AP:Longneck

So, four sessions in, it seems like the game is starting to cook and I'm getting more comfortable MCing. I still fumble with some of the rules but the Matts are there to help me steady the craft.

Man I can't even remember what all happened last night. Iris got the shit kicked out of her by Shan, Balls, and Amy until Sorrow called them off. I was like, "Are you sure you want to go into town? You set off a pain wave grenade in a crowd, like, an hour ago." She went anyway, and they're on The List now.

Ozair ran around like a madman trying to make some preparations from this crazy fire, electrical storm on the horizon. It blew through town setting everything on fire. So he convinced Sorrow to get a crew to set about building a wall while he made some lightning rods. So there was this big wall of sand and then these fuckers with shell things on their back (we just called them the turtle people) show up and start making demands.

So the biggest fucker of all of them is standing on this rock and is like, "Bring me Fleece! Bring me the body of Lala! Bring me back my claw hammer!" and Proust shouts, "Fuck off!" and fires the magnum that he just bought from Jesus and the guy goes flying off the rock. A crazy gunfight happens and Ozair is trying to set up the lightning rods at the last second and gets shot in the leg, and Proust takes a bullet while providing covering fire. Sorrow's Children and Fleece's gang manage to find a common hobby in violence and surge towards the raiders and just completely murder them.

Ozair drags one of the wounded raiders behind cover and is like, "Tell us what this firestorm is?" because he knows they're related somehow, but the raider is dying, and like all of a sudden Ozair sees the guy's body as blueprints and schematics and pulls the bullets out of him. The guy spills everything.

And the fight is pretty much over and the wall of fire hits and a hole opens up where Ozairs rods are, and the wall passes over the town and the hole closes. Then Ozair remembers that Lemma's on the other side of it.

Oh and also this game Iris fucked Joe's girl who's this creepy nude medic, and she overloaded his brain and he screamed and went unconscious. So that was cool too.

Last night's game was... ehhh...

So, Sorrow is Hardholder now and things are getting set up there. He's got a gang. He's become less creepy weirdo and more serious leader.

A caravan from Criner's hardhold came. They're all burned from the firestorm that came through. Shit seems bad at Criner's, they need water and medical supplies.

Proust makes a move to scavenge a bunch of medical supplies. This guy Ula knows where to find some and Proust and his crew and a few new recruits go. They find some medical supplies, but then Jesus shoots Ula in the head because he thinks that's a good idea.

Iris is still getting tons of shit from Sorrow's children. She tried to get Sorrow to help but he's like "nah nothing I can do really" and she's thinking maybe she should cut her own eyeball out to make things right since Dremmer is one of the children that psycho hates her since she set off her pain-wave grenade and he lost all vision in one eye.

Things were slow. I'm not calling for enough rolls. That's no good. Jesus shot Ula in the head and later Proust's player is like, "You know I would have wanted to do something to keep that from happening," and Iris's player is starting to get frustrated at Iris being, like, hated and isolated from the rest of the community to the point of not really wanting to play Iris anymore. So it seems like things are fucking up a bit and I need to correct course.

I'm rereading the rules and that's helping some. At some point in the last few sessions I think I've lost the flow of moves and rolls and need to pick that back up. I also think I need to do some hard-thinkin' about PC-NPC triangles and stuff. I was trying to establish some not-horrible relationships with Iris but they go awry. White was her ally but he got killed, and then she fucked Joe's Girl but made his eyes bleed. I don't know, I might just need to talk to Iris's player and figure out what's wrong because I think a part of it is she doesn't feel like Iris has a strong direction and is muddling through, and she's not feeling like the way she plays Iris matches her vision of the Iris she wanted to play.

I think, after pondering a bit, I think that the last session really needed more announcing of future badness, especially when that future is "in two seconds." But in general more future badness. Stuff that prompts panicky gut reactions like "Jesus has drawn his pistol and is pointing it at Ula's head. What do you want to do?" and also more planning things like we had leading up to the fight with the turtle people. That session worked really well, and I wouldn't back away from that for a second. When you said "I wanted to slow things down after last session," my thought was "but last session was perfect!"

Not sure how to address Iris, but I don't know what she intended for the character. "All of Sorrow's followers think she's a demon" might, in hindsight, be a bit rough of a threat for one character, but considering what she can do, I dunno if they're going to be throwing shit and rocks at her.

Even so, she can totally hire Proust as a bodyguard. I go aggro with +3 cool now, and let me tell you, if any one of those fuckers even thinks about throwing shit at me, I will shoot first and go aggro second. If Sorrow can't control them, then the population needs thinning.

