Another "My First Front" Post - Cannibal Farm

I hope I'm not violating etiquette too badly by jumping in and making my first post a bit of a request for help... but I'm prepping fronts for my first game of AW and have a vertigo-inducing feeling that I'm not quite getting it.

So... without further ado, background.  In our AW, the characters live in a mostly-ruined, mostly-abandoned large city - they control an area that would have been a large neighborhood, at the center of which is a nearly intact corporate skyscraper (one of the minutae we came up with is that there are nanite swarms active that rebuild things at random, so it's not all decayed - I have a side question about my use of the nanites, not related to this mostly-worked-out front).  Aside from the nanites and the abandonment, the apocalyptic nature of the world manifests as extreme and random weather patterns.

The PCs are... Kava, the Hardholder - the Holding mostly lives by growing drug-producing plants (drugs are the de facto "currency" in the city, though straight-up barter also happens), and raiding others.  So, you know, setting themselves up big time.

Mac, a Chopper, whose gang were nomadic raiders that hooked up with Kava after she stood up to them.

Snow, who knew Kava from before and hooked up with her as head of security for the holding after Ebb, with whom she'd been working, needed a new patron and safe place.

Ebb, an Operator, mostly into infiltration and doing murders, who worked with Snow but used her connections to get a new patron when he got caught out during an assassination.

So... the Front.  We only have about a 3-hour window for our sessions, so after chargen and socializing and answering questions, we only had about 45 minutes to play.  I tried to ask questions like crazy, but feel like I didn't get as deep a look as I'd have liked.  One thing that came out, however, was that the fuel used in the setting was biodiesel, and there was someone named Gnarly who had a farm that grew crops to be refined into the fuel.  After the game, I started thinking that this couldn't possibly be just some hippie love-in commune on the edge of the city, and we'd already established that there was some dude named Dog Head who terrorized relatively isolated folks in the city, and chewing those over gave me this Front.  I'd appreciate any feedback, esp. regarding anything that's likely to suck in play, or any ways to fill in what I don't have - I still need some stakes and  countdowns.

Overall idea:  The Farm is a wide swath of leveled land in the city where Gnarly and her people grow crops.  All the crops are GM and self-sterilizing, so growing your own is problematic.  Too bad Gnarly is insane and The Farm is a giant expression of that - she endlessly craves what she imagines are the more vivid and fulfilling experiences of others, an obsession that has flourished into literal cannibalism.  Fortunately, The Farm brings in a steady stream of fresh flesh through its raiding activities and the fact that it has fuel and medical supplies in desperate need elsewhere.

FUNDAMENTAL LACK: Envy (this idea came from the initial idea that the farmers were too easily seeming like the place where the grass was greener for everyone *else*)

RESOURCES: Food, fuel, medical supplies, water, meat (don't ask)

DARK FUTURE: The Farm is sealed off.  Gnarly becomes the heart of a mass of undifferentiated flesh.  Fuel, and medical supplies are effectively gone from the city.

THREAT 1

Called: Gnarly
Kind: Grotesque/Cannibal
Impulse: craves satiety and plenty

Description & cast: Gnarly - the ruler of The Farm, controls by drugs and some psychic power, plus the fact that most inhabitants are lobotomized by Imam and her doctors.

Custom Move: When you meet Gnarly for the first time, roll+hot.  On a 10+, she tries to attack and eat you ASAP.  On a 7-9, she thinks about it a lot, and makes plans.  On a miss, meh.

THREAT 2

Called: Dog Head's gang
Kind: Brute/Hunting Pack (seemed right to go with the obvious here)
Impulse: Victimize the Vulnerable

Description & Cast: DH respects only those who can fight to keep what's theirs.  Roll+hard to manipulate/seduce members of the gang.

THREAT 3

Called: Imam and her doctors
Kind: Warlord/slaver
Impulse: to own & sell people

Description & cast: Imam & her doctors: White, Preen, and Ik.

