Gargboss – Powered by the Apocalypse G+ Archives

Hello community!

I’m going to hold a Shadowrun like one shot game soon and want to use AW for that. I know there are PtbA games out there who specialize for this genre, but my impression is that AW should work fine and it’s the system I’m most familiar with.

The only problem I see is cyberware. Prosthetics in AW are mostly cosmetics and only bring a character back to “normal” functionality. Can you tell me about modifications you (un)successfully tried to fit vanilla AW and Cyberware which have stronger influence in the game? It would be great if you also can tell me why you (dis)liked the changes you tried.

My own approach atm would be something along the following lines: each Implant gets a benefit tag which gives +1 to test in a certain circumstance. Leg implants e.g. give +1 for Acting under pressure when the character tries to get from point A to point B quickly, but not when willpower is concerned for a Act under Pressure check.

Cheap implants always come with a drawback tag which applies a -1 modificator in the same way.

All implants are visible and get a descriptive tag. Depending on the description and the people you interact with, this could be a hindrance, bonus or does not matter. This is a handy approach to apply Hard Moves into the game.

High quality Cyberware can choose one bonus: no weakness, wetware or less limitations to apply their bonus.

Any feedbacks and experience reports are highly welcome!

Last AW session I found the Angel’s “Healing Touch” move results to be designed strangely.

The roll results read as follows:

On a 10+, heal 1 segment. On a 7–9, heal 1 segment, but you’re also opening your brain, so roll that move next. On a miss: first, you don’t heal them. Second, you’ve opened both your brain and theirs to the world’s psychic maelstrom, without protection or preparation. For you, and for your patient if your patient’s a fellow player’s character, treat it as though you’ve made that move and missed the roll.

The usual goal for this move is healing and the different results reflect that well. The 6- result is fine too, because in addition to failing to heal, the MC can make a unpleasant move.

What I found strange is the complication on 7-9 very possibly isn’t a complication. Especially if the Angel has weird highlighted and gets a hit on the opening your brain move. Instead of just healing 1 segment the Angel gets an additional XP point (because the character actually makes the move instead of “treat it as though”, like with the 6- result) and receives “new and interesting information”.

In short: the 7-9 “Healing Touch” result is way better than the 10+ result unless the player misses the open your brain move.

That does not feel right to me. Do I miss something in the move’s design? If you agree, how do you solve this issue narratively or mechanically? I would like to reserve psi-harm for misses (would get boring in the long run anyway) and handing out wrong information doesn’t work forever too.

Any feedback is gladly appreciated!