Author: Daniel Goupil

I’m a big fan of the MC move “Turn their move back on them”.

But I have sometimes have trouble coming up with an application during the game!

My favorite use so far:

Midnight the Battlebabe was trying to convince an NPC (member of the Chopper’s gang) that “maybe” she should hook up with Dallas (the Gunlugger).

When she missed the roll, I had the NPC reply:

“Hey Midnight, you know, you’re always going on and on ’bout Dallas… How many years have you two known each others? Why aren’t YOU hooking up with HIM?”

Midnight’s player blinked… twice. She stuttered, then stopped and looked at me, “B-but! He’s like a big brother to me”, as if trying to convince herself, as she contemplated the possibility.

I grinned and offered her an XP, should she decide to ask the Gunlugger out.

Sadly, she didn’t take me up on the offer. Oh well, the campaign is only two sessions in! 🙂

So , tell me, what are YOUR favorite, coolest, usual and/or fall-back uses for that MC move?

Hi guys!

Obviously, reading a RPG system and MCing it actively are two different things! I’ve got a whole bunch of questions, if you’ll bear with me.

I thought I’d organize them loosely by themes.

So for this thread, I want to ask about GANGS.

In my group, there is a Gunlugger with the move Not to be fucked with (Ntbfw).

There is also a Chopper, who’s been asking me ever since character creation:

1. Hey Dan! If I had a small gang and it’s working with the Gunlugger who has Ntbfw, does that mean that together, they are considered a Medium gang?

My answer was: uh… hmmm… well, it would depend if they were actually acting together.

(Fun fact: so far, they have not!)

1b. Have you ever had a game with both a Gunlugger and a Chopper in which they aren’t more often than not arguing or fighting each other? 😉

I have googled the matter and searched the interwebs as best as I could.

Many people seemed to think that cohesion was important (i.e. have they been fighting together for a while?).

There’s also the matter of leadership, since this isn’t the Gunlugger’s gang.

However…

2. Now what if the Gunlugger gets his own small gang (through improvement for example)?

My answer: Uh well, he got the improvement during a “counter-raid”, so I proposed that we wait until the next session to introduce said new gang. 🙂

In this particular case, I don’t have any argument against:

small gang + Gunlugger with Ntbfw = medium gang

3. How do YOU interpret Ntbfw?

Mechanically, it says: “in battle, you count as a small gang, with harm and

armor according to your gear.”

So the way I see it is that it affects harm and armor, so when a Gunlugger fights a small gang, there is no adjustment to harm and armor on either side.

And I guess that if ever the Chopper were to fight the Gunlugger on his own, he would suffer a disadvantage, as if fighting a small gang.

But yesterday, I was wondering if any of you ever granted any “fictional bonus” to a PC with Ntbfw? Like does the PC seem larger than life, more intimidating, having eyes behind his head, etc.

4. How do you handle gangs that fight alongside a PC, but don’t actually belong to him?

Last session, the PCs recruited some people to help them on their “counter-raid”. There were enough for a small gang, but they didn’t belong to any of the PCs.

I played them myself (as inexperienced and frightened as they were, they actually didn’t do that much), but I’ve been wondering if I should have let one of the PCs (say the Gunlugger) handle them?

5. Do you ever have individual gang members intervene on their own?

I was googling for answers and came up with that one:

http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=6577.15

TLDR: A member of a Chopper’s gang acted to protect his boss.

The idea that individual members stand out is pretty cool (and in keeping with my understanding of “make everyone human”), but does it take something away from the PCs? I don’t know, like the spotlight? Or making the Chopper too powerful? (In my group, the Chopper has 29 gang members and has named and provided a one-liner for every single one of them.)

What would be your “rules” for individual actions from a gang?

Does that come only through my making an MC move?

That’s it for now.

I’ll provide more details as needed.

Thanks! 🙂

http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=6577.15

Hi guys!

I’ve only recently started MCing (tonight will be our second session).

So bear with me for this question:

Let’s say someone uses Read a person on an NPC and asks “How can I get him to do xxxx?”

I answer the player.

If then the player uses that answer, do you have the NPC act on it automatically, or do you consider it leverage for a Manipulate roll?

We’ve also had some discussion and troubling determining how far could a successful Manipulate/Bluff get you? (Many PC had their Hot higlighted! 🙂 )

Two examples:

1. The battlebabe meddled in a love triangle and wanted the cute female NPC to go for the NPC biker, instead of the PC gunlugger. She made a “compelling” argument that the biker had bigger guns (going as far as to buy him said big gun!). So I let her roll for manipulate.

2. The savvyhead wanted to convince a captured teen raider to give up raiding and “being a parasite”. In that case, I felt that simple Manipulate roll couldn’t override years of “education”, so I didn’t even have her roll. Was I right?

How would you handle what seems to me like a long term project?

I got to say, the first session was a beauty to witness!

And one of the most fun I’ve had GMing a session for any game. 🙂

Thanks!