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Messages - lin_fusan

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31
Monsterhearts / Re: Stacking conditions
« on: April 16, 2012, 03:08:22 PM »
The rulebook specifically states that conditions don't double up; no 2xfreaked out.

In the specific instance where the player asked about his choices, I suggested that his terrified couldn't be removed (since that was his original, explicit goal). In the fiction, it made sense, but it did cause us to scratch our heads.

In either case, thanks for quickly answering my questions, mcdaldno! This game has been fun, but also challenging!

32
Monsterhearts / Stacking conditions
« on: April 15, 2012, 01:00:10 PM »
What happens when, for example, a PC rolls to hold steady, gets the 7-9 result, but already has the Condition terrified?

Can the player choose the "pick an option from the 10 up list but also gain the Condition terrified" but simply ignore the second part of the clause?

Or is the player barred from that choice?

Similarly with the 7-9 choices in gaze into the abyss?

Or should this be handled in the fiction instead?

33
Monsterhearts / Werewolf secret identity and Strings
« on: March 30, 2012, 03:10:30 PM »
Ran into an interesting conflict between players. The Werewolf had gone Darkest Self and attacked some football players in revenge for keying his car, but he did this at a house party where the Chosen was waiting for signs of monstrousness.

The Werewolf wanted to run away after the attack, but the Chosen wanted to spend Strings on him to prevent that from happening, but the Werewolf player asked, "But how do you know I'm a werewolf? Your Strings are from my human form."

The Chosen player then said that she was the monster hunter and would just know. There was a kind of stand off since the Werewolf player didn't want to be found out (at least, not right then and there), but the Chosen wanted to confront him using Strings.

I kind of half-arsed an answer and let the Werewolf spend Strings on her to influence her to back off, but it didn't sit right with me.

Any suggestions on how to resolve a secret identity with the String mechanic?

34
As someone who has only been in a few games of MonsterHearts, I had thought that the lack of Hard Move was an explicit choice, and that the Take a String, spend a String for a Condition was implicitly on purpose.

In other words, you can't impose a Condition unless there is an NPC there to give fictional context of the Condition.

Can you give an actual play example of a situation where it seems appropriate to impose a Condition without an NPC involved?

35
Apocalypse World / Re: Firefly -> Apocalypse World?
« on: February 15, 2012, 01:29:07 AM »
River's a Brainer in the series but switches to Battlebabe in the movie.

36
Apocalypse World / Re: 2-armor
« on: February 08, 2012, 11:08:57 PM »
Yeah, my list of Do Bad Things To Your Faceless should never be taken as an MC trying to "get" the Faceless (or similar Hard badass), but as an illustration that there are a whole set of cogs in AW.

Remember to Make Apocalypse World Seem Real, and Play to Find Out What Happens. You will probably find out that 2-armor + Rasputin might not actually be such a big deal.

In one of my games, the Gunlugger was awesome in a fight (she even saved her own gang from an ambush, and the gang was backing her up) but when she was tired of beating heads in, she tried to manipulate (and then go aggro 'cause her Hot was -2).

Meanwhile the Hardholder was doing his level best to point the Gunlugger away from his holding 'cause he didn't want her to wreck his town.

Lastly, the same Gunlugger rolled snake-eyes Seizing By Force with a grenade(ap). All of a sudden, the Gunlugger really really was glad she made friends.

37
Apocalypse World / Re: 2-armor
« on: February 08, 2012, 01:19:41 PM »
Everyone has already mentioned Large-sized gangs...

There is always (ap) ammo, the great equalizer. It could be an Announce Future Badness move ("You're heard rumors of a shipment of (ap) ammo coming into town. You don't know, or maybe you do know, who or why there is a shipment all of a sudden...")

2-armor also can't protect NPCs that the player character cares about.

And other player characters can be an effective threat even if they aren't Hard-based.

Don't forget that with 0-harm there can be times it can call for a Harm move.

And 2-armor can be narratively ineffectual against Weird-based moves/things/people. ("So you've contracted a strange disease..."

38
Apocalypse World / Re: New Playbook: The Radio
« on: February 03, 2012, 10:28:31 PM »
This playbook started out with the physical possession angle, but that really wasn't the way I wanted to go, so I cut it out of version 4.

It's supposed to be a survivor newsman; a loner who doesn't want to or have to interact physically with the world and wants to transmit his/her/its message to the world.

There is also supposed to be a dichotomy in that he's kinda dependent on those 4+ antenna, but his Hot isn't so hot, like a loner survivor who realizes he's not completely self-sufficient, or an angry blogger who obviously wants an audience even though he or she is sitting alone in the dark in their bedroom for days.

39
Apocalypse World / Re: New Playbook: The Radio
« on: February 01, 2012, 11:54:00 PM »
I feel like the playbook would also seriously benefit from some hints about how the PC has convinced these people to basically let him/her possess them.

P.S. An obvious Hx question related to the above might be: One of them briefly acted as your antennae, that person gets +3 Hx with you. Or maybe: One of them is good friends with one of your antennae: you have been watching them without their even knowing. Etc.

