It's also good if they hump like bunnies, at least with each others' crew NPC's. 

man, we're 4 sessions in and no fucking so far. I really want to to change that, as much as I can as MC.

The cryptic shorthand really throws me.

Once I've read it and internalized it, it really makes a lot of sense to me. "Hold x" is an established game mechanic, and always does the same thing (you have a "point" to spend to do something, as per the move), and "+X" is also an established game mechanic and always does the same thing: it's a modification to a roll. There's no + or - that doesn't have to do with a roll. So I read "Hold1+1" and see, ah, ok, I Hold 1 and get +1 to some roll. Obviously I have to look at the move to understand what the hold and the roll are, but I think the shorthand isn't overly obtuse.

You know, I was just thinking about 'lyrical' and 'good' writing and how much I love Cormac McCarthy after reading your post, Hans, and that made me think of one of my other favorite authors: Michael Chabon. All of his stuff is flipping great, but I'd say the book probably the most applicable to AW is "Gentlemen of the Road" which reads kind of like Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser but without the sorcery. Seriously though, you have a couple of rough guys who wander into a teeteringly stable city state in a vast nomad/bandit haunted wasteland and seriously screw up the fragile status quo. That's the only story I can recommend for AW specifically, but all of his other stuff will make you a better person, which *might* make you better at AW too.

Michael Chabon is great. I read both Summerland (I would love a Summerland rpg, btw) & Kavalier and Clay like 6 years ago and now I'm wondering why I haven't read more, as both of those were absolutely superb. I think I'm afraid his other stuff can't match those two.

I know it's in the mediography in the book, but I'm reading it right now and I want to heartily second the recommendation of Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. A tree hung with dead babies. How's that for apocalyptica. Gah. It's also I think by far the best-written, most lyrical novel I have ever read. That includes The Road.

Okay, so for some reason I feel like it's been a lot longer between last session and the next than the other sessions have been (but it's not), so I've created some love letters for our game on Tuesday.

Harry, Kyle, and Nathan: If you don't want to see what's going to hit the table on Tuesday, don't read ahead. But you're going to have to roll for it anyway, so it won't ruin it for you (unless, you know, it will, judged by you) if you read ahead.

---
Dear Key (the angel),

You've been taking care of poor little Clarion for a while now. Let's see how that's been going. Roll+hard.

On a 10+, you've managed to take care of Clarion well enough without touching him, and so far you've caught no hell for it. Damn impressive.

On a 7-9, choose 1:
-Clarion's begun vomiting blood. You can get him to stop before he dies, but fuck, you have to touch him to give him the stuff he needs.
-Kettle (the shirtless one with meat in his beard) heard rumor that one of his kids disappeared, and the rumor pointed him to you. He's at the door.

On a miss, both.

love & kisses,

your MC
---

Dear Dust (the hocus),

The wasting worm has had its way with you for a whole day now! Let's see what's happened while you've been passed out groaning. Roll+sharp.

On a 10+, choose both.

On a 7-9, choose 1.

-You catch Amy red-handed, in your stash, stockpiling medical supplies there.
-Wise is behind some piles in your stash, rifling around and apparently stealing food, the brown distilled stuff, and anything else he can get his hands on.

On a miss, you have a few more med things (detail them as you wish), just like last time, but you're missing a substantial amount of canned food and the brown stuff (you lose 1-barter). It smells like sex and looks like someone got drunk in here and trashed the place. Oh, and isn't that Amy's skirt? And that's Wise's favorite knife over there, too!

love & kisses,

your MC
---

Dear CJ,

You've just escaped from Snake's weird fucking gas-drilling death-machine. Why don't we see what happens next? Roll+cool.

On a 10+, choose 1:

-Just as you've set up the perfect ambush outside of the rig Snake's gang starts pouring out of it to finish you off. They count as 1 step smaller than a Small gang, so you've got a significant advantage here.
-You get the fuck away with your hide intact, but you have to leave like now.

On a 7-9, choose 1:

-You've set up a good enough ambush, but Snake takes forever to make a move, and so your guys get lazy and almost taken by surprise as Snake's gang comes out. Treat Snake's crew as a Small gang, so now you're even.
-You can get away clean, but it counts as Acting Under Fire.

On a miss, damn, you've just gotten free of the rig and Lars pops out of the door and grabs Exit, who was dawdling. Now she's in there with Snake and his fuckers.

love & kisses,

your MC
---

I. Can't. Wait for the next session.

WHAT.

terrible & beautiful.

Make a Relationship Map! Take a big piece of paper (well, I did it on a tiny one but it's quickly becoming too small) and write the names of your PCs in opposite corners, with arrows between them showing what they think of each other (i.e., their answers to the Hx questions).

then, start adding NPCs. With arrows going to & from each player, as needed, saying what they want/need from the PC, or how they feel about the PC. This will also make it mega-easy to create PC-NPC-PC triangles in play, as long as you can follow your map.

I just want to say that, as MC, drawing a relationship map between sessions 2 & 3 (shoulda done it earlier, but man was I trying to master fronts & saying interesting things) has gone a looong way in helping me to create PC-NPC-PC triangles. It's so easy & visual. "This NPC hates the Gunlugger's guts? Okay, then why does she love the Angel?" etc. So easy with the R-Map, so hard without.