The Logbook Project: Apocalypse World

Showing posts with label Apocalypse World. Show all posts

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Go Play NW 2015 Wrap-up

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Avatar World: Story Games Olympia Interview

Hey y'all, I totally did an interview with cool Olympia gamer (and game designer) Orion Canning! If you read my MH or AvW reports, you'll know that I'm also a regular gaming buddy with Orion. That interview, along with the rest of the Story Games Olympia Issue 1, which you should totally read the rest of.

Click through here!

I think I'm mostly pretty coherent for my first interview. After all, I've thought a lot about the game and why I made the choices I did. Hell, I've thought a little too much about it sometimes, slowed me down some. In one of the other articles here Robert Bruce presents a really good line, regarding the writing of games on bursts of inspiration:

Do it quick, before the aesthetic sense of what belongs in the game wears out. If it wears out before you’re done, make uninspired decisions about the rest then playtest.

I wish someone had said that to me a year and a half ago. Really would have gotten the initial game out quicker.
Check out the whole issue, it's great!

End Recording,
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Tuesday, October 7, 2014

The Update

I quite like Sleepwave. They're certainly not perfect, and I'm no metal fan, so take that as you will.

I just wanted to post again before there goes a whole month without content. I've been working! Between a fairly exhausting school schedule and several open projects, nothing has changed to a degree that I want to show yet.

Avatar World
Pretty much no motion here. Keep talking about it and playing it! When I get a chance I want to run a couple sessions of it long-form style.
If you've played a game of Avatar World that has gone longer than one session, please contact me!

The Shining Void
As soon as I get access to InDesign again I'm going to be drawing up the next version. It won't be a radical change, but I'll be rewriting almost all of the fluffing on the species stuff. A couple other little changes, but nothing gigantic.

Learning Pixel Art
This has been my big project for the past several weeks. I've written a complete from-the-ground-up tutorial on the mechanics of making pixel art. I'm very proud of how comprehensive it is, and am investigating selling it for $1. All the resources, in addition to the first two chapters (of 8) and the list of exercises will be available for free to sample the tutorial before you buy. It's quite intense, currently counting to about 30,000 words or so.
I have all the text and illustrations made, though I need to go through a layout/revising/editing pass, then I think it'll be strong.

Hacked From The Apocalypse
An idea I had that's been bounced to the back burner while I complete Learning Pixel Art, HftA is inspired by the Cortex Plus Hacker's Guide. I want to see if I can put together a document about hacking the Apocalypse World engine, focusing less on exact mechanics of how to put together moves and such (which is well-handled by the original game itself) and more on what it means to set up stats in certain ways, what playbook selection can mean, how adding or subtracting subsystems changes things, and more. Perhaps more important than my own contributions, I'd love to be able to talk to others who work extensively with the PbtA engine (both hack-writers and those who simply have a great insight into the system). That somewhat alleviates my own imposter syndrome regarding my "right" to write such a document.
If you're interested in writing something for it (maybe a page or three total about a particular subject?) let me know, but this project isn't on the front burner yet and may not be for a while.

Secret NaNoWriMo Project
I'm considering doing something for National Novel Writing Month this year. I have an idea that I'm going to sit on for now to see if I can get it to blossom, so I'm not sharing more until I see if it's actually viable. That might take my November writing time though.

I think that's all the projects I have spiraling around me right now. Look for more about LPA soon. It shouldn't be long before I actually get something I can show you folks.

(Life update: My brother moved out for university, my classes are wrecking me, I'm turning 21 on Sunday)
End Recording,
Ego.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

The Shining Void: Release Version 0.1

It's here! After a lot of work, The Shining Void is ready for release. What once was a fragment of an idea as Mass Effect Hack, in existence just to bandy ideas about with some other Mass Effect hackers, is now a full game. The Mass Effect name has been worn off, though still referenced, and the game is larger in scope than Avatar World. Now, it's not quite as fine as AvW yet, but that's the next step: what The Shining Void needs now is a playtest.
What is my final goal? Payed release. Having a pdf I can sell would be beyond awesome. That's still a ways off though.

This release has every element of the game except for the equivalent of an ApW Fronts system. Much of it, however, is still pretty subpar. In the push to this release, I forced myself to write some things that I wasn't 100% on just so I could get to the release, so not everything's perfect. The layout of the supplemental sheets is particularly iffy to me; there's a large block of space on the speciesbooks, the speciesbooks aren't capable of being folded in half well, and the basic moves sheet is incredibly cramped.
Oh, a note: The gray bars on the playbooks are art placeholders. I'll get to art eventually, but it's a lot of work.

Well, no point dithering about any longer. Here's the link!

The Shining Void v0.1 Zipped Archive

The Shining Void v0.1 Separate Files

If you have any comments, or especially if you play it, I really want to hear about it! I see comments here, I'm on Twitter as @Logbook_Project, and you can find me on the Story Games forums as horn_head_o (check out the "Hacking Mass Effect/Apocalypse World" thread and the "[The Shining Void] Apocalypse World / Mass Effect Hack Version 0.1 Release" thread).

Enjoy, tell your friends!

End Recording,

Ego.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Mass Effect: The Apocalypse World Hack (Basic Concepts)

I love Familyjules7x, and I love this remix. I love the Suicide Mission, I love Mass Effect 2, I want all the Suicide Mission remixes. I have like 10 of them and I love them all. I need more!

So I love Mass Effect. That's pretty clear, right? Because I do. Lots.
So other people love Mass Effect. That's pretty clear too, right? Yeah, yeah it is.
Some people love Mass Effect enough to hack games to model it. Some people choose to do that to Apocalypse World. Hell, there are at least three of them out there already.
Problem: None of them actually do things the way I want them to. Most of them are too caught up in emulating the words and gameplay of the series, not the actual feel, atmosphere, and character that make the series so interesting to explore about. They feel more traditional in style, in the sort of uninteresting way that stagnates Apocalypse World.
Some other people are also not quite satisfied yet as well! One of those folks, JasonT, wanted to bring a ME game to his group, and decided to start cobbling together something himself and opened up a Story Games thread about what he was doing. Discussion ensued. Eventually Jason put up what he had, but found that he himself was not really happy with it. Again, I didn't quite see what I want personally. So, uh, I took it into my own hands a bit. (For clarity, I took it on myself because I realized I wouldn't get what I wanted from just letting other people go at it, not as a "oh, that's not great, here let ME do it" way)
It's mostly been done through Twitter brainstorm. Now let's compile some stuff.
(Note: if you are just coming here for the first time and don't know me from my Avatar World work, I abbreviate Apocalypse World as ApW to differentiate from my other hack, Avatar World aka AvW. Just so you're not confused ;).)

STATS

There are four stats. If you didn't see the most recent brainstorm last Wednesday, you might have thought there were five, but no, there's only four now.

Paragon (PAR): Benevolent, friendly, sociable. Teamwork.

Renegade (REN): Dangerous, a force of nature, tough love. Solo.

Experienced (EXP): Well-worn, careful, determined. Protection.

Alien (ALN): Weird, unconventional, open-minded. Thinking.

PLAYBOOKS

There are six, thanks to an addition by Ed Turner. They are:

The Leader (PAR/REN): Shepard, basically. How they support their team is varied, and they're well-rounded, but they're always good at being supporters.

The Agent (PAR/EXP): Miranda. I wracked my brain over whether or not Agent and Paragon made sense, as their parent "agency" usually isn't very nice. However, since they're always parts of a whole, they're great at working with a team, which is what Paragon is all about.

The Rebel (REN/ALN): Garrus. This one was a bit of a no-brainer. They're counter-cultural and don't fit with what people usually think.

The Veteran (EXP/REN): Wrex. Hard-as-nails, they've been through the grind over and over again. Are they jaded? Probably. Do they think they're tough enough to walk through any challenge that comes their way? Hell yeah. Survivors.

The Loner (ALN/EXP): Thane. No one understands the way you think, and you're smart or intuitive enough to get away with keeping out of the lives of everyone else. You don't mind, you don't really get how they think either.

The Academic (ALN/PAR): Liara. Intelligent and well-trained, you know how to work in groups and can use your mind to the benefit of your companions. Not always the first pick for the front lines of a firefight, but no one'll bat an eye if you crouch down and take them down with clever tricks.

Important: I may have called out an individual for each, but every single squad member in the games fits into one of those in an approximately even spread (not including that here but if anyone's interested I'll share). Every stat is primary for three playbooks (without any solo-stat playbooks like Avatar World has).

