Lost Horizons: Apocalypse World

Alright ive got my character made, here they are for those interested : Twilight. Also Rindel, when you get the chance could you accept my request to join the game?

Twilight is carrying the custom weapon I have affectionately in the past termed the DANGERGUN. Terrifying thing.
So lone wanderer archetype then for Twilight? Seems normal for the Babe

After thinking about it some more, I I'd like to check out the News. The station always needs something from the ground levels (I'm thinking music from the golden age), and it gives me a bunch of interesting options to make connections to PCs and NPCs.

So for example, the station asks me to fill in characters for the following:
• 3 informants
• the show's biggest fan
• and 2 people I've pissed off

There's also a small security force. Any PCs up for any of those? Maestro d' as an informant or someone I've pissed off perhaps?

I am going for a Brainer so I could fill one of the informants.

Thank god I don't have skin contact exposed for the inevitable violation glove... ;)
Yes~~~~
I figure I'll have been looting radio shacks for parts you keep burning out. Problem with that kind of gig is that CDs and vinyl are pretty fragile, haven't survived well in the corrosive smog unless they're in bubble wrap, and the five years before the Apocalypse had some pretty terrible tastes in music so pickings are getting slim down there unless you're going to pay me some serious scrip to try raiding some territories other warlords control.
I think generally the slots in the News and Maestro have to be NPCs. Gotta own those Grotesque and Brute Threats you'll be generating, amigo. Don't worry: we'll probably all be filling in as those kinds of roles as well after you ask us Hx questions.

As for people you've p----- the hell off, well, choose a part of the city and declare what warlord's out for your blood for whatever gossip you broadcast to all their enemies.

Couldn't ask for a better informant!
Sounds about right!
They can be PCs, NPCs or a mix of both. The Maestro specifies it for their crew, so I just guess it goes for the News as well. I like how it defines relationships, since the News' Hx question is just "Can I count on you to tell me the truth?"

I'll just see which PCs want in, and then fill the rest with NPCs.

Maestro is NPCs only, in nice fancy parentheses, so figured News is the same where you're making six or so named threats. You're not thinking about playing The News without making enemies that aren't going to make ALL of our live's more interesting are you? :D

Just a quick intro to Pops. Once we get to worldbuilding we can do Hx.

Pops is an older gentleman(by apocalypse world standards) whose been getting people what they need for a couple decades now. Dressed in an old world three-piece suit, Pops has been living and doing business out of an old penthouse in this hold for a while now. He has plenty of contacts and plenty of enemies who would take what he's built in a blood-soaked heartbeat. That's why he's got a few trusted friends nearby looking out for him in exchange for whatever goods come his way. Coffee from the far distant jungle arcologies is a rare and precious item that he deals in, but many other items of value pass through his hands daily- making him a well connected individual as well as sometimes putting a target on his back.
He gets his name not from his age, but due to his intolerance for drugs and debauchery. Everyone is free to do what they want with their lives, but once you step foot in Pops' joint you play by his rules. This is a coffee house, not a whore house or a drug den. Those activities produce unwanted drama and Pops will do whatever it takes to keep his place clean-even if it means getting a little dirty.

Coffee! Awesome! I know what's keeping Lattice going then!
Love the concept of just the guy who wants to bring a bit of civility to the world, and a coffee shop would really be the way to do it. Sure, Hx can get done later once the roster's finalised and we know what way the city's blowing up. Also please say that Pop's establishment has got an old green mermaid sign outside it; would be pretty much fitting for my cynicism if even the Apocalypse couldn't stop THAT brand.

So worldbuilding questions I personally want to know. Just letting my brain open and barf forth, and everyone can feel free to tell me to shut up about this kind of thing :) ...

We've got a ruined city beneath us, and obviously it was big enough to have a load of skyscrapers for us all to live in the ruins of, probably supported a mass transit network at some point (I'm thinking it included an elevated train that's partially in disrepair as well as a subway that NO ONE really tries to get into personally). What else do we have. What don't we have? How many rooftop farms, solar and wind generators, and water towers do we have going? What kind of crop do we grow: Mushrooms in the lower levels, rice and vegetables in the upper levels? Is anything from the old world still going, and what landmarks can we see poking up above the mist? Is there a communal power plant, or is everyone using what generators they can hack together on their own little grids?

