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Messages - Philomorph

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31
Apocalypse World / Playbook: The Coot
« on: July 21, 2011, 03:50:43 PM »
My first attempt at a playbook. This is a first draft, so I'm really looking for some feedback on how to tighten it up and make it workable. I normally wouldn't try to hack a game before I've even played it, but since I finished the rules and started talking to my players about it, I've had this idea brewing in my brain constantly, and he just needed to come out. Let me know what you think :)

You may note that I've removed some attributes from the custom weapons list, because these folks are a little less likely to be carrying really big, intimidating stuff.


Introducing

The Coot

Nowadays it’s pretty rare you see someone walking around that was alive before it happened. Sure, plenty of folks you meet look to be about a hundred, but it ain’t time that wore them down.

Once in a great while, you may come across an old codger that came by his gray hair the old fashioned way – by living a long time. Most of ‘em are obviously crazy, driven mad by who knows what part of the psychic feedback that rushes in at unguarded moments.  Most of the rest have been crippled by mistakes (made by them or others) when they weren’t spry enough anymore to get out of the way.

But there are a few old-timers that remain nimble and seem to have held onto most of their wits. Along the way they’ve picked up some tricks that keep them breathing in the newly harsh world. It’s likely that they have some memory of the before times, but they aren’t necessarily willing to talk about it. No, they’re just trying to make their way, same as everyone else, relying on what they have and what they can get.

CREATING A COOT

To create your coot, choose name, look, stats, moves, gear, and Hx.

NAME

Jeb, Bent, Dag, Coon, Skiff, Walnut, H.D., Jersey, Fish, Wash, Duke, Dust
Mia, Font, Gin, Anista, Mae, Fox, Amalga, Albany, Carmel, Lake, Noely, Vita

LOOK

Man, woman, wrinkled, dusty

Casual wear, utility wear, worn-out wear, vintage wear, or scrounge wear.

Wrinkled face, wise face, rough face, open face, tired face.

Clear eyes, penetrating eyes, suspicious eyes, sharp eyes, weary eyes, laughing eyes.

Bent body, wiry body, chunky body, slight body, lanky body.

STATS

Choose one set:

  • Cool+2 Hard-1 Hot-1 Sharp+2 Weird=0
  • Cool+1 Hard+1 Hot=0 Sharp+2 Weird-1
  • Cool+1 Hard=0 Hot-1 Sharp+2 Weird+1
  • Cool+1 Hard-1 Hot-1 Sharp+2 Weird+1


BASIC MOVES

You get all the basic moves (see additional rules)

COOT MOVES

You get this 1:

Look Harmless:  when you try to manipulate another player’s character, roll+Hx instead of roll+hot. An NPC, roll+Sharp instead of roll+hot.

And choose 2:

Remembering the Time Before:  when you try to identify, ken, or determine the value of some artifact from the time before (something that most nowadays wouldn’t know from their ass), roll+Sharp.
On a hit, you can ask the MC questions. On a 10+, ask 3. On a 7–9, ask 2:
  • Who or what made this?
  • What is its purpose?
  • How do I work it?
  • What’s wrong with this, and might it be fixed?
  • What’s it likely to be worth to someone who can use it?
  • What part or piece of it is most valuable to sell if it can’t be used as intended?

Crazy like a Fox: You get +1 Sharp (Sharp +3).

Play it Like You've Cracked: When you go aggro on a PC, roll+Hx instead of roll+hard. An NPC, roll+Sharp instead of roll+Hard.

Seen it Before: At the beginning of the session, roll+sharp. On a 10+, hold 2. On a 7–9, hold 1. At any time, you may spend a hold to take +1 forward on one roll+sharp or one roll+cool.


ADDITIONAL RULES

For some reason or another, whether it’s age, an injury, or something else (you detail), you are either uninterested in sex or simply not able to do it.  If you try and seduce someone, take -1, and figure out what you’re going to do when you can’t follow through on their expectations.
A hidden weapon is just that – a small, easily concealed weapon that will not be found in a quick pat-down, but will in a semi-thorough search.

