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Topics - Paul T.

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46
blood & guts / Advancing basic moves
« on: January 29, 2011, 10:08:47 AM »
Just a quick question:

Why is it possible to advance basic moves so quickly and easily (two advances for all seven)?

Is it because 12+ results are rare in play?

It seems to me that choosing *which* moves to advance makes really interesting statements about the character and where you want them to go. But in two advances, you've got all of them, no choices to make on that front.

I feel like I would still choose that advance even if I could only apply it to one or two moves (especially seduce/manipulate, right?).

For those of you who've played long and hard enough for this to come up, what's it look like in play?

47
Apocalypse World / MC moves and when not to make them
« on: January 18, 2011, 12:06:15 PM »
The AW rules basically tell the MC that whenever "it's your turn to speak", you should be making a move.

When do you NOT make a move? When is it your turn to talk, but you really should be saying something that isn't a move?

Here's one that occurs to me:

* When resolving the outcome of a successful move on the behalf of the players.

Sometimes a successful move could still lead to a move (in particular, "inflict harm as established", to kill an NPC, for example), but sometimes it shouldn't. Sometimes we just need to play out, describe what happens, and that's it. Right or wrong?

Now, what about all those situations in "traditional" GM-led play that would often come up for a lot of groups?

* The GM is describing scenery, making the world seem alive.

In AW, should the MC ever be "barfing forth" without making a move of some kind? Is there space where "making Apocalypse World seem real" trumps making a move? Where simple description is all that happens?

* What if "making Apocalypse World seem real" suggests that a move would be inappropriate?

So, something happens in play and it's the MC's turn to talk. But you look down your list of moves, and none of them seem right. The natural consequence of what has just happened is a temporary status quo; the only thing that seems "real" is a pause in the action.

Does that ever happen to you?

* What about the end of a session or other "downtime"?
* What about the outcome of certain advancements, like "retiring a character to safety" (i.e. epilogues)?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this!

48
Apocalypse World / Moves leading the fiction, and acting under fire without a fire
« on: January 04, 2011, 04:05:52 AM »
So, there's this thing that always worries me a little when I think about running Apocalypse World.

It's that whole "and if you _____, you're acting under fire", such as happens with a refused seduce/manipulate move, for instance.

Acting under fire makes a whole lot of sense to me when there is a clear, urgent fire. But when it's the chain reaction of another roll, sometimes it's not clear what the urgent, present fire is.

In my head, at least, this leads to this weird situation where the dice are rolled, and the fiction is relatively static. On a miss, the MC is supposed to make a hard move, but if there is no current and immediate danger, doesn't it feel a little artificial?

Like, yeah, we make moves all the time in any game we play, but doesn't, "OK, you missed the roll, so now this entirely new bad thing happens to you," feel just a little contrived? How can you misdirect and not speak its name, and all that, enough to make it feel natural?

For instance, there is a move where you give someone a gift of 1-barter, and it counts as a 10+ on a seduce/manipulate roll.

So I picture this wealthy hardholder calling up his good friend for a chat over some tea, and this goes down. It's all dark and intimate, whispered conversation between friends in a rare calm moment.

He offers the friend some jingle, and now if the friend refuses they're acting under fire. They roll+cool and blow it (or 7-9, whatever). What happens? Do raiders suddenly burst through the wall?

How do you do this without it feeling totally contrived?

49
Apocalypse World / Versions
« on: December 18, 2010, 11:25:56 AM »
Is there an easy way to tell versions of Apocalypse World material apart?

For instance, let's say I've got printouts of a bunch of character playbooks lying around in my cabinet drawer. I pull some out... are these "up-to-date", or old versions with a few minor changes? How can I tell?

So, like, what's the easiest-to-spot latest change?


50
blood & guts / Lessons in Playtesting
« on: November 22, 2010, 04:00:44 PM »
This is a question for Vincent, as well as anyone who has been playing AW since Vincent released the playtest document.

The playtest document itself was a lengthy, very complete text and game.

What changes, what lessons were learned during this playtest phase? How did it affect the final form of the published game?

Were rules changed? Which ones, and why?

Were principles changed? Which ones, and why?

Was the format of the text itself changed, or just updated and clarified?

How did the (semi) open playtest phase change the final product, what lessons were learned?

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