I've thrown one or two little setting details in my bio about there being at least one gang that runs (ran?) a small slice of the city but what are some of the others? Is it like The Warriors where districts have been carved up, or is it more like city blocks for terrain? Is there one big bad warlord holding the entire city together under any kind of authority (real or imagined, historically granted or otherwise) or is it practically anarchy out there? Is Pop technically in the turf of or paying some protection to someone and what is their rank on the totem pole? How about our Newsie? How peaceful is the situation at the moment and when is THAT going to get worse? Who has what allegiances? Lattice and Twilight definitely look like they aren't sticking their flag in anyone's turf despite their skillsets, so who's looking to change that and what kind of example will they make out of us for freelancing on their turf?

Currency! Old World Currency? Scrip? Just IOUs and Tabs? Or are we really on literal barter economy only here?

How long ago was the Apocalypse? How picked clean is the city below and how bizarre is the architecture of the city above? What numbers of population are we running; are we out of space, or is it kinda haunting up here in the rooftops? How many (other) professional disaster scavengers do we have going? What kinda jobs do the normal people just trying to live their lives do? How common are firearms? How bloodthirsty are our lifestyles, and what kinda justice is meted out?

Is the city all we realistically have, or do we have easy escape options to other places? What outside survived, or do the people bringing coffee into Pops keep disturbingly quiet about that? Why haven't we fled; or why CAN'T we flee? Does the smog literally only go so high, or does it wave and flow to just ruin every part of the world regardless of altitude? Are places like Santa Fe and Denver like the promised land, or are we IN one of those cities and the altitude of the smog is a truly incredible and terrifying thing?

What's the actual nature of the mist? I'm figuring carcinogenic and poisonous, as well as acidic but oddly not corrosive to plastics or synthetics so that the scuba idea gear works. Is it highly visible and green or insidiously translucent and hard to detect until it's too late? What lives down there and how hasn't it killed us all yet? How high up does it go? Two or three stories? Ten? Varies on the day and requires us to always have gas masks handy just in case?

Re: Square footage of claimed land. There is mention that there is war/conflict for it so unless it's purely turf wars or for control on who can scavenge where, I'd say we don't a lot of room and there's a ton of people. We could also double down on the "castle" thing and invent some sort of caste or something. Maybe make homelessness rampant or limit access on some floors?

Re: Resources. I can't contribute much on this but I think we could have a high diversity/variety of food but little volume. It is quite novel to think of a swath of people dedicated to cranking for hours on end for electricity.

Re: Warlord situation. I prefer going with a single head honcho for now and maybe introduce civil war or anarchy later on. Maybe open up with some sort of syndicate or oligarchy hierarchy? Start with everything on the up-and-up before whacking the beehive.

Re: Currency. I would like to suggest the use of some sundry like cards, used shells, plastic or metal chips, or actual chips/foodstuff. Wouldn't paper go rare in the event of an apocalypse?

Re: Is the city all we have? Maybe there could be mansions, bunkers, and/or some sort of settlement on a mountain or across a valley/pit nearby?

Yeah but the gasmen have been pushing a plan for ages to clear some out and seal it off, build themselves a fortress beneath the city, where noone is going to interrupt their work...
or see them approach.
Whatever it is its going to need to be something small and lightweight, wouldn't want to get stuck luggin round extra weight when a broken floor leads down to the toxic abyss.
The way Pops place is described with trade and business I'd imagine there must be some formal currency even if it is only tracked in books, rather than a straight barter system
With the world covered in poison and only a few places with reliable footing above the death line it makes sense the city with more real estate would be the place people want to get to, getting out would be hard because who would want to make the trip, has the resources to take you and knows where they're going? The traders keep locations of other safe zones need to know so they can keep their services premium.
I image it as a mix of different toxic compounds, some dense ones to form a lower layer then a few that flow around the place and form like waves pushing people up and around the city, like a slow moving ocean. Some days it gets low and the thrill seekers and scavengers go deeper into the old world hoping they find something flash and don't get caught by a toxic wave.
As for how visible it is the deep layer is probably pretty easy to see with the higher stuff being barely visible or only detectable by smell, with people needing to read the wind and stay out of the way or keep a gas mask handy.
The deeper you get the more you see the really lethal shit, the light stuffs not an instant death sentence unless you get stuck and run out of air but you don't want to hang around in it for long