- Hey, I'm wondering (after pondering your comments for a while) if a stronger, more evocative set of Hx descriptions might resolve what I think are several, but related issues of playbook concept?

40
Apocalypse World / Re: New Playbook: The Radio
« on: January 30, 2012, 09:43:19 PM »
I'd like there to be some explicit failure modes with the antennae, though --
- I'm on the fence and very uneasy about this. I originally required the Radio to have to roll Hot to get them to manipulate their antenna, but a kind person pointed out that forcing someone to roll at doing their custom playbook move was kind of weak sauce.
 I envision the MC using the narrative and a hard move instead to bring some fuckery onto the Radio through his/her antenna.

What happens to the Radio if the antenna he's riding gets killed?  You know that's going to happen.
- In a previous version, I had the Radio take 1-harm(ap) if the antenna got hurt, but it seemed a little clunky. Really it's up to the MC to make the antenna real enough so that the Radio wouldn't want the NPC to get hurt. And a dead antenna sounds like perfect fodder for a MCs hard move against a Weird roll...

Other thoughts: I'd make the Radio's sex move work one time only on PC's.  That's still nicely fraught but doesn't totally disempower the other character, especially since they can show up to get revenge without risk of getting puppetted all over again.
- Well, the Radio can't actually control his/her antenna. He/she can only really communicate, so it's less disempowering, and more annoying. And the PC can choose not to have sex with the Radio, right?

41
Apocalypse World / Re: New Playbook: The Radio
« on: January 28, 2012, 11:13:25 PM »
"You get a small stable of 4 antennae (maybe Typo, AM, Notch and Carver)."
- Yes, thank you. In fact, it shall be yoinked!

Survivalist I don't get. Not a playbook much predisposed to violence, is it?
- All my survivalist friends have a fully stocked medical kit in their bunker/closet/hidey hole. It seemed what a loner-type would have this in his stash.


Conspiracy theorist seems fictionally appropriate, but...
- Yeah, it is actually a near-copy-paste from the Touchstone, but with hope flipped with doom. It was not very original. I do want something to compel the Radio to broadcast, but I'm at a loss at the moment.

Live from the scene! - when you're in a dangerous situation and want to broadcast it live, roll +weird. On a 10+, anyone who can see or touch any of your antenae get to see and hear and feel what you do, and you get to keep your wits about you, too. On a 7-9, you can still broadcast well, but you can't do anything else for the duration. On a miss, you link everyone to the maelstorm direct instead.
- hmm... this is interesting... let me think on it...

42
Apocalypse World / Re: Touched by Death
« on: January 28, 2012, 12:54:51 AM »
You know, at first I recoiled at thought of the Touchstone player taking that advance, but then I thought, why is it not ok for the Touchstone to take it but for the Angel it is? What prevents the Angel from being incompetent all the time with his care?

And then I thought, well, make sure the player is actually attempting to take care of that patient, and ask the Touchstone what he/she is doing to do actual care. It's probably just the same as with the Angel. With an Angel, what would you consider real care? Rolling +0stock with his Angel kit?

Also, this is a perfect opportunity for the MC to put his/her bloody fingerprints all over everything. I mean, now that the Touchstone wants to take care of everyone or get Weird, as an MC I would make sure that everyone the Touchstone cares about are in my crosshairs.

I can imagine the Touchstone's favorite NPC lying on a gurney in the infirmary, and some SOB that hated the NPC comes storming in to shoot the poor sap. The MC can then ask the Touchstone, so, let him die so you can get your +1Weird?

43
Apocalypse World / Re: New Playbook: The Radio
« on: January 27, 2012, 07:03:09 PM »
So last year I experimented with making a playbook. And then I actually got to run 2.5 Apocalypse World campaigns, and that scratched my itch.

I haven't been playing (boo!) lately, so I dragged out the old playbook and tried to polish it.

Any comments and criticisms are welcome. Anything to make it pop will be much appreciated!

THE RADIO (version4)

There were men and women, wise men and women, who warned of the coming apocalypse, who hid supplies and made preparations to wait it out. You follow in that tradition, warning people of the new coming disaster... because life can always be worse. But really, you’re ready to survive without them since you don’t expect people to see reason.

CREATING AN RADIO
To create your radio, choose name, look, stats, moves, gear, and Hx.

NAMES
Newsboy, Anchor, Mic, Shout Out, Feedback, Voice Over, Offscreen, Beat, Tagline, DJ, Turntable, Spin, Tape Deck, Fadeout, Blogger, Anon, Spam, Broadband, Router, Wireless, Autotune, Three-Dog, Stern, Gross

STATS
Choose one set:
Cool+1 Hard=0 Hot-1 Sharp+1 Weird+2
Cool-1 Hard+1 Hot=0 Sharp+1 Weird+2
Cool=0 Hard-1 Hot+1 Sharp+1 Weird+2
Cool+1 Hard-1 Hot=0 Sharp+1 Weird+2
Cool-2 Hard+1 Hot-1 Sharp+2 Weird+2

MOVES
You get all the basic moves. You also get receivers and one more radio move.

