Twisted: A Disturbed AW Hack

Hi everyone,

So, I have a dark ass imagination. Maybe it stemmed from watching Ren and Stimpy or Real Monsters as a Kid. Maybe it came from being exposed to Happy Tree Friends or Carious Weltling. Who knows. Either way, there is a particular feel of cute-turned-creepy that I really want to capture in a game. Since AW is so color oriented, I figured why not try going at this game via the AW engine?

[If you go ahead and read all this, I’d absolutely love some feedback. Particularly, I’m curious about the following: System design/balance/feel, setting appeal (would anyone play this game!?), and orientation of gameplay (is it meeting its goal?).]

So anyways, here is what I am imagining for this Hack.


Inspirations:
-Anything by by Edmund McMillen (Cereus Peashy, Carious Weltling. The Binding of Isaac)
-Happy Tree Friends (web show)
-Real Monsters (tv show)
-The Far Side (comic)
-Ren and Stimpy (tv show)

Game Premise: To fuck around in a sick-nasty world, and see where you finally end up.

Setting Pitch:
There may be a heaven for the dreams and emotions that never get actualized – a nice place in which everything comes to fruition, in joy and in health.

That place is NOT The Weird.

The Weird is the place where the unmet and forgotten come to die. It’s a sick and twisted cesspool of things that used to be loved that have since been forgotten or abandoned. But these dreams and desires don’t die. Instead, they crawl out of The Mud Pits and found themselves in the sick, twisted world of The Weird. Discarded teddy bears, unloved puppies, stillborn children, what have you – if its something that was once cherished and was then left behind, it wound up here.
  Things manifest to reflect where they came from. Sometimes it’s really clear – the lost teddy bear is birthed into The Weird as a living teddy bear. Sometimes its more metaphorical – Blood Bursters are unfulfilled thoughts of violence, and manifest as pink, fleshy aberrations with two skinny legs and a gaping mouth hungering for pain.


MC Agenda:
  –Keep play moving (shit keeps happening here)
  –Barf Forth Twisted Shit (like, drench the world in it)
  –Emphasize want, and doing anything to fulfill it.

Setting Commandments:
  –The World Is Small… so everything effects everything else somehow
  –Filth Is Everywhere… this is a place where sick and dead dreams come to die
  –The World Is Hostile... everything here wants to consume, convert, or use you.
  –Things Are Changing… everyone is in want, and want drives change.

Continued...


Stats
  • Filthy: revel in it
  • Bloody: Break, Hurt, or Slaughter
  • Nasty: Fuck with people, exploit vulnerability
  • Slippery: Avoid detection, Weasel In or Out
  • Twisted: Corrupt Shit

  • Infatuation: how much people like you (and hence how much you can control them).

Other Currencies
  • Dominance (temporary control over others)
  • Delight (can spend at any time for +1 bonus, or can cash in 3 for 1 experience)
  • Depravity (GM can spend to fuck with you)
  • Decadence (experience stand in)

Use of a Highlighted Stats give +1 delight


Break, Hurt, or Slaughter
  • When you want to break something important, hurt somebody who sees you coming, or cut through bitches, Roll +bloody.
  • 10+: Choose 3
  • 7-9: Choose 1
     o You fuck shit up (+1 damage)
     o It can’t be normally repaired (doesn’t work on PCs)
     o You don’t get hurt in the process (with breaking shit, take 1 damage [ap] if this option isn’t taken)
     o Bitches Flee (doesn’t work on PCs)
     o They can’t stop thinking about you (+1 infatuation)

Revel in It
  • When there is gross shit going on, and you want to revel in it, roll +filthy.
  • 10+: Its delicious. Get +1 life, mark decadence, or +1 delight
  • 7-9: Its good, but its fucking filthy. Choose 1 from the 10+ list, but also choose 1 of these:
     o +1 depravity
     o -1infatuation for all present
  • Miss: That did not feel as good as it was suppose to. In fact, you feel kind of sick now...

