OOC Chat

Hello one and all! This will be an OOC chat, open to discussion of just about anything... within reason. I'll be throwing up subforums soon, so stay tuned!

So, anyone want to help me build a checklist for things we need before we can launch? I'm almost ready, but I'm not sure if this needs anything else... I've never run on here before, so any advice is welcome!

So this is my first PBP game for, what, a decade? Got no idea how it's going to work when it comes to us conversing with each other since there's always a lot of talking in AW, so some kind of guidelines or something about that would be good. Also how you want us to do dice rolls; will we finish our posts with the dice roll we plan to make, or do we wait on you to confirm what move we're doing as we do it?

Regular game wise, we're getting the setting ironed out, so then we just need some pertinent, mean questions for you to build your threats out of and our Hx doing before you kick the First Session (First Thread?) off for us.

Good stuff all around. Talking will just be handled in the appropriate thread, depending on whoever's in the scene at that particular moment. I'm probably just going to keep a running clock somewhere, and when people move on to a different location or mutually agree to it, we'll advance the clock.

Example: Twilight drops his DANGERGUN off with Lattice for an upgrade, and decides to go grab a coffee at Pop's while he waits. Lattice and Twilight separate at 1200, and agree to meet up again at 1800; their characters can then have their own scenes at other locations, in case Twilight get into a brawl outside of Pops, or Lattice determines she needs something from Below to finish the job. As for the abilities that allow people to spontaneously appear in scene... I plan to have that be a little surprise relating to the Maelstrom.

As for dice rolling, I think we'll start with me calling the moves, just to make sure everyone's on the same page. Once we get into the flow of things, I'm perfectly all right with letting you all call the shots if you feel like it. I'm here to make sure everyone has fun, and the best way for me to do that is to keep us moving like a well-oiled machine, I think.

Last but not least, I've already got a handful of threats rolling around in my skull, but I'm eager to see what kind of chaos will arise from the Hx questions and backstory. Did you mean that you need pertinent, mean questions FROM me, or to one another?

I really like that clock rule. Sounds like a very good way to organise it. All the rules sound good to me.
Both :D

Always good to try and tie us into the PC-NPC-PC triangles we didn't expect to be tied into, so trying to connect our threats up with each other so that we're stepping in each other's way narrative-wise is part of the fun with this game.

Thanks much! I think most of the early questions are going to be survival focused, so I think I'll make a separate thread for that. It'll be fun to throw up questions from time to time and see who answers, and how!

Hey guys, just joined. I love me some Apocalypse World, even backed the kickstarter and got one of those gameplay relics. I've mostly MC'd, but being a player is nice as well.

We have a Savvyhead, Brainer, News, Maestro'D, Gunlugger, Child-Thing, and Battlebabe so far? I'm thinking of being a Hardholder or a Hocus.

Also, I'm reading the main thread to get caught up on the world you've guys made so far.

Glad to be here!

Edit: Had to keep adding stuff as I read.

Nice to have you. :)
Some of us hid stuff away on our character sheets so go have a read of those as well. Out of the two you mentioned, Hardholder sounds like it'll fit in the best in the imminent turf war that's about to break loose. We've also got a LOT of weird floating around at the moment if I remember correctly and not a lot of Hard if that kind of thinking leans you either direction.

Can't wait to go to Hx and see this get started. Am refreshing this forum every hour looking for new posts. :)

Since someone said something about dirigibles, I think I want to make a hardholder who has taken up residence near the center of the city. He'll be a former pirate-turned-businessman who figured out that transporting cargo/people was way more profitable than raiding them. I figure his holding could be the top half of a building that has plenty of ports for ships, and ziplines connecting to other holdings.

I'd say he's definitely ambitious, but doesn't care about a specific governing style. He just removes those who make business difficult, and protects the people who make it easier. Usually it only takes a quick introduction and judge of character to be allowed a spot in his holding.

What do you guys think?

I'm game for that; different take on the holder who's trying to control shipping lanes rather than just turf. I imagine there's plenty of fun to be had with you trading with Pops the Maestro for supplies and each of you one upping each other for commercial control of the city.

Got my character up, pending approval. Excited to do HX moves and see how everyone's ideas come together!