LOOK
Man, woman, ambiguous, transgressing, or concealed.

Rags, old military clothes, fetish-bondage wear, or t-shirts and jeans.

Disheveled face, grizzled face, emaciated face, plump face, or ashen face.

Dead eyes, sunken eyes, tired eyes, deep eyes, ruined eyes, or sad eyes.

Flabby body, skeletal body, toned body, crippled body, or scarred body.

GEAR
You get:
   1 personal weapon
   1 paranoid weapon
   fashion suitable to your look, including at your option, a piece worth 1-armor

Personal weapons:
 many knives (2-harm hand infinite)
 baseball bat (2-harm hand)
 machete (3-harm hand messy)

Paranoid weapons:
 sniper rifle (3-harm far hi-tech loud)
 shotgun (3-harm close messy)
 hunting rifle (2-harm far loud)

HX
Everyone lists their characters by name, look, and outlook. Take your turn.

List the other character’s names.

Go around for Hx, on your turn:
   Tell everyone Hx-1. You keep to yourself.

On the other’s turns, choose 1 or both:
   One of them knows something or does something you really admire. Whatever number that player tells you, add +1 to that.
   One of them knows something or does something you really detest. Whatever number that player tells you, add +1 to that.
   Everyone else, you haven’t had the time or interest to learn about them. Whatever number they tell you, subtract -1 to that.

At the end, find the character with the highest Hx on your sheet. Ask that player which of your stats is the most interesting and highlight it. The MC will have you highlight a second stat too.

Radio Moves
Receivers: You get a small stable of 4 antennas. If you speak aloud, your antennas can hear you. In turn, you can hear, see, taste, feel, and smell anything your antennas similarly experience. If you and they speak aloud, you can communicate as if you were right next to each other.

You cannot read their minds, and they cannot read yours, or any of that shit.

[Note to the MC: Don’t forget to treat each antenna like a real person. Name them, give them desires, etc.]

Static: when you interfere with someone who’s rolling, you can choose to roll+weird instead of roll+Hx.

Conspiracy theorist: share a vision of future doom with another player's character. If the player acts on that information, they take +1 to any rolls they make while doing so, and you mark an experience circle.

Remote viewing: you don't have to be physically present to use the radio moves static or conspiracy theorist, or any of the basic moves, but you do need one of your antenna present and active in the situation.

The medium is the message: each time you open your brain to the psychic maelstrom, you can insert information as if you had picked the same option under augury (cf. hocus).

Cloud sourcing: you can ask the world’s psychic maelstrom for the name of the person who can help you best with your current problem. State the problem and your proposed solution and roll+weird. On a 10+, you get their name and current location. On a 7-9, you get the name and location, but someone else also learns the name, location, and reason for your query. On a miss, someone else learns the info, but you don't.

Survivalist: you have a well-stocked and high-quality first aid kit. It counts as an angel kit (cf) with a capacity of 2-stock.

Radio Special
If you and another character have sex, the other character automatically becomes one of your antenna.

Radio Improvement
Whenever you roll a highlighted stat, and whenever you reset your Hx with someone, mark an experience circle. When you mark the 5th, improve and erase.

 get +1cool (max cool+2)
 get +1hard (max hard+2)
 get +1hot (max hot+2)
 get +1sharp (max sharp+2)
 get a new radio move
 get a new radio move
 get a workspace (detail) and oftener right
 get followers (detail) and fortunes
 get a move from another playbook
 get a move from another playbook

[Note to MC: yes, if a radio chooses the psychic antenna option for followers, they are all receivers.]
---
 get +1 to any stat (max stat+3)
 retire your character (to safety)
 create a second character to play
 change your character to a new type
 choose 3 basic moves and advance them
 advance the other 4 basic moves

HIDEOUT
Choose which of the following your hideout includes. Choose 2: it’s hidden from view and a secret from everyone, it’s booby-trapped, it’s armored (1-armor), it has an escape route or backdoor, or it sits in a maze of twists and turns.

Your hideout has food, water, and other supplies worth 5-barter.

It has enough room to house a small family.

44
Apocalypse World / Re: Gambling custom move
« on: October 17, 2011, 08:04:27 PM »
I like the move, but I think that would be better for a long-term game.

I'm running a one-shot at a local minicon with a casino theme. I don't want gambling to be a major part of the scenario, but I'm sure someone will want to have their character go gambling as a means to scrounge up barter.

In a way, the barter move, "when you make it known you want a thing and drop jingle" is kind of a gambling move in a way, and I was trying to tweak it into something else to fit the scenario...

But maybe I'm overthinking it, and should simply make up something on the spot, like have it be a do something under fire roll.

45
Apocalypse World / Gambling custom move
« on: October 15, 2011, 08:21:47 PM »
I have a casino-based game coming up, and I feel it's necessary to have form of gambling-based custom move, whether in-game or meta. Of course, I'm a little brain-fried so I can't think of anything. Help!

I will owe people 1-barter! Or whatever good will 1-barter equals to!

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