Fuck with People
  • When you want to fuck with people, be it through a direct conversation or indirect manipulation, roll +nasty.
  • 10+: You get 3 dominance
  • 7-9: You get 1 dominance
     o Spend Dominance whenever you like to get the following:
        • (NPCs) They do the thing you tell them to, unless its fucking suicide
        • They’re where you want them to be, when you want them there (for PCs, you can add them into an active scene, or say they are not in a scene with you)
        • Answer my question honestly
        • (PCs) Do what I say and mark decadence.
        • (PCs) Don’t do what I say and take -1 forward against me

Exploit Vulnerability
  • When you want to exploit vulnerability, roll +nasty
  • 10+: Choose 3
  • 7-9: Choose 1
     o Hurt them badly (2 damage ap)
     o Show them you own them (+1 dominance)
     o Give them Stockholm syndrome (they get +1 infatuation with you)
     o Take something they own away from them
     o Don’t get caught for it

Avoid Detection or Attention
  • When you want to avoid detection or attention, roll +slippery
  • 10+: Nobody sees or notices you
  • 7-9: Only 1 person saw or noticed you.
  • Miss: your caught doing whatever it is you didn’t want to be seen doing.

Weasel Your Way Into/Out of Something
  • When you want to weasel your way into or out of something, roll +slippery
  • 10+: If you’re going in or getting involved, you get there, exactly where you want to be. If you’re getting out of something, you’re off the hook or out of harms way.
  • 7-9: If you’re going in or getting involved, it happens, but not necessarily where you want to be. If you’re getting out of something, things don’t go exactly as planned: the gm will give you a tough choice or a nasty alternative.
  • Miss: You fail at what you’re going at, and are caught in a bad place because of it.

Corrupt Shit
  • When you want to corrupt shit, making it worse than it already was, roll +twisted
  • 10+: It will never be the same. If it used to serve a function and you don’t want it to, it doesn’t.
  • 7-9:  It’s different now (and nastier), but not how you expected.

End of Session Moves
At the end of each session, go around the table and have everyone pick out which character they were impressed or intimately hurt by. That person gains +1 infatuation with you.

Additionally, mull over your actions in the session, and the MC and other players will decide together which End Path you followed most. Gain 1 point in this end path.

There are three End Paths
  – Escape (from The Weird)
  – Sovereignty (over The Weird)
  – Embrace (of The Weird)

Once one of these End Paths reaches 5, your play with that character ends according to the path fulfilled. Narrate your characters end, and make your final move.

End Game Move
  • When you reach an end path, roll +relative stat (for Escape, roll +slippery. For Sovereignty, roll +nasty or +bloody. For Embrace, roll +filthy or +twisted).
     o 10+: You meet your end path head on, owning it in whatever way you want.
     o 7-9: You meet your end path, but not in the way you wanted to. Bummer man.
     o Miss: You meet your end path in the worst possible way. Shame…

continued...


Barfer (corrupts shit)
Stitcher (sewes up and makes things)
Reveler (enjoys getting hurt/fucked around)
Screamer (always have to get their way)
Rager (flips out and breaks things)
Defiler (the epitome of corruption and filth)


Barfer Moves
Bile reserves (+2 Barf (otherwise 3))

Corrosive Vomit (When you spend 1 Barf, treat it as though you tried to Corrupt Shit and scored a 10+)

Filth is Power (When you Corrupt shit, roll +filthy instead of +twisted.)

Room to Spare (can store things in stomach, up to space 3)

Decadent Feast
     o When eating to excess, roll +twisted
     o 10+: Get Both
     o 7-9: Choose 1
        • Mark Decadence
        • Gain +1 delight
     o Miss: Your stomach bursts (take 1 damage, cannot use move again for rest of session)

Love the Taste
  • When you put shit in your mouth, roll +twisted.
     o 10+: Ask 3
     o 7-9: Ask 1
        • Where has this been?
        • What has it last been used for?
        • Who used it last?
        • Is this valuable?


Stitcher Moves
Needle and Thread
  • You have special needle and thread with which you conduct your stitching. As long as you have both, you can automatically do the following:
     o Fix anything mundane
     o Fix up an NPC who isn’t dead yet
     o Fix something important, providing you have the right materials.

