Apocalypse World: Separate Them

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

From last night's game...

Jonathan's operator, Lafferty, goes to deal with one of his crew, a woman named Clarion that he sometimes sleeps with. She's climbed up on the water tower and has golden light streaming from her eyes. Lafferty was pretty goddamn certain that he had dealt with The Light once and for all, but no, he didn't -- Clarion is the bitter end of it. So up he goes.

He says, "I creep up behind her." (He's acting under fire. He blows the roll.) She turns her gaze on him and so he opens his brain to the Light, just like that. He rolls an 8, a mixed result. A wave of peace and contentment floods through him (he's felt this before). "You're in the light now. Everything is going to be alright," I say, speaking for Clarion. The choice is: accept the peace and happiness, or tear away from it, violently and for good.

Lafferty tears away. Part of him tears a bit (1-harm ap) and part of Clarion tears, too -- it's worse for her. Lafferty comes out of the Light and sees Clarion collapsing, blood streaming from her eyes, falling off the water tower. He lunges out for her. (He's acting under fire. He blows the roll.) She falls.

We all look at the picture of the island that shows the water tower. "That's pretty tall. I'd say it's 50/50 for her." Everyone agrees. We roll. It doesn't go Clarion's way.

They carry Clarion's limp body into the house where Lala the medic is. Lala works on her for a bit then comes out with the news. "Her head is messed up real bad. Her heart is beating and she's breathing, but that's it. She's not waking up. Ever."

-----

A little later, Lafferty goes into the room where Clarion's comatose body is. He holds her hand. "I'm opening my brain," Jonathan says. "I want to try to find her, wherever she is. Can I do that?" Oh yes. Yes yes, I say.

Lafferty opens his brain. He blows the roll. I think to myself that my move is separate them, but I don't make it yet. He finds Clarion in a dark place. A between-world full of shadows and murmuring voices. She's lost, groping around. Lafferty goes and embraces her, tries to talk to her. She's confused. "I'm not supposed to be here," I say, speaking as Clarion again. "I want my mom."

Lafferty killed her mother a few days earlier. He never got around to mentioning that.

He tries to talk to her, but she's confused. "My head hurts," she says. "I don't like this. I want my mom." She kind of pulls away as if to go looking for her mother in the shadowy netherworld. I'm just about to bring my move to fruition.

"I let her go," Jonathan says. She disappears into the darkness.

Separate them.

Labels: apocalypse world

posted by John Harper at 10:01 AM | 7 comments

My Games on Play This Thing

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Greg Costikyan, one of the most influential game designers in my role-playing history (author of Ghostbusters, Star Wars d6, Toon, Paranoia) has reviewed two of my games on Play This Thing: Lady Blackbird and Agon.

I can't tell you how wonderful it is for me to read such positive things about my work from the man that first inspired me as an RPG designer (when I hacked his d6 system from Ghostbusters at age 13).

Thanks for everything, Greg.

posted by John Harper at 12:03 PM | 3 comments

RPGs I Played: 1983-2003

Monday, May 17, 2010

Making the GO PLAY game list the other day got me thinking about all the RPGs I've ever played. So, I made a list (151 games counted so far). Jonathan Walton (rightly) said that the list was no good until I made an infographic for it, so that's what I did.



It was a real challenge fitting them all in there. And that's only 59 games! I think I'll need a new format for the 2003 - Present graphic, which is 92 games.

So, what about you? I know some of you are making your own lists. I'd love to see them.

Labels: rpg theory

posted by John Harper at 3:47 PM | 10 comments

When do you roll dice?

Thursday, May 13, 2010

I was at a party recently, chatting with some gamers. They were hardcore World of Darkness players (plus a smattering of D&D3). The conversation veered into RPG theory and game design and it was pretty interesting hearing their perspective, having almost no knowledge of games outside those two.

At one point, I asked one of them this question: "You know Vampire right? You know the game books backwards and forwards. So, how do you know when to roll the dice? What's the actual rule for that?"

They were entirely stumped. No one knew what the books said about that. Same for D&D3. "When the GM says so," was all we could think of, but everyone agreed the book probably said something about it somewhere.

Of course, that lead to them asking me how you know when to roll dice "in one of those indie games." So I told them the different ways from Primetime Adventures, Sorcerer, Agon, Burning Wheel, Polaris, Apocalypse World, etc. Their eyes got a little big. They nodded along. Asked follow-up questions. It was a good conversation.

Maybe give it a try next time you're talking games with someone. The "when to roll dice" question has a lot of interesting layers to it.

Labels: rpg theory

posted by John Harper at 2:26 PM | 12 comments

Ragonarok

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Jeff Russell has made a very cool of hack of Agon for running sagas in the Norse tradition. It includes some really nice character and reference sheets, too. Check it out!

http://dicegods.wordpress.com/games/ragonarok

Labels: agon, hack

posted by John Harper at 10:12 AM | 5 comments

Danger Patrol Art: Nate Marcel

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Check out these amazing pieces by Nate Marcel, inspired by scenes from the DP game he's in right now:

Labels: danger patrol

posted by John Harper at 5:06 PM | 3 comments

Game Theory 101

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Want to know all about "game theory"? Have some question about GM-authority or player expectations or something that you're just dying to discuss on Story Games? Cool!

Labels: rpg theory

posted by John Harper at 4:04 PM | 45 comments