[Apocalypse World] First Session - Introducing Kartak and Rabbit

[Bret Gillan]

We played our first session Apocalypse World last night. Judd has backed out to pay attention to schoolwork and Chris couldn't make it because he had to take his girlfriend to the emergency room for a persistent sinus infection. I debated about whether to go ahead and then said screw it. We wanted to play and I know this won't be the last time this happens. So it was me as MC, Bob as Kartak the Gunlugger, and Ellen as Rabbit the Hocus.

We had a good time. With two people it ended up being a little intense. After about two hours of player I had to call for a breather and we ended up finishing up after three hours. I had prepped Two Fronts but had only ticked off the first segment of three of the threats. Basically I was setting things up, and I didn't want to make a crazy run on the only two PCs in the game. If everyone makes it to next game I'll feel better about going buck wild.

I did my best to vomit apocalyptica and follow my rules as MC. It seemed to go pretty well. There were a few pissing contest confrontations with the Gunlugger where I felt like maybe a little too much bullshit posturing was going on, but eventually Bob started going aggro and then it felt like things were happening and I obviously could have called for a roll or done something. I'll get the hang of it.

So into the game Kramer, the slaver who runs the hardhold, was confiscating food from everyone for whatever reasons he had. Kartak decides he's gonna tail Lynn-Lemon who's got a ton of it and is taking it back to Kramer. He gets to Kramer's compound and there's no appropriate rolls for being sneaky and getting in. So maybe I did this wrong but I just negotiated with him. I was like, "So there's guards standing around, mainly pukes who only know how to deal with farmers running screaming from them. You could get in and see where they're putting it, but you're going to have to hurt somebody." I figured this fell under the realm of MC maneuvers.  So basically his options were see and be seen, or knock some people out and ramp up paranoia and add some craziness to an hardhold already itchy from famine. Not sure if I did this part right but it seemed like the right thing to do.

Rabbit was stirring some shit up with her people and basically saying they didn't need to follow Kramer's rules. Kramer got wind of it so he told Kartak to kill Rabbit (whose gender we still don't know so instead of pronouns Rabbit just gets called Rabbit). Kartak argues with Kramer a little bit about it, they both make their cases but Kramer's made up his mind. Kartak instead goes and tries to talk some sense into Rabbit before gunning Rabbit down. Rabbit's followers are crazy (surplus +violent) and Rabbit's stirring them up so Kartak is playing keeper of the peace.

Ellen's eyes got a bit wide when Kramer told Kartak to kill Rabbit. Bob's playing it like Kartak does his own thing and isn't going to kill someone just because Kramer tells him to which has got things in an interesting mess. I'm not sure if it would be a disaster if Kartak went after Rabbit or not. But we'll see what happens.

Not a whole lot of rolls in the game. Kartak failed a roll to read Rabbit. As the MC I know that would normally give me a chance to lean on him, but since it was against another PC it just sort of fizzled.

Ellen didn't roll a lot. She sort of forgets to. She did roll +Hot at one point and used that. She said after game that next time she needs to remember to roll +Weird.

We're still confounded by Hx. After the session we're not sure when +1 or -1 Hx is chose if it goes on My Sheet or Their Sheet. We went with Their Sheet since it would effect their bonus for or against you. Bob and I argued for a little bit about it.

Bob pointed out that for a Gunlugger there's no point in choosing a big knife as a weapon since you can also pick infinite knives - same damage, and you get an infinite amount. The difference is just color as far as we can tell. Unless infinite has a downside.

Still a lot of love for the booklets. These things are great.

No real questions at this point except: is someone with 1 armor essentially invincible to getting punched?

[lumpley]

Hooray!

Let's see.

It's okay to play the game without a lot of rolls, as long as you're rolling when it's called for. Characters can legitimately do all kinds of things for which you shouldn't roll. Sessions where those are the things that the characters mostly do, are fine.

I clearly need to write a good explanation with examples of assigning Hxs.

You're right about the knives. The only reason to choose a big knife over many hidden knives is if you want a big knife instead of many hidden knives, which means, yes, giving up having infinite knives.

Someone with 1-armor is immune to punching, yes. If you're wearing 1-armor and someone goes aggro on you, but all they're threatening you with is a fist, you can feel absolutely free to force their hand instead of going along with them, secure in the knowledge that they won't hurt you.

Going aggro on someone with armor, when all you're threatening them with is a fist, is a funny move. It's like shouting "...AND I MEAN IT" at someone when you don't mean it.

So maybe I did this wrong but I just negotiated with him. I was like, "So there's guards standing around, mainly pukes who only know how to deal with farmers running screaming from them. You could get in and see where they're putting it, but you're going to have to hurt somebody." I figured this fell under the realm of MC maneuvers.  So basically his options were see and be seen, or knock some people out and ramp up paranoia and add some craziness to an hardhold already itchy from famine. Not sure if I did this part right but it seemed like the right thing to do.

In the MC moves, "you could get in but you're going to have to hurt somebody" is listed as "offer an opportunity, with a sacrifice." Perfectly legit.

-Vincent