Babies

So, one of my players is like, "So, Saffron is doing it with people. Is she going to have a baby or what?"

I have been trying to figure out how to deal with that. The getting pregnant part I'm like, "Well, I guess I could just say you get pregnant." That doesn't seem right though. I don't want to be responsible for that decision!

Delivering a baby is totally a custom move, though. That's easy.

Well, how does Saffron feel about it? Knowing that gives you the ability to classify it as, say, a hard move if it's something she fears about getting around so much. Or it's a goal to work towards. Knowing the character's attitude gives you a much greater ability to decide when/if it would be appropriate for your game. Like, if Saffron really really really wants a baby, maybe she goes to Matlock for advice... who looks into the maelstrom and tells her the only person she's gonna get a baby out of is that MOTHERFUCKER Elefant. Or you could just grog it and roll percentile dice based on the phase of the moon and her diet and stress level :)

Don't forget, though, the baby can be fun! You can just take it completely out of the ballpark--our MC ended up having two female characters conceive; the baby was birthed by being pulled bodily from the maelstrom, by way of the Skinner, using the Hocus' cult as an antennae for the Augury move; and then the Skinner's father wanted to execute it as an abomination and a demon (that didn't work out well for him). It was... memorable!

Weirdly, somehow I get the idea of a threat countdown or something for poor Saffron.

If Saffron's a PC, maybe do a custom move like this:  When you have unprotected sex, roll+weird.  On a 10+, you're fine, it's cool.  On a 7-9, advance the pregnancy countdown one segment.  On a miss, your partner's sperm owns your shit.  Advance the countdown three segments.

When the countdown reaches 12:00, the character becomes pregnant.

Of course, this is all intended with tongue firmly in cheek, but it'd be funny to see in play.

As the portrayer of the Skinner in the game Elly mentioned, that baby turned into a lot of fun! Not just because of the obvious "oh god maelstrom baby" thing, but because having a child represented a fundamental shift in the way the character faced the world - she was raising a new life, and jeeze, that has to mean something, even in the fucked up Apocalypse World.

You're playing in a game with sex moves, and the character is pretty obviously not adverse to the concept? Throw a hard move, make Apocalypse World real, and best of all, make the lives of the characters interesting - knock her up.

Maybe you could throw it out there in a set of love letters? "Hey Saffron, it's been a few months since we've seen you last, huh? You've been feeling kinda sea-sick in the mornings, lately, and I think we both know what that means."

Yeah, that definitely sucks less than my idea.  :P

I'd feel weird using morning sickness as announcing future badness but only for a moment.

Delivering a baby in a brutal world like AW has got to be about the scariest most heroic thing I can think of.

The baby delivery custom move will definitely use +hard. :|

We had a whole plot line around pregnant culty women who thought Keeler was the fertility god, and that the fertility god demanded a hand be severed from the father in payment }creepy!{ Now, as a result of some strangeness that included massive miscarriages and one live birth, we have one little baby, Baby Pumpkin. Don't shy away from folks getting pregnant/getting other people pregnant!

I think a count-down clock might be appropriate if pregnancy is treated as a threat; otherwise it's not, and thus no clock needed.

Great feedback everyone thank you.

I'm hoping Saffron's player will chime in since she's on these forums. But as the MC I feel a bit wimpy about just saying, "Okay, you're pregnant." But I guess if she's cool with it no biggie.

We should maybe discuss things like how hard is it to get pregnant in this new world. Like are all the dudes born with dried up little raisin balls? Are the chances a thousand times more slim?

Yeah, it'd be good for table talk.

I wanted to show up ARMED though.

In Alison's Alley, we talked about it quite a bit, and determined that were a lot fewer fertile men around, so babies were a big deal, and fertile men were in demand. We didn't really delve into that area of the game too much, what with the rest of the crazy, but it's worth thinking about.

In the Luxor, it's not as big a deal, apparently, although a healthy baby is possibly note-worthy.

Reasonable stances:
People are less fertile because of (pick one) the maelstrom, the crap in the water, wicked poor nutrition and medical care, lack of sexual partners, other.

People are the same as now, but fewer babies are born alive, because (pick from above).

People are more fertile, because of the whole lack of contraception thing, plus maybe the 'replenish the earth' thing, and also the sex.

I think whatever you pick for each game is good. And I'm liking this thread for my own nefarious MC purposes.

what about the pre natal care, stress, folic acid, 30 mg of iron every day and I can think of a whole bunch of crap that would be needed for a health baby.

the calorie requirements are a plain nightmare in just dealing with third world countries.

While yeah, prenatal care (in terms of healthy diet, folic acid, 30 mg of iron/day, etc)  is a Good Thing, remember that people have been successfully born for centuries without it. the system only has to work well enough for the species to not die out. So maybe there's a constant low-lying threat around pregnancy and childbearing that echos some earlier time, like London circa 1800? There have also nearly always been midwives of some sort, folks who know how to help increase the chances of a healthy pregnancy and birth.

If you look at maternal and neonatal death rates, it's about 1 death per 100 pregnancies, until overcrowding and disease starts to make those numbers climb (London circa 1800 - as high as 1 in 3). So the question there is, is your Apocalypse World a desolate, dry place with few people, or a crowded, wet festering place where disease can take hold?

it was that everyone didn't wash their hands. They didnt use soap after seeing one patient, before seeing another. That was the reason that the child mortality rate was so high and was as the reinfection rate.

Yes as humans we are a "tuff" speices but, you have so many variables that would come into play.

Variables could be

Healthy ( is she gaining weight? 25-35 is the norm)
What is she eating? (Pica?)
rest, sleep and fatigue or the lack of.
sperm count of the male?
is she ovulating? (hours of opportunity )
Good hygiene!
allergies ?? (food, sperm, ?)

funny as men, we always look to the woman and say that it's her fault if anything goes wrong.

just for males to be "active" shouldn't mean anything
 maybe we should look at variables of the male as well.

Erection (blood flow)
orgasm (ejaculation)
weight
health?
attractiveness

but I digress...
" So the question there is, is your Apocalypse World a desolate, dry place with few people, or a crowded, wet festering place where disease can take hold? "  either way, it looks bad for the "home" team


just some thoughts.....

Happy Holidays to all