So, I just picked up Uncharted Worlds. I really, really wanted to like this game, but it’s left me a little flat.
There are a few key points to most Apocalypse World games that I love:
1) The play books have custom moves that ensure each character has a unique role in the game, and really highlight that role.
2) The moves are written to force the players into making hard decisions.
3) The game usually (though not always) includes some sort of mechanic to model the relationships between characters.
4) The best AW hacks have included extensive guidance about how the game is supposed to be run (especially for the GM).
UW feels lacking in all of these. The moves, as written, feel a bit flat. The skills are often shared among the different careers and origins. And there’s no inter-party relationship mechanic (that I can find). And very little guidance to help GMs best use the mechanics.
Also, I am not a huge fan of the combat system (as I understand it). It sounds like there should be one roll, then you narrate back and forth based on the roll.
Personally, I prefer a system where there are small chunks of back and forth narration, punctuated by rolls. And, while one-roll combat resolution has a place (for example, for combats that are not narratively important), I don’t want it to be the default.
The rules do hint that multi-roll combat resolution is possible–but it doesn’t show how that would be done. I haven’t been able to figure out a good approach on my own.
Am I missing or misunderstanding something? Or should I just chalk this up as “not for me” and move on?