Tonight should be character creation for my first time playing Apocalypse World, so I was wondering if folks have…

14 thoughts on “Tonight should be character creation for my first time playing Apocalypse World, so I was wondering if folks have…”

1. I would suggest maybe staying away from characters that care about external “stuff”; like the Chopper, the Driver, the Hocus, and the Hardholder. Stick with a “self-contained” character.

2. It’s really cool to have a hardholder, a chopper or even a hocus, to kind of cement the group’s investment into a/their home turf. The Operator I imagine can be very “swallow water continuisly” to play, at least for newbies who haven’t learned that this is fun. (Most playbooks can get moonlighting as an advance anyways.)

   A brainer is so cool and tells a lot about Apocalypse World, and really is an accoutrement that any decent hardholder can’t do without.

   The Gunlugger is the baddest ass. “Sometimes the obvious move is the right one”.

   The Skinner should be fun for anyone who wan’t to play a ‘weak’ character, with really great definition-powers from Hx and as play starts.

3. Although I agree with Christopher Stone-Bush in general, I wouldn’t include the Driver in the list. They’re pretty straightforward and self-contained characters by default.

4. Seriously, look at the playbooks the MC puts on the table and take the one that says “pick me! pick me!” That said, I find the Gunlugger, the Angel, the Skinner, the Savvyhead and the Hardholder to be more straightforward than the rest.

5. Personally I let the players go through the ones from the book, then the limited ones, explaining that they tend to be a little weirder and trickier. The one player who took the Hoarder went in with that knowledge and loved it. The others went Driver, Battlebabe, Angel and Brainer and didn’t have any issues.

   Good luck with your game, I hope it goes well.

6. New to the aw? Or new to gaming in general?

7. New to AW, but I’ve been roleplaying for a while now.

8. I personally think the playbooks with external motivations can be awesome for first time players. The one book I tend not to recommend for newbies is the Gunlugger. It is so straight forward that a lot of people end up just making combat characters without much else, and that leaves the player to engaging in the system as much. Other that, the operator is fine, but they can loose their luster as the game progresses and other players take the moonlighting advancement. If your playing with limited edition playbooks, the hoarder, maestro d, and quarantine are the ones that I think tend to work best and will create interesting play arcs for yourself. If this is a campaign, don’t choose the faceless. I’m also not a fan of the touch stone.

9. yeah, Gunlugger and Angel, for example, requires internal motivations, so if you are a proactive player, you’ll have an easier time. But if you are a reactive player (one that requires external pressures), you might not feel very engaged. It depends on your play style. Sometimes Hardholder is awesome for 1st time players because, well, you are THE boss and have a lot of resources to command, but you also have a lot of problems to deal with. 

10. In terms of complexity, there is very little difference mechanically between a gun lugger and a hardholder. If you’re already well acquainted with role-playing, then I recommend not limiting your player’s autonomy before they get a chance to choose for themselves. Trust them to make their own decisions and they’ll surprise you every time.

11. /sub

12. Robert Ruthven, what did you decide?

13. Meguey Baker Session got postponed due to the MC having personal stuff to deal with, so I have a bit more time to decide. Probably either Angel or Brainer, though I am also tempted by the Driver and Savvyhead.

14. Finally settled on Savvyhead. Still haven’t done our first session yet, but I’m already picturing him as looking like Chief Tyrol from Battlestar Galactica. ^_^

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