THREAT 4

Called: The Farm itself
Kind: Landscape/prison
Impulse: Contain/deny egress

Description & cast: lobotomized farmworkers and "livestock," spread out medical campus, rows after rows of same-y looking crops.

Custom move:  If you go further into The Farm than Imam's clinic or the public trading post, roll+weird when you  try to leave.  10+, good riddance.  7-9, Gnarly displays her world & then you can leave (but you can't unsee it).  Miss, and Gnarly attacks without warning.

Anyway, feedback appreciated.

Also, on the nanites... they're shaping up  to be part of a Despair-based Front.  The idea was that I didn't want them to be just, like, techy locusts.  So I had the idea that they were an Affliction/sacrifice - they can build stuff for you, if you know how to ask, but they disassemble things (or people) that matter to you to do it.  I'm not sure *why* yet... I left it as something to wonder about.  But is it kosher to conceive of something as a sacrifice affliction if it's an agent, and not just a social phenomenon?

Thanks in advance...

Cool! It´s nice to see how some else is handeling the fronts...

Remeber that you can come up with your own fronts and threats even if it wans´t shown in the first session! So, no worries that you didn´t get that much material.

I´m thinking you absolutely should make The operaters Crew and the Choppers Gang into a front. We have had lots of fun with a crew as a threat... Not trying to kill the characters or anything but with a lot of difficult relations and unanswered love and stuff.

I didn´t get Gnarlys move- if you roll good- he attacks?

Daniel Wood gave me the good advice to really suck out the fun on thoose 7-9, not letting them be lame. (read his post on "My first front"!) It´s seems like Gnarl could do a lot more than just think about attacking them. Choose between, I don´t know, giving them a job offer he won´t let them refuse, don´t drug them, and doesn´t let his troops secretely follow them back to their camp or something.

I also think you could make more of the farm. Maybe it´s a living thing? What does it envy? Humans? Maybe it could infect you? With a hunger for human flesh? Does it try to take you mind or something? Does it make you not being able to leave? (You fall into a trap, or something...)

Maybe Imam and even the Farm could have an agenda of their own, so that not all of them always works for Gnarly?

Could you throw in some relatives to the characters? Make one of the doctors a sister or something?

Maybe Imam envys the nanites and try to become them, to himself merge with the nanites?

One more thing- it would be really cool if you post your sessions as well, I´m really eager to see how other people use and handle the fronts in play! :)

Nils,

Thanks for the input!

Mac's gang is definitely an active threat - though it's living on the home front right now, and Kava's gang is part of a different Front.  This is just the one that coalesced in my mind first, and so I thought I'd throw it out there.

You're absolutely right that the 7-9 result for Gnarly's special move is weaksauce.  But, yeah, it is a sort of "inverted" move, in that if you "succeed" it's generally worse for you.  The idea behind it was that the Hotter you are, the more likely she is to be envious and want to devour you.  Is that playing unfair?  I'm not sure yet what a better 7-9 would be... the idea was that, offscreen, Gnarly sets things definitely in motion to take you out... I like the general impulse, I just need to refine it.

Yes, Imam has her own agenda - she's a Warlord in her own right, and mostly works with Gnarly b/c of the constant supply of subjects.  Mixing her up with the nanites just feels a bit off to me, though - I want her envy to be  directed at the PCs, not at an offscreen phenomenon... and I sort of want to keep the nanites from being anything like a *tool*.

You're also right about the Farm itself's move - it shouldn't be dependent on Gnarly's continued existence, for one thing.  How does this sound...

If you go further into the Farm than the trading post or Imam's clinic, roll+Weird when you try to leave.  On a 10+, pick three.  On a 7-9, pick 1.

- You get the fuck out of there.
- You don't see some messed-up shit you can't unsee.
- You're not attacked by any of the inmates.
- Nothing comes looking for you later.

I like the idea of having the PC choose her own badness...

