Default +stat, info +stat: a forum game!

Do you like thinking about possible AW hacks even if you don't actually make any? I do!

So here's a thing. You know how Weird is the setting background stat because you get all of your information through it? And you know how Cool is the mechanical background stat because it has the move that you can always default to?

Now lets see what happens if we get different stats for those purposes! Default AW stats only, for now at least.

I'll start.

Info stat: Hot. You get all of your information from other people by being someone they would willingly release their secrets to. You have to be attractive, sensual and sexual to know what the true meaning behind the world is. If you're not, you can still act end get things done, but you might never know what your actions mean in the great scheme of things.

Default stat: Hard. To keep alive and well, you have to do one of two - suck up the fallout, or make someone weaker than you deal with it.

I think the above might just be Game of Thrones, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, your turn! Pick a stat that a getting information move would fall under, and a stat that would basically do some version of act under fire, and describe the result.

Or, I don't know. Ask to clarify if you don't get what the game is about. But that's not as interesting.

This thread is a cool idea :) I want to see more examples...

Be the change you want to see in the world. :)

Info stat: Hard. Your understanding of the world comes from a real sense of your position in the food chain. You get all of your information from other people by being someone they fear and/or respect, or by seeing the impact of your boot as you stride through their lives. You have to be tough and ruthless to know what the true meaning behind the world is. If you're not, you can still act end get things done, but you might never know what your true potential is in the food chain.

Default stat: Sharp. To keep alive and well, you have to be ever alert to opportunities, danger, and potential foes.

Information stat: cool
You get true information by remaining cool in the face of a sea of misinformation. While some people can deduct what is true or not most people need to remain stoic to not be swayed by emotional anecdotes or beautiful hypothesis.

Default stat: weird
When something unexpected comes up you too have to be unconventional to deal with it. Think sideways and multidimensional or find an unobvious shortcut.

Looks to me as a crowded cyber-space setting near the singularity. Information getting is all about sorting out the noise and avoiding being caught by a meme net. Because the world is changing so fast most challenges are new and can't be managed by traditional skills or wisdom.

Info stat: sharp. It's not enough to open your brain -- you need to open your eyes. This apocalypse isn't about mystic visions, it's about concrete details: the way a particular flower blooms, the symptoms of malnutrition, the archeology of abandoned buildings. If you want to know what's going on, pay attention to people: to what they want and why they want it. Everything happens for a reason, you just need to put it all together.

Default stat: hot. When push comes to shove, you have to depend on other people -- they're the ones who are going to save you, or leave you out in the cold. Not only that, there's almost always people around -- and even the guy shooting at you is willing to listen to an offer. It's the friendly people who get ahead, or the beautiful ones; everybody wants to be the one they rely on. But it's also the ones who understand people, who know how to build relationships and play off all those old fears. In the end it all comes down to leverage -- and everybody's got at least a little.

It's tempting to be glib and say: oh look, it's modern civilization. But of course lots of people (myself included, as Johnstone can attest) play AW as though the above were actually what was going on -- constantly reading situations and people, constantly trying to negotiate with the psychotic mutant raiders. You know the type.

Info stat: Hard. It's not about knowing - it's about making truth so. How hard can you push your vision of reality? Will you dare to fuck up other people's minds and reason to do it?

Default stat: Weird. The world is a mess, strange and fucked up. The more oddball you are, the more what happens washes over you without leaving scars.

I dunno. Planescape noire? I'd imagine the playbooks would be more antagonistic than they are now.

"Info stat: cool" and "default stat: weird" makes me think a little of Star Wars.

To get information, you have to get in trouble.

Once you're really in trouble, though, all you can do is Trust the Force.

Some of these would make wicked playbooks in addition to alternate settings. If you took the Hard/Sharp by devonapple (or any of these) and sort of made that the centerpiece of a playbook, you might end up with some cool stuff. I'm thinking you'd start with moves like, "When you Act Under Fire, roll +Sharp instead of +Hard." and "When you Drum Up Information roll +Hard. Use the mechanics of Open Your Mind... blah blah... but the color is that you're going around beating information out of folks. Play it out!" Or something.