Help with keeping your story alive while your players shoot it down

Oh, okay. I get it now then. Thanks.

Yeah, exactly that. If the players' story is "the tale of killing everyone that crosses us," then WELP, that's the story they wanna tell. Lord knows there are better options, but it's really down to them. I had some sessions like that and found it really interesting.  Like, "do you REALLY want to kill your way out of this? That's interesting, I guess..."

lol my apologies for my bad wording on the title, i meant as an mc, the story i create for the players to run through, at least the base skeleton of it. also, i think ive finally figured out how to lessen the pain and give my players all what they need and want

Cool! I learned fast that if you try to preplan any kind of story, the system will fight you tooth and nail. The characters and their moves are so powerful, and the players have access to the move sheets so you can't fudge anything or like, adjust difficulties or whatever. All you can do is let them have their way but make consequences for everything.

It's also sometimes good to straight up tell your players this. Like, "this game isn't really about fighting. It's about WHY you are fighting, or WHAT you're fighting for. Gunlugger, you are a badass, be a badass if you want. That rules! Your challenges won't be during combat, your challenges will be when combat is not an option."

I really second Scrape's last post!

I'd also like to add: Be a fan of the characters!


When there's time for shooting, bring out you big guns (so to speak) and lay in the descriptions and colour the scenes and let everyone smell the gun powder! I really think violence is cool in ApW, allthough the fiction always seem to throw us a curveball.

Also: Ask the table what people think, admit your concerned with everyone's fun (including your fun) if half the group is just killing stuff".

Be a fan of the characters means also (to me) that NPCs recognize them (as what they are/appear to be). Maybe some bad-ass just backs down way to easily (for fun)? Maybe someone nice accidently spills something close to the BigBadMotherf*ck*r and wets themselves? I'd also remember PC-NPC-PC triangles:

"Schooo," she says playing the flute or stroking your autogun or whatever euphemism is appropriate. "... I hear you're pretty handy with that gun, ...baby. Wanna come... and shoot... someone for me? My ex-, she's like, you know moving stuff and she ripped me." (The ex- is off course delivering something important to another PC.) Respond with fuckery!

The violence thing can be interesting in its own right, too. Like, maybe the combat isn't exciting for you (and me!), but the reasons and consequences can be. When my group got in the habit of shooting their way through everything, I was like "wow, so here's some people who are willing to just KILL this dude for causing trouble. Crazy!"

I expressed this both in-game and out. To the players, between sessions, I would discuss the violent solutions without being judgmental, just going "I think this is an interesting thing, do you?" And one player told me that the world was so threatening and everything so scarce that he felt like murderer was often the fastest and most permanent solution. Then we talked about how this is the exact thinking that makes the world so threatening. It was cool!

Within the fiction, make sure NPCs respond to this stuff. So the PCs immediately kill their problems. Who might this frighten? Who is nervous about teaming up with them? Who thinks they are awesome badasses and would make great allies? Who might ally with them out of fear and double-cross them when the time comes? These are all cool questions to find out.

(I feel like we long ago answered the OP question, but this discussion is interesting to me)