(Language warning in some of what follows.)
“And no one’s going nowhere ‘cause the cars are all frozen,
They give the power plants ten days,
But the sky is like a dome of black metal flake,
And stars bleed together in phosphorescent lakes,
And a dead black disk slides silently overhead,
It’s fucking beautiful is what it is.”
- The Dismemberment Plan, 8 1/2 Minutes
“Something’s wrong with the world and I don’t know what it is.
“It used to be better, of course it did. In the golden age of legend, when there was enough to eat and enough hope, when there was one nation under god and people could lift their eyes and see beyond the horizon, beyond the day. Children were born happy and grew up rich.
“Now that’s not what we’ve got. Now we’ve got this. Hardholders stand against the screaming elements and all comers, keeping safe as many as they can. Angels and savvyheads run constant battle against ‘there’s not enough’ and ‘bullets fly’ and ‘everything breaks’. Hocuses gather people around them, and are they protectors, saviors, visionaries, or just wishful thinkers? Choppers, gunluggers and battlebabes carve out what they can and defend it with blood and bullets. Drivers and operators search and scavenge, looking for that opportunity, that one perfect chance. Skinners remember beauty, or invent beauty anew, cup it in their hands and whisper come and see, and don’t worry now about what it will cost you. And brainers, oh, brainers see what none of the rest of us will: the world’s psychic maelstrom, the terrible desperation and hate pressing in at the edge of all perception, it is the world now.
“And you, who are you? This is what we’ve got, yes. What are you going to make of it?”
This is a post-apocalyptic sandbox game based on the Apocalypse World rpg, with no knowledge of the original game required for play.
In Apocalypse World, there’s a little bit of weird (psychics, prophets), more makeshift weapons, less food, and a whole lot of striving to survive.
Characters are members of Heirloom, a hardhold on the knife edge between peace and starvation. They spend their time trying to split the difference between looking out for themselves and looking out for the community. You will be good at what you do (making deals and making death), and will often have to make terrible choices.
This is a game centered on characters and relationships rather than a pre-prepared plotline. Therefore the priority is on players willing to collaborate on world building, and play real, interesting characters in a world that is trying to kill them in a myriad of ways.
As the AW manual puts it: “They’re carving out their little space of hope and freedom in the filth and violence, and they’re trying to hold onto it. Do they have it in them?”
For more on the character archetypes used, go to http://apocalypse-world.com and get the free download of the “Basic Player Refbook”.
For my part, I’ll do my best to make the world real, and make it an interesting, dangerous and fun place for the characters to live their beautiful, short lives.
Hosted and narrated by:
Guan (guan)
Started 02/03/15.
Scenes played: 9
License: Community License