LOYALTY

A replacement system for Hx. I haven't detailed it yet, but know that at the moment it still operates on a moving point system rather than a resource pool (strings) or purely textual element (bonds). It's relevant for a move in a minute. The main thing I have yet to decide is how you generate it.

BASIC MOVES

There are five basic moves at this point.

Give Orders: When you issue a command from a position of authority and are met with resistance, if it is a selfless or mission-supporting order, roll+PAR. If it was instead a selfish or off-mission demand, roll+REN. On a 10+, both of the the following options are true. On a 7-9, only one of the options, and they can make a demand of you first.
* If they fall in line and obey, they mark XP.
* To deny you, they need to Dig In first.

At any point, you can reduce your loyalty to them by 1 to automatically give the order as if you had rolled a 7-9 result. If you are given an order you want to deny, you may reduce your Loyalty with the authority figure to 0 to give a penalty to their roll equal to the Loyalty lost; you may not only reduce partially, it's either all or nothing.

There's a lot going on here. The stat rolled is context-dependent, there's options, player demands, and both sides can do things with their Loyalty to modify the roll. The latter section could probably be worded as other little Peripheral Moves, but for now let's call it all one move. It uses the mark XP/Act Under Fire twin choice, which is still my favorite basic mechanic in Apocalypse World (rivaled with some of the playbook moves from The Solace).
Note: This move only triggers on other PCs. NPCs either just deny orders (and suffer the consequences) or just take it, they don't have a mechanical asset to resist.

Support Your Team: When you dedicate your efforts to aiding your team, roll+PAR. On a 10+, they're safe as you take on all the impending danger yourself, and you take +1 Forward as you continue to support their actions. On a 7-9, they get +1 Forward to completing their task, but you must select one:
* You're cut off and exposed to the full danger,
* You only bought time, and not much of it,
* You stuck your neck out too far before getting back to safety, take 1 Harm.

Two big notes: The implication of dedicating your efforts to aiding the team is that you're NOT dedicating your efforts to decimating the enemy or keeping yourself safe. If you go back to achieving your own goals (kill everything, stay safe), you lose that "continue to support" bonus. But you completely free up your team on a 10+, which is a big boost. I'm iffy on +1 Forward, regardless of circumstance, but it feels right here since it's a bonus based on them not being hassled actively, rather than some kind of help that's universally applicable.

Bold Aggression: When you throw caution to the wind to assail your foes, roll+REN. On a 10+, you completely put them in their place, but put yourself in a spot in the process. On a 7-9, you get them but don't take them down, they choose one:
* Back down to avoid further punishment,
* Escalate their threat above and beyond,
* Take it, but be back fighting soon.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: JUST SHOOTING IS NOT BOLD AGGRESSION. Just shooting is not even a move. It's basically just assumed that you're plinking away at their forces and they're plinking away at you. Bold Aggression would be if you jump out of your cover spot and start charging at them, or if you fight with explosives, or if you leap out into close melee, or whatever. Another important note is that none of these moves are combat-only. I'm trying to write them in a way that can be used in other situations as well (mostly trying to hit social as well). Sometimes the wording is tough, but I think it's okay.

Dig In: When you protect yourself and stay on defense, roll+EXP. On a 10+, nothing can take you down so long as you stay focused on your own safety. On a 7-9, your cover is crumbling quickly, and they're advancing on you.

This would be used in a lot of the defensive situations that Act Under Fire would be, but it's not Act Under Fire. It's about personal safety above all else, and that means you're not even throwing out those regular old shots that you're assumed to usually be doing in combat.

Enact A Crazy Plan: When you make a plan that goes against conventional strategy, roll+Alien. On a 10+, hold 3. On a 7-9, hold 1. Spend your hold while enacting the plan to declare how you were prepared for the situation.
What exactly that means for the fiction is nebulous (it could be a tool you brought along, an enemy you read up on, or a trap you'd set in the area), but if it necessitates a move, having +1 to the move is probably in order.

If that text isn't placeholder, I don't know what is. But the basic idea of the move is there. Inspired by the Make A Battle Plan move from The Regiment (which I think is my favorite move in every ApW hack I've read, bar none), but not quite the same. This move needs a lot of refinement, in trigger, in mechanism, and in explanation, but the sentiment is in there.
Note that conventional strategy is whatever seems conventional to the group playing. A "crazy" plan is relative to culture after all; a rapid tank shock is fairly standard today, but the German Blitzkrieg was definitely a Crazy Plan at the time. Same with paratroopers, squad-based warfare, guerrilla tactics, heck, fighting at night was a Crazy Plan once. For a more Mass Effect-y example, just because the Drell MO is to assassinate singular high-profile targets doesn't mean that it doesn't count as a Crazy Plan by our standards. I'm calling this out because if someone plays a Drell and says "oh, but an assassination isn't really crazy for the Drell, it's just par for the course" and the Salarian player says "oh, espionage is just par for the course for Salarian warfare" and the Asari Justicar player says "yeah, of course I solo the entire enemy hoard while they skirt around, that's not crazy at all for a justicar", then this move would never get used ever, barring situations like The Suicide Mission (which I think was against everyone's conventions). It also ties into the understanding of the Alien stat. The Alien stat is about what is alien or weird to our minds as humans. It's about being different from the ultra-conventional baseline human way of thinking. This doesn't mean we won't have, say, Asari with Alien -1, or Humans with Alien +3, because not even all humans are like the baseline human, and just because your body's an alien doesn't mean you can't think like a human. Also, Alien -1 is really the super-baseline human - the average of +0 is because, on average, people aren't all like the baseline. We all have quirks and oddities that make us different from each other. Admiral Hackett has an Alien of -1. So does XO Pressley, and Ashley Williams, and Ambassador Udina. They are all very standard human minds. Remarkably, Javik is also very human, as is Liara. On the more alien end of the spectrum, Garrus's counter-authoritarianism sets him off from the herd, Tali's suit and her people's unique situation sets her apart. Thane is somewhat human in his behavior, but his mind is so different because of the memory recall that he's noticeably alien. And on the far end, at the Alien +3 area, we have Mordin, who's abnormally fast thought rate (even for a Salarian), depth of work with both STG and as a scientist, and extremely logical though pattern makes him very distant from us, and Legion, who is an inorganic hive mind. I'll note that unlike Legion, EDI, while still inorganic, thinks quite like a human, albeit a human with a supercomputer at their fingertips.
I want to explore the idea of Alien because I think that, ultimately, that's what Mass Effect is about; the idea of others with different frames of mind completely alien to our own, yet working in parallel. It's about accepting that other ways of thinking might be just as valid. And so, Alien characters are unconventional and open-minded. And all of this probably should have gone up under the stat listing rather than in a basic move, but whatever, this is a thought-flow piece, not publishable text or anything.
Alternatively, (and I'm writing design on the fly here, no forethought or consideration) making it into a list format of, like, questions or statements that you can make true by spending hold. Like,

* I know where they're going to be. The MC will tell you.
* I have a special tool for the job. What is it?
* I've established safe escape routes if things go wrong. Tell the MC about them and they'll be there.
* I know what their goals are. The MC will reveal them.
* I know what the area will looks like. The MC will sketch a map.

Or something like that. It's a combination "assess the surroundings" and "learn arbitrary things about the future" move, like if Read a Sitch and Open Your Brain were combined in a weird and kinda inefficient way. Like I said, this one's the big in-progress-er.

And those are the Basic Moves! Maybe there's an Aid Another move keying off Loyalty, or maybe not.
Now, unlike Avatar World, which operates with 8 Basic Moves and that's it, I definitely see this hack working with what were called Peripheral Moves in ApW.

PERIPHERAL MOVES

Not familiar with the idea? Basically, they're Basic Moves in the sense that everyone has them. They're just not as central and/or constantly in-play as the Basic Moves. Simply put, they're a bit more situational.

Survey A New Planet: When you touch down on a planet, ask who's been there the most before. Ask that character to roll + EXP. On a hit, the MC will ask questions from the following list, and the player can answer them as they wish. On a 10+, ask 3 questions. On a 7-9, 2 questions. On a miss, the rolling player asks two, and the MC gets to answer them however they please.
* What civilization has dominated the planet, or is it wild?
* What's the most dangerous creature to watch out for?
* What crisis is currently shaking the planet?
* What sort of special equipment is needed to explore the planet?
* What's the climate and landscape look like (in the area we're touching down in)?
If no character's been to the planet before, ask who's idea it was to come here, and they roll, but get to ask 1 fewer questions, regardless of result. If it was assigned, perhaps as part of a mission, assume it to be the commanding officer's idea.

