Gameplay Rules

The digest version of PbtA (Powered by the Apocalypse) is this: a game called Apocalypse World created a rules set that became very popular and spawned various hacks, of which US is one.

The game runs off a fiction first premise. Each of the rules, or moves, have a fictional trigger. Narrate what you're doing, and you can trigger a move. For the sake of fiction, avoid using the name of the move as your action description - sometimes, the move you originally think to trigger isn't the best one for the situation, or the move is unnecessary because you've set yourself up in the fiction to automatically succeed at what you're narrating.

Broadly, if your action triggers a move, roll 2d6+stat. A 7+ is a hit and a 6- is a miss. If you hit with a 10+, you do whatever you were attempting, but on a 7-9 there are some consequences or complications. On a miss, you open yourself up to the MC (Master of Ceremonies - yeah, it's a bit more arch than GM, but the game embraces a bit of melodrama) making a move against you.

There are 7 basic moves that handle the heavy lifting of the game: unleash an attack; escape a situation; figure someone out; mislead, distract, or trick; keep your cool; and let it out. Then, each Archetype has moves that grant powers or expand the basic moves for that class as well as flesh out some for the dramatic nature of the genre.

There are a few more bits to know, but those are the broad brushstrokes. Post here for more specifics whenever you need to.

Advancement in US

While there are the basic character sheet changes that happen because of fiction (you get new gear, an NPC you know dies), with Advancement, you pick new stuff and then we bring it into the story.

To Advance, you need to "mark" all 4 Factions. That just means that on the Playbook, your Faction stats have little boxes in the corner that you can check off (or keep track of online in some way), and once all four are marked - checked off, that is - you choose an Advance from the list and unmark the Factions so you can start over.

There are five ways you get to mark a Faction:
* making a Faction move (hit the streets, put a face to a name, and investigate a place of power, all explained in the Ch.3 excerpt and summarized on the Basic Moves Play Aid);
* triggering an intimacy move (specific to each Archetype, under Drama Moves on your Playbook);
* cashing in a Debt (even if the debtor refuses to honor the Debt);
* honoring a Debt from someone else; and
* as byproduct of another move that specifies marking a Faction.

For each of those, you mark the Faction involved when you did your action. You don't mark a Faction multiple times even if given the opportunity; it only counts when the box is blank, and only becomes blank when you have marked all four and turn in the marks for an Advancement.

Corruption in US

Corruption in US is kinda sorta like losing Humanity from oWoD. It is meant to embody the times when the pressures of the city seep into you, the darkness that burrows in next to your heart each time you embrace dark bits of your soul for the power you needed at the time.

Corruption has its own little advancement system. You have a five box corruption track. You mark a corruption box on the track (or do it in some fashion online) when
* you trigger your Archetype's corruption move;
* a regular move requires you to mark corruption (let it out is a big culprit, but there are a few other ones, usually Playbook specific moves as opposed to basic moves); or
* the MC tells you to (this could be the result of a miss on a role and me getting to make a move against the players, but sometimes it's just fictionally appropriate based on wacky shit you do as a PC).

Once you check off all five boxes, you must erase them to cash in for a corruption advance and start over. Generally, corruption advances give you a new, powerful move, but they pretty much always require you to mark corruption, just like your initial corruption move, giving you more options to make the downward spiral a temptation. However, the last corruption advance you take is a transition to a corrupt, heart of darkness NPC. Retire as a threat. Roll a new PC.

There are a few ways to stave off the darkness - usually, there is an advance that let's you unmark a corruption advance. But as you gain more corruption, you can select it again.

Session Intro move

At the beginning of a session, we use this move to build the bones of that session's storyline. US intends for sessions to be like TV show episodes, having their own self contained plot that can carry over to an overall season/campaign plot. Since we won't be playing a typical face to face time frame, I'll try to use episodic plot structure to help define when we have "finished a session." Though I may have some plot points I'd like to insert, or previous fiction will pose some impending issues, the brainstorming you guys do in the Session Intro conversation will be the seeds for any given session's plot line.

If we start a session the middle of crazy, chaotic situation - or if there's already a lot of conflict and tension in fiction at the moment - the MC might just skip the Session Intro.

When the move triggers, every player does the following (I'll respond in the order folks post, finishing once PC before starting the next):
* announce which character your PC trusts the least;
* mark a Faction specified by the announced character;
* tell the MC a rumor or conflict that you've heard about that Faction (make up a new one, or use previously established fiction for an idea seed);
* roll+that Faction
- on a 10+, you're prepared for the conflict you laid out (You've got a new Debt on someone in that Faction or a useful piece of information or equipment, your choice.);
- on a 7-9, you're neck deep in it (You owe someone in that Faction a new Debt, but someone in that Faction owes a Debt to you.); or finally
- on a miss, you're caught flat-footed, unprepared, or unaware (The MC will tell you who is coming at you, and you help hash out the details).

Remember, the point of this move is to expand upon or create new threats and conflicts in the city, but it's also a chance to goal post what you as a player think is interesting and fun. Introduce a conflict or rumor that ties together groups that you don't yet have marked. Make things simple and direct if you want (a powerful supernatural is angry at an ally, someone is moving against a nest of vamps), but try to hook in some consequences that bring the PCs to the party (it's a PCs ally, or an NPC did something to garner a PC's ire, you don't care about that nest of vamps, but those assholes are stepping on someone's turf without permission to get at them). Tie in as much previous fiction as you desire, or invent new whole cloth to add more craziness to the city, but mostly give hooks to something you want to see!

Debt moves

Debt fuels this game. Debt is used as currency and also as a way to get aid, find protection or supplies, and various other things.

so how do debts work?

first of all, to gain a debt you need to do someone a favor by providing a service without recompense. you just saved a PC or NPC's life? they owe you. Provide someone with information they need in order to exact revenge? they owe you. In order for someone to owe you a debt, they need to be aware of it.

so someone is indebted to you. now what? you have a few options. you can cash in a debt which can compel someone to do the following:

if they are a PC, you can recall the debt owed in order to get them to do you a favor at a moderate cost, lend a hand for your efforts or get in the way of someone else's action, answer a question honestly, erase a debt they hold on you or give you a debt someone else owes them

if the person is an NPC, they can answer a question honestly about their faction, introduce you to a powerful person in their faction, give you a worthy and useful gift without cost, erase a debt they hold on someone, give you a debt they hold on someone else, and give you a +3 to persuade them.

anyone can refuse to honor a debt by rolling their spirit. on a hit, you weasel out of the deal, but you stay indebted. on a 7-9, you pick 1 out of: incur a second debt, lose face with their faction, or mark corruption. on a miss, you MUST perform the task. if you still refuse, then whoever is cashing it in can choose 2 out of the 3 consequences or cause you to lose all your debts owed to you.

you can also drop someone's name that owes you a debt as a means to coerce someone else by threatening them to cash in the debt to make the presumably more powerful entity do something to them. roll with the faction of the person whose name you're dropping. on a 10+ you keep the debt and mark their faction. on a 7-9, you lose the debt and on a miss you erase the debt and terrible things will happen to you.