Closed Apocalypse World Interest Check

[Silver Screen Fiend]

I want to play a smutty game of Apocalypse World with a group of about 3 to 5 players. It's a rules light narrative-focused game that gave way to the Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) group of games that includes the superhero themed game of Masks. Rules for the system can be obtained for free from this page. While I haven't played it yet myself, I feel confident taking on the role of the Master of Ceremonies (MC) since I'm a fairly weathered GM for other systems like D&D and Shadowrun, but I'm not opposed to letting someone else take the reigns, either. The whole point is to tell a story together. Rolling dice in this game affects essential elements of the moment-to-moment plot so that the action moves along at a steady pace. Don't expect linear paths or railroading because the game actively discourages that, so expect every player to share the spotlight and put in an equal share of creative work. Character creation is an integral part of the world building process, and the conflicts they endure will shape the nature of their environment. Sex plays a part in the game's mechanics as well, and since this is an adult role play forum why not take full advantage to make it as horny as possible?

Here's where I have to be careful. This is a post apocalyptic wasteland cast in the shadow of what North America used to be. It's Fallout, Fist of the North Star, Road Warrior, A Boy and His Dog, and every other fictional wasteland that is cool and awesome and dark and terrifying at the same time. There are slavers and cannibals and cults and disturbed psychics and mutants and monsters. These threats are real, but that doesn't mean I want to make them an object of sexual arousal, unless it can be played in a way that's personally comfortable for me and the other players. I don't want to put down a strict list of no's at the risk of compromising creative potential, but I still want to illicit some arousal from the narrative, too. Confident, consensual sex between survivors is always an option, but there's room for things to get a little kinky, a little in the grey area, enough to titillate and captivate.
So in general, I want players to create characters who are at least partially sexually motivated so that erotic scenes could play out between PC's and NPC's, so they should have some characteristics that make them sexually attractive. I'm a personal fan of athletic physiques, huge tits, and long hard fat throbbing cocks, but that's just me.

What about you? Does this sort of thing hold your interest? Have you played the game before? Do you have experience with other systems? Post here in the thread or PM me to discuss it further!

 

[Inkybus]

Do we have to follow the rules about sex moves in the book?

 

[Silver Screen Fiend]

Do we have to follow the rules about sex moves in the book?

Do you think they're too inconvenient? Removing them or altering them is certainly possible. I need to study the rules more thoroughly, since I've yet to put the system to a practical test in the context of erp.

 

[Inkybus]

Do you think they're too inconvenient? Removing them or altering them is certainly possible. I need to study the rules more thoroughly, since I've yet to put the system to a practical test in the context of erp.

The rules about sex moves aren't my cup of tea. It feels like the game dictating what my character is supposed to feel toward another character instead of the player deciding, which takes away player agency. As a storyteller, I don't like telling my players "You feel bashful and embarrassed by the teasing of {NPC_Name}" - though I will gladly say something like "You feel the hair on the back of your neck stand on end as you hear something or someone move through the opening behind you" because in this latter case, I am not dictating what the character's mentality is like.

Although I will not begrudge a player if they ask a storyteller what kind of vibe they get, if that is how they have fun. It is just not for me, when I am in a player's seat.

It is just not for me.

 

[Silver Screen Fiend]

In that case I'll consider removing them until I can determine an alternate means of implementing sex mechanics that don't affect a character's internal reflections. Perhaps I'll limit these rules to NPC's, or make it a reflection of sexual performance, or just axe the concept altogether since you have such a strong aversion to it.

 

[Inkybus]

Then my interest flag is officially planted.

My character idea entails a Savvyhead.

Nadja Saric appears to be a woman of twenty three years, with long straight blonde hair and gray eyes. She stands tall, at a hundred eighty six centimeters of height, with a fit looking body that shows she stays active despite (or maybe because) spending the majority fiddling with various mechanisms and pre-apocalypse machines like old refrigerators, ovens and broken-down generators fueled by things other than gasoline and methane.

She dresses for practicality, with many pockets and seams to hold her toolbelts with the many dozen screwdrivers, hammers, wrenches and other metal-manipulating things she needs to refurbish the tech that can be salvaged. A couple of holdout handguns can also be spotted on her person, though she does not keep most of the big rifles and shotguns that are brought to her for repairs.

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

I'm somewhat familiar with the ruleset but I've never actually used it before. Ultimately I'm not as adverse to the sex rules as Inkybus is but I do agree that they feel very lacking in nuance. The idea seems to be helping to guide the supposed theme of each playbook but I don't really think that characters should be shoehorned into being so one-dimensional as to having the same effects every time they have sex. So yeah, I'd be down for regulating them to NPC's but not applying them when it comes to Player on Player.

I'm throwing my hat in the ring with interest for making a Driver or Gunlugger most likely, though Hardholder is a close third on my list. My big concern though is your mention of uncertainty regarding the likes of potentially darker tones in the narrative. Obviously it's no good to push people out of their comfort zones against their will, and I'm not suggesting to play this super edgy all the time, but I will openly admit that things like non-con and mutants/beasts/etc are high on my list of interests. Specifically of note is that I'd probably not want to join this if the characters are going to be limited to basic human only; I tend to find playing humans boring on my part and would want to do something as a mutant of some kind.

 

[Silver Screen Fiend]

My big concern though is your mention of uncertainty regarding the likes of potentially darker tones in the narrative. Obviously it's no good to push people out of their comfort zones against their will, and I'm not suggesting to play this super edgy all the time, but I will openly admit that things like non-con and mutants/beasts/etc are high on my list of interests. Specifically