So, the deal with Hx. I get that it is a driving mechanic in that in influences character improvement. It seems weird that it resets when you hit certain thresholds. I thought about it a bit, and based on how Hx is changed, it seems like whenever you hit a threshold, it’s like you learned to look at someone in a new way. And then you have to re-evaluate what you know about that person.
Does that seem close to how it was conceived?
That’s how I took it. I’ve seen the ‘reset at +4’ mechanic used in a few hack as well.
That’s how it was conceived, exactly.
A house rule I like is that when you reset at +4, you learn a secret about the person.
I read AW while in a communication & rhetoric course, and Hx made perfect sense to me because it sounds like Penetration Theory.
Apocalypse World: Educational!
The secret mechanic is good.
On the flip side, I usually conceptualize the -4 reset as your totally wrong view of the person banging hard against reality. When it happens, I sometimes ask the player who resets what preconceptions about the other character they’ve dropped.
That’s a perfectly valid form of “reassess your relationship”.