Hey all, I'm gonna leave most of these up to you all, but I can certainly answer some questions about the world at large. The Apocalypse was slightly more recent than the rulebook states; I'm going to go with twenty years instead of fifty. So, since we've got a lotta questions, I'm just gonna go down the line and answer what I can for ya.

First off, I'm patterning the mass transit a bit off of Chicago: There will be a large elevated train network spanning the heart of the metropolitan area, as well as subways that, as you correctly guessed, no one in their right mind wants anything to do with. Certain sections of the rail are still functional, powered by some unknown source that no one seems to be able (or willing) to trace. What's more, the elevated rail cars run high enough in certain areas to avoid the cloud entirely. The problem is that the two rail systems are tied in and function as a unit: at certain times, a train travels safely above the more lethal fog, while at other times it dives into the nightmare tunnels below. The timing mechanism, which has also gone undiscovered, is likely malfunctioning: the time tables it keeps are schizophrenic at best, and have a tendency to switch at... inopportune times.

I'd say for now that there's no communal power supply; everyone's on generators, or lacking power entirely. Luckily, the elevators are easy enough to splice with a gennie, and can be powered up and functional if there's a generator in the building. Whether they're safe to use or not, however, is another matter entirely. There is not a singular overlord ruling over the city, even nominally; people with that kind of idealism tend to get shot in the back in short order. The water towers are starting to run dangerously low, and have been depleted entirely in certain cases, but due to being higher than normal, getting water is fairly manageable. Getting CLEAN water, on the other hand, is a bit more of a task.

For spelunkers, I'd say that it's a profession favored by the crazy and the suicidally ambitious, with a considerable overlap between the two camps. There will always be some brave souls daring to risk it all every now and then, but for the most part I'd guess that they're viewed more as folk heroes than career choices. If great hauls start coming in though, it might just trigger a gold rush though... which could destabilize the city, or attract something up from below. The levels just below the fogline will be fairly devoid of truly interesting finds, but once you start to get a little deeper and a little darker, there's wonders just waiting for someone to pick them up.

Barglbroth, I really like the idea of the cloud being layered; I will definitely be playing it up that way. I love the idea of it having waves and currents too; rogue waves are something that terrify me deeply, so rest assured that I can play that up evocatively. I'm also planning on structuring the fog in a way reminiscent of pelagic tiers (The Sunlight Zone, The Twilight Zone, The Midnight Zone, etc) so that divers will be able to have a little subculture of "who's been deepest?" for funsies.

I'm loving all these ideas about the world! The concept of waves of toxic gas rolling around, so that somewhere "above" the cloud isn't always safe, is great. I think the current warlord (shall we go with Dremmer? It seems to be the done thing) has only come to power a couple of years ago, and his hold is tenuous but brutal, though effective.

Aaaand speaking of "tenuous but brutal", let's introduce the big guy known locally as 'Killer'. He's a bear of a man, with a reputation of being dangerous, but he treads quietly. He has muscles that make most mercs give him a wide berth, arms full of jagged tattoos, and a shaven head with a neat goatee. He generally wears a torn old t-short that displays his tattoos, but when he's expecting trouble, has been known to rock up wearing a battered old set of military-style body armour.
He's a polite regular at Pops', respects the rules and reads his flimsy onion-skin newspaper while enjoying his coffee, and tips well. He usually takes gigs bouncing or being scary muscle, but doesn't carry weapons. One bozo, upset about getting kicked out of Pops' place, threatened Killer's little girl as he left. The rest of the town saw him catch up and beat the bozo to death with his fists. No-one has deigned to threaten Killer's kid again.
There's some in the merc community who say that 'Killer' resembles one of Dremmer's old buddies, but not in his earshot. Apparently things went sour a year or two back.