Stitch Together Dreams
  • When you want to stitch things together to make something new, roll +twisted.
  • 10+: Something new is made (or born). If it’s conscious, it’s friendly and suggestible (dominance 2). If it’s a tool, it works like it should.
  • 7-9: Something new is made (or born), but its got strings attached. If it’s conscious, it wants something from you, or it doesn’t care about you (dominance 0). It it’s a tool, it only works part of the time (others its acting up, dull, or in need of constant maintenance).
  • Miss: If your trying to make something living, it comes to life and is hostile towards you (dominance -3). If you were trying to create a tool or the like, you fail, and your materials are consumed in the process.

Pull the Puppet’s Strings
  • When you want to fuck with people you made or have fixed up, roll +twisted instead of +nasty.

Fixer-Upper
  • As long as you have your needle and thread, you can fix someone up by stitching them together. When you do so, roll +twisted.
  • 10+: They’re all better (full life).
  • 7-9: You’ve done your best (+1 life).
  • Miss: Oops! You may have punctured something… (-1 life)



Defiler Moves
See Inside You
  • When you want to see inside someone, roll +twisted.
  • 10+ Answer 3 questions
  • 7-9: Answer 1 question
     o What do you not want me to know about you?
     o What do you want more than anything?
     o How can I get you to          ?
     o What would ruin your relationship with          ?
     o Who has the most power over you?

Trail of Filth
  • Any time you try to corrupt shit, roll +filthy instead of +twisted

Delightful Debauchery
  • Any time you revel in it and hit, gain +1 delight

Disease Vector
  • When you touch someone, you can attempt to infect them with a disease. When you do so, roll +Filthy
  • 10+: Gain Infection 3 over them
  • 7-9: Gain Infection 1 over them
     o Spend infection to
        • Inflict 1 damage
        • Inflict -1 forward
        • Inflict -1 ongoing (cost 2)
        • They lose 1 delight

Others not fleshed out yet
Reveler (enjoys getting hurt/fucked around)
Screamer (tries go get their way by screaming)
Rager (flips out and breaks things)

continued...


Healing: If you eat pure, un-tainted food, you gain 1 life. Otherwise, you don’t heal unless a Stitcher tends to you.

Stuff
Weapons
  • Dinky Little Thing: 1 damage
  • Standard Shit Kicker: 2 damage
  • Big Fucking Kill-Stick: 3 damage

Armor
  • Weak: 0 armor
  • No Bad: 1 armor
  • Heavy Duty: 2 armor

Life (6 point ladder)
  • Bruised Up
  • Black and Blue
  • Something Cracked
  • Beat to Shit
  • A Fleshy Pulp
  • At Death’s Door

Creatures (things that live in the twisted world)
Throbbers (want to fuck things)
Blood Bursters (want to hurt things)
Gapers (want to watch things)

Amazing to read, but I don't think I'd ever want to play this. I think you need a reason for people to play other than wallowing in awfulness.

So I'd say it's potentially a nice start, but right now it's very monotone. You could take this as a starting point though and work out towards something more multidimensional.

Simon Hibbs

Hey Simon,

  Yeah, the appeal of the setting is definitely not wide reaching.

On this:

I think you need a reason for people to play other than wallowing in awfulness.

  I tried to counter this by adding the End Path rules. This may just not be your type of game, but I'd be interested to see what kind of things you think would give people a solid and interesting reason to play.

On this:

So I'd say it's potentially a nice start, but right now it's very monotone. You could take this as a starting point though and work out towards something more multidimensional.

  I was surprised to hear that this came off as monotone to you. I'd love to hear what you feel it was missing. My goal was that "hilariously dark debauchery meets technicolor vomit" would be enough to keep things moving in-game, but I could definitely see how this wouldn't work for anything longer than a session or two. Maybe this would be better as a single-session hack?

"My goal was that "hilariously dark debauchery meets technicolor vomit" would be enough to keep things moving in-game, but I could definitely see how this wouldn't work for anything longer than a session or two. Maybe this would be better as a single-session hack?"

Ok, but what kinds of goals would the characters have? What are they trying to protect or destroy, or where are they trying to get to?

Apocalypse World is pretty grim and it's clear that the world is dying. Long term the only way is down. But in the context of a game or campaign you can overcome hostile forces, protect the people and places you love, even make life better for a while.