Hey all! Sorry, got a mite busy yesterday; I'm going to be getting the Hx up today. Do you all want to do intro posts, or would you like me to open with an event that everyone can react to?

I think regular intros are fine since most of us have been living in the city for a while now, yeah? I like the idea of an event kickstarting things though, would be a good way to pair us up in unique ways.

Either sounds good to me, but I figure we'll get most of our intros and what we know about each other out of the way as part of Hx so I'm leaning towards kicking us off with an event as soon as we're done with forging some deep personal bonds. :)

**EDIT: And we're live! Head on over to the Hx thread: Friends, Foes, and Everything In-Between!

I think I've got my character all set up, let me know if there are any problems.

All square! Everything looks good to me.

Awesome, ready to get rolling. My Hx is pretty straightforward. I'll throw a post soon.

Read my mind; I was gonna ask you if you wanted to go first!

Question: I have the 1st edition PDF, but nothing for 2e. Can anyone speak to differences in moves that would be an issue? I know most changes came in characters with the removal of operators and everyone getting gigs. What else do I need to know?

There's a few small differences. Hx was one of the major ones where now it's only your questions that fill in your values. Most of the major changes to moves are already included in the reference sheet so go with what's in those.

Things like Road War and Chases have been codified, as has things like starvation and psychic damage (d-harm and psi-harm). Oh, and we HAVE to spend 1-barter at the beginning of session (2 for the News) unless we're Hardholder or Maestro playbooks or explain who's covering for us (PC or NPC).

Are you using an old playbook? If so, here's the free extended playbooks.

There are alterations to some moves, while others remain the same. There's also paying for lifestyles, completely new battle moves, roadwar moves, and some other smaller things. Just get the 2E stuff for free on the website.

Sorry I'm a little behind. I've posted some Hx from other characters tonight. I'll post Pops Hx tomorrow and fill out some more info with some of the others.

I am thrilled with how the Hx stuff is going. Do you guys need anything particular from me? If so, feel free to let me know; I check this pretty regularly. I've got almost everything I need; I'm just piecing together a few more triangles so I can keep things all sorts of dicey.

Just some questions about the vehicles. I basically just made normal cars and stuck the work 'sky' or 'blimp' on them. Are the all going to be some sort of blimp, or are there hover cars as well?

There are hover cars as well; I'll assign anything with a massive over 2 as a zepplin, while anything of 1 or 2 as a hovercar. Motorcycle-types will either be jetbikes or some kind of bizarre ornithopter/wing suit/jetpack deal... Oh damn, that's actually pretty freaking cool. Yay for apocalyptica!

I'm glad to hear your enjoying watching our ideas bounce around.

So we're waiting for everyone to get the HX done before starting, yeah? I think I've responded to everyone's thread so far.

Anyone know BlueEyePaladin? They might not be subscribed to these forums or even know they exist, since they are new to the site.

Sorry, I somehow missed this entire set of threads! I've posted on everyone's Hx threads now, trying to catch up.
I'm liking the answers to our Hard Questions, not much to offer myself on that point. I think 'Killer''s more a consumer than he is involved in creation of resources, butwho knows what will come up?

Killer, check your PMs.
The only Hx I'm missing now is Pops. Who is still waiting on answers from me?

Got your PM. I think I've only given Hx to Lattice so far.

Oh yeah, what are we using for barter? I like the idea of playing-cards. Maybe part of Dremmer's power (aside from the gang and the treadmill-generators) is also that he has the printers and material to make the cards.

Cards as currency? It certainly puts a new spin on "making a deal"...

So we starting soon? :D

I sure hope so! I've been enjoying Hx, but I want to get started! My guess is Rindel's doing us some love letters, which I know can take a while!

You caught me, Paladin ;) Where do we want to choose who's stats are highlighted? Do we want a separate thread, or do we just want to post it on character pages?

Either character pages, or as the first responses we make when a Session (thread?) begins.

I agree, any time is fine. I'm ready for a bad Wealth roll to kick off the session!

I have 3 characters tied for highest Hx. Canary, Armstrong, Eddie whoever is first highlights my stat.

