Retirement Question

Normally when you retire a character you get a new one.

What if you're already playing two characters?  (By taking the improvement with that first one that's now retiring.)


Corollary: Does the number of characters a player has ever decrease?



I could make a ruling, but I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts on this.

Edit: misread the question.

I'd probably just expect to keep playing the remaining character in that situtation

Had we played the next session of The Luxor, instead of going to epilogues, I would have retired Keeler at my next opportunity, and just played Mox. That would also have left the door open for a new, third character, had I wanted to play one when Mox reached that improvement option.

Hmm.

On the one hand, you did retire a character, so logically you should get a replacement.

But, you have a character already, so it's not like you'd be kicked out of the game.

But, you did take two characters as an advancement option, it seems kind of mean to take that away from you.

On the other hand, you pretty much lose all your other advancement options when you retire or lose a character, so why should you keep that one?

You could be losing your second character, though, the one you got from the advance. 

But do I really want to keep up two sets of rulings depending on which character you retire? No, that's kind of ridiculous.

Final decision: "So, Player, do you want to keep playing two characters, or do you want to go back to just one?"   

Corollary: Does the number of characters a player has ever decrease?

Once upon a time, I was sold on a vision of AW where "Life is cheap in Apocalypse World."*

That's how you decrease the number of characters you have. They die.

*: Turns out this was a big lie, but that's for another thread.

As an MC, my natural reaction would be to not say one way or the other, and if the player grabbed a new character, then they'd get it.

I mean, it's not a mechanical-benefit thing, so I think it can be resolved case-by-case.

If they asked me, I'd  respond, "Well, you retired a character. Does that mean you get a new one?" And accept their answer as truth.

I got a second character two sessions ago, and in the last ne I retired my old one. Didn't get a new one, because frankly having two characters was less fun than just the one. I ended up retiring the old one to be done with it and focus on the new one. The only reason for taking a second character and not retire and replace in the first place was that the old one needed one or two more sessions before his story could be over.