It also comes down to the premise of the setting. I don't think unloved and forgotten directly implies filthy and corrupt. Lost or forgotten things can still be found again or remembered.

Simon Hibbs

Part of what makes it feel very one-colour is how abstract most of the basic moves are. Basic moves are usually the go-to place when you want to figure out what characters actually DO in the game. It may not be obvious, but your basic moves all feel slightly more abstract than their AW equivalents -- 'corrupt shit' and 'exploit vulnerability' are particularly notable -- and combined with the idiosyncracy of your general setting/premise it makes it difficult to imagine what play actually looks like. (In some cases the moves may not be significantly more abstract, but instead lack a clear context in my mind due to unfamiliarity with the general sort of world/stories you're aiming for.)

Anyways, if you're going for 'hilarious dark debauchery' I think you need a lot more hilarious -- as with the moves, the playbooks all seem too general/abstract, which also makes it very hard for them to be funny. The Barfer and Stitcher aren't so bad, since they at least come with a concrete, visualize-able action, but 'Defiler' (much like 'corrupt shit') just doesn't mean anything. The whole thing would benefit immensely from having AW-style playbook write-ups that put these roles in the context of the larger world -- because that's another opportunity to make it clear what that world looks like, what things the characters might try to do in that world and what sort of context the world will provide for their actions.

Part of what makes it feel very one-colour is how abstract most of the basic moves are. Basic moves are usually the go-to place when you want to figure out what characters actually DO in the game. It may not be obvious, but your basic moves all feel slightly more abstract than their AW equivalents -- 'corrupt shit' and 'exploit vulnerability' are particularly notable -- and combined with the idiosyncracy of your general setting/premise it makes it difficult to imagine what play actually looks like. (In some cases the moves may not be significantly more abstract, but instead lack a clear context in my mind due to unfamiliarity with the general sort of world/stories you're aiming for.)

This is really good feedback - I'd love it if you could toss me some suggestions on how to shore up the specificity of these

Anyways, if you're going for 'hilarious dark debauchery' I think you need a lot more hilarious

Yeah, I think my initial write up for this world got a wee bit too morbid. I do like the idea of "cute things gone wrong," but this might come out better if it was more along the lines of things like Conker's Bad Fur Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conker's_Bad_Fur_Day) or Fairytale Fights (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glG8N4MinwM)

 I guess I don't really know what the reason to play is other than to laugh at the shock value of cute shit doing messed up things (geez, am I a bad person?). Again, the End Path moves were intended to give a direction to play, but I don't know if they really give a reason to play.

  A lot of this game idea come from playing video games with very simple motives (kill stuff, move forward) that have the twisted-but-funny flavoring. What would the motive of someone living in a twisted world be (or I guess more appropriately, what would be an interesting motive to play out)?

The Barfer and Stitcher aren't so bad, since they at least come with a concrete, visualize-able action, but 'Defiler' (much like 'corrupt shit') just doesn't mean anything.

I definitely realized that the Defiler was kind of bland. I did come up with another character that I think is more along the line of what I am trying to get across

Check it out:


A spoiled little brat who isn't used to not getting his or her way.

Stats
• Filthy +0, Bloody +0, Nasty +1, Slippery +2, Twisted +0 (mean-y)
• Filthy +0, Bloody +1, Nasty +1, Slippery +1, Twisted +0 (hitter)
• Filthy -1, Bloody -1, Nasty +2, Slippery +2, Twisted +1 (manipulator)
• Filthy +0, Bloody -1, Nasty +2, Slippery +2, Twisted +0 (psycho)

You Get This:
• Listen to ME!!!
  o When people need to stop what they’re doing and LISTEN TO YOU, roll +Nasty
  o 10+: Everybody stops what they’re doing. You get to act however you want before they come too.
  o 7-9: You’re distracting as fuck. Everyone gets -1 to whatever it is they’re trying to do.
  o Miss: You’ve called attention to yourself, but not the good kind.

And two of these:
• Pretty Little Princess
  o You’re such an innocent little sweetheart. When you try to weasel your way into or out of something, gain 1 delight.

