Hello. My name is stated on the post anyway so i’ll just skip that. I’ve never played AW but i read some posts here there and it sounds like a fun game. My questions are simple. Is it story-oriented or combat-oriented? And does it use a single die amount, Much like Shadowrun and MERP, or some different amounts, such as D&D. I’ve played Vampires:Requiem, World of Darkness, D&D and MERP, so if any can relate to AW I’d be happy to know. Thank you in advance.
Hello.
Hello.
Get the book or the PDF. It’s an amazing game but it does not play like any of the games you’ve played before. It’s not oriented towards story or combat as much as it’s oriented towards the players.
Again, find a copy and read it, it might just turn you on to a whole new world of gaming. It did that for me.
I’d say it’s more story-oriented, but having said that, there are advanced combat moves that are Sweeeeeet if you want to get into them. Dice are 2d6, so that’s very straight-up simple.
Probably the coolest thing about AW are the Moves. All players, PCs and the MC (Master of Ceremonies (aka GM)) get really clear moves to do stuff. It’s one of the quickest games to set up to run – basically you read the book and you’re good to go, and players don’t even need to do that. In the 1st session, when your players are making characters, you’re basically gathering info from them to use for your game prep for the next session and following session. It’s wicked effective.
In terms of D&D or the rest…hmm. I’m not sure exactly how I’d say AW relates, except to say that it has all the world-building stuff I loved about D&D along with the weirdness, “we gotta do this thing” and possibility of mutants from Shadowrun and the really cool and really different character types that I feel V:tM/WoD was trying for in the clans and houses and whatever.
*Actually, I’ve seen games go off ok when the MC’s only read the 1st half due to eagerness to game, or the MC is reading as the group goes along because they all just want to play NOW!
An important part to remember is that AW is not a game where the MC creates the plot. They are more of a facilitator to make sure plot happens. For example, in some games the GM would set up a story arc where the characters are tasked to go out and defeat an evil dictator in a neighboring country. In AW, there might be a hardholder that is trying to take over the town the characters are in. That hardholder could be doing things that are angering some of the PC’s (like burning homes of resistors) but the PC’s may decide to skip town, join up with the bastard, or just about anything and it becomes the MC’s responsibility create new elements of plot that keep that choice interesting.
Jorum, it might change the way you look at games. I was often nervous when running games before, now I’m not. I used to push a plot. Now I create threats and let the players interact with my world as they will. It’s awesome. Even if you buy AW and never actually play, it will teach you important things.
Looking at the games you use an example, I’d say only that the Apocalypse System does what WOD claims to do…and doesn’t.
I somewhat agree Stuart. I think WOD definitely was intended for a character based plot system. The problem is they had no idea how to write that into the rules so it’s really up to the ST to figure out to run a game like that (or more often than not, decide to run a railroad plot because that feels effective to people planning games). It doesn’t mean you can’t have a player driven WoD game, just that it’s up to the ST to make it so. In AW, letting the players take the lead is hardwired in the rules.
Joram, play apocolypse world or dungeon world, even if you have to drive a few hours to try it out at a convention or in a major city group.
Truly is a transformative thing.
AW is actually exactly like those games you’ve played before, it’s just much more clear about how you’re supposed to play it. There’s a lot of violence in AW, but it’s not really about the violence as much as it’s about the characters and the choices they make.