I'm excited to be MCing my first Apocalypse World game.
I started a 4-6 session mini-campaign on 11/22 and wrote it up for my monthly blog at
www.stevebeangames.com. Since most if not all of the users on this forum know the system, you might want to scroll past the first 1/2 of the blog as it is mostly a description of how the AE system works that I wrote up for my readers who don't know the game.
I'm "playing with the form" a little bit. I went with a Morrow Project-style beginning and adapted the playbooks to represent a team of NSA-style field operatives, ie the Battlebabe is the team's Unconventional Warfare Specialist, the Team Commander is a Field Intelligence Officer using the Shieldbearer playbook, etc. They are part of the secret Calumet Initiative which will send them "underground" in the event of a compromise of US sovereignty and then signal them to come out and combat that threat, presumably using insurgent tactics.
Establishing relationships in the first session was all about how the different team members relate to each other over the course of their first three weeks "on assignment" - operating under their cover as Jesuits and getting familiar with their secret military facility and the Calumet Protocol which establishes their mission parameters:
Calumet Protocol Mission Parameters/Priorities:
In the event of a serious threat to, or actual compromise of, US sovereignty, Central Command initiates The Protocol. Calumet Team members who are On Station IMMEDIATELY (regardless of roll call) begin Phase One: Hibernation. Local stations "Go Dark" and maintain hibernation until the OSANA AI sends coded activation signal. Upon receipt of coded activation signal, Calumet Teams initiate Phase Two: Field Operations
Determine the extent to which US sovereignty has been compromised
Identify and assess regional and local compromises of US sovereignty
Utilize local military and civilian assets to counter regional and local threats
Enjoin local civilian authorities and civilians to the mission
Avoid collateral damage to non-combatants/non-insurgents
Re-establish communications with strategic level command structure
Assess status of local, high-value, strategic asset(s)
Utilize local military and civilian assets to reclaim or salvage local, high-value strategic asset(s)Then with only three weeks of "on station" training, the Calumet Protocol went into effect and they found out that "going underground" meant cryo-sleep.
They woke up ~4 decades later to a world turned upside down - wayyyy beyond any of their training simulations. Each character has to decide what their mission means in this unexpected and extreme set of circumstances, whether they are still dedicated to their mission and whether they will pursue it or "go native."
"Going native" may mean switching playbooks mid-"campaign." This will be driven by the game narrative. For example, the Assault Specialist/Gun Lugger was observed coming out of his grave (where each PC was hidden during cryo-sleep) by a member of an NPC Hocus' cult. She approached the PC believing that the Gun Lugger had risen from the dead and is prepared to follow hm instead of her current cult leader. This could go in the direction of the Gunlugger becoming a Hocus.
I replaced the "sex move" which I didn't think would work well with my group with a similar special move that takes effect if a PC is observed violating Mission Parameters by another PC. If the PC blows the role, one of the PCs who observed the transgression usually gets some kind of leverage or Hx advantage over that PC.
This "landing on the Planet of the Apes"-esque approach to the first session didn't get me very far in establishing PC-NPC-PC triangles. However my players (without having even played the system before) went a LONG way in creating tensions among their characters, so I have LOTS of cracks to stick wedges in. I think the end result will be that is is going to take another two sessions to really develop the triangles. I'm not sure this is a bad thing and I'm just going to "play to find out" if it works.
I had broken the cardinal rule and created some pre-prepared fronts - partly out of necessity because of the"non-traditional" start. But after the first session I sat down and worked through the first session worksheet. This changed a lot of what I'd pre-prepared so I'm confident that I can maintain the openness that the system demands. Despite 30+ years of GMing using a personal style of "I can never prep too much" I find myself feeling liberated by the ability to give over a significant portion of world-building to the players. I'm also jazzed by the concept of "playing to find out" - I'm excited to discover with my players the answers to big questions which I've left blank!