Yeah, that's fantastic. That's how I pray every game of AW will go.

This is an outline now, but as I post more it will become a table of contents.

Intro
I ran one session of Apocalypse World each day of PAX. The first and second sessions were with the same players, who all came back the next day to see what would happen next. The third session was with new players except one, who played an NPC from the previous two sessions, elevating her to a PC in an awesome way.

• First Session (3 hours)
  
  • Cast of characters
  • Introductions and Hx
  • Following them around
• Second Session (5+ hours)
  
  • Rapid-fire Fronts creation
  • Resolving the cliffhanger
  • Driver's dilemma
  • Playing "kick the Hocus"
  • Longview
  • The Tower
  • Aftermath
  • Fronts mini-workshop for the curious
• Third Session (3 hours)
  
  • Cast of Characters
  • Introductions and Hx
  • Politics
  • Violence
  • What we would have done next if we had more time
• Summary and remarks
  
• Appendices: "What does the maelstrom look like to you?"

I like these very much.

Oh, man I'd love to have seen that.

Did we meet at GoD? I sent you a PM.

Excellent point; I hadn't considered that.

This mostly came about in response to my need to cut right to the chase for con demo play at PAX. I needed to think up questions that help me bring situations to a boil much quicker than I'm used to*.

I like that it also works for evaluating player/PC tendencies.

*For example: "Whom do you care about most, and why? Whom do you rely upon most, and why? Who (relies on|cares about) you the most, and why? What do you think about that person? What conviction do you demonstrate/enforce despite taking heat for it, and why? Who gives you heat for it, and why? What do you do that you're kind of ashamed of, and why? What can't you stand about (important NPC|other PC), and why? What should (you|important NPC|other PC|everyone) (avoid|pursue) at all costs, and why?" Normally I'd suss these out spontaneously over several sessions, but for Games on Demand I plan to spread these questions around at character introductions. Also this awesome trick: http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=2951.msg17793#msg17793

Here's a run-down of my Apocalypse World starting out. Note that I stole some ideas from AP threads here, so thanks.

Welcome to The Valley, a string of hardholds along a seepage-contaminated river, at least when droughts don't make it a sludge-lined dry riverbed. In the golden age of legend this place was fertile and moist and fresh. Now sometimes it's hot, bright, parched and dusty; sometimes it's fetid, stagnant, stinking, rusty, and swollen. It's too hot for ice run-off, so water only comes from frequent severe thunderstorms and hurricanes. Water is a dubious blessing, as often death as it is life.

Reference Map, (not to scale).

Gazeteer:
The Mountains form the western horizon. No one who's ventured to the mountains has ever returned. Far to the southwest a beacon sometimes glimmers from the top of a ridge, apparently with no pattern. This has formed the basis for cults with various interpretations of the beacon's spiritual significance.

The River flows down from the mountain creating the only arable land for miles. Hardholds are scattered along both sides of the river. The Old Canal and the river form a natural barrier to The Ruins of an old city.

The Tip was a pit mine, then a landfill before the apocalypse. Now it alternates between water reservoir and salvage site. Southeastern storms and hurricanes swell the river and fill the tip, which in turn leaches into the ground water and river, causing food grown in the valley to smell like garbage. Shazza runs a crew of salvage "supervisors" to mine the tip for useful refuse using slave labor. She's one of Jackabacka's biggest customers.

Longview is a high tower perched atop the highest nearby ridge, creating a vantage point for spotting anyone crossing the desolate craggy valley. Jackabacka dispatches crews of raiders for the purpose of kidnapping the unwary, "elevating" them to the status of "undercrew" and selling them in slave auctions. Slaves are sometimes ransomed back to their hardholder, sometimes handed over to Shazza or even a rival hardholder. Slaves no one will pay for are offered to the cannibals of the glass desert. Longview can't grow food and slave labor is its only export.

The Toll Bridge is Dustwich's holding, unique because it controls the only bridge into the ruined city. His crews patrol the city for salvage and competitors, and trade both in a bustling market near the bridge. Rare or valuable things usually present themselves only at the toll bridge, and only for absurd prices. Would-be salvagers can pay a huge fee for access to the city, but will probably end up ambushed anyway. Dustwhich's crew also patrols the eastern river and canal to make sure the bridge is the only way into the city.

Places no one goes include North, where venturers inevitably fall ill and die, the Swampy Delta, guarded by insular and brutal swamp people, and The Glass Desert, where somehow roving bands of cannibals survive to menace the valley.

Hey folks,
Does anyone have advice for running AW as a one-shot most effectively?

For one thing, I'm thinking about offering fewer than the full range of basic playbooks, to speed up character creation, offer me a more predictable starting situation, and allow me to run more than one con sessions with one set of printed books (by running the next ones with the excluded sets). Any thoughts about this?

I know AW works best when relationships and situations have time to ferment across sessions, but how do I approximate that adequately in just one? Or do I even need to?

In general, how can I give the curious newcomer the best possible Apocalypse World experience in one session? How should I modify my approach to the tools I have (Principles and MC Moves, etc.)?

Thanks,