Introducing new characters/players?

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Introducing new characters/players?
« on: June 17, 2012, 05:34:38 PM »
Hi there folks

Me and my players have been playing quite a few sessions of AW now, and enjoy the game immensely.

Our group has had a lot of comings and goings however, and apart from a core of two steady players (playing a Chopper and a Hocus) our group have had people joining and playing when they get the opportunity. All in all I think 8 people have chosen a playbook, created a character, and played at least one session with us.

In the fiction this is no problem what so ever, in fact our rotating rooster have made the game very entertaining, and introducing new people to this game is both easy and fun.

One thing we have struggled a bit with is what to do with the HX stat when a new player enters the group. We have tried a variant where we made the players "re-start" their HX if a new character enters the group.

The positive sides of this is:
- Distributing Hx is fun, and it often create ideas that is valuable to the story and further play.
- The new player is involved from the get go.
The negative is:
- It often feels strange in relation to the established fiction.
- Any advances the players have done towards Hx are lost, and that seems/is unfair.

We have also tried just setting Hx with new characters to 0, and this works, both mechanically and story-wise but feels a bit boring and bland for this game.

What I really would like I guess is some kind of system where new characters get to distribute some Hx based on how they enter play. Or maybe some kind of "New character" move that sets up Hx in the beginning of the session - focusing play on the new character.

I'd love to know what other people have done (we can't be the only group who have added new characters to the game after the first session).

Rune

Re: Introducing new characters/players?
« Reply #1 on: June 18, 2012, 03:38:37 AM »
There are rules for it in the book, I believe.

The new character does their "on your turn" stuff to everyone. They can use an "on their turn" move if they have any unused ones.

The other characters each can do an unused "on your turn" move, or just give them the value they give to "everyone else".

Existing characters are likely to have unused Hx moves if they have changed playbooks.

Re: Introducing new characters/players?
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2012, 02:59:19 AM »
page 184.

The new player character does his/her "on your turn Hx".

When the established player characters do their "on your turn", it's simplified to if you know the new PC (Hx+1) or not (Hx-1).

And the new player character does their "on other's turns".

But I've never disallowed established player characters to use their "unused" Hx options...

Re: Introducing new characters/players?
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2012, 03:37:09 PM »
Thanks for the replies folks. I love the game, but the book can be very difficult to navigate at times, and the index is a bit lacking.