This is the kicking-off-setting-creation move, meant to handle the finnicky details in an interesting way. It's Experienced because Experienced characters are aware and observational, so they have a wider amount of knowledge about places. Also it's a counter-balance to the basic moves, where PAR and REN are favored (as they each get 2 moves - sorta, since Give Orders is both).
As this happens right off the bat, potentially before anyone even takes any actions, the Miss isn't a regular Hard Move. Instead, it simply sets up the MC to be able to be the one crafting the planet's pieces, rather than the players. I have no idea if this type of thing actually works practically, but I like it in concept.

Other peripheral moves would include some version of a When You Take Grievous Harm move (which playing Sagas of the Icelanders last week showed me can work, even if I think it's an unnecessary addition to ApW directly). I also want some kind of First Aid-y move. Other than those, I'm sure there'll be ample room for other stuff that's passing me by right now.

BIOTICS AND TECH

Biotics is one of the hardest things to approach. I don't want it to be its own playbook, as I believe in playbooks being about who you are, not what you do. An early pass in Jason's thread had it locked into Cool, which was exactly as the ApW stat. I can see where that's going (controlling biotics is about a level head and discipline in the lore) but I was never even feeling that. I think that I would make it key off of Alien if I were to do anything, as I think the further along you are on the path of biotics mastery, the more it comes to define how you think, and I think the way that biotics think is definitely different from normal folks. I also have been throwing around the idea of biotics being just flavor, or being treated like an item/piece of gear (with tags and stuff). However, that felt pretty loose and like it wasn't giving enough meaning to it. Another idea was to link it to specific races (the Asari, for one), because the ApW engine is about archetypes and not making sure every possibility is available, but this didn't feel like what I wanted really.
And so where I'm at right now, my mind jumped back to the "piece of gear" idea and I was also thinking of doing Tech stuff and where that fits in as well and I realized that I have at my disposal the objects of Biotic Amps and OmniTools. And each of those has a move attached to it.

Biotic Amp: When you mentally generate mass effect fields, roll+Alien. On a 10+, the target objects mass is shifted, becoming more or less dense than usual, and objects and creatures react appropriately. On a 7-9, the same, but choose one:
* The exertion is immediately stressful and painful. (some mechanical punishment)
* It's not too bad right now, but it'll come back in a big way later.
* The effect is less dramatic than you intended.

Still pretty loose, but the intention is there. The biggest issue is "what exactly does it mean for objects to be more or less dense, and by how much does it change?" and my answer would be, to each of those parts in turn, "what do you think it means? If you can bullshit a decent explanation for an effect, go for it." and "however much seems reasonable, keeping in mind that you're not a biotic god, even if your character thinks they are." This is very unfinished.

OmniTools: All OmniTools can create a simple hard-light blade, and include a text and audio communicator.

Digital Warfare OmniTool: When you hack electronic systems, roll+Alien. On a 10+, you gain the access you wanted. On a 7-9, choose two:
* Your access is complete.
* You aren't detected by security.
* You do it quickly.

The first is the generic OmniTool. Basically everyone has one. The latter is the hacker's OmniTool. You could also probably get something like a Combat OmniTool, which is a heavier, stronger close combat weapon. The types of OmniTools are mutually exclusive, you can only wear one. I guessit's kinda like a special equipment slot, which is a bit of a trad idea, but whatever. You have to be fictionally proficient in its use (ie your character has to know how to hack to use the OmniTool above) but that proficiency isn't actually a mechanical thing, just description. Same with Biotic Amps - I mean, I guess you could implant it without having any biotics, but for game purposes, if you shoved one into your body we can guess that you probably have biotic potential.
Basically, that's how I think I'll handle Biotics / Tech (and probably "big guns" too), as equipment with attached moves.

SPECIES

Species is being handled exactly how Jason originally suggested, as one playbook that makes up half of a two-part character. You get a Species Playbook and a Role Playbook (described above). The species will have a spot of lore on the species, the name list, part of the look list, and a trio of moves, of which you initially select one. Each move represents one of the major traits of that species that makes them unique. Humans are not exempt or considered the baseline, nor are they the "adaptable" catch-all species, since I think a big part of ME was discovering that humans are a very distinct entity in the galaxy. I haven't written any move text, but I know the trio of moves that each will have.

Human: Ambitious, Engineered, Xenophobic.

Engineered relates to the fact that we've seen more augmented humans than any other species, save for Reaper alteration and the species-wide Krogan sterilization. Be they cybernetic parts like Kai Leng or the Illusive Man, genetic manipulation like Miranda, or just the straight-up science weirdness that went into Shepard's body, humans do this way more than anyone else that we see. I think the others are no-brainers. And yeah, sometimes there're "negative" traits like Xenophobic, which in move text will be contorted into a benefit with a cost.

Turian: Disciplined, Dextro, Hierarchical.

Uh, frankly, Turians are less unique than humans are. Their schtick as a race is "We Are Soldiers." I'm kinda plumbing the depths here. Turians get interesting when they break their species' stereotypes like with Garrus, but the dirt-standard turian isn't all that interesting to me. If you have better ideas, that'd be cool.

Asari: Alluring, Ancient, Mind Meld.

Nothin' crazy here. Kinda surprised that I didn't think Inherenetly Biotic was a main feature, but I like it more without it anyway. The bit of lore on the sheet will mention that they, universally, have biotic power.

Krogan: Aggressive, Tribal, Unstoppable

"Aggressive" is putting it lightly. There's, uh, lots of cool things I could talk about with the Krogan. I really like the Krogan. But I think everything I need is covered in these three.

Salarian: Hypermetabolic, Pedigree, Technical

Salarians were a bti tough. Their pedigreed nature wasn't a big deal with Mordin (our only party member Salarian) but it seemed to be a big deal in the lore, and I can probably make up a move about it pretty easily.

Quarian: EV Suit, Nomad, Pilgrimage

Probably the only species I like more than the Krogan or Geth. I think I just like species with a predisposition to high Alien scores? Regardless I think Quarians are fuckin' awesome.

Drell: Perfect Recall, Spiritual, Bred To Kill

We have an exceptionally small exposure to Drell characters. This is what I've scrounged together.

Geth: Hive Mind, Reviled, Modular

Thanks to Ed Turner for the Modular suggestion! (also for suggesting the Academic playbook). I'm a big Geth fan and think they're really interesting.

AI: Vessel, Shackles, Digital

What exactly do those mean? We'll find out! Why is this different than the Geth? Basically because it's just one mind, and that's pretty much it.
I also have triplets written for Protheans, Volus, Elcor, Hanar, and Vorcha, but who cares because those aren't really player species.
I should mention the characters I'm particularly interested in playing: Miranda, Jacob, Samara. I didn't like them in the game, but I like their premises: genetically-perfect agent loyal to Illusive but not necessarily Cerberus and major family issues; ex-soldier with severely torn loyalties between Cerberus' pro-humanity and the Alliance's acceptance and humane treatments; fanatical zealot who is the mother of three of the most potentially deadly individuals in the galaxy, whose code is harsh enough to be unacceptable to many civilizations' standards. I didn't like 'em a ton in the game because of the specific execution, but their premises are full of character drama that I'd love to be able to play out myself.

That's enough for today. I think that's a complete dump of everything I had up to this point about this thing. Come over to Story Games forum and come to JasonT's Hacking Mass Effect/Apocalypse World thread and join the discussion!
End Recording,
Ego.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Avatar World: "Karma" and Tag-Triggering

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHAgQkTHkpc&feature=player_embedded
Merry Christmas! I've been enjoying this song, both in and out of the Christmas season, for years now. I just don't get tired of it!

So, I've had a bit of a brainstorm while reading another game by a guy named Alex from Story Games. He shared the game, previously not publicly released (which is why I won't directly link it, but search Story Games for an [Avatar World] thread and it should be in there), in my Avatar World thread, and while it's technically an Apocalypse World hack, it's pretty radically different. For one, it uses a draw system of stones instead of dice. Aside from being gloriously tactile (I would back a kickstarter for that if it got me a pretty stone set, that's for sure), it has one bit that is really beautiful: refreshes. While I can't find where he explicitly calls out what exactly Refreshing a stone does, what matters is what triggers it and that it's a good thing. First, know that the stones you can draw are each based on the four elements. So check this out:

"When you aid someone in need, you may refresh an Air stone."
"When you avoid trouble and pursue luxury and pleasure, you may refresh an Earth stone."
"When you put your friends or family first, you may refresh a Water stone."
"When you leap into danger without hedging your bets, you may refresh a Fire stone."

