! :) Security chief is cool.

Okay, so this is all open to change. Particularly, SoylentWhite's post came up as I was finishing this - I was expecting a bigger military force aboard when I picked Military Power as something the ship traded in. But there's no reason we can't trade in force despite the small army! Assault troops are a premium resource, I guess.

Also, a small question arises - we have the Security Commander with his assault platoon. Ship's Master gives me a militia of my own, and a security force too. How are we going to work that? The security force is easy, that's my private bodyguard - theoretically the elite, but... :) However, the militia seems odd in this context, any ideas?

Here's my draft character:

Lady-Captain the Honourable Penelope Carver
Mistress of the Glorious Bringer of His Light

Looks: a woman with burning eyes, a striking face and an athletic body, wearing extravagant accoutrements.
Stats: Cool +1, Hard -1, Sharp +1, Status +2 Twisted 0

I’m thinking a young woman, raised as a decadent noble with lots of money and no responsibility far from the ship. On Father’s death, turns out to inherit (against the expectations of the rest of his scheming family, but the prime contenders killed each other off) and has taken command.


Gear: Power Sabre

Domain: the Glorious Bringer of His Light trades in Military Power, Transportation and Secrets.
4-harm, huge, 2-armour
Ship is huge, and well-armed. It is also Ravenous.
Specials: ancient, enigmatic, posh.

Most Trusted Officer: Felix van Ermien, ship’s pilot
Most Valuable Officer: Gerard Oleanth, purser of the ship’s treasury
Most Worrying Officer: Can I put SoylentWhite’s character here? :)
Biggest Threat to the domain? The other claimants to my father’s estate, who feel they should inherit over his daughter.

6) Yeah, I guess that's one point where the 'DG is not 40K' applies. The way I see it, a world with billions of people is not really a setting, gaming-wise, it's more like an endless collection of settings. I don't want the ship to be that. I want the ship-as-world to have factions that are people, not countries made up of thousands of factions themselves. So rather it's the other way around! This instead implies that in DG there are 'worlds' with as little as thousands, probably even hundreds, of people. Asteroids, space stations, colonies, surviving settlements on ruined worlds, etc. 

However, I think I'll up it to tens of thousands, now that I think about it. :)

I think tens of thousands sounds about right. I always too the big as worlds thing to be hyperbole anyway, and even in 40k a ship with billions aboard would seem over the top. I could see millions for the biggest vessels, but that's it. And, obviously, the Ship's Master is unlikely to have the biggest ship around.

It's an interesting point of contention between the two influences, now that I look at it. For Apocalypse World style gaming, everything should be personal. For 40k, the major players are personal, and supported by teeming nameless hordes. It'll be interesting to see how the balance works out in play!