Yeah I am still new to running AW (this was our fifth session I think?) so please give me a little slack.

I did have a hard time coming up with panicky gut reaction stuff. Next session I think I need to sit down and review the moves and the threats before game and come up with ideas. I know technically I'm only supposed to prep fronts, but coming into the game without having at least gotten some basic ideas of some ways to incorporate the moves into the Fronts makes things rough.

Iris's player is pretty new to roleplaying, and I think is struggling with how to interface what she wants and what she wants Iris to be with the system and with the choices she makes in the game. Maybe we can have a quick pregame chat about it next session or something. I mean, I'd rather she keep playing Iris and I don't think that's actually the problem, but it's her decision.

My overall feeling is that, sure, sometimes you have a slow session, with MC missteps. It's just part of the game, especially just part of learning the game. I know I've run sessions like that.

There've been a couple times when custom session-opening re-situation moves have really saved my butt. For instance, if Iris is getting bogged down in a thing her player hates just because her player can't see a way out of it, a custom re-situation move might really help.

What's a custom re-situation move? Like the letters you wrote to your players after the break in the book?

Yep!

I, too, can vouch for the re-situation moves. They worked wonders in our game.

My advice is to write the letter and the move, then let it sit for a few days. Come back to it later and see if it's hitting the situation the way you want (i.e. the way that will shake things up for the player in a good way). My own first stabs at the re-situation moves were kind of meh, but the second drafts rocked.

Edit: Wait, new thread.

Also, don't forget the two special moves John Harper mentioned in some other thread (which I wouldn't mind seeing listed as Basic Moves in his excellent handouts, even.):

 When you have a concern, issue, or comment about the game, go ahead and say it to the group.

 When someone has something to say about the game, listen to them respectfully.

Unfortunately, since this is like the second campaign she's ever played in, she hasn't gotten enough advances to get that first move yet.

The last session of Apocalypse World was session six and, man, did shit get interesting.

Proust and his gang came back from the wastes will medical supplies to trade to the caravan from Criner's hardhold.  On the way through the market he ran into Roof who let him know that any supplies that could make it to Fleece's gang would be much appreciated. In an effort to maintain good will all around, Proust traded half to the caravan and kept half (turning down the offer of some slaves!) to trade to Fleece. When he got to her tent, Fleece called him out on his dealings with Sorrow and questioned how she could trust him. Proust put on his charms and the two got cozy.

And what of Ozair? He went to check on the fusion engine he fixed up for Jacka Backa and made plans to keep the barter rolling in. An engine needs maintanance to run proper after all, and what good is an engine without a car? Or perhaps a train? Jacka Backa is dreaming big and who knows what he and the Savvyhead will get up to.

Ozair had more on his mind than just engines though. His young assistant had found water out in the wastes and he put plans in motion to collect a team to go and scout out the situation. But even before that is the puzzling situation of the assistant herself. Lemma had wandered back to Long Neck at the height of the battle with the Turtle-backs while the electro-fire storm raged through the town. At the end, she was sound physically but her mind was changed and stripped of its defenses. Sounds like a situation where a Brainer could be useful. Perhaps after Lemma is finished making out with Baa, the Turtle-back Ozair rescued.

And speaking of Iris, she was busy taking precaution against Sorrow's Children who have been becoming increasingly violent towards her. Fleece was willing to trade armor and a rifle from their stockpile. The gun's owner was initially upset to part with such a fine weapon, but some but with a little flirtation Norville even agreed to provide some private lessons that night.

Eventually the paths of these three crossed and it all began with with an explosion. Sorrow's Children were getting fighty amongst themselves when a nearby train car went flying in pieces with a thundering bang. What could have caused it? Dremer, the angry one-eyed bastard, assembled  some of the Children that were still standing and decided that whoever it was, they were gonna pay. Ozair showed up and tried to diffuse the situation which ended with Dremer marching on Fleece's encampment with Ozair tending to the wounded from the explosion. As he did so, the effects from psychadelics that the Children use began to creep into Ozair's mind and sent him into a hallucinatory rage. When Ozair came to, he was in his workshop standing over a bloodied Baa. Uh oh. Better take Lemma off to see Iris.

Dremer's folks had meanwhile made their way to Fleece's camp and had a stand-off going on. Dremer had his gun trained on a weaponless Norville and the rest of Fleece's gang had their weapons pointed at the Children. Iris had been making her way to Fleece's camp while avoiding the Children, and upon seeing Norville in danger, used her abilities to cause Dremer to drop his weapon. Then Fleece's gang opened fire and dropped them all to the dust.