I'm not in love with the idea with the idea of playing cards as currency. I'm not in love with the idea of fiat currency. The by-the-book rule of abstract barter seems to work fine but if we're doing playing cards I'm definitely not in love with the idea of someone who can print money. Playing cards are old-world manufactured things which would be tough to duplicate, so they might be ok for currency. But coated plastic stock and digitally generated images with a printing press, ink, etc...? That's a hard pill for me to swallow. Unless that printing press and all of it's components are in the crosshairs session one, I'm skeptical. If I get downvoted to hell on this that's cool, I'll go along.

I can understand that- what if the cards are the currency, backed by some sort of concrete object (not gold, I'm thinking food, water, bullets, etc.)? Would that make more sense to you? Like, the cards are the actual items traded, but you can change them out for something concretely valuable, which saves you carrying it around (say, a deck is a month's food or something- you'd need a supermarket trolley to transport that, but for trading, a card is much more transportable. Plus, different cards might be worth more or less, and it's only worth 1-barter if it's a full 52-card deck with all the suits intact, or something?).

Quick update: Only three love letters remaining, for Lattice, Killer, and Pops respectively. Soooon!

Making paper and playing cards date back to 14th century China, so I'm sure people would be able to figure it out how to make them in an apocalyptic setting that has hover cars. They don't have to be the fancy modern kind, they can just be painted card board with patterns imprinted from stamps. I'm down with the idea that the printed, lamenated kind are worth way more than the low-tech copies.

Also, most kings and warlords made their own currency whenever they took over, so it wouldn't be crazy from Dremmer to want to make his own currency to enhance his power. It doesn't mean that's the only currency in the whole world either, there's still plenty of regular barter trading going on.

Sounds legit. I can get behind that. I do think the idea of playing cards as currency is cool. Are aces high or low?

Seems like all the HX stuff is mostly done, I think? I think the only unsure things are where Pop's coffee shop and Lattice's workshop are located. Unless they are in super secret places that only the character and MC know about.

Stat highlights also seem mostly done, minus the MC's highlights.

Ah. Location of my workshop is on my character sheet. A department store with a majority of its floors below the safe mist line that Lattice is busying herself with sealing. It's near an Elevated train stop, but at street level it's got its own metro station, which Lattice is hoping will give her easier access to the mass transit network when so gets around to trying to get it under control.

Just posting to check I haven't missed anything in the last few days. My email decided all notification posts were junk mail, and auto-deleted them. Fun fun.

Don't think you've missed much. Think we're just waiting for final little bits of Hx, stat highlighting, and some love letters and first session kick off from Rindel to get us all going :)

Hey all, sorry for not being in touch sooner; I had some IRL difficulties that needed fixing, but you'll be pleased to know that I'm squared away and ready for action! I'll be sending out the love letters shortly; they're going to be setting up our very first chapter of this particular Apocalypse. Ladies, gentlemen, and anything else out there I'm in communication with... I give you:


"Castles in the Sky, Chapter One: Into the Storm!"

**EDIT: LLs have been sent! I've never written them before, so suggestions for improvement are welcome.

Welcome back Rindel. :D
Rolling my love letter requirement here.

Looks like we're getting things started. Before I roll for my love letter should we start a separate game thread?

I was about to ask the same question actually, how exactly do we get started with these love letters?

I sent mine back as a private message :)
Barglbroth and BlueEyedPaladin have opened threads for theirs though. I imagine so long as Rindel sees it, whichever way works and gets us moving

My post will probably be pretty short, so I don't think I'll need to open an actual thread for it.

I guess I'll throw my roll out here and see what happens, hope I get it right too:

So I'm gonna make an IC thread with what Canary is doing during the storm, and it'll involve the outcomes of the love letter as well. Not sure the best way to format the posts, so I decided just to make it restricted to a single location: Canary's Penthouse. That way you guys can drop in whenever your character would actually show up.

If the format is too complicated I have no problems changing it, just trying to start somewhere!

Not super sure on the timeline, but Armstrong would be heading out to get help right now. I guess that's around the time the storm is starting to roll in. Haven't posted it yet, because I've got a question for KaynSD and Rindel: How would Armstrong get a hold of Lattice, especially when the radio's all fucked up?

Lattice's space isn't too far away from Pops; maybe a few minutes walk from the establishment. Get to the roof of the department store she works out of, ring the bell and wait for the doors to unbolt. Aside from that, if you're broadcasting and radio's a thing in this setting then she's probably got one she's listening to while working.

