Author: David Benson

Recently, my son, aged 19, overheard me talking on the phone about a future AW game I was running.  Now he’s never had an interest in role-playing but something about my conversation struck a chord of interest.  We started talking about it and he expressed an interest in playing.  He’s struggled with ADD and depression for years and so I jumped at the opportunity to include him in my hobbies and try to bring out the brilliant creativity that he hides away.  We see it sometimes, but he keeps it so buried.  Anyway, we brought in my daughter’s boyfriend who has also expressed an interest in role-playing and printed out some playbooks.  It’s interesting that my son chose the Juggernaut playbook, but not surprising.  He wanted to be a big, bad-ass.  The boyfriend chose A Boy and his Dog, which was also not surprising since his long-time dog just recently passed away.  The game went very well and they both had a ton of fun.  It was great seeing my son being creative and thinking on his feet.  He started slow, but when he got into it all hell broke loose  in AW!  Thanks, Vincent Baker for helping me reach him like that and share the joys of creativity and expression.

So, my Apocalypse West game went down today.  I would say it was a marginal success.  The system was well received and everyone had fun and are willing and anxious to play again.  The only problem, at least in my head, is that none of the players took the game seriously.  I noticed a lack of seriousness during character creation and no matter how hard I tried to steer the game onto a more serious track, I failed.  This particular group of players are mostly Pathfinder players, but they have had experience with Dresden Files, in which they were able to co-create the game world with their GM in that game.  From what they told me, that got out of hand and over-the-top silly as well.  

I’m not sure whether to suck it up and play a more light-hearted game, which they did enjoy, or try to have a pre-game talk with them and express my desire to have a more serious game, which AW seems to demand.  

Here are the playbooks they selected:

Junker:  Silas McGee

Saint:  Temperance Crandall

Drifter:  Handsome Stranger (the first red flag)

Homesteader:  Thaddeus Woolsworth

I’m going to let the game sink in for a day or two and then create my fronts.  The players did a great job creating memorable PC’s and really enjoyed helping flesh out the NPC’s.  

In thinking about the game, I realize that I had a certain expectation of tone going in, but I’ve played, watched, read, discussed, and argued AW for months!  The players had never even heard of the game!  I failed to share my expectations with them, so I cannot expect them to play the game the way I wanted it played.  They played the way they’ve always played their games and had fun doing it.  If there was a failure, it was mine.  Lesson learned.  

In preparation for a game of AW (Specifically, Apocalypse West), I watched Adam Koebel’s very timely and welcome Roll20 game.  It was awesome and very helpful, but I hit a bit of a snag in my comprehension when he first called for a Go Aggro move.  I was a bit confused by the situation and I’m not sure I would have even called for a move at that time.  Essentially, an NPC was distracted from a PC that she was threatening, allowing the PC to pull a gun and shoot her.  The PC’s express intent was to murder the NPC.  Adam called for a Go Aggro in that situation.  I’m wondering if it would have been better just to let the PC apply harm to the NPC, since she wasn’t even aware of the attack and Adam seemed to stumble in his narrative a bit trying to describe the outcome of the GA roll.  I believe he finally ruled that the bullet grazed her and she was running off to barricade herself in somewhere.  I have read detailed descriptions of GA from people like Vincent and John Harper, but the move still eludes my complete comprehension.  Thoughts?

It seems to me that many AW hacks strip out the Go Aggro move completely and streamline the Seize by Force move, turning it into a general combat move.  In my research to learn more about the difference between GA and SBF, I discovered a thread in which John Harper claimed that, in his game, SBF was almost never used.  His players would always use Go Aggro in combat.  I’m wondering how this looks in play.  I  just cant picture using GA as a combat move as written.

I’ve played a fair bit of DW, but never AW. I have a group who wants to play the Deadlands hack by Willow Palecek. They’ve never played any PBtA games. I’m looking for advice on how to start the game. What questions to ask, what situation to put the players in. Basically, advice on how to set up an AW game for new players and a new GM. Thanks.

Originally shared by David Benson

Tonight I had the opportunity to play SCUP (The Sword, the Crown, and the Ultimate Power) with Todd Nicholas, one of the game’s designers.  It was a blast!  When this game goes to kickstarter I implore you all to take a look.  The game is essentially Game of Thrones Powered by the Apocalypse.  I’m very much looking forward to our next session.  Thanks, Todd!