+ More!
Yeah. That's rad. It locks the narrative hooks that exemplify the personality trends of the elements in the show directly into the game mechanics in a way that requires very little MC interpretation (which I think indicates positive things about an AW hack - AW itself requires an MC for sure, but the fact that things have very clear triggers that prescribe specific things is a good quality).
So, why do I bring this up? Well, aside from showcasing someone's awesome mechanic, I intend to steal a modified form of it!

I titled this "Karma." The quotes aren't optional - Karma won't be a final name for sure, because honestly it doesn't actually indicate anything near the right thing for what I'm using it to represent. Think back to the list at the end of the Playbook Moves post, about triggering Tags. Let's paraphrase the relevant part for today:

"When you fail a roll, you get a point of 'Karma'. Spend a point of 'Karma' to trigger a Tag."

Essentially, I've been looking for a way to actually use all of these Tags that are getting tossed onto things by Move With Intention and the Waterbender and the like. The obvious option was one I actually didn't want to use:

"When it makes narrative sense to trigger the Tag, it is triggered."

I'm not looking down on that one, but I think it doesn't do all it could for me. For the record, what happens when a Tag is actually triggered is ALSO in flux (likely a +1 Forward, but maybe something else instead, idk). What this does is puts everything into the group's hands. It provides the most flexibility, but I'm thinking I can get something a little more helpful to my ends out of it.
The above creation of mine from before helped you when you failed a roll (which I guess looks more like Pity than "Karma"), and that was actually inspired by Dungeon World's XP I guess. However, that still didn't jive with me completely. Some issues included, first and foremost, that I don't think it actually provides enough "Karma" to use. No, I wanted more, something that clicked with me. Thanks Alex - you found it for me.

"Each playbook has a number [!] of "Karma Keys" [!!]. During character creation, you select a smaller number [!!!] of these. Whenever you fulfil the condition of one of them, you gain 1 "Karma.""

[!] I'm thinking 4-5 usually.
[!!] Keys is, of course, a reference to Shadow of Yesterday and Lady Blackbird's Keys, since that's pretty close to how these work. That's just for now though - it's in those quotes too, I likely won't call 'em Keys in the end.
[!!!] I'm thinking 2 usually.
While I don't have them specifically written, each of the "Karma Keys" is gonna be damn close to the sort of thing Alex uses for Refreshes, but specifically written to the playbooks. This is, from where I'm standing, a good way to encourage the characters to act in the sort of way that falls in line with the general expected behavior of the playbook.
But what if they intentionally don't want to be like that?
Well, that's why you pick a few from a list. You have some flexibility in how exactly you play in that regard. Additionally, I have two provisions set up in my mind. First, continued from above:

"...When you fulfil the condition on one of them, you gain 1 "Karma." Additionally, you gain 1 "Karma" whenever you fail a roll."

So, even if you don't play that way, you still will get Karma, just less, and I don't think that makes you unusable, it just alters the dynamic, especially if you have a Waterbender or other tag-focused character. Now, let's look at that other:

"From the Improvement List: __ Select an additional "Karma Key" from the list, or write your own."

That's the other piece I've got. This'll be present on everyone's list of improvement options. I'm taking a pretty big chance by letting you potentially write your own, but I'm hoping that either the ones I have there are compelling enough or people won't just write ones that follow the exact same path they already do. I know I wrote a lot before on Keys and incentivising narrative action with game mechanic points like XP, but I think that "Karma" is desirable, but not on the same level as XP, and you'll have more than just the one you write to trigger. Now, let's write something that I haven't thought through very hard.

"When you have at least 5[!] 'Karma', you may trade 5[!] 'Karma' for 1 XP."

[!] I'm also considering making it easier to 3, but I'll have to actually write some "Karma Keys" to know.

So, that's some fun stuff! It covers two of my trouble spots at once, the process of triggering tags and a way to urge players to play their characters in ways that are true to tones and tendencies of the show (while allowing escape paths if you'd really rather play a little different). Inspiring action like the show was a tough point for me, and I think this is a nice clean fix.
Enjoy it, and like usual, I'd love any feedback you have about it.
End Recording,
Ego.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Avatar World: Sub-Playbooks

(I'm here, writing a post, and NOT updating Songaday? Look, it's hard from Morocco, the days will get back on track when I get home at New Year's. I'm having quite a bit of fun though, thanks for asking)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK0rqxcGqU8&feature=player_embedded
Summoning of Spirits is totally the best album. I knew this song before I ever knew it was a part of the album, and it's still freakin' incredible. DJPretzel outdid himself I think.

Hey there! Thanks to both the folks at S-G and Google+ for the feedback on the moves, I got more than I expected and it's rightfully led to a few changes.
To get the easy one out of the way:

Lightningbender: When you channel lightning, roll+Fluid. On a 10+, you succeed at projecting or redirecting the lightning strike.
NOTE: Lightning, when it strikes directly, deals 4 harm.
On a 7-9, choose 1:
* Some power rebounds, reducing the power to 2 harm and dealing 1 harm to the bender. * The blast fizzles out, leaving the bender surprised and open to attack.

So, you can see the big change in bold. I completely axed the condition one and modified the fizzling one to be "leaves you vulnerable," which does the same narrative effect as I was trying to model from the show, but is more interesting than a null result. The Null before had to be chosen instead of taken a penalty since there was no benefit either. It was an escape route, and you know what? There's no escaping consequence when you fuck up lightningbending. This is a high stakes move.
It's important to mention that being "surprised and open to attack" is both a narrative condition and a mechanical one. What it is narratively is obvious, but mechanically it is up to the MC how they want to deal with it. Smack the PC with an enemy attack? Fair game. Call it a tag? Also fair. Make that move as hard as you like (which ain't the same as "as hard as you can").

The exact stats used and actually Waterbending as a whole is under some flux. I'm considering this change.

Waterbending: When you psychically manipulate water [to attack?], roll+Fluid. On a hit, choose from the list. On a 10+, choose 3 and keep your water. On a 7-9, choose 1, and you lose the water afterward. You may pick a single option multiple times.
     * Deal 1 harm.
     * Impose a tag on a foe.
     * Impose an environmental tag.
If you take the harm option multiple times, it is considered one large attack for purposes of ignoring armor (even if it narratively considered multiple strikes).

This is to go with an idea I've been tossing around about having one of the Waterbender's gear options be some sort of water container that can hold n uses of water. You pull out 1 use to do general waterbending, but you can totally lose it. You still have n-1 uses though. You can fill it up whenever it makes sense to with no cost or anything. This is more of a model of the show's big limitation on waterbenders, justifies keeping the pretty strong power level (if you concentrate it, you can do as much harm as a fire blast), differentiate from Airbending and MWI again, and isn't too hampered because Waterbenders have a ton of sub-bendings to take advantage of.

Sub-bendings brings me to the big point today! I'm going to be taking on something rather ambitious I've decided, with encouragement from S-G: sub-playbooks. What is a Sub-Playbook? In essence, a sub-playbook is a playbook in that it's a character concept attached to some moves. However, it's not a whole playbook in that you can not ONLY play a sub-playbook. Regular playbooks come with arrays of stats, look options, gear, and represent the broad character archetypes of the game's story. Sub-playbooks have none of that, instead choosing to represent a smaller, more specific archetype WITHIN the broader regular playbooks, with a smaller number of moves and, often, an "entry condition."
I'm not inventing the concept - while I haven't seen it in a full hack and don't know who did the first, the name I think of when I think of supplemental playbooks (I use those names interchangeably btw) is Jonathan Walton, who did a whole 7 of them for Apocalypse World. Some examples include The Valkyrie, a Battlebabe who can call upon the souls of the dead, and The Fallen, a Quarantine that instead of waking up from cryo-stasis came back from space.
Another example is The Gunslinger, who I wrote myself for the Battlebabe/Gunlugger and have yet to put into full playbook form, though I totally should get back to that when I return from Morocco. If you want to check him out now, LINK
So here's the basic structure of a Sub-Playbook.

Entry Condition: A narrative or mechanical (but usually narrative) condition that must be filled to gain access to the sub-playbook. Without fulfilling the condition, you cannot take moves from the sub-playbook. Not every sub-playbook needs to have an entry condition - some are available to all.

Concept: Simple enough. What is this sub-playbook? Typically, the concept is more specific than a regular playbook's, and either requires more elaboration than a single move to fill the concept or is simply too niche to fall into the regular playbook's move list (which represent the core things that the playbook could be good at).

Moves: A sub-playbook's core, like any playbook's, is its moves. These are exactly like a regular playbooks, but of course all revolve around the sub-playbook's concept. There are usually fewer than in a regular playbooks; for my own purposes, a sub-playbook will have between two and four moves, with three as a standard metric.