Okay, so just for clarity's sake, the storm is going to be hitting at 2000 hours game time. Sunset is 1800, dawn is 0600; I'm thinking we should just have everyone pick a start time, then edit it into the first post. Thoughts?

Sounds good, I've put in my times already and Lattice and Canaries stories have their time frames in already so there's a framework of event timings to work off now.

We starting the first session proper in the love letters threads or we moving this to one other thread? I have a feeling Rindel's got to highlight our stats before we get too much further in and I'm losing track of the order of everyone's timelines with them spread out over seven topics.

I put some timeline into mine to clear it up. I'm fairly isolated right now so I don't think many people will need my love letter thread. I have no problems consolidating.

There are different plots going on at the same time, so I think we should have different threads for each one. We can consolidate once the locations/events merge together. That way we won't have one big confusing thread.

Hey all, sorry for being quiet recently; I'd very much like to get a single thread started for everyone, but I'm still waiting on a few loose ends in the Love Letter threads. If anyone is waiting on me for anything, feel free to drop me a message; I'm a little spacey sometimes, and I don't mind being prodded in the right direction, eh heh. I'll have the stat highlights finished by tonight.

No problem. My love letter is at more of a narrative point right now so working my sitch into the main thread should be easy. Pops can move or stay put at this point so I'm content waiting to see the main thread.

My thread is done, since plans have been made and whatnot.

So where are we at? Any love letters still going on or are well all done?

Not exactly sure, but I'm going to start the main thread so folks can start doing their things. I'm gonna post up the sitch, feel free to follow up with reactions and locations.

Highlights!

Killer: Cool
Armstrong: Sharp
Goldaline: Weird, or if highlighted, Sharp
Twilight: Cool, or if highlighted, Weird
Eddie: Weird, or if highlighted, Cool
Lattice: Hot, or if highlighted, Weird

Hey guys just thought Id give a heads up I will be going on a vacation over the next couple of weeks so my ability to respond quickly may be a bit spotty.

I don't see any highlights for Pops. They may be posted elsewhere.

So... are we still going?
Rindel, I was waiting for your new post but can't see anything.
I'm liking these characters and interactions, would love to keep the game going.

Yeah, I'd like to see this continue as well. :)

I'm still following as well. If we don't hear from Rindel by Monday we may want to look for another gm.

Unfortunately, I'll be dropping out of this game. Rindel is swamped with work and I think 8 PC's is a huge burden for even professional GM's.

However, I let him know I'd help out as an assistant MC if he was down for it. Like someone who wrote minor posts and such to keep things flowing. We'll see what happens.

Sorry to hear we'll be losing you, Handle.
With no response from Rindel yet, are people interested in continuing?

I've GM'd D&D and a lot of other RPGs, but actually haven't MC'd Apocalypse World yet.
I'm willing to give it a shot (and am happy to be corrected on stuff if I'm wrong) though.
So if there's no-one else, and people are wanting to continue, and willing to cut me some slack, I'll put my hand up.

I think Barglbroth may still be on vacation, but anyone else, let me know here or by PM if you'd prefer.

I’m good to keep going

Yeah if you want to take the reins BlueEyedPaladin I'm good with that.

Hey there all. Sorry for my extended absence; we lost two people at work recently, and we've been scrambling to cover the shifts ever since. If BlueEyedPaladin wants to take the reins, I'm totally okay with that; I feel like you're all invested in this world enough to keep it going. I'm going to try my hardest to be on more, but any help would be greatly appreciated; I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew, eh heh. Hope you're all still around, and sorry for being incommunicado for so long.

No worries Rindel. Life gets in the way often.

Great to hear from you, Rindel. Best of luck at work, let me know if there's anything I can do along your preferred lines.

Ok, so it looks like Lattice and Goldaline are on-board, and Canary is out.

Any clues on Pops, Armstrong, Eddie, and Twilight? We need a bit of critical mass in order to get moving.

Well, I'm probably going to shift Canary to an NPC role; I like his character too much to just chuck him, and handle said they were going to stick around, so we'll probably just use him as our local warlord type dude. That said, I think a good place to start would be with the missions everyone is going to be embarking on in the episodic format.