Proust poked his head out from Fleece's tent and after some debate, Fleece and her gang grabbed their weapons and started off to retaliate against Sorrow's Children. As Proust marched off with one of Fleece's units, Iris headed back to her cave to wait in safety until Fleece needed her assistance. On the way there, she took a bullet to the side.

Instead of bleeding to death, Iris was healed by Ozair. But then the maelstrom got involved and now they can't see colour. What? And as it turns out, Lemma is definitely messed up in the head. Why? Not even the Brainer could figure that one out entirely.


-That all took too way long to summarize. If I left out anything I apologize and feel free to add  it in.

There was a moment when Proust stepped out from Fleece's tent wearing only boots, and Iris was there. At the end of the session Bret suggested that I should give +1 Hx to Iris for "knowing me better."

Enjoyed seeing Iris the brainer being all "enough is enough" and loading up on weapons and armor from Fleece's crew.

Oh, and Ozair failing his bullshit and making dremmer mad. Dremmer is about to beat Ozair senseless, and Ozair says, "uh, fine, you really want the truth? Okay!" Fuck, um, what is the truth? I open my brain to the maelstrom.

And another moment where simultaneously all three characters say, "oh fuck fuck fuck" under entirely different circumstances.

I liked when Iris read Lemma's brain and saw everything that she had been through and gave her a hug.

And I liked when Proust tried to reason with Fleece about counterattacking Sorrow, and then went along with her anyway.

And I liked when Ozair decided he told Jackabacka he was going to build him a tank, and is now apparently going to build him a robot.

So under a spray of gunfire, Sorrow is taken completely by surprise. He dives behind cover but takes a bullet and his bodyguards drop. He's all alone and unarmed. In areas nearby him his gang fires back. It's a night fight so all he sees is muzzle flashes and the pangs of bullets hitting metal. He ends up stripping one of his dead bodyguards who's in woman-type clothes, and makes a run for it. The sniper who has a bead on him lets him go, thinking he's a wounded civilian.

He beat feet to Joe's girl who originally planned on drugging him and taking him to Fleece, but Sorrow talked him out of it. He paid him extra for his silence and Joe's girl said he would stay out of the power struggle.

Sorrow's followers end up surrendering to Fleece after a night of nasty fighting. Fleece's people round them up into cages and then Criner's caravan, which mysteriously disappeared during the fighting, returns to Longneck after Fleece fires a flare. Fleece sells Sorrow's followers to Criner.

Before that happens though, Fleece asks Iris to get inside the brains of one Sorrow's followers. His body wasn't anywhere and she wanted to know where he is. Iris reads the follower's brain and finds out that he can't take responsibility for his own actions, he needs someone to tell him what to do. She tells him, "Don't say anything," and tells Fleece that Sorrow headed off into the desert. Iris tries to bullshit Fleece and gets a 7-9, so Fleece tells Iris to take some people including Norvell, Iris's lover, into the desert with her and find Sorrow.

Oh, before this happens Ozair fixes Lemma by using some kind of psychic coils. He (I am using 'he' but Ozair's gender is indeterminate) shields her from the psychic maelstrom and makes it deep and persistent. He also shows her how to operate the coils herself to fix herself up.

Ozair also has a long talk with Ba who begs forgiveness through broken teeth and split lips. Ozair tries to explain that getting it on with someone who's, like, 14 is wrong. Ba doesn't get it, but he does get that if he does it again he'll get his face smashed and he understands that.

Around now Iris shows up and is like, "So I lied to Fleece about where Sorrow is. I want you to hide him if you find him, and also what should I do." Ozair says, "Come up with a plausible lie about why Sorrow is not in the desert."

So Iris heads out into the desert but Norvell figures out that Iris is full of shit. Iris begs Norvell to back her play, and Norvell is like, "Okay, but you need a plan." The plan is to find a body in the ruins west of Longneck and say that its Sorrow.

So this is where I'm like, "What the hell kind of roll is it to find a dead body resembling someone else against all odds?" Ozair's player is like, "Make it a custom roll. +sharp. 10+ they find a good-looking body. 7-9 they find one but there's something pretty wrong with it." Iris rolls double-sixes. The find a male body, recent, clothes and meat ripped up, face shot off but same build as Sorrow and same hair. The rest of the group buys it so they make a sling and ring the body back for Fleece who also buys it.

Meanwhile, Sorrow is sneaking around town. He gets to Ozair's workshop and is like, "Oh shit what do I do?" Ozair tells him to hide in Iris's cave which he does. He rests and heals and recuperates and Ozair brings him some food. The rest of the town thinks he's dead since what everyone thinks is his body is hanging in the middle of the market.