Pre-session 1 prep

So, MCing the 1st session Saturday evening (so quick replies are greatly appreciated).

I know that before the first session I'm supposed to "daydream some apocalyptic imagery, but DO NOT commit yourself to any storyline or particular characters." How far should I take that, exactly? There is no explicit default setting or regional power structure in Apocalypse World. The Psychic Maelstrom is entirely undefined. The apocalypse event itself is undefined.

I know I'm supposed to get the players to answer a lot of these questions by asking them during the first session. "So, who's in charge around here? What settlements do your holding trade with? How do you feel when you open your brain to the Psychic Maelstrom? Your character is really old - what does she remember about the fall of civilization back in her childhood?" That's all well and good, but I expect that will generate the kind of setting I'm envisioning from the book's examples: a barren wasteland with isolated villages and strongholds struggling against each other and the elements. That leaves out a whole slew of other post-apocalyptic setting possibilities: like, the one with a strong authority with access to hi-tech ruling the wasteland from the crumbling towers of an old megacity, or the one where pockets of reality have been torn asunder and everyone have birth defects of varying intensity, or the one where large numbers of NPCs inhabit manufactured cities of lies and the adjoining wasteland is inhabited by diseased alien angels and evil sorcerous humans feeding off suicidal despair (that last one, a bit out there, was BWHQ's Under a Serpent Sun).

Now, I recognize that of the many possible settings, there may only be a handful of options that actually fit with the player characters picked and the standard moves in play. So I'm wondering, what have others done for pre-session-1 prep, and to what degree should the MC have a few setting ideas prepped ahead of time (even if they're modified later, in play)?

Now, I recognize that of the many possible settings, there may only be a handful of options that actually fit with the player characters picked and the standard moves in play.

I wouldn't worry about that at all -- even if a particular setting doesn't feel all that much like a typical post-apocalypse, the moves of the game will quickly ensure that it is just as much Apocalypse World as a typical barren wasteland.

As far as how much to prep, I'd suggest a bunch of point-form bits and pieces. Don't worry about them being coherent, just go for what excites or inspires -- you want evocative stuff. Evocative to you, specifically -- this is your Apocalypse, after all. These could be really specific images -- "a burnt-out playground, the metal of the swings twisted and warped as though by intense heat; the local children have decorated the jungle gym like a christmas tree" -- or very short general points -- "the apocalypse is cold" or "high-tech oligarchy" -- or whatever. Then when the players start giving input, you can pick and choose which of your own bits and pieces resonate.

Or, to be honest, you could totally come in with a fully-formed, super-exciting-to-you, Apocalypse World setting -- describe it to the players, and have them pick playbooks & characters based on that. It really depends on your group and whether or not you have That One Super-Cool Idea that you know will allow you to produce endless, riveting apocalyptica. There's no point compromising with players on a setting that makes it hard for you to do your job as MC -- and the world is emphatically your job. Having permission to delegate bits and pieces of it doesn't mean you have to do so, if you already have a great idea.

(Note: I don't mean 'no point compromising' like you should push forward even if the players turn out to hate your idea or not understand it. I just mean don't compromise in advance -- the advice is to not get too attached, not to remain indifferent or to avoid thinking about it too much.)

Yeah, setting is mutable over those first few sessions. I come in with nothing at all except a few weird images and a first session fold.

My players do the work. For that first session especially, you're a director. So if you want a shot of the sky to come in the frame, ask a character what it looks like. Everyone at the table will be thinking of it at the same time and you'll find out what it looks like.

It's interesting, but a lot of those little weird AW touches come from that. Like my players know that when I ask a question like that, that's a lot of lee way on their part to just make stuff up. So they want to go weird, rather than boring. So if I ask them what the sky looks like, you can bet it'll be a red, boiling mass rather than robin's breast blue.

It can be uncomfortable if it's not your normal thing, but I really think the results of zero prep first sessions (outside of a little imagery) really get the players invested through questions.

I have a whole bunch of notes on post-apocalyptic Seattle that I made up and never used, maybe I'll get to run with them someday.  I think it would be a lot more fun with a Seattle-based group, anyway, dealing with all the local color.  I should post some of the custom moves I made up for it in the compendium. 

But when I got the online game going, I didn't push it, I figure the setting everybody buys into is the setting I want to run with. 

At the start of our first session, I offered a few very high level flavors of setting: a drowned world, a lush, poisonous world, a "typical" desert wasteland, etc., and let the players decide which one they were into.