GEAR

You get:

  • 1 custom weapon
  • 1 ancient firearm
  • 1 hidden weapon
  • Oddments worth 1-barter
  • Fashion suitable to your look, including at your option a piece worth 1-armor (you detail)

Custom firearms

Base (choose 1):
• handgun (2-harm close reload loud)
• shotgun (3-harm close reload messy)
• rifle (2-harm far reload loud)

Options (choose 2):
• ornate (+valuable)
• antique (+valuable)
• semiautomatic (-reload)
• 3-round burst (close/far)
• silenced (-loud)
• ap ammo (+ap)
• scoped (+far, or +1harm at far)

Custom hand weapons

Base (choose 1):
• staff (1-harm hand area)
• haft (1-harm hand)
• handle (1-harm hand)

Options (choose 2):
• ornate (+valuable)
• antique (+valuable)
• head (+1harm)
• spikes (+1harm)
• blade (+1harm)
• long blade* (+2harm)
• blades* (+2harm)
*counts as 2 options

Ancient firearms

Base (choose 1):

  • handgun (2-harm close reload loud)
  • shotgun (3-harm close reload messy)
  • rifle (2-harm far reload loud)

Options (choose 1):
  • Mysterious(+valuable)
  • Hi-tech(+valuable)
  • Semiautomatic (-reload)

Penalty (choose 1):

  • Unreliable: at the beginning of each session, roll+sharp. On a 10+, you’re lucky, no penalty this time. On a 7-9, hold +1, on a miss, hold +2. The MC can spend one of these hold at any time to have the weapon malfunction instead of fire, requiring a reload.
  • Hard to find ammo: at the beginning of each session, roll+sharp. On a 10+, you’ve got plenty of ammo for now. On a 7-9, you have enough ammo for one firefight/battle. On a miss, you’ve got jack for ammo this time around.

Hidden Weapon (choose 1):

  • snubnose revolver (1-harm close reload)
  • scalpel (3-harm intimate hi-tech)
  • hidden dagger (2-harm hand)

COOT 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.
Each time you improve, choose one of the following. Check it off; you can’t choose it again.

__ get +1cool (max cool+2)
__ get +1hard (max hard+2)
__ get +1sharp (max sharp+2)
__ get a new coot move
__ get a new coot move
__ get the operator move “Eye on the door




32
Nice! I love the idea of someone remembering the "just after" time. I'm excited to see what kind of world my group comes up with when we get started in a couple weeks. Then I'll be able to pepper in information like you're talking about from the occasional "old" NPC.

33
I'm looking for examples of how other MCs have handled the issue of old people that may or may not remember the pre-apocalypse times.

I sort of imagine a world where very few people that were more than young children when "it" happened are still alive. But there are bound to be not just their fuzzy memories of kindergarten, but the occasional old codger that should theoretically have some valid recollections of when things were normal.

In your worlds, do such NPCs surface much? Are they all sort of crazy? Do they tell tales that few believe, even if they are true?

And what about books and such? Do the people in your worlds know how to read still? Are there hidden caches of preserved newspapers that point to events leading up to things going all wrong? Were all the libraries burned down in your event?

34
Apocalypse World / pc fighting and manipulation
« on: July 19, 2011, 11:51:13 PM »
I'm still gearing up for our first session and I've been wondering about the experiences of other groups when it comes to PCs fighting, seducing, and manipulating. How often does it happen in your groups?

Coming from a more traditional fantasy rpg background, characters trying to manipulate or even harm each other is an alien concept.

What are your experiences?

35
I liked Amphiprison's descriptions of self-generated "fire" and it totally makes sense, but I'm not totally sure I understand What mechanical effect does that have?

This is how I imagined it when reading the book's examples.

Bran knows that Keeler likes him (she's already confessed) so he tries to seduce her into getting some night-vision goggles for him. He rolls a 10+, so if she accepts this geas (and succeeds), she marks experience and might get laid (it's up to Bran).
If she refuses, or is unable to deliver, then she's acting under fire, so she rolls+cool.

If she gets a 10+, she is fine refusing and could walk away without a second thought.

If she rolls 7-9, then the MC could ask Bran what sort of fire he'll provide. Bran might give her a worse outcome like telling her to keep the hell away from him from now on cause she's a bitch. Or he might offer her a hard bargain, like telling her she'd better do what he wants or he'll tell everyone that she has the clap. Or he might offer her an ugly choice, like "Ok, forget the goggles. Prove you like me by blowing me right now, right here, or get out of my face and don't bring it up again."

Does this sound right, or am I missing something? If she were under fire from an NPC then the MC would be offering the results or choices, but I'm not sure how much he could come up with in this case since it's Bran who is really providing the fire, right?


36
Have you gotten to the instructions on how to prep this game? What do you think?

I'm not sure what you mean. So far I'm most of the way through the book, currently reading the notes on the characters' special moves.

37
Thanks for all the replies.

Part of the problem of being impatient like I am is that I hadn't yet gotten to the part about how fragile NPCs are compared to PCs. I see now that one harm isn't as minor for them.