So, by now you might have gathered what I intend to break out into sub-playbooks: weird bendings. There are a lot of strange alternative bendings that I would be stupid to exclude entirely, but don't consider important enough to be in the core playbook's move list. Here's my list of ones that will tentatively become sub-playbooks.
* The Lightbender
* The Soundbender
* The Sandbender
* The Plantbender
* The Bloodbender
So, that leaves these in the core:
* The Lightningbender
* The Metalbender
* Phase Mastery (The Icebender and The Vaporbender)
As well as Heatbending (covered alternatively under Conductive) and Healing. I'm considering also pulling out the Vaporbender and returning Phase Mastery to just Icebending, but I need to think a little further on them.
I could also, in theory, use the same concept for various other playbooks. One in particular that I'm definitely considering is an Artistocrat sub-playbook called The Geisha, since that's a significant archetype that shares a lot in common with the Aristocrat, but is less broad. In theory, it's not unfathomable for my Samurai playbook to convert to a broader name of a heavy warrior and the Samurai in particular would become a sub-playbook - however, there are NOT plans to do that, it's more an example of what I could do with the sub-playbooks.
edit: I had to take a break from typing this, and by the time I got back to it I've designed a pretty good set of moves for The Scholar, and it puts The Doctor as a sub-playbook as well! I'll share that stuff soon enough.

So here, let's try this out a bit.
The Plantbender
Entry Condition: When a waterbender (anyone who has the Waterbending move) has spent a night in a great living forest, they are eligible to take the following moves when you advance (as either a playbook move or a move from another playbook).
Moves:

Plantbending: When you plantbend [!], roll+Solid [!!]. On a 10+, the plants do your bidding. On a 7-9, choose 2:
   * The plants don't your bidding.
   * You are overtaxed or vulnerable (take a relevant tag).
   * The plants are broken or destroyed. [!!!]

There is so much wrong with that list. I haven't nailed down those choices in any way, but that's the idea I'm going with.
[!] This is not the real trigger. It will likely be something along the lines of "When you manipulate living plants through the water inside them..."
[!!] This is based upon the Foggy Swamp style's tendency toward rigidity and such. It's also indicative of the idea that plants are a much more stable medium than water - no one is going to accuse plants of being Fluid. However, I have niggling doubts that I should instead be using Natural, but I cover that up in a bit.
[!!!] Unlike with water, which you now have to worry about losing quantity of, as long as you take other negative effects your plants will stick around. Again, more stable than standard water.

Extraction: When you're surrounded by plants, you may draw all the water out of them (killing all of them in the process) to obtain 1 Water (as the gear option).

Hey look, it's my favorite Waterbender Hama's move! Crazy witch lady was a very creative bender. Anyway, this is the move to drag water out of plants, but it kills them in the process. Maybe as MC you can add a plantless or dead plants environment tag or something, but that's all up to you.
This actually wasn't on my design sheet that I did today. Instead, there was a really lame stat-based thing about Standing Fast with Fluid or something. Yeah, pretty lame.
Also, this is the first time I'm referring to Water as the gear thing. I'm doing a lot with what is effectively specifically named Hold systems - starting to think I should make some tactile tokens or something. That could be fun. And more work, but hey, tokens!
Now let's see the third and final move. It's a little more involved and specific.

Plant Monster [!]: When you gather all the area's plants[!!] around yourself into a hulking monstrosity [!], roll+Natural [!!!]. On a hit, you have 1-armor, but cannot bend until the plants are released [!!!!]. Additionally, on a 10+, you have 5 Plant [!!!!!]. On a 7-9, 3 Plant. Spend 1 Plant at any time to:
* Deal +1 Harm
* Suffer -1 Harm
You also lose 1 Plant for each 7-9 or 6- you roll while holding the plants [!!!!!!]. When you have 0 Plant, or if you voluntarily release the plants, the plants fall away the the environment is tagged plantless.

This is, unmistakably, Huu's signature move in both The Swamp and The Day of Black Sun. It was a strong, large, flashy move. It was also freaking awesome and I want it represented.
[!] Both phrases I use here are sub-par, but seeing as the best even the Wikia can get for it is "Swamp Monster" I'm doing my best. I DO think this needs to be a big thing, and this will likely be the image for The Plantbender, so there'll at least be a bit of a visual cue.
[!!] Yes, ALL of the area's plants. This is a balance factor - no, you can't just drop the plants and grab a new batch. Doing this expends the area, as is made quite clear in the last little bit as well. I AM considering a clause that would essentially require a certain level of vegetation to use it - "I gather up those six or seven flowers" isn't what I want to hear.
[!!!] Natural! Huu was able to do this because of his understanding of the world's interconnectedness and this is very much about the plants themselves. Plus, his own style when doing this wasn't all that Solid. Lastly, this is a balance factor - if you're doing this, you're either going to be just average (if you didn't focus on Natural) or are going to be just average at something else (if you neglected something more key to Waterbenders or Plantbenders than Natural).
[!!!!] Nope, no bending. Not even additional plantbending. It's taking all of your effort to hold the beast together around you. You've essentially become something else for a time. However, all the basic moves are still usable, as are other moves that aren't about bending.
[!!!!!] I'm not calling out the number (though, like most numbers, that will be a playtest point), but the name. Plant is awful generic and I'm saying it a lot in this playbook. I considered Vines to match Huu's monster, but it's certainly not universal, as Huu himself showed off on the Day of Black Sun. I'm also considering Leaves, and if I do tokens for these special Holds, I will likely shape them like Leaves and call it that.
I actually somewhat like the options. They're low-key, and only augment what you're already doing instead of providing new weird actions. As far as I can tell, they're also not incredibly strong either. Something I AM iffy on is the phrasing of "at any time," since I think it might work better if you can't stack them.
[!!!!!!] Losing Leaves over time too! You don't just have them until you use 'em, they fade out over the battle. Whether I lose them on 7-9's might change, depending on how fast that really exhausts them. This basically helps to balance out that I'm giving either 5 or 3 of them. I want to make you capable of lasting a good battle with 'em, but not being super loaded up with power.

So yeah, lots of notes for the Plantbender, but it does an excellent job of demonstrating what I mean to do with sub-playbooks. What do you think?
End Recording,
Ego.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Apocalypse World: Front 3, The Reborn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6WaZ0MEt5Q&feature=player_embedded
I love Massive Attack, particularly the albums Mezzanine and 100th Window. Mezzanine gets more air play, especially Angel and Teardrop (both in its own right and as the song in the House theme). I think 100th Window is also a really great album though, and it gets far less publicity. What Your Soul Sings, Special Cases, Antistar, it's a great album.

HEY KRIS! DANIEL! LUKE! KENNY! GET OUT OF HERE, THIS POST IS NOT FOR YOU!

This front is...slightly less formed. I don't really like running, or at least writing, countdown clocks. The first four of these threats have all appeared in the game. The last one has NOT. And the inclusion of that last one on top of the others makes this everything I could want from a front. I'll be sad to see Rex or PURITY go, but, well, Look Through Crosshairs. They're sure as hell gonna put up a fight before they go though.

FRONT THREE
Is Called: The Reborn
Expresses: Zealousy and Technophilia
Dark Future/Agenda: Complete domination of the settlement, followed by PURITY taking control.
Description & Cast: Rex is the head of the public face of the Reborn, with Mech as his second. Behind the scenes, PURITY is in mental control of everyone to some degree, though often individuals are left to their own devices. They live in The Salvage Yard and their home base is Repair. They have a tenuous alliance with Warlord Usimog and his Nuzulu tribe, with each thinking they are in control of the other - in truth, they both defeat each other, with the Nuzulu having the brute strength and firepower to win in a fair fight. Rex would never fight fair though.
Stakes Questions: * Will Rex convince any of the PCs to accept an implant?
* Will the group find out about PURITY or her control? Will Usimog?
* Will Rex take over the settlement?

Threats:
THREAT 1
Is Called: Rex
Kind: Warlord - Prophet
Impulse: To denounce & overthrow.
Description & Cast: Rex is the sole leader of the tech-cult known as the Reborn. His right arm is entirely mechanical, as are his eyes, which are solid black and have a distinctive 3-point glowing yellow iris. (I might upload a pic later, I have it drawn but it's a rough doodle). He's charismatic and smart, but he speaks with intent to convert people to the Reborn by replacing parts with cybernetics. He has plans for the settlement, but what they are have yet to be determined.
Custom Move: When you struggle with Rex's arm, roll+Hard. On a 10+, you succeed agaist it! On a 7-9, choose one of the following:
* You beat it.
* It doesn't slice you up.
* You aren't left vulnerable to his minions.

