Lost Horizons: Apocalypse World

Hello all! Per request from Reddit, I'm going to be running an Apocalypse world campaign for those interested; this is my first game here on Gamer's Plane, and I'm very excited to get to play with all of you awesome people. I'm still working out details of game proper, so I have very little set in stone other than the system, honestly... I'd love to make this a game that everyone will enjoy, and I hope that I can help everyone feel included in the worldbuilding process.

So, that's about it for now, but I'll be adding more in as we hammer things out. Folks from Reddit will get preference once the game opens, but I'll certainly be taking people from here to fill in any vacancies. Cheers, and thanks for reading!

Hi Rindel, as commented on Reddit, I'm very interested! Let me know what/when/how etc.

Looking forward to this. I'm down for playing as pretty much any Basic Playbook and throwing a billion ideas out for worldbuilding and worldwrecking.

Sounds like fun! Welcome to anyone new to the site! Cheers!

I'm in for sure. Thanks for starting this and for MCing.

All right then! Let's get down to some planetcracking, eh? I've got a handful of ideas, but my two bigguns are as follows...

The Golden Sea: Inspired by Grant Howitt. An ocean of sand covers the world, with the ruins of skyscrapers poking up out of the interminable wastes. However, this isn't Road Warrior, because that would require roads! An innovation just prior to the End of the World led to hovercrafts acting as a highly sustainable and easy to maintain form of transportation the world over, with plentiful parts and easy to refine fuel. Water is a precious commodity, obviously, but the clever or bold can find springs rising from the centers of large urban areas... if one is willing to brave the horrors that lurk there. Strange crystals form from the sand, giving strange powers to a lucky few, and wretched death to most, and over it all whirls the psychic maelstrom, jealously guarding the truth of the great sea's origin from the eyes of the curious.

Castles in the Sky: Based on an idea from the AW subreddit, posted by an author who then deleted their account. The world is covered in toxic mist, but the death fog is heavier than air: it pools, running like a poisonous river into valleys and city streets. A new form of civilization arose atop the structures of old, first in the form of huddled masses crowded onto the roofs and upper floors of larger buildings. Time went on, trade and communication arising between buildings as brave, agile transporters found ways to navigate the ruins. Now, intricate spiderwebs of rickety bridges, abandoned cranes, steel girders, and occasionally crude dirigibles allow access to much of the city once more, facilitating both the sharing of culture... and war. Scavengers clad in salvaged scuba gear descend into the toxic mist to gather what they can and flee back into the light before the twisted things lurking within catch the sound of the heartbeats.

Oh I'm very much down for this. I picture wasp-nest style extensions clinging to the side of buildings that are barely holding themselves together after decades of lack of maintenance, people having to descend to the depths to repair and attach scaffolding (or sabotage it), buckets and containers suspended everywhere to catch precious rainwater before it falls to the contaminated sewers below, rooftop farms and greenhouses sprouting all along the tenement blocks, and the one or two looming skyscrapers being the real holds of powers for the local warlords that they launch sorties out from to gain precious vertical terrain...

And I really want to play someone with some of that precious vertical real estate I think.

Oh hell yes. That sounds amazing.
Sign me up! I'm keen for a gunlugger or battlebabe type, as long as I'm not stepping on anyone else's toes?

I adore the idea of those big open spaces, the webs of steel and skating along wires between buildings and leaping across gaps. Im thinking either battlebabe, gunlugger or driver, looking to tear up the skyways one way or the other. :)

Glad some other folks are looking at Violence

I'm torn between running the dedicated neutral ground between the Warlords and being Maestro D', or being one of the more successful of the scavengers who actually knows what they're looking for and being a Savvyhead. Either sound like my jam.

If people want a "home base" to return to and to focus on the politics of the hold, I'll pick Maestro'D. If we all want to instead band together as a group that's trying to carve a way out of that mess I could take the Savvy.

Or... oh if we want both at the same time I wouldn't mind being a Hardholder who's trying to scrape their way up from the bottom of the barrel, Scarface style.

Hell yes. This is far beyond anything I thought we'd be doing. Kayn, if you don't mind I've had my eye on Maestro'D, but you did call it first. If you're all in I'll pick something else. I'd like to at least start in a holding high in the sky so we can get to know our friends/enemies. Super pumped to explore this landscape.

