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Messages - Matt Wilson

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1
Vanguard / Re: Did this stall?
« on: November 04, 2011, 10:11:12 AM »
It did kind of stall, but I've started working on it again recently. Thanks!

2
Awesome. I dig that.

I'm not nearly as schooled in the moral ambiguity as Judd the Karl Man, so I watch eagerly to see how this plays out.

3
Apocalypse World / Re: AP: The Factory
« on: September 30, 2010, 11:41:44 AM »
Great sounding game.

Maybe once our campaign is through you can MC for me and show me how it's done, Matt.

That doesn't sound like any kind of pressure at all.

I just do like 10 minutes of google chat with John Harper every day and do exactly what he says would be awesome. When it's not awesome I figure I did it wrong.

4
You know, how moves are like, "when you do X, roll + Y."

What triggers the roll for the sabbath meal? When I sit down to eat? When I'm offered the meal? When I realize what I've eaten and OMG it's so perfectly seasoned?

Just curious.

5
Good moral quandary stuff going on here!

tell me more about how the sabbath meal works. What's the "when you..." part?

6
Apocalypse World / Re: Playing cards for AW? Genius.
« on: September 30, 2010, 09:00:54 AM »
Cards, to me, often get looked over so that players can see their options.  I'm not sure that is what I want from the players when I am playing AW.  I want them acting as their character and us matching the moves to what they do, rather than shuffling through some cards in order to figure out what to do.

Judd, I have to say I'm not with you on that, but maybe I'm not entirely understanding. It is, after all, teh internet. Misunderstandings occasionally happen here.

My take on it: the moves define a good chunk of who my character is and what he/she can do. I choose a special move: eye on the door. It establishes that I'm the kind of guy who bails when it gets tense.

Thinking about moves like that is acting as my character. If I'm a battlebabe, I'm going to make battlebabe-appropriate moves, so I look at my sheet for cues. Isn't that why I have a sheet?

Again, maybe I'm misunderstanding. Except that Brand seems to agree with you, so that makes me think you're wrong about something.

7
Apocalypse World / Re: AP: The Factory
« on: September 30, 2010, 08:34:42 AM »
There's a thing that happens in play, and I really like it. I was thinking about it a lot after last night's game.

It reminds me of playing the Pool. Those of you who've played, probably you'll know what I mean. In the Pool, you can build up what looks like this unstoppable pile of dice, kicking ass left and right, no way you could possibly blow the roll.

OMG and then you do, and everyone at the table literally gasps. You go from unstoppable to oh-so-fragile in the blink of an eye.

AW can be like that. You get on this kick of 10+ rolls with your +3 stat, and then the snake eyes hit at the worst possible moment. It always seems like the worst moment, doesn't it? Everyone leans forward and says oh shit.

8
Apocalypse World / Re: AP: The Factory
« on: September 30, 2010, 07:56:07 AM »
We had the finale last night, although Terry couldn't make it. :(

As MC, I think my favorite thing is being a fan of the characters. In this game they've been an unstoppable team, sometimes bickering and at odds, but always getting each other's backs. I've had a great time watching them stomp all over trouble, and they've had a great time doing it.

That said, there's been a lot at stake. Lives on the line, including their own at times. As the MC/audience, I never saw them as invulnerable, just awesomely heroic and capable.

I was surprised at the start of the session to discover that Uncle was at 10:00 harm! She was in danger, but she did her paladin lay-on-hands healing touch and got herself stabilized again.

Once the crew dropped off Shazza to fix their water filter, they decided that it was time to address the creepy death cult in the south that was luring people away to labor on the ziggurat, filling others' minds with visions of death. The hardhold had maybe lost a third of its people to the influence of Clarion.

So they hit the market and blow their hard-earned barter on stuff. Armor, weapons. They rolled all badass and walked away like a swat team. Did I mention I love being a fan? Yeah, you guys rock.

So they load up the Dingos (with a little quick pack alpha encouragement) on the driver's new tank-boat and head south to finish this thing. When they get within sight of the now-finished ziggurat, Clarion gets inside all their heads (custom move) and learns about all their most painful memories (not unlike deep brain scan).

They find many people from the Factory waiting on the shore when they arrive, all smiling and vapid. Plus there's regular armed people watching them carefully, and Clarion is in their heads saying, it will be so good to have you with us.

And then they kick ass. Fifi snipes some guy on the machine gun, simple as that, and Kobe and Uncle charge into the holding, trying to make their way to the ziggurat as fast as they can. That's when the smiling laborers turn into psycho killing mob and swarm them. Yeah, there's Rolfball the merchant, and isn't that Ditch who worked the kelp farms? All trying to kill you with their bare hands, this huge mob. What do you do?

Again, I'm a fan, because they manage to fight off the armed guard while hardly anyone among the crazy zombie mob gets hurt. Probably was good that Fifi didn't actually use the grenade launcher, huh? The dingoes stay on the boat providing excellent cover fire. Seize + gang is something to fear when it goes well.

At one point Kobe stumbles, because there's his disappeared love interest, Fauna, among them, and she knocks him to the ground. Kobe says, I want to try and snap her out of this state she's in, because I know her and she knows me.