THREAT 2
Is Called: The Salvage Yard
Kind: Landscape - Maze
Impulse: To trap, to frustrate passage.
Description & Cast: The Salvage Yard is the home base of Rex and his Reborn. A genuine salvage yard, it's filled with huge heaps of junk that act as hills and turn the place into a natural maze. The Reborn know the place like the back of their hands, but getting anywhere in there isn't easy. There's treasure hidden in the piles though...
Custom Move: When you Read A Sitch in the Salvage Yard, add the following questions: * Where is Repair?
* How do I get out?
* Find something in the heaps.

THREAT 3
Is Called: The Reborn
Kind: Brutes - Cult
Impulse: To victimize and incorporate.
Description & Cast: The cultists themselves are enthralled by Rex through their cybernetics. Each cultist has at least one, of varying levels of sophistication and form. None of them are quite as extraordinarily advanced as Rex's arm, but there's a good deal of advanced tech in the bunch, even a couple pairs of cybereyes.
Custom Move: When you Manipulate or Read a Reborn, roll+Weird instead.
Custom Move: When you loot a Reborn corpse, roll+Sharp. On a 10+, you find a hi-tech piece of implanted gear. On a 7-9, pick from useless tech, dangerous tech, worthless tech, or destroyed tech.

THREAT 4
Is Called: Repair
Kind: Landscape - Breeding Pit
Impulse: To generate badness.
Description & Cast: Repair is a work shop, situated somewhere in the middle of the Salvage Yard. Inside are a variety of things, including a large workbench covered in tech, a bloody operation table, and, most significantly, a wall covered in the only working computers in the area. Rex has been using them and communing with them, and seems to be guided by it somewhat. The place is full of fumes. The resident tech and second-most important member of the entire cult is Mech. Mech is pretty crazy, and none of his tech is obvious, but he's actually skilled with surgery and implantation.
Custom Move: When you perform strenuous action in repair, Act Under Fire. On a 7-9, Open Your Brain about the Reborn.
Side note: Triggered this in the session! It generated my favorite spur-of-the-moment idea of the night.

...threat five...
...is called...P.U.R.I.T.Y.
...is a...grotesque...a mindfucker...
...who craves mastery...
...a ghost of the past, of the war that brought about the Golden Age. She's no human though, but an AI, alive and thriving in the supercomputer network underneath the Salvage Yard and accessible through Repair. PURITY is partially corrupted, and is obsessed with increasing its spread - which it achieves through networking itself into more cybernetic parts. It's been stringing Rex along with its siren call of a world made perfect through technology - Rex genuinely believes he's doing the right thing. PURITY? No such delusions. She wants to ensure piece by controlling everything, and she has her eyes on the settlement. Only in the caves beneath Repair can she manifest in her hologram form, that of a blue-ish female form with glowing yellow triangular eyes.
...and here you thought REX was charismatic. Whenever PURITY asks you to do something you'd really rather not do, and you do, mark XP. Refusing her means you need to Act Under Fire, with the fire being "does your refusal cause her to explode in rage?" - she doesn't take losing well.

Hope you enjoy them, and I hope you'll hear about their scheming soon! (meaning I really need to write AW AP3).
End Recording,
Ego.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Avatar World: Answers (Honorable Samurai and SF vs. MWI)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwQM_NYdXyQ&feature=player_embedded
For some reason the Youtube player seems to be gone right now. Hopefully it'll be back by morning, but this is The Koto Chill by zircon. It's great, and that whole album of his (The World Circuit) is fantastic. For more zircon, check October Songaday Day 11 (zircon - Nitronic) - it can be easily accessed through the Music tab up top!

So I got a great comment from Jonathan Reiter on Google+, and while I gave a couple answers on G+ back, I feel this is something to unpack in a little more detail, especially the first comment since I think that's something I've been working through myself.

1) Clarify the difference between Stand Fast and Move with Intention in regards to combat. What can you do and what might you sacrifice on a partial? Think about how Vincent draws a contrast between Go Aggro and Seize By Force. Think about hard and soft styles of martial arts, e.g. Chen and Yang style Taijiquan.
2) Earthquake is area tag and force roll of SF/MWI if you try to do (x).
3) Timeless Body would probably allow you to roll Meditate instead of SF contextually.
4) I'm sold on a scholar. You can't have a Wuxia style game without a scholar. A scholar in Avatarworld would be excellent with technology, and would probably have moves to use Keen stat to Speak With Honor.
5) I have thought a lot about how samurai and warriors who follow a code of conduct operate in AW games. G-chat me sometimes and we can discuss it."

Let's hit these piece by piece. I'm gonna leave the first one for last though.

Number 2) I can buy that. Earthquake was a weird contention for me since I wasn't quite sure if it warranted its own move or if it would just be a function of standard Earthbending. The idea there is good enough to suffice as a move on its own, but I still may fold it into Earthbending if I think I have a greater number of moves than I need for the playbook. Even then, some degree of shaking the earth IS incorporated, with Earthquake signifying an effect of significant length or duration. That may be shifted if I can't word the move trigger to reflect that while still doing what I want.

Number 3) Heck, this had only been a side idea I just tossed out, but it's a pretty sweet idea.

Number 4) This actually sells me on a Scholar. I was doubting the need since I considered it quite close to the Monk, but I'd entirely forgotten about the Technology aspect, and that changes everything. I know I can build a Scholar different enough with the technology idea in there.

* When you devise a new contraption to help solve your problems, roll+Keen...

* When you spend time alone researching...
* When you analyze the factual details of the situation... (this is probably a modification to Observe Carefully by question addition or something. The suggest Speak With Honor with Keen could also go with a slight change of the trigger).

Yeah, I can definitely do the Scholar.

Number 5) The Honorable warrior is a strange figure in my mind. As I mentioned last time, it's requiring three stats for my Samurai, which is a bit weird, but I really don't want to give up on the honorable thing, but I don't want to make them only mediocre at fighting either. So right there I have an issue of a guy who wants to be good at everything, which is unfortunate. However, the move structure of playbooks in general is helpful in this, thanks to the ability to choose how to specialize within his options, so if you want to play the undiplomatic ronin, you can avoid the honor-based moves.
The Samurai would have, you'd think, several places to draw some inspiration from. The big one that came into my mind as an inspiration was Dungeon World's Paladin, but it turns out the Paladin is actually pretty bad at being honorable, instead being pretty awesome at being a holy warrior. He's not a total wash though! I Am The Law looks easily changeable to using the authority of your lord rather than a divine power, Exterminatus for the vengeful samurai mold, and the Fighter's Signature Weapon (plus Ancestral) are great for modeling the importance and significance of a Samurai's blade (plus I love Ancestral ;) ).
Other playbooks seem to have things to offer as well. Looking at Apocalypse World itself, my gut instinct is to look to the Hardholder, then the Operator. The Hardholder, well, he kinda only has two moves and they're both pretty well keyed to who he is, plus on second thought his concept doesn't actually line up with what I was thinking anyway. The Operator is quite a bit closer to the Ronin side of the playbook than the lord-bound Samurai, but has some remarkably good communication ability that kinda works. In particular, I'm talking about Reputation. Rep works nice with both the Samurai, but also quite well with the Aristocrat. I prefer it on the Samurai though, let's let him play with it for now.
So a move around the power of their katana, a move to let them throw their lord's authority around, one for vengeance, and one for their reputation, and that's before even looking at combat moves or inventing some of my own, so I think it's not an issue of having social moves on him. More so, it seems to be an issue of what, when actually played, inspires a warrior to act honorably rather than pragmatically. And that's where the honor move I've had kicking around in my head kicks in:

* When you go through a scene with honor when it would have been practical to do otherwise, mark XP.

Or some wording along that intent. This is built from a couple of places. First, and most significantly, this is basically the existing mechanism of incentive. When you succeed at Seduce/Manipulating a PC, you get to set up incentive or punishment for the commanded action. I far prefer incentive to punishment for this guy. The other big place it came from was my experience with Keys (through Lady Blackbird, though they come from The Shadow of Yesterday), in the idea of providing the reward when they forgo the easy route to enforce a certain given side of their personality. Absolutely an incentive measure rather than a punishment as well.
As an optional move, never forcing a player who wants to play otherwise to act to its restraint, but still allowing a reward for players who want to act that way, I think it's actually pretty ideal. Being optional is important - even some Samurai-playbook characters won't necessarily be straight Samurai - I've referenced the Ronin stereotype several times, and that too is a valuable character type to include as a possibility.
If I DO choose to make the Relationship stat (the Hx replacement, not Natural) something like Debts or Oaths, or even Honor, the Samurai will likely have some sort of move relating to it, but I need to make a decision about that before I can design anything.