I'm excited about MCing this game, but also anxious, as at heart I'm a planner, and am used to games with more detailed rules about every little thing. So much making things up! It'll be great, once I can let go of some of my default anxiety :)

I'm glad to have this resource though!

38
One thing I discovered is that the Acrobat "crop page" function isn't a great option because if you only crop some pages (non-titles), then PDF readers will still use the larger page size as a default and not zoom in any closer on the smaller pages by default. You'd have to shrink the graphics first and then crop all pages, or reformat the margins in your original program before converting to a PDF.

So, a bit more of a project if you choose to undertake it, but it would be greatly appreciated :)

39
I don't know if this will work for you, since you probably print the hard copies from the PDF, but something that would make the book much more readable on eReaders would be to significantly reduce the margins. For example, I've been reading my copy on my NookColor, and it works great. But with a 7" screen the text is very small and the margins are really big. Luckily the NC has a the same resolution as the iPad, so it's still readable. But I can't imagine trying to read it full page on a tablet with a lower pixel density.

Since in electronic format (on any screen) doesn't require a gutter for the center of the pages, you could chop about 75% off the margins all around and instantly give your PDF readers a larger, easier to read presentation.

I don't know what program you are doing your layout in, but you could even do it quickly and easily in Acrobat Pro by cropping the pages (leaving out the title pages, since they have full page graphics).

Anyway, just a suggestion :)

40
Apocalypse World / Game store promotions and books, etc (for the dev)
« on: July 10, 2011, 07:52:41 PM »
This may be a bit premature, but I figure better early than late.

A friend of mine is opening a new game store in the next 3-5 months, and we plan to have various promotions to draw people into games they may not be familiar with. I suspect AW would qualify for many customers.

I'm sort of the group's unofficial marketing guy (until he can afford to hire a pro), so I was wondering if you have any material we could use to promote AW, and if you have anything specific you've been doing with stores so far.

Also, would public demos of the game qualify as a "con" for the purposes of getting and handing out copies of the "Faceless" playbook?

41
I've been reading the rules in preparation for starting a game as the MC (I've never played AW before). I'm still a little unclear on the details of the "direct-brain whisper" move and the target's option to "force their hand and suck it up".

In one example in the book, a brainer uses a brain whisper to get an NPC to follow her, but the NPC stops, and forces the player's hand. The player decides NOT LOUD, and walks away, leaving the NPC bleeding from the ears a bit, with 1-harm, but no one else the wiser

So, what is really happening here?

  Is the NPC hearing a voice in her head that she recognizes, and she realizes she'd rather fight it than comply?

  Does she know there will be harm done if she resists? 1 harm seems minor compared to the other option, so why would this move ever work, unless the NPC is already seriously wounded, or the request is really mild?

Afterward, does she know there's been harm done? In the scenario, the NPC doesn't say anything to her buddies, and that may be on purpose, but I can't tell if maybe she doesn't realize yet what has happened.

42
Apocalypse World / Re: Some play advice for Apocalypse World
« on: July 08, 2011, 02:34:02 PM »
Nice little intro, thanks. I may point my new players at it.

FYI - I didn't have any trouble with the navigation. Each time I clicked the "next" button, it moved one step to the next bit of text. I'm using Chrome, if it matters.

/agree with previous poster that the grammar could use a little tweaking at the beginning, as too many pronouns makes it a little confusing. But nice overall result :)

43
Apocalypse World / Re: AP: Pass
« on: July 08, 2011, 02:27:12 PM »
Very nice! A good read and informative for some like me who's only about halfway through the rule-book yet :)

So who were the players besides the author? Pearl and Abe?

As a future MC, I'm curious how you handle the times when characters are split up and don't necessarily know what's happening to the others.

My DM experience mostly comes from old-school RPGs where the party sticks together, so everyone knew what was going on. Although in Paranoia, there was a fair amount of note passing since everyone had secrets :)

44
Apocalypse World / Re: Quick question from a potential buyer
« on: July 06, 2011, 02:29:51 PM »
Now that I have the PDF I expect it should work well, since the graphics aren't too complex. And I could just read the printer non-violent version to eliminate most of those :)

45
Apocalypse World / Duplicate pages in free Playbooks PDF?
« on: July 06, 2011, 11:42:51 AM »
I'm new, so hopefully this isn't a dumb question. In the free download "character playbooks & MC playsheets (legal trifold)", pages 23-24 and 25-26 are both called "The Moves". They appear identical except for the image, but it's dense text, so I haven't compared every word.

Are they the same, and perhaps intended to give one copy to the MC and one to the players? Or is there a difference I missed?

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