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« on: July 22, 2010, 11:36:25 AM »
Last Saturday my group got together for our second session of Apocalypse World. They had a gigantic blast and I thought I'd share the experience, to the extent that it's possible to do so. :)
A little background: I've got a group of friends who've been meeting on/off for gaming every weekend for 10 years. Lately it's been more board gaming, but roleplaying is the original activity. Others had little idea about Apocalypse World, but were willing to give it a shot. Our 1st session of AW was a huge hit. The character creation process got high marks from all players, including comments like "Why doesn't every game have these awesome little books?" It was all smoothness and thrill. We made the characters seem real, we made the world seem real, we foreshadowed threats to the PCs, we set up a love triangle, we had a fight, and everyone walked away wanting to find out what would happen next.
PCs:
Barnum, the Hardholder, played by Jeremy. He's the boss of Barnum's Crossing, which is a merchant town on the intersection of two rivers. It's got a large population, but small number of guards. They pay tribute to the local warlord "Gentleman" Jack for protection. At the end of session 1, Barnum stands up to Jack's emissaries and badly wounds one in a tense climactic scene.
Mercury, the Skinner, played by Jennie (my wife). She's the most highly sought after courtesan in the hardhold, and currently Barnum's lover. She's a bit of a hedonist and general free-spirit. At the end of session 1 she's had an affair with Man, and things are tense between her and Barnum.
Man, the Gunlugger, played by Mike (Mary's husband). He's scarred body and soul. He's come to Barnum's Crossing looking for a reason to live, and has fallen in love with Mercury. He and Barnum have some bad blood in their past. Session 1 ends with him feeling pretty good about his prospects with Mercury and working for Barnum despite their past history.
Spectre, the Savy-Head, played by Mary. She's one of Barnum's Crossing's oldest inhabitants and a bedrock of support for Barnum. She lives alone out in her junkyard between the two intersecting rivers. She lives to discover past creations and build new ones. She sees the world as a collection of stories.
For session 2 though I've got two new players. They show up right as we're about to give up on them. Unfortunately this means we put things on hold while they make characters. Fortunately, the creation process is very popular and we cooperate to an unprecedented degree on their characters. When we get to the HX section, we go around the table and everyone tosses out some invented history worth +1 or -1 at their discretion. This works very well, because the original players really grasp the HX thing now and are excited about it. So now we've got:
Snow, the Battlebabe, played by Dena. She's a cold bitch who thinks survival is as good as it gets. She's worked with Mercury in the past, but feels threatened by her.
Always, the Hocus, played by Brian (Dena's husband). He leads the cult of Nuclear in Barnum's Crossing. Their teachings involve closeness, unity, strength, family, and technology. The faith exists with the approval of Barnum himself, who is a "Sunday practitioner".
The game starts off with Always hitting his fortune, but his followers have Surplus: +stupor, and Barnum getting 7-9. The players all agree they want to see +reprisals after last week's climax, so reprisals it is. Still, I don't lead off with that.
Opening scene: Man shows up at Mercury's place. He doesn't have a place in town and figures he might as well invite himself into this one. It looks like they're going to reach a reasonable agreement when one of her customers shows up and asks her out for the evening. She accepts, which complicates the discussion with Man. Ultimately she explains her profession and steady thing she's got with Barnum. Ultimately he blows his attempts at seduction and looks like a super creepy dude. Some of her hold on him from last week gets spent and he leaves dejected.
Cut to Snow approaching Barnum's Crossing on foot. She makes out some finely dressed guys on motorcycles scouting the perimeter. She passes them by and heads in looking for work. As it happens Barnum's hiring guns in an attempt to discourage the Gentlemen. Her first task is to take his boys out to cause some trouble for Jack.
Always is communing with his followers in the abandoned nuclear power plant when he hears some scuffling in the rubble. He investigates and realizes there are intruders skulking around ready to pounce. He tries to sneak up on them but blows the roll, so plague cultists spring out and capture him. He takes a couple harm and activates their custom move, (similar to the waders in Hatchet City) which he also blows despite his high Weird. So now he's abducted and infected.
One of Always's cultists bursts into Barnum's office and demands aid. Barnum summons Man and tasks him with a rescue mission. They confer briefly and agree that "quick is better than clean". Man heads down to the riverside where he's previously seen these "Harbingers", he quickly spots someone who might know something. A brief interrogation turns up that Always is Down Below (in the caves). Man marches directly Down Below. He finds a small gang of cultists and doesn't fool around with any stealth. He orders them to surrender then tears into them when they go for their weapons. Always wakes on the ground as gunfire rakes the cave. Wanting immediate insight, he opens his mind to the maelstrom. Many impressions leap out of the chaos toward him, but one thing stands out: some of these cultists have something powerful in their possession. Man has done his work though and the surviving Harbingers are fleeing. Always seizes a runner by the legs, causing him to lose his satchel and continue his flight without it. The scene ends as Always examines his prize: a vial of golden slimey substance.