Anyway, I'll post some AP once we have some more of it and I have time I feel like sitting my ass in front of the computer and writing it down.  Thanks again.

You're absolutely right that the 7-9 result for Gnarly's special move is weaksauce.  But, yeah, it is a sort of "inverted" move, in that if you "succeed" it's generally worse for you.  The idea behind it was that the Hotter you are, the more likely she is to be envious and want to devour you.  Is that playing unfair?  I'm not sure yet what a better 7-9 would be... the idea was that, offscreen, Gnarly sets things definitely in motion to take you out... I like the general impulse, I just need to refine it.

You're also right about the Farm itself's move - it shouldn't be dependent on Gnarly's continued existence, for one thing.  How does this sound...

I like the idea of having the PC choose her own badness...

You've got some really interesting stuff here so far! Here's my two cents:

While I don't think I'm against a "good roll" being bad in principle, in this case it just seems like it doesn't add that much interest for Gnarly to just jump at you and try to bite you because you're hot. Maybe on a 10+ Gnarly has decided that you're food, and sets plans in motion to get you where she wants you. On a 7-9, Gnarly has decided that you're worth some trouble first - maybe have the players choose an unpleasant job to do for gnarly or face being lobotomised and/or eaten. I'm with you on players choosing their own badness, as they'll tend to choose the badness that they find interesting!

Oh, and I really dig the direction Nils suggested and you're developing with the Farm being it's own thing. Maybe the genetically engineered plants are tied into the psychic maelstrom. Maybe their influence drove Gnarly to her grotesquerie. Or maybe not? But making the farm a) super valuable, and b) super creepy is just asking for a player to take it over and get all kinds of complications. Yay :)

Thanks for the input, all...

Since we'd only had 45 minutes of genuine play during the first session, and one of the players whose character we'd spent the most time with was a jerk and pulled out of the game the night before the session (leaving me with some holes in my NPC triangles and weirdness in my fronts), I was up-front that I was still shaking things out, but it came together fairly tightly.

If you're interested in the write-up of the session itself (player friendly, so not naming my moves), see:

http://heroesguildonline.forumotion.com/apocalypse-world-f223/torture-porn-3-august-2010-t397.htm#1343

We focused mostly on Kava's Gang, who are a threat on a Despair front.  Since folks popped in to help, I figured I'd post what I have.  Especially since I don't anticipate The Farm being a big deal in play for a little bit, I'm still giving myself a bit of permission to tweak.  And I still have some filling-in to do (and am taking suggestions!), since it was sort of "session 1.5" for me.  The prevalence of grotesques is intentional.  I like them, and I like the idea of centering the game on the way in which the world breaks individual people and hence impels them to hurt others.

I also *love* the idea of defining customs as things that justify and promote violence, but don't have a good idea for one right now.  And, if you read the write-up, I know I want Shan to be a threat... I'm just not sure what yet.  It may depend on how Kava treats her, and whether she just forgets about her...

FRONT: DEAD CITY
EXPRESSES: Despair

DARK FUTURE: Everyone kills everyone else, maybe themselves.  The nanites recycle all living matter into images of the past.

OVERALL COUNTDOWN: TBA
STAKES: Will the holders rise up against Kava's gang?  Will Shan get revenge, or peace?  Will North Pgru find a constructive role to play in the city?

THREAT: KAVA'S GANG
TYPE: Grotesque/pain addicts
IMPULSE: Seek pain (their own and others')
DESCRIPTION: Kava's gang hang with her because she doesn't ask much of them besides to hurt other people, take their stuff, and lord it over the rest of the druggies in the holding.  They don't see much point to anything else.  When they get bored, they get off on hurting each other.  Sometimes they think they might get a glimpse into something meaningful through the pain, but mostly they don't care anymore.
CAST: Clarion, Fuse, Yahtzee, Defcon, Grome, Wimple, 30 others.

