Playtesting: One on one with a troll-killer

I got to play for a few hours last night with Carly. We only played one on one, so apologies if that makes the playtesting less useful, but that's how I play a lot of games that I get immediately enthusiastic for! And really it didn't seem to change the game at all. Oaths were pointed at NPCs and that's it. It also made drawing the map super fast and simple.

Be sure to tell me your favorite part, your least favorite part, and the most surprising part.

My favorite part was establishing details about the troll-killers land and allied NPCs. It ended up being an ancestral farmland, passed down by the Old Blood from mother to daughter, so his older sister (second eldest sibling) is set to inherit it while he runs around becomes a legendary warrior and monster slayer. So the setting building stuff, and the details already provided and the way they get filled out in play.

My least favorite part was keeping track of all the hanging +1 forwards. It may be my imagination but it seems like there's more in this game and we kept losing track. I think this is something that we'll remember in time, though, so consider this a frustrated grump more than a request that it be changed. We both forgot a few as we were playing, and then I remembered some more that we forgot while I was showering this morning.

The most surprising part was how much mental overhead I felt that I needed to put into tracking genealogies. Keeping track of who's relative to who and who has what rights based on which inheritance system only came up slightly, but I immediately realized that I am going to have to put some serious work into family trees in order to make it something that's relevant and interesting and if I don't want to step on my own feet.

If there's other details you'd like to know, let me know. The only other thought I really have is that I was itching for was something similar to threats and fronts. I introduced some playbook inspired stuff (there's a dragon cult and a mysterious wood witch) and while I don't need some between-session prep guidance I sure would appreciate it.

Excellent, thank you!

In the game, yes, there'll be something like fronts and threats. Possibly, exactly fronts and threats. We'll see.

Meanwhile, using fronts and threats as is from Apocalypse World should work just fine.

-Vincent

My least favorite part was keeping track of all the hanging +1 forwards.

This jumped out at me, too. In my last AW game I played a Quarantine with the "Eager to Know" move (which appears in AW:Dark Age as well).

I found it very difficult to manage in play. What counts as advice? How long does the effect last? (Presumably forever, but what if the advice isn't something you can resolve quickly? Something like: "I think you should continue to fight the forces of entropy around you - that's your life's calling, my friend!") Do we just keep writing these down every time the move is used?

What's your (other people reading, Vincent, whoever) experience with this kind of move? It seems very difficult to track.