So I’m thinking of introducing my players to AW, but I’m worried about all the moves. The only other powered by the Apocalypse game we’ve played was Dungeon World which has all its moves on 2 sides of paper. It looks like AW is going to need much more to cover all its moves. Are there any tips to help me and my group? I really want to run a game but I’m a little intimidated by it.
So I’m thinking of introducing my players to AW, but I’m worried about all the moves.
So I’m thinking of introducing my players to AW, but I’m worried about all the moves.
Almost all the moves you’ll need are on the first page. Throw in Seize By Force and the Harm move and you’ll have 95% of the moves the players are going to roll.
The other battle moves can come up when you get into a fight that’s more complicated than a single Seize By Force, which shouldn’t be until you’re a few sessions in. Ditto the vehicle rules.
Most AW moves are situational. Just show them the basic moves. If vehicle combat comes up, pop out that page. It complex combat or seiges come up, pop out that page.
Hi Erik Buchanan ! Adam Bloom and Aaron Griffin have good advice. Also, it’s good practice to have a couple copies of the Basic Moves sheet floating around the table, and each player will have their own moves on their sheet, so it’s not all on you. As the MC, you get to make the short-list of what play books you want in the game, so that gives you some good leeway in how the group shapes up.
Other big tips:
take your time – you don’t need to rush into the thick of things; the whole 1st Session is all about establishing the set-up
ask questions – your players are there to barf forth apocalyptica with you; any time you don’t have an answer or an insight, ask!
make maps and take notes – use the 1st Session sheet; you’ll want to refer to it when you are making up your threats for the next session.
If you want to be extra helpful, attach the moves called out in the playbooks to their sheets, so the Chopper and Driver have the Road War set all prepared.
You can put more work on yourself and just listen for when they do something that would trigger a move (they aren’t aware is a move) and just say “hey that’s a move do you wanna do that or narrate a different approach.” When I played Night Witches at a convention that’s what the DM was doing because we were all unfamiliar with the game. And his prompting got us up to speed by the end.
A lot of the non-core moves seem like they could just be dropped if you felt so inclined, and resolved using the basic moves. They seem to exist if you want to be “crunchier” or more zoomed in when doing certain things. (Like some crazy mad max scene could be a single basic move, or a bunch of those road war moves that get their own section.)
You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to GM perfectly. If your objective is to have a good time with friends, you will almost certainly succeed.
I’ve had great succeCss playing Dark Age, an abandoned slash unfinished slash cannibalized hack of AW with folks who haven’t played the base game. We messed up left and right in those early sessions.No matter.
You’ll be fine. And if you aren’t, you’ll learn enough to crush it next time.
Have you tried World Of Dungeons? It’s stupid simple, and makes a nice breather one/two shot after a heavier campaign.