Poor planning: when you are in the middle of something and you need some gear that you don’t have, name the gear that you want to have brought with you (not a weapon, not armor) and roll+nothing. On a hit, you have it with you. On a 10+, no strings attached. On a 7-9, choose 1:
* you paid barter for it, deduct 1- or 2-barter (MC’s choice)
* you owe somebody a favor (MC decides who)
* it belongs to somebody else, you have to return it when you’re done with it
* you have a makeshift version or improvised thing to help you out, take -1ongoing with it
* you stole it from someone, and eventually they’re going to notice and they will want it back
On a miss, the MC picks 3.
Should work theoretically
Love it!
Since the move is “poor planning” and it’s triggered specifically when they don’t have the gear they need, I don’t think it would be out of line to demand a cost for a 10+. Maybe 10+, choose 1; 7-9, choose 2; on a miss, MC picks 3?
Also, because I LOVE moves that complicate the story, consider adding this as a selection:
“You stole it from someone, but they’re gonna notice, and they’re gonna want it back…”
Ed Gibbs I considered making it a “10+ choose 1, 7-9 choose 2” when I was writing it. I’m in this mood right now where I’m looking at ways of giving the player more narrative control.
I love “you stole it from someone”! That’s going in.
This is also where Fucking Thieves (Chopper) or Bonefeel (Savvyhead) are good moves to have. As an MC I kinda love it when my PCs have poor planning, because that is seriously not boring!
This is ripe for a “list of terrible things/choose x that don’t obtain and get all the ones you didn’t choose” type structure.
Hey Meguey Baker can I bonefeel up a thing I need for my Workplace move?
Hmmmmm. Tim Franzke, that’s an interesting application of a moves cascade. Check with your MC? I might allow it if I thought is was cool and not a cheesy/sneaky way to do the old “Did I say I had my sword? I meant crossbow!!” just because you want a ranged attack this encounter.
Savyhead can also have a gang and fucking thieves…. Mmhhh…
Me likes!
This could turn into a “What is in Doctor Who’s pockets?” game of infinite capacity…
Given what might be considered feasible, and eleminating obvious things like; elephants and unshielded dirty bombs…
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=y3o3mymyx29e20dyvk4ilssc&page=0
How far would you let this go in terms of; the bulk of items pulled out of dark backsides and number of dips into the rucksack of random gear?
I think that can be answered best in the moment. A flavor like this is kinda… add to taste? I could see some games where this could be a blast and other games where this would be straight insulting. But as a functional Move, i like it.
William Mims I was thinking of the film version of James Bond when I wrote the move, because in the movies he always just the right gadget to help him out. But Doctor Who works too! There’s a scene in “Genesis of the Daleks” where he has to turn out his pockets and all of the items together look bigger than the coat he is wearing.
So, Patrick Henry Downs – would you be okay with me using this as the base for similar Moves in other *W hacks i’m working on? I could attribute it to you! The whole “don’t name stuff, just keep track of resources or have a move for it” is one of my favorite elements of this engine. (Bag of Holding is soooo awesome in DW).
Sure! You don’t have to credit me though. I would never have written so much about and for Apocalypse World if it hadn’t been for Vincent. Credit him! 😉
X-D
I was thinking of that scene exactly!
Genesis of the Daleks (Dr. Who) – Guy Siner
I tend to think more about what MacGyver has in his pockets,
I want that knife back!
And what the typical apocalypse denizen’s Basic Operation Guns Gear Equipment Rucksack (BOGGER) might carry.
What is in our bug out bags?
and it just dawned on me there is no inherent clause to avoid escalation…
Homemade Machine Guns in the ATF’s Gun Vault, 1991
…if someone decides they have just the tool for the job enough times…
Homemade Energy Weapon – Coil Gun/ Coil Rifle
But I know… there is no real gun control through enforcement, only dialogue enhanced gun fear is real, and only informed wise use of self control is a viable solution for a free civilization.
That’s realistic enough, no stopping someone from considering any item they can think of…
Syria – FSA latest DIY weapon
…because ingenuity wins, every time.
It was then when my thoughts turned to remembering Presto the Magician summoning a battleship out of his hat (accidentally and crew-less, sure) that my mind red-flagged the abuses this could suddenly bring if someone got sillier than suspected…
Blow Away Your Friends, Shotgun Special, DIY Tutorial : …
blindsided…
India’s indigenous Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher – Pinaka – Part-2
…this really could escalate into a game of name the best toy with no limitations on number of uses, or feasibility of scale.
