[AP] Psi*Run over Google+

I just finished playing Psi*Run for the first time with friends on Google+. We rocked that game so hard! It's 1am now so I'm going to bed, but I'll get an AP thread started soon.

If you were wondering whether to pick up Psi*Run, the answer is yes, do it.

The Runners

Bloom

• In the mirror: a pale man, maybe late 20s, with well-kept hair in a rumpled, bloodstained suit. Remembers being a con man once.
• Powers: He can implant suggestions into others' minds and they obey
• Questions:
  
  • Am I human?
  • What happened on my last job?
  • Who is Nora?
  • How far can I push someone?

Lawrence

• In the mirror: completely hairless, well-tanned except for tan lines around his wrists and ankles, and in bands around his thighs and chest. Riddled with hard lumpy protrusions under his skin, apparently implants of some kind, all over his body, and significant scarring along his spine.
• Powers: He collects latent memories from nearby people and experiences them as if they were his own.*
• Questions:
  
  • Was I always a freak?
  • Who did this to me?
  • What are these implants?
  • How can I become normal?

*As you'll see, this interacts with the Reveal rules in remarkable ways.

Seven

• In the mirror: 25-ish bald man in hospital scrubs, missing his right ear
• Powers: He communicates telepathically.
• Questions:
  
  • Who is Damien Vespen?
  • Why am I missing an ear?
  • Why was I locked in a room for a long time?
  • What came before the room?

Next up: The City and The Chasers

The City

"Has everyone seen Blade Runner? It's that."

Comment: I chose Blade Runner L.A. for a shortcut both because it's a common frame of reference to get everyone on the same page, and because it's visually well-developed and evocative - easy for everyone to visualize. I try to use shortcuts like this whenever I introduce new rules, to cut down on mental overhead. (Zombies are another favorite.) Notably, this decision prompted Bloom's "Am I human?" question, and consequently influenced other things in unexpected ways.

The Chasers

Look
Suits and Lab Coats (always immaculate)
Innocuous seeming stethoscopes
Surgical masks (always)
latex gloves

Methods
Psychic manipulation
In-brain puppet strings
Deep brain scan

Technology
Scalpel kits (never sterile)
syringes
Violation Gloves

Comment: I had something else (vaguely supernatural) in mind until I heard the Runner intros, at which point the chasers were obviously medical-themed psy-somethings. At first I tried to find other ways of expressing the obvious Brainer moves and gear, but gave up because nothing says it quite like Apocalypse World.

Next up, The Crash, and maybe The Lobby.

This sounds made of win. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing more about it. May I post it on my site / g+ ?

Of course!

Shoot, that reminds me I haven't finished this. Thanks for the prompt. :)

The Crash

The Runners awaken next to the wreckage of an unmarked ambulance. Through the acid drizzle they see the cab completely compressed into a nearby tenement wall, and signs that the driver's liquefied remains cover everything inside. Why are there no tire skid marks?

A crowd of onlookers accumulates; Seven and Lawrence duck their heads low and head for a nearby tenement entrance, while Bloom walks up to one of the crowd.

"You need to give me your phone."

The guy looks at him, startled and skeptical. Bloom notes his uniform and name tag: Brian, Team Member at FedEx-Office Depot-Staples.

"Brian, give me your phone now."

(He uses his suggestion power, so this is a significant action. He rolls high enough to meet his goal with no negative side-effects, but only if he puts his low die in Reveal.)

Brian complies without hesitation or comment, and continues on his way.

Over at the entrance, Seven confronts a locked door with a panel of dozens of call buttons. He presses them all at once, and faces a cacophony of tinny voices.

"Hey, it's John," he bluffs, "Buzz me in." (He rolls. Low die goes to reveal, and everything else is high enough to avoid problems.) Sure enough, someone does.

Lawrence and Seven push through the door, and Bloom hurries forward to catch it before it latches closed.

Next up: The Lobby

(Organizing the game space around location cards makes it very easy to organize an AP thread, by the way.)