And holy shit of course he can do that, because that sounds so badass. Plus, if he succeeds, then he just has a new problem to worry about, right? And so he does. She almost runs into danger, but he puts himself in the way and takes the bullet for her.

Uncle gets up to the ziggurat and gets into a fierce shootout with two guys. Their bullets bounce off her new armor, but it distracts her (yeah harm move!). A pale hand strikes out from the shadowy interior of the ziggurat and grabs her by the throat. She can feel the voice of Clarion in her head: just drop that shotgun and come inside with me...

But she fights it off, and he stabs her with this wicked scary machete!

Kobe and Fifi get up to where Uncle is and open fire on Clarion, but he dives back into the inky darkness. Nobody wants to go in there, so Fifi tries to hose it down with her smg. Instead, Clarion reaches out from his strange dark protection and grabs her. She fights off his influence as well!

Then Uncle says enough is enough, drops the shotgun, draws her knife and jumps past Fifi, grappling with Clarion and plunging the knife up into his ribcage. He kind of gurgles a little, and Uncle whispers in his ear, "it's all over now."

Nobody has enough for a retirement improvement, so we do quick epilogues around the table. Uncle eventually secedes from being a hardholder and learns the ways of being a healer. Fifi buries her feelings and lives the rest of her life in violence. Kobe becomes something of a statesman, hoping to unite the surrounding hardholds in peace.

THE END





9
Apocalypse World / Re: AP:Limits
« on: September 29, 2010, 01:14:03 PM »
Aw, come on. Saffron was totally going to demand your return when she met with Moses.

"It's been two weeks since Buzz was dragged out of my club by a mob. I guess I should do something about it. Well, maybe after I have drinks and sex with Nero."

ON MY LIST SAFFRON.

p.s. it's not a friends list

10
Apocalypse World / Re: When the Hocus doesn't believe
« on: September 29, 2010, 09:34:47 AM »
When I think of riled up mobs, I don't think about actual truth. I think about the relative truth that the mobs want to hear. "Yeah! Scapegoat! Rahh frenzy fuck kill!"

11
Apocalypse World / Re: AP:Limits
« on: September 29, 2010, 08:54:26 AM »
I was kind of expecting someone to rescue you.

I dunno about expect, but I was damn well hoping. See if I give those fuckers the cure.

12
Apocalypse World / Re: AP:Limits
« on: September 28, 2010, 10:17:17 PM »
I just realized. Three sessions, and my character has never interacted with any of the other characters. That seems odd.

13
Apocalypse World / Re: Babies
« on: September 28, 2010, 01:48:35 PM »
We should maybe discuss things like how hard is it to get pregnant in this new world. Like are all the dudes born with dried up little raisin balls? Are the chances a thousand times more slim?

14
Apocalypse World / Re: AP:Limits
« on: September 28, 2010, 01:39:04 PM »
And my angel Buzz had no problem stabbing some guard in the throat in order to get the medicine he needed. "Of course I'm going to kill him. My hair is falling out! My skin is splotchy!"

As per the "characters are fucking hot" clause, Buzz's hair fell out stylishly, and the splotches looked kind of like tattoos.

Now that he's cured the disease, he needs to start thinking about that crush he has on basically all the dancers at Saffron's place. Will it break his heart when he learns that Saffron hooked up with Nero? Probably.

Oh, here's a thing: we got to the end of the session, and my guy hasn't interacted with any of the other characters for two sessions in a row now. It feels weird to say that people know him better or worse.

15
Apocalypse World / Re: AP: The Factory
« on: September 27, 2010, 10:53:54 AM »
I wanted to write up AP earlier, but I had a mac-tastrophe that cost me a hard drive and quite a few bucks. And maybe a lot of files. Wah.

The players are really catching on to how moves flow. They constantly read sitches, and they get into the language that triggers the moves they want to make. The improvement is really flying now. Maybe not quite as fast as I hear Vincent and John's groups improve, but better than it has in earlier sessions.

Because I love it when characters improve. I'm a fan, right? They get cool new moves that I get to watch them make. Yeah! Totally you do fuck this shit! Awesome. Roll!

Last week, they dealt with the traitor Pierre in a public execution and then continued to ignore the overwhelming badness spewing forth from down south where Clarion and his followers are building a fucking doomsday temple. That clock is gonna hit 12 if they don't do something soon.

Instead, they addressed a broken water filter, which sent them across the water to Flush, where a woman named Shazza said she'd help them but only if they helped her in return, and protected her from her enemies.

They convinced her to leave her bunker and travel with them, which got the attention of her enemies. Naturally a firefight ensued, and poor Shazza nearly died.

There's an MC insight. When the PCs get super powered and invulnerable, the NPCs don't. It makes for some interesting choices. I mean, maybe Shazza is the only one who could fix their water filter, but maybe not. Either way, the characters found her valuable and took big risks to keep her alive.

One thing that was fun was "fuck this shit" getting a 7-9. Fifi's player asks, can I bring Shazza with me when I roll this move? Sure you can. She hit a 7-9, so I told her that Shazza's blood-covered toolkit is still lying in the middle of the street. That prompted a move from a different player to go get it. Good stuff.

This wednesday will probably be the finale, since two of the players are about to have a baby.





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