But don’t get my questions misinterpreted as negative feedback, I do like the general idea… and I think we were in sync on the conceptual intention.
Crocodile Dundee- That’s not a knife
William Mims There’s a reason the move specifies “no guns, no armor”
I think of it as a “I need to get to that rooftop, can I have a grappling hook stashed away in my backpack?” sort of thing.
“I need to open this door, can I have some lockpicks?”
“I need to climb down this ravine, can I have some rope?”
If it were a “I need a bazooka” move then I would probably have named it “Wile E Resources”
Or “ACME Catalog.”
O.O
I must’ve read past those parenthetical points a dozen times… doh Bart!
Good, that’s a start, but so much more damage can be done with parts that become guns and armor in under an hour…
…this would still relate to my points about ingenuity, and the underestimated simplicity of a firearm of any size.
M16 Functions Explained
It’s just a metal pipe, and some springs and hinges.
how to build a shotgun
Manual firearms and explosives are just cans of high-reaction materials, with a slow fuse ignited from a release hinge.
How A Grenade Works
…and armor is even more simple, lacking mechanisms.
This is all basic high-school physics textbook stuff, one might argue that that isn’t the educational level expected in an apocalypse… but I would then point out that it was simple laymen with pre-industrial education that produced these technologies in in the first place.
If you can maintain a car, you know everything necessary to make a gun from the engine. And could potentially do so in under 15 minutes, especially if equipped to keep that car running for more than six months without reliance on civilized logistics like Walmart’s Automotive Department.
Second and third generation survivors of a major apocalypse scenario are not fast-food-fed single-task-experts, they can’t afford to be. They will be well versed in high-school basics, because they will grow up with daily on the job training, and either pass the test of adulthood by thier mid-teens, or be left for dead weight by the community that can.
The basic pioneer shotgun of the 1800s was designed to be replicable (and thus maintenance friendly) by anyone with a homestead, the famous tommygun was designed to be maintenance friendly (and effectively replicable) to anyone with a household.
The possibilities for armament, defense, and infrastructure, using the applied knowledge of just one high school physics book, the combined scavenge of just one suburban neighborhood, and all the unregulated liberty in the world… seriously, it boggles the mind.
But yes, it’s still a great idea if not abused. And certainly it can be better for quicker engagement pacing than keeping accounts through itemized lists of small-tools and stashed resources.
otoh,
My INCH Bag – Im Never Coming Home – Part 1 of 3
If you consider what average planning should look like, and what a well trained person can do with just a knife, and a fannypack sized kit.
My EDC or Everyday Carry
Poor Planning actually starts to sound like a really bad thing. Like bringing more than you need, but less than you know how to use correctly… which is a different perspective than I think we were looking at it for this move, with James Bond & MacGyver being the preferred examples.
…again, I want you to understand, I like that core concept. I am just mentally trying it on, and checking out the fit.
You’re forgetting “fiction first”
The move is “when you are in the middle of something” not “when you have an hour to kill and have reasonable space to fashion something out of parts.” Having time to spare is something else entirely.
If you are “in the middle” of a chase, or “in the middle” of a gunfight, or “in the middle” of shadowing someone, or “in the middle” of a flash flood, you don’t really have time to sit down with some tools and jury-rig a grenade or dress down an engine.
Fiction first. Game mechanics second.
No, I am not forgetting. (I really did miss the arms and armor clause though. Probably because knives and punji sticks are blurred together in my mind with firewood and computer terminals… it’s all just tools… inanimate objects with multiple abstract uses.)
The same reason that it can be argued it may never even be an issue, makes it an issue to be forewarned about. Fiction First, when used as a universal law… also means Interpretation Inherent, in all situations…
Interpretation can be for better or worse, and if unaware of the potential problems, then you have a blindspot from which things can end up running over the cliff… it need not even be intentional on anyone’s part. The fiction played out that way… but afterwards, it just felt wrong… why? Blindsided.
Step up the strength of the wording if that is the intent, to;
When acting under fire you may try this…
Then it will be assured, you are in a stressful situation, or where fiction is most likely dictating short term consequences are at stake… and you needed to remember to bring that thing… did you?
I thought AW was about blending mechanics and fiction not letting one drive the bus!?