Hi all. Going to run my first Apocalypse World game in the next few weeks. Any advice? (Other than all the excellent advice in the book)
I’ve got some ideas for people, places, scenes, threat etc. but haven’t given them any context yet. I plan to do this at the table, and after the first session.
Thanks for the help, and happy to be here.
Bathe yourself in apocalyptica. IMHO The best way to approach a PbtA is to come to the table with no pre-plan, pre-establish expectations but with a head full of inspiration.
Vincent Quigley Thanks, that’s exactly the plan I have. Sounds like I’m approaching it the right way. Phew!
If you have time for movies I’d suggest Damnation Alley solely to learn about Hard Moves. While I don’t like the movie all that much it helped me learn about Hard Moves very well. I’d also limit your starting NPCs to ideas about Threats and NPCs to names. Cool, post apocalypse names like Mizz Anne Thrope and Korr and Lysi and let everyone flesh out their personalities to fit your players.
Postcards from the Apocalypse. People, places, items and scenes in bite-size chunks of visual apocalyptica.
The playbooks chosen will have more impact on the game than anything so you can’t really anticipate anything until that is done.
Matthew Terry Which reminds me that it’s totally okay in my opinion to limit the available playbooks to signify what story you are looking to tell as a MC.
edit: which is something that is often hard to do when you first start with PbtA because you often feel like you should offer all options.
Vincent Quigley right. I also like to point out that the playbooks that seem harder to play like a chopper or hardholder are actually easier to fit into the narrative than loner style playbooks like a battlebabe or quarantine.
When the book says look for where they aren’t in control; push there, it isn’t fucking around. Any time your players try to establish self-sufficiency and status quos, push back on that. You’ll save yourself a lot of grief. “Cool, so you make your ammo yourself. Who’s providing the materials?”
Ferretheim Games I’ll try to watch it this weekend. Thanks.
Thanks everyone. Some good advice; much appreciated. I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays out. Will try to post updates as the game progresses.
Dale Jennings Checking back with you on this: how did your game go?
Meguey Baker Hi, it hasn’t started yet I’m afraid. We’re finishing a Blades in the Dark game first. Will likely be a few weeks yet. Thanks for asking though. Will update once session zero/one is done.
Dale Jennings Cool; I misread “in the next few weeks” as “in the next week.” I probably should not try to run #bakerhousebandLARP and keep track of things here at the same time!!
Meguey Baker lol. No worries. Thanks for a great game, to you and Vincent. Will post update as/when play happens. Have a great day 🙂