Back to Snow, who's leading Barnum's gang out to where she saw the Gentlemen earlier. They're getting discouraged when they crest the rise of a hill and notice a large cave mouth below them. There's echo's of motorcycle engines coming from inside. Snow quickly dives in, but the gang doesn't follow her...
Barnum's office, he's talking to Specter. She's requesting three motorcycle engines she needs to build a jury-rigged helicopter. Just then they see a line of headlights erupt from the ground over in the rich part of town. Barnum sends Specter to rally his men. As she leaves he realizes Mercury is in danger. He grabs his revolver and heads toward trouble.
Mercury is having a fine evening. The party isn't the best of the season, but likely of the week. As she seeks out some refreshment she hears a ruckus outside. She goes to the (2nd story) balcony to observe. It's the Gentlemen and they're raiding in force. She tries to take a read but misses. One of the Gentlemen takes notice of her beauty and orders a concerted attack to get her. Turning she finds her date has abandoned her and everyone is fleeing. She tries to run downstairs and out the back door, but realizes she'd have to shoot her way through the mob to get out. (This was my one fuck up, she hit a 7 and my worse outcome was too much worse, c'est la vie.) Back on the second floor she's running out of time. She makes a desperate leap out a back window into the alley, and comes down hard on one ankle for 2 harm (ap). Still, she hobbles down the alley trying to avoid attention. Just as she's about to make it clear when she spots a Gentleman accosting a young woman. Using her natural charms, she distracts him from his prey and convinces him to meet her in an hour elsewhere. The lug wanders off and she walks free of the nightmare a heroine.
Barnum is headed directly into the chaos, but is realizing how out matched he is. He grabs a fleeing merchant and orders him to sound the alarm. The merchant begs off as he's unarmed, but Barnum hands over his revolver and orders him on. After this sacrifice, Barnum turns again toward the violence, perhaps even more out matched. As he approaches the party that Mercury has just escaped she spots him across a wide avenue. In relief she runs to him and calls out. He turns just in time to see her scooped up into the arms of a passing Gentleman. He cries out her name as she's carried away from him. He hesitates not a moment, immediately charging the nearest Gentleman and seizing a motorcycle for himself. He ends up being struck by a nail studded bat, but he ignores the pain as he races after his love.
Snow, Specter, Man, and Always arrive just in time to see Barnum's chase in the distance. Snow unslings her rifle and tries to take down the Gentlemen who're intercepting Barnum. She misses terribly though. In fact she hits Mercury's date from earlier and draws return fire from some more Gentlemen. The group is taking incidental fire, but Man ignores it and tries to slow down Mercury's abductor with some distracting fire, which succeeds. Always opens his mind to the psychic maelstrom in an attempt to contact his followers, but shit doesn't really work that way. Instead he feels a presence, resting deep in Down Below. "Do you want to rouse it?" He totally does.
Back to our chase, Barnum is gaining on his quarry. The Gentleman really wants to make off with his prize though, so he attempts to lose Barnum amidst some obstacles. Barnum is undaunted and weaves right through. At the same time he manages to lose his two pursuers in the same obstacles, without taking any fire at all. Finally it's down to the home stretch. They're coming up on the cave that the Gentlemen used to get into the Crossing, and dozens of Gentlemen are riding into it at this very moment. Barnum moves to seize Mercury, which she assists by flailing at her abductor. Barnum rides up a wall of rubble and flies across the path of the other motorcycle, grabbing Mercury and taking definite hold of her while he shocks and awes the assembled Gentlemen. Before they can react he tears ass right out of there. He doesn't stop until they reach the bridge in the center of town. At which point they're swept up in passion.
While the two enjoy being alive and in each other's arms the camera pulls out to reveal a rifle scope. Man is watching the whole thing with a pained expression. He heads off to the bar to get drunk, where he learns two things. One, Mercury's date is dead and his landlord has an apartment for Man, and two, there are hard drugs to be had down on the wharf. Man goes down to score what turns out to be "Honey". The same substance Always discovered earlier. He takes it immediately and starts experiencing extremely pleasant hallucinations. He retires to his new loft to dream.
In our final scene, Always retreats to his temple where his followers have gathered out of fear. They pray together and he augurs for answers to his new-found affliction. He isolates and draws out of the maelstrom everything Tao, the leader of the Harbingers, knows about sustaining life despite his plague ridden body. However he leaves behind quite a bit of his own knowledge and we discover that he was not always a priest. Sorrow Snake, the father before him, saved him from a life of crime, but taught another aspect of the Nuclear: Fission. Always deposed him and drove him out of Barnum's Crossing. He's still out there though...
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