This is my favourite bit about Apocalypse World. :D
Everything about the mist is perfect. Some terrible rolling wave of miasma which is inherently unknowable and complicated, but people have worked out some defences and somewhat hard and fast rules for handling.

Also really like these highlights from the above
Very keen on things like cards being traded for barter, marked with signatures about what they're valid for in what part of the city. Maybe Dremmer's meteoric rise to notoriety in their part of the city is thanks to all the treadmill generators they've set up and the cheap food they're handing out to the serfs to keep the lights on and the tower blocks warm.

Looks like I've someone I've pissed off! Putting Dremmer on the list.
I'll also go ahead and make Killer's girl (Toni perhaps?) the biggest fan of the News' show. She probably doesn't care for all the interviews and doomsaying, but she loves the music from the world she never got to see.

here's Armstrong, the News. He's not all that likeable, has zero chill, but he's honest at least, and loud enough to make himself heard.

Another informant is Frog, the weather guy. He's a weirdo (like, real weird) in a hot air balloon, working as a look-out for storms, toxic waves, pirates, etc.

Anybody got an idea for another person I could've pissed off with the show? A prophet-type guy maybe?

I'm loving this world. Lots of room to play in. I'd like to offer up an idea. Anyone feel free to veto. I'd like to keep our city/region as a kind of undetermined place. Not like Chicago or Denver or any other real world place that we have been or know intimately but a kind of almost fantasy landscape where we are free to make up anything we want and not be limited by what was in that real world place. I imagine we've renamed all of our places to better fit the current situation. From what I remember of the reddit conversation we may have players unfamiliar with the US. Maybe our place is in another undisclosed but vaguely familiar part of the world. That way we can make up city features, surrounding environment etc without forcing us to pin it on a real world map. Again, just a thought. If everyone is keen to put us in a well known city that's perfectly fine too.

I like Armstrong a lot. But no putting the studio in my workspace; it's constantly dipping in and out of some quite dangerous mist levels. Plus you're likely to be bringing trouble to my yard, and I'm already bringing plenty myself.

Also Sky Pirates. Hell yes.
Sorrow runs the mist cult. Of course some folk worship the mist. Surprised more people don't to be honest. Anyway, Sorrow's a real old guy, older than Pops, is missing all his teeth, and has quite a throng following him down near the Old Dockland District. Every full moon they go to an upper level of the mist and suck in some of the fumes, get high and dance and party, then (for the most part) pull themselves back upstairs apparently richer for the experience. I think he's up to about forty people now, all ages and sorts.

Even though that part of the city should normally be at risk of being swallowed up by the mists, Sorrow and his group of faithful always know when to barricade themselves in, as though he's got a real deep connection to the mist. Even Frog's impressed by that level of accuracy, and that may just be how you've annoyed him; that information that Frog's putting out is for the faithful who wish to coexist with the mist, not for the masses who don't accept the mist into their lives.

It's a shame you don't get on with him cause he's one of the few people trying to stand up to the Razors and form some sense of community out of that side of the city, and anyone who stands up to those psychos is good in Lattice's book.
Personally I'm good with that. Means we can at least pull out other metropolitan features as and when we need them without worrying too much about the exact location of their real life analogues.

I'd like some way to tie in the psychic maelstrom. Could this be part of it?

Ah, there, I think I have a character sheet now: 'Killer', the Gunlugger

The mist is the weirdest thing we have. I figure it's gonna have to be part of the maelstrom somehow. But that's all up to Rindel really since the Maelstrom really is one of the few things the MC gets a huge amount of control over. All my stuff is just really enthusiastic suggestion. :)

Oh jeez. I need projects to work on aside from work out what's going wrong with the elevated railway system. Who has what going wrong with their stuff?