As an aside, I'm actually watching Samurai Champloo right now thanks to Kenny's recommendation list. While it's crazy and anachronistic (which I love it for - I can also see why Suda 51 was tapped to make the game, it seems custom-made for him), and the characters sure as hell aren't regular ol' Samurai (they're a Ronin-type Samurai and a Ninja basically), what it's really good for is it's exciting me about even mundane martial arts-ing. This is some crazy-ass shit here, and it's exciting as hell. I predict your game won't have beat-boxing period samurai, but still.
So far, it's definitely looking like I have more anime than live-action in my references. I'm not actually sure if that's a bad thing with the way I kinda want this going.

Finally, Number 1) Stand Fast vs. Move With Intention. This is something that, while Jonathan pointed out that it needed clarification, it's been rattling around inside my head. I'm worried that they DO have a Go Aggro/Seize By Force relationship, and I don't want that. It's been pointed out and summarized by people before that Go Aggro and Seize By Force have a hazy enough distinction that nearly any action that triggers one could feasibly trigger the other, leading groups to pick one as a dominant basic move and the other retreating into the background as a peripheral move. I know that in my own group we're three sessions in and have yet to roll Seize By Force, though we Go Aggro all the time. I think GA inherently has fewer consequences than SBF - even on a successful SBF, you take some harm. The main distinction in my mind is that GA is for one-sided actions, with a distinct aggressor and defender. To me, SBF is for two-way fights, where both sides are both aggressing and defending at the same time - open conflict. This is my intended starting point for the barrier between Speak Without Honor and Commit Open Violence, though I do intend to slide the barrier a bit, leaving even one-sided aggression under COV if it's blatant and not for an ulterior purpose.
All that said, I don't think Stand Fast and Move With Intention have that relationship. With how I've been describing them, they do seem like it would trigger simultaneously, but the difference is reactive vs. proactive, and I think that'll come out more if I gave some more organized wording on the triggers.
Stand Fast is about being reactive. It's about trouble coming your way and withstanding it, doing something even if the pressure is on to do it, and figuratively not budging (though, despite the move name, it can absolutely involve moving - hey, I'm not the first to pick move names for coolness/reference and not for utility! Just look at Dungeon World's Fighter's Bend Bars, Lift Gates - it can't actually be used to literally bend bars or lift gates! Well, it can, but it requires a very liberal reading). Essentially, if there is something that would STOP you from doing what you're trying to do, it's probably Stand Fast.
Move With Intention, on the other hand, is intended primarily as a setup move. Moving With Intention covers several things, but these three come to my mind first: Stances, Evasion, Acrobatics. With Stances, the idea is that you're moving very deliberately into a position of strength. From this position, you're ready to strike with advantage and confidence. You don't go into a stance as a reactive thing - it's something you make time to do of your own accord. Acrobatics are similar, you actively have to try to do them because it would be to your advantage, not just a reflexive reaction - though I suppose you could do Acrobatics as a form of Evasion, the latter categorization takes precedence. Evasion is a bizarre point of crossover with Stand Fast - evasion IS a reaction. Which would you use? Context helps me dictate here. If, when a player moves right up in close to the enemy swordsman and throws a punch, but says how he's poised to spring back out of the way at any instant, I'd have him Move With Intention - he had previously declared his intent to move away in that scenario, it's not something catching him by surprise. If he's walking through the woods and a ninja falls from the trees, blade outstretched and aimed to kill, the PC saying they do a diving roll out of the way and turn 180 as he comes out of the roll, drawing his blade in the process, I'd say that's Stand Fast - it's a sudden, unexpected pressure that he wouldn't have been intending to move beforehand. If it could be reasonably understood that the PC is trying to dodge and would know to, but wasn't really called out, it's basically a judgement call for the GM. My instinct is to give the player the benefit of the doubt and give them the one they want, but up to you.
However, I'm having second thoughts about allowing Evasion at all under the MWI rules, maybe just making it SF - thinking of the general format I intend for the move text, Evasion might not even be supported. We'll see.
Oh, maybe I should talk about what I want MWI to actually DO in game terms, not just when it would happen. While SF is about doing the triggering action without consequences, MWI is, as I said, a setup move.

Stand Fast: When you act in reaction or under pressure, roll+Solid. On a 10+, you do it, no problem. On a 7-9, the GM will offer you a tough choice, hard bargain, or dangerous outcome.

Move With Intention: When you move deliberately to gain a position of strength, roll+Fluid. On a 10+, pick 2. On a 7-9, pick 1.
* Take +1 Forward on your next roll.
* Deal +1 Harm Forward. (this is like +1 Forward, but increases harm rather than roll result)
* Be treated as having 1-armor more the next time you take Harm.
* (If used against another PC) The character must Stand Fast to attack you, once. (as in the restriction goes away once they've Stood Fast once)
* Maybe more ideas, and maybe some ideas expanded by other moves, but these are the basics I had.
If the fiction dictates that your Move no longer confers any benefit (such as if you leave your stance), the bonus is removed. (I don't know how necessary it is to say this last bit, so it's at least here for design clarification)

Coming back to Evasions as MWI, I'm thinking it CAN work, just carefully. Instead of rolling when the attack comes, you roll it when the player says that they're ready to dodge at any time or some such. They roll it, and even on a 10+ can take +1 Forward and +1-armor, which is a definite help and still feels like an evasion. When not announced, however, it's just Stand Fast.
So, in summary, Stand Fast is a defensive move made in response to stimulus, Move With Intention is a move made consciously and not simply in response to stimulus. To use a maybe-not-applicable analogy, if AW used initiative-- actually, let's make this easier, Dungeon World, since that is often drifted into having initiative. In a round of initiative, each member of the conflict gets a significant move. Defy Danger (Stand Fast) is being triggered all the time by people doing things to PCs, forcing them to roll to survive it. Move With Intention, on the other hand, is the kind of thing you do on your own turn, spending your initiative to be ready to kick huge ass the next turn (or survive to see another round). Obviously initiative isn't a default thing in Apocalypse-Powered games, and I won't be using it for Avatar World, but I think that analogy serves as a decent illustration of their varied purposes.
As for the martial arts style references in Jonathan's comment, I'm afraid I haven't the foggiest. I need to do more research on that side - it's slow going, but I think I'm making at least a little headway. I'll come back to that in the future.

Anyway, that should be a good discussion for tonight of those. I definitely have a clearer head about this now, and I have some semi-formal writeups of what I want Stand Fast and Move With Intention to look like! Would love more comments, on both this stuff and the previous brainstorm - I mean, look at all this stuff, all in response to one comment. I read and hang on just about every word, so please, help out, even if you don't know much about hacking or AW or Avatar!
End Recording,
Ego.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Apocalypse World Actual Play: Session 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u8FqrVK_rI&feature=player_embedded
Fol Chen is detailed in October Songaday Day13 (use the music tab at the top of the page for easy access!), and this is a song I was going to link but decided to save for here. A lot of Fol Chen's lyrics have a distinct post-apoc leaning to them (with the entire band concept being from an alternate world), and this one, In Ruins, is the most explicit about it. The video has some great imagery, and the song is really good! Maybe a bit upbeat in tone for Apocalypse World, but hey, even Apocalypse World has nice days.

ACTUAL PLAY SESSION ONE LINK

Today's game features:
Kris as Life the Maestro D',
Luke as Bones the Gunlugger,
Kenny as Hide the Skinner,
and Ego/Max as MC.