Naa, if you're really feeling the Maestro'D then go ahead and pick it up. I personally think the Maestro should be trying to run the local No Mans Land bar where people come to settle scores or relax on neutral turf.

I love all the playbooks so I will not mind too much about taking a Savvyhead and being one of the suckers who goes down to basement and metro levels to scavenge for lost technology, fix it up, and sell it to the local warlords doing my best to play them off against each other. I'll be staying well away from combat since I'll likely be taking the Hard 0 statline, but with Spooky Intense to offset the terrible Cool. Figure I'm also one of the few freelance mechanics who haven't been hoovered up or impressed into someone's group yet.

I've said a few times about the ideas of there being a load of warlords all trying to seize control of the area. Just picturing there being warlords dominating some tower blocks, ruling from penthouses, trying to build bridges across interstates or major boulevards to expand territory, putting faith into dirigible riding gangs for raids with limited ability to retrieve cargo. That sound like something we'll be dealing with in this setting?

I'm also imagining that choppers and drivers are going to have a real hard deal with this setting given the floor is toxic lava, but I imagine if someone wants driver they've got THE sweetest ride in the area (like, possibly one of the sole surviving personal helicopter sweetest) and the choppers are instead up in big blimps with rappelling gear rather than bikes?

Thanks a ton. I'm picturing the car/tech-centric characters using hovercraft like cars(possible CO-2 engines?) I'm looking forward to car combat and so glad to see that it's not modern day cars because I have a big problem with the "road warrior" theme because gas doesn't last very long at all. This abstracts it into the future which is awesome. Also "The floor is lava" is one of my favorites, now with 50% percent more unknown shit.

Haha, yessss, this is already giving me ideas... I'd say that hovercars would be awesome, and we will DEFINITELY be having dirigible pirates. CO2 engines are also perfect for the setting, and will certainly be included. If a driver or chopper wants a helicopter, I'll probably allow for either one or the other; the driver would get a personal helicopter, whereas the chopper would get something a bit fatter, like a Chinook.

Damn all this heli talk has me dreaming of the moment we see a strafing run through a skyscraper but im really jamming on the idea of a Battlebabe drifter, skating and riding along wires between buildings nothing but some board shorts , a backpack full of shotgun and a strange board that glows at night lighting the sky ways. So im pretty set on that right now, That said BlueEyedPaladin you said you were keen on a shooty type,yeah? if thats still the case would people want a bit more variety? id be fine thinking up some flashy driver ideas

Oh, that kind of character sounds like great fun! I'm thinking of a hard-bitten pilot kind of Gunlugger, something close to Booker deWitt from Bioshock Infinite or Rick from The Mummy, leaping between girders and buildings and hurling people down into the mists, so I have zero problem with you being a Battlebabe.

Yessssss~~~~
Damn Battlebabes. No matter what setting they're in they are they sound like characters straight out of an early 2000's video game. In this case, Jet Set Radio Future. Awesome. :D

Heyo! Headed here from Reddit too.
Man, that sounds good. At first glance, I'd like to play a character that comes with a bunch of people, so probably Hardholder, Hocus or Chopper. Especially the chopper sounds interesting with the ideas you've all mentioned – helicopters, balloons, rappelling gear, and gliders all sound really cool – but I'd be picking the playbook based on what everyone else is bringing. An Angel might be interesting too, with the pirates and expeditions into toxic mist and whatnot. (Oh boy, or the News!)

So I've thrown a character up for Savvyhead. I'm assuming Zoomzilla's done one for Maestro'D (can't see the details on Pops). Was really tempted to do the up and coming Hardholder but figured I'd like the narrative freedom of being mobile. So I think those are our current lock ins (Rindel vetoing our ideas notwithstanding)

Oh Boy The News indeed. But jeez that playbook is a tough play.

Google Docs version of my Savvyhead here...

I'm amenable to anything you all feel like working out. I'm here to observe, facilitate, and savor the madness that will blossom when creative minds have space to play... needless to say, I can't wait! I'll be putting up the IC thread before the weekend, life weirdness notwithstanding. Any suggestions for other subforums I ought to add in?