• Can I have that?
  o When you really want something, roll +slippery
  o 10+: If an NPC owns it, you get it. If a PC owns it, you get +1 ongoing against them until you get it.
  o 7-9: If an NPC owns it you can have it for a little while, but then you have to give it back. Also, they get 1 dominance over you. If a PC owns it, you get +1 forward against them to get it.
  o Miss: You’re a spoiled little girl. In fact, you need to be taught a lesson!

• Vicious little Mongrel
  o You get +1 Bloody

• Cunning Little Snake
  o If you try to interfere with someone who’s rolling, roll +slippery instead of +infatuation

• Childish Glee
  o You can cash in Delight for Decadence on a 2 to 1 basis instead of a 3 to 1 basis.

• But. I. WANT IT!!!
  o If you don’t get something that you want, roll +slippery
  o 10+: Someone consoles you (for god sake!). Choose 1 of these
    • Get something of value 2 or less
    • Get 1 delight
    • Get 1 dominance (spend it on the Fuck with People choices)
    • They gain 1 infatuation with you
  o 7-9: Choose 1 from the list above, but also 1 of these
    • You get 1 depravity
    • They get 1 dominance over you

Thoughts?

It looks like I really (really, really) missed the boat on this thing. Shame, because I really really like what you've done here. It's totally fucked and I love the aesthetic. So I'll bump this way up to the top and speak into the audient void. Jwok, anybody else, if this catches your attention and you've got C&C, I'd be honored and interested to hear it.

I'll second what the others said, to an extent. The problem is that Twisted has no built-in momentum. What drives the game? What are the stakes? AW's got scarcity, MH has insecurity, DW's got... whatever DW's got (is it greed? I haven't read the rule book). Etc.

Well, I think the source of momentum could be taken right from the setting. The Weird is where unloved things are discarded to suffer an eternity of their own personal hell. So what do they want? Love, affection, memories of The Happy Place (a hug, a . That's your momentum, your bang, your stakes. Of course they won't get any of these things, and when they do it'll be with a heavy side-dish of suffering. But the fact that these things exist in theory, or more importantly that they want these things, gives their misery poignancy and therefore humor. I don't know if you remember that bit in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the book) where the Oompa Loompa's pre-factory living conditions were described. One of the bleakest bits of prose I'd ever read as a child, not because of how clearly terrible everything was, but because it specified that their only real source of happiness was cocoa beans, and then went on to describe at length how difficult and rare these beans were to get. (Shit, I've just now realized that there's this weird imperialist-lauding subtext to Willy Wonka's industrialization of the Oompa Loompa's society. Huh.)

Anyway, I think that's what the system's missing, the pathos. They want a hug, a bar of chocolate, a daisy that doesn't try to eat them. They want them so bad that they'll crush the bones off of those who hug them, squabble over that bar of chocolate until they're beat-up and bloody and it's a Throbber that eats it after all, and when they fight over the daisy it gets trampled into the dirt in the struggle.

In order to effect this, the moves would probably have to change significantly. For one thing, I think there should be a shift in mentality from "harm" to "mutilation". People don't die in the Weird. They're just damaged, horribly, horribly damaged. If Minnie slashes at Sugar with a chainsaw, he doesn't die, but part of his guts fall out and get tangled on a nail and he's left screaming and tied to that nail like a dog on an intestine-leash. At worst, PCs are taken out of action so that they can come back next episode to suffer more.

What do you think?

Idea working off of the above: when you go beyond six "mutilation", you are out of action for some time, and gain 1 'broken'. When (if) you wake up, roll+broken. On a 10+, you heal all mutilation, become an NPC and go on a murderous, useless rampage. Make another character, unless the things that you know care enough to try and fix you. On a 7-9 you wake up at 6 harm, and can only ever be fixed to a minimum of how broken you are. On a 6-, you can choose to maintain your current level of broken, or take the penalty and +1 to a stat (chosen by MC depending on the cause of death). Basically, each time you are serious damaged theirs a cumulative chance that you snap (or rather, become mindlessly insane), you are a little less structurally sound, but you might become more bloody, nasty, filthy, or twisted then before.

Finally, an improvement after the fifth is "a peaceful death". This replaces "retire to safety".