COUNTDOWN:
3:00 - abusing the holders and getting caught (*ding*)
6:00 - systematic (but hidden) abuse of the holders
9:00 - someone stands up to Kava, or she kills/exiles at least a quarter of them
10:00 - open systematic abuse of the holders
11:00 - hunting the holders
12:00 - hunting Kava

CUSTOM MOVE: Kava's Gang just doesn't care.  If you Go Aggro on them, they always choose to suck it up.

THREAT: THE NANITES
TYPE: Affliction/sacrifice
IMPULSE: To leave people bereft
DESCRIPTION: The nanites have purpose, but no one knows what it is.  What almost everyone in the city *does* know is that if you go to a lonely place, especially one of the intact, haunted places, and kill someone you love, or destroy something you can't replace, you can sleep, sleep, and get what you desire.
CUSTOM MOVE: You heard the description.  Try it, and I'll ask you three questions, and then give you what you think you want.

FRONT: THE UNWASHED
EXPRESSES: FEAR
DARK FUTURE: The Sisterhood can't keep control - they haven't vanquished desire and they can't absorb any more of the masses.  Factions happen.  Mob leaders rise up, then tear down any one else who looks to organize.  Repeat until everyone is living not even the Hobbesian dream but the Hobbesian nightmare.  Strike first.  Everyone sleeps.

OVERALL COUNTDOWNS: TBA

STAKES: Will Ebb reconcile with Flow?  Will Dog Head find death, and who will he take with him?  Will any PCs find religion with the Sisterhood?

THREAT: The Sisterhood
TYPE: Warlord/Hive Queen
DESCRIPTION: At the center of the city's East side stands The Convent.  Inside is the Sisterhood.  They preach peace through unity of thought, and freedom from desire - and hence the fear of disappointment.  They have shelter, and food, since they can photosynthesize (cybernetic and biological manipulation).  If they want you, they will make you like them, then extend the part of the city built only for beings like them.
CAST: Millions, Flow (Ebb's sister), others.
CUSTOM MOVE: The Sisterhood is linked by a kind of cybernetic telepathy.  What one knows, the others do.  Aside from color, have sex with one and take -1 forward to your next interaction with any of them.  They *know* you.

THREAT: THE MASSES
TYPE: Brute/Mob
IMPULSE: Riot, burn, kill scapegoats.
DESCRIPTION: There are lots of people who live outside holdings.  North Pgru are raiders, The Farm isn't hiring, The Church of Xtian Archivists are depressing, and the Sisterhood ask a lot.  You'd have to give up what little you have to join up with one.  And anyone who looks like a threat to what little you have...
CUSTOM MOVE: It's not a good idea to show a lot of oddments or god forbid hi tech or luxury around those who haven't got.  If you spend barter or otherwise show off while in the badlands around the East, roll+sharp.  On a 10+ you're good.  On a 7-9, choose two:

- No one attacks you while you sleep
- You don't end up having to give some scratch to some particularly depressing or aggressive beggars, call it 1-barter.
- Whatever you bought doesn't turn out to be secretly worthless

THREAT: Dog Head's Crew
TYPE: Grotesque/mutant
IMPULSE: Seek restitution
DESCRIPTION:  Dog Head and his core crew are old.  They can't die.  They were part of some fucked-up super-soldier bullshit before the Apocalypse and they hate being old (even though robust), they hate missing everything, they hate the pain of their internal modifications, but they're afraid of anything else and they would blame the pre-Apocalypse folks but they're not here so they don't mind blaming YOU.  This is only the core of the gang, about 10 old-timers.  The rest just like to hurt and kill and take shit.
CUSTOM MOVE: ??? I feel like they should have one, but I'm not sure what yet.

The Farm is still there, and Ebb's crew needs to be a threat of some sort, too.  But I haven't figured out the latter and the former... I'm a bit sick of writing this for now, and as I said I think The Farm isn't going to be as immediate a threat.