We left off with Life making calls and such and Bones and Hide prepping to invade Rolfball's home and retrieving something for Life that Rolfball is holding. We started with Bones and Hide, with the two of them acing all sneaky-like outside Rolfball's mansion. Rolfball's mansion is: "The west wing is entirely blown out, and the guards are obviously watching it. Bones Reads a Sitch to find the best way in and finds that it's the windows on the east side if you come through the wilderness. Watch out for all the snipers and the mounted machine gun out front, and try not to get caught on the barbed wire! And them heading off is where we end."
Because I forgot we already did, Bones did another Read A Sitch, pulling off his scope from his rifle and usign it like a single binocular, or I guss like a telescope. He found the way in, and knew to watch out for the sniper up in the tower extending up from the house. They snuck around to the side window, using Act Under Fire to not be seen, and got through just fine! They stealthed into the house to find an office, a pretty posh-looking place, but it's covered in dust. There's a desk, and some shelves with some old probably-unreadable books, and two doors, on the map I doodled there was one on the bottom wall and one on the right wall. Bones opened his mind to the psychic maelstrom to try and find the correct direction to the necklace they were hunting (a large blue diamond one!). He kinda got it, looking through his scope again, this time channeling his mind through it, using it to narrow his perceptions to a small window and opening that window to the universe, and he pointed himself out the bottom door. They went out the bottom one, and walked through the hall until they found a door to the side and ducked into it.
Jump to Life. Life is back at her club (dubbed The Erotican by Luke, spinning off the Vatican. It's blasphemous, it's entertaining, it implies a reverence for the sensual pleasures, it's perfect), mostly just doing general bookkeeping and stuff for the place, having made her calls about Luke's girl last time. She's going about her business when Lamprey, her best regular and a government-type (working under Rolfball, though not particularly loyal, though also not particularly ambitious right now). He's a big Russian, and a real polite fella, who came to ask Life to look into a local issue. There's been rumors going around about this guy named Rex out in the wilderness who's been pulling people together and might be planning something. Knowing about all her connections, he asks her to look into it and figure out what exactly this Rex guy is up to and who he is. Lamprey doesn't have a location, but Life accepts. But how's she gonna fins him? She goes back to her office and locks the doors, turns out the lights, strips, and takes a special cocktail of drugs to ease her mind open into the psychcic maelstrom. Her efforts are met with some success, and she gets this hazy vision of a shadow-y figure interacting with some big black bikers and striding into their camp - Life recognizes the bikers as Nuzulu tribe members. She comes out of the trance and begins to get ready to head out to the Nuzulu tribe's camp (they're nomads), because she knows how to find THESE guys.
Back in the mansion, Bones and Hide tucked inside the room to find a bathroom. This place is really disheveled and dirty, but more noticeably, is awful bloody, though most of it's dry. In the bathtub, filled with ice water, is a body. They're holding the place down and I think one of them made a Read a Sitch roll to try to figure out stuff, but blew the roll, and I revealed that the guy in the tub wasn't actually dead and while they weren't paying attention, his eyes snapped open and he groaned, grabbing for his shotgun and Bones Went Aggro to blow the guy's head to smithereens. He aced the roll, spraying the tiles with a fine mist of crimson droplets, his magnum smoking in his hand. It's important to remember that Bones was given a no-kill instruction on this mission from Life, and he definitely just broke it. The guards a few rooms over heard the gunshot though, and started rushing over. Bones decided to Open His Brain again to try to figure out what to do, but blew it. His punishment? Well, he dropped right unconscious! Poor Hide is now in a room with an obviously dead man, an unconscious partner, and guards stomping down the hall to him. We talked for a few about how maybe he'd try to disguise Bones's body as dead and hide himself, and made the Act Under Fire, but was only able to hide Bones's body. When the guards opened the door though, they were met with a surprise; Hide carving up the dead one, skinning it right there. Hide turned the situation into using Artful and Graceful, with the enemy guards as the audience. As a Hot expert, Hide won the roll and the guards all tossed down their shotguns to him ("gifts") in fear of this grisly display of horrible beauty. They ran off then, and probably not to their posts. With the threat gone, Hide turned to Bones's situation - he couldn't wake up the psychcicly unconscious man. He made a Read a Sitch roll and found what was valuable to him - some medical supplies still in the old cabinets. Using some tubing and an opening he made himself, he injected the med cocktail he made into Bones with an Act Under Fire roll, waking him up but dealing 1 harm in the process from crazy drugging and arm slashes. Bones grabbed the three shotguns and they left the bathroom. As a side note, Hide still had 1-barter worth of meds left.
Life is now at the top of the cliff road that winds down to the tribe in the valley. She has Vincent with her, and is in a gothic-themed covered wagon, with horses pulling it - she doesn't have a vehicle. Vehicles are rare - Nuzulu has a pretty decent monopoly on them. She's stopped at the top by a pair of bikers, screeching their motorcycles's tires as they block the road. These Hounds pretty much interrogate her as to why she's here, but eventually they relent and allow her down to see Warlord Usimog, as long as they turn over their guns for now. They agree and are escorted down. Pretty sure rolling happened here, but it was a while ago, sorry.
Back at the house, Bones and Hide go back to where they were before in the office, since that other hallway they now know leads to the main room, which surely is filled with guards. They run along through the other door and move along the hallway to find the staircase to the second floor, which takes them to a landing with a door on the right and left walls and two on the bottom wall (they came in from the top) with a ladder on the left wall. They set up a tripwire trap with a couple shotguns at the stairwell before Bones tries AGAIN to open his mind, again not succeeding - but he used his scope again, so no unconsciousness. He didn't get anything, but those other guards must have alerted the rest of the force, and people are coming again - they also hear the sound of the guard in the tower up the ladder there! Hide tries to trap the guard up there by slicing up the ladder, and makes an Act Under Fire roll, succeeding partially. He hacks up enough of the ladder, but now the guard is staring down the hole shooting with his rifle! Hide takes harm, and Bones responds by chucking a grenade up top with the sniper, Going Aggro. He mostly gets it, but has to drain himself of grenades to do it. The explosion is very noticeable; both stealth and pacifism are toast. Hide and Bones duck into the left and right rooms to look for the necklace. Hide, on the right, comes out into the top of the utterly destroyed wing, in plain view of the ground soldiers, and ducks back in. Bones, on the left, finds a mostly barren room. They're moving into the bottom-left room when soldiers come up the stairs, but the trap triggers and keeps them at bay a little longer.
Life is confronted with Usimog, and they have conversation. Apparently, Life was the one who introduced Usimog to one of his many wives (the only white one, in fact), so they're on speaking terms. She tries to bargain with him for info on Rex. It seems Rex has partnered with the Nuzulu tribe in their endeavors, and are working together. Life is pretty sure these guys are gearing up for an offensive, but isn't sure and it isn't explicitly said. In the end, a Manipulate roll becomes a Seduce roll, with her "promising" (it was a 10+) him oral sex for a location and a piece of advanced tech to present as a gift, because Rex loves anything sufficiently advanced. Rex is based out of an old salvage yard, and they have a spare nitrous injector for one of their vehicles that Life can take. She promises to come back for that blowjob and is on her way with Vincent, getting their weapons back.
Bones and Hide are in a lush bedroom, all sorts of nice things around. They start digging around, and Hide decides it's his turn to Open His Brain, but I'm said to say I don't remember how he did it. I think he may have borrowed Bones's scope to try it out. He succeeded though, and found his way to the necklace inside a drawer. They start to head back out of the place, Bones shooting the hall and stairwell clear, and they're running and are at the office room again, across from the window. Guards from the bottom door are aiming with their machine guns, and Bones Acts Under Fire to make a run for it, and make it, vaulting out the window. Hide is right behind him, making the same roll, and only partially succeeding. No bullets, but he tripped and is now behind the desk. Bones provides covering fire with an Act Under Fire while Hide makes a diving roll out the window, making it and the two of them escaping into the woods, leaving a blasted mansion full of bodies and bullets behind them.
Life is riding into the scrap-yard, and is moving the wagon along as bunch of figures encircle her and Vincent. She calls out that she's here to see Rex, and a figure, silhouetted agains the sun, climbs over the top of the trash heap declaring "I'M Rex. You were looking for me?" as the session ended.

All in all, it was a ton of fun. I had a hard time with Life being separated from the others the whole time, and Kris also felt that it was a bit weird for his idea of Life to be venturing out of the Erotican herself, but a reactive-only sit-around character is kinda lame, and he knows that. Bones' and Hide's adventure was awesome, and they're going to have a LOT to answer for when they meet up with Life. Why is the necklace significant? Who is Rex? Will Life survive the scrap-yard? When will the two groups reunite? Will Daniel ever fucking show up to a session again? The answers to these and more in the next Actual Play of Apocalypse World! (which I already can do and just have to write it - I can already tell you, the answer to that last one was "no")
It's great stuff. I felt a lot more relaxed running it this time through, and I think it showed a bit. I had a lot of fun, and so did the players. Especially exciting for me was all the Brain-Opening! I fucking LOVE that move, and its variants in the other Apocalypse-Powered games. Whenever I play, I Gaze Into The Abyss, Spout Lore, and Open My Brain like crazy. They seemed to find it really cool as well, which I'm glad about.
I actually invented the Rex thing on the spot, and having already played the next session, he's my favorite. I wrote up his front a few hours before Session 3, and will post it up soon. I'm so psyched for this faction - Toyota and Usimog and Rolfball are cool, but damn if Rex isn't the best thing around for me - he has a bit of a sci-fi element, so that helps I guess.

See you next session!
End Recording,
Ego.

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