An Antisocial bunch

I am MC'ing my first game of Apocalypse World and I'm still finding my feet. The biggest probelm I am having right now is that I have a party of loners.

Let me explain. The group consists of four story gamers, interested in seeking out relationships and collaborating. The problem is that few of the characters have good motivation to associate with NPC's in any meaningful way. The four characters (Angel, Driver, Gunlugger and Saveyhead) have terrible Hot scores and no gangs or groups of characters linked to them.

I managed to bring in a patient to establish one relationship with the Angel, but I am having a heck of a time finding the types of NPC's that would get close to a loner gun-nut, a loner mechanic and a loner driver.

Any advice? Am I going about this all wrong?

   

The rules tell you how. You need to be following your agenda throughout the first session, remember:

• Make Apocalyse World seem real.
• Make the players’ characters’ lives not boring.
• Play to find out what happens.

It's your job to make the PCs's lives not boring; but you have principles to prompt the players to provide a lot of that during play. The principles include:

• Address yourself to the characters, not  the players. (In other words, get answers from their characters, and don't accept answers from the players.)
• Name everyone, make everyone human. (In other words, Apocalypse World is full of people, not faceless nobodies. Everyone they come in contact with is human, and if they have something to say, it's your task to ensure they come with a name and a simple, direct, human motivation to interact.)

But most especially:

• Ask provocative questions and build on the answers.

You should be asking questions like crazy all through the first session, never accepting a “uh, nothing/nobody” answer. The asking of a provocative question involves presuming that there is an interesting answer already, and if the player shuts that down, they're cheating and you should call them on it.

Despite what they say, they may be trying to play it safe by not giving you any connections or complications on their characters. Be upbeat, but make it clear that unless they buy into the game by giving you this dirt on their characters, the game will be really dull.

Use the scarcity of the setting. They *can't* be loners, or they'll run out of everything pretty quickly.

Whom do they trade with for food, water, condoms, ammo, somethin somethin? In the places where those people live, who has come to trust them? Who resents them? Who has an interest in seeing them stay a while, or go now?

Use the nature of each character type to find out who they have connections with already.

Where does the Angel re-stock their kit? Who repairs the infirmary? Who owes them for that one time they both remember? Whom did they upset because they weren't able to save a beloved's life?

What routes does the Driver prefer, and who makes them feel welcome? What routes do they avoid, and who is there that has something that means they have to go anyway? Whose life did they save by driving? Whose did they fuck up?

Who relies on the Gunlugger to bring the heat, and why are they needing to regain their trust? Who were they working for before, and what did they do to end it badly? Which gang is looking for them now? Who wants them to settle down, and what is the Gunlugger waiting for?

What project is the Savyhead being pressured to deliver right now, and who wants it? What project went so badly that some people were lost, and who wants payback? Who provides most of the basic material, and why does the Savvyhead have such a sweet deal with them?

For all of these questions that you like, ask them to the characters; expect “yes, and” style answers, and don't accept “no” answers from the players. If they actually *do* want to seek out relationships and collaboration and complications, these are the prompts you need to provide, and build in layers on their answers.

Thank you very much. While I was asking plenty of provocative questions, most of them focussed around places and things rather than people and relationships. I was able to extract some very nice Threats from the questions, but not many NPC's.

The key thing I was missing was the aspect of scarcity. I forgot about the need for NPC's to supply the PC's with stock, guns and gears. That does seem like a rich vein to work from.

Suppose other problem is that I don't really understand the Driver as an archetype, which is why it's so hard for me to wrap my head around motivations that would fit.

Ask provocative, and even leading, questions. Name everyone. Don't stop with the questions until there is some meat on the answers.

Wisher, where do you get your ammo?
There's like a makeshift market in the middle of the hard hold.
So you have a contact there? That would be Triple. What do you trade for it? Do you frighten off the competition? Oh, you put out word that if anyone fucks with Triple, you'd be unhappy? I see...what did you do when Pica didn't listen? I see killed her did you? That must be why Folks say Kix is out to get you. What's Kix like? Did you guys have a thing back in the day?

So, you see Triple walking toward you, holding his side. Blood welling from between his fingers...
Or whatever.

The Driver is Mad Max. He tells himself he's just moving through and doesn't care about people, but...

Are the characters really loners? Do the players see them like that? Have you asked them 'are you dudes loners?'

If they are, could that still be fun? Could you still threaten their interests (Which includes them and their stuff, but should also include the habitibility of their environment. Even if they don't care about anyone else they should care if the outside world is all rabid mutant dogs, all the time) and have them respond to that threat, and have AWy fun nonetheless?

If they aren't, maybe you could ask them who are the people that they like associating with?

Thank you very much. While I was asking plenty of provocative questions, most of them focussed around places and things rather than people and relationships. I was able to extract some very nice Threats from the questions, but not many NPC's.

Great! So now you've extracted a place – you put some named, human NPCs who want to live/raid/rule/work there. You've extracted a thing – you put named, human NPCs with an interest in getting/keeping/destroying/using/changing that thing. You have Threats – every Threat has a cast of named, human NPCs.

If you haven't got those already, you missed a direct instruction in the 1st Session rules:

• Leap forward with named, human NPCs.

The key thing I was missing was the aspect of scarcity.

It's good that you're thinking about that now. But I think the key thing you missed is more specific.

The key I think you're missing is: it's your job, always but especially in the 1st Session, to leap forward with named, human NPCs.

When the players come up with an NPC, great! But it sounds like that hasn't been happening, and that's probably normal with a lot of gaming groups in the 1st session.

Which is why the rules say it's your job as MC to always fill those gaps with named, human NPCs. Anywhere a person might be? It's your job to immediately have someone there with a name and a human motivation to interact. Anywhere a person probably would not be? Hell, put a named person there anyway and play on to figure out why.

During the 1st Session, keep popping in with new NPCs, every one of them with a name and a direct motivation to interact, and see which ones the PCs respond to.

Those ones the PCs respond to? Build them into PC–NPC–PC triangles, to ensure that at least two players have different – sometimes conflicting, but always at least distinct – interests in that NPC.

See http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=2951.0 for a recent discussion of PC–NPC–PC triangles and how to build them directly in play.

Your main tool to get all this material? Ask questions to the PCs about the people around them. Provocative questions, leading questions, questions that assume an interesting answer and demand that the PC give you some detail.

I forgot about the need for NPC's to supply the PC's with stock, guns and gears. That does seem like a rich vein to work from.

Yep. And that's true of just about everything in the setting! Anything the PCs want to do, put named human NPCs there that they need to deal with in some way.

Many NPCs will obviously be susceptible to violence; the PCs are good at that and need to have many opportunities to use it. But perhaps more often, present NPCs that it's obvious they'll give nothing useful from an arse-kicking, and only a more sociable approach can work.

When the players begin to complain there are too many names to remember, you will know you're doing that job right. Keep putting up more NPCs until the world is full of them; look at them through crosshairs of course, and they'll fall fairly often.

But keep bringing forth new named human NPCs whenever you let others fall, and make sure those PC–NPC–PC triangles are always thick between all PCs, so at least some players care whether an NPC falls.

Bignose has some really good points there Jagesh,

Use what he suggested and here's a simple one that's worked well in games that

I've played in and Mc'd....

Highlight Hx

If a player wants some ticks they will help/Interfere more often.

Hope that also helps!

HankleVonCrankle