So I'm not familiar with Apocalypse World. I did hear the first couple sessions of The Walking Eye playing it, but I mostly had it going in the background while I worked. When I heard them play their first session of Dungeon World, though, my ears perked up. Subtract their...unusual approach to most mechanics...and the game sounded pretty fun and enjoyable. I was happy to see that you could buy a PDF and did so.
I'm setting up for our first run. We've made characters using the PDF (which seems to have FEWER options for characters or advancement than the free Hack version - huh?) and I'm prepping to run. I think I have wrapped my mind around most things, but I have a few questions.
Basically, the PDF had about 10% of the GM advice for which I was looking. I really enjoyed the section with the basic agenda and the idea of starting with the fiction. When I finally found the moves and technical advice, it was three pages, one and a half of which are the moves themselves.
I'm having problems with many of the terms that aren't well-defined. I'm thinking that they're probably ported over from AW, but I'm not sure. DEFY DANGER is the worst, since even a liberal application of search fu finds people using it for everything under the sun. It goes from what I thought it was (keep your balance while dueling on a tightrope or open the blast door while the stormtroopers shoot at you) to things like defying torture or staring down the wizard pointing a wand at you, much more like willpower or charisma moves. TAKE FORWARD and HOLD are never defined, but I think I get TAKE FORWARD as a simple mechanical advantage. HOLD seems to have some sort of spending points mechanic that is never explained.
I thought I had a handle on Parley. It's your tit for tat negotiation skill when you both want something. The limit on having to have something that they want is nice to prevent abuse. Then I came across a quote from Sage,
Beating information out of a captive sounds like Parley/Manipulate in both systems. In fact there's an example of just that on page 194 of AW.
It sounds like AW has a lot more substance about how to do the game. Should I just buy a copy of AW? I am no great fan of postApocalyptic settings and the sexual content will be a no sell in my gaming group, but I would consider buying it if it had a good deal of GM content. I'm afraid it will be like the 126 page PDF I bought, which is actually some of the character stuff I'd already downloaded, 6 pages of GM stuff, and 10 pages of adventures. Reassure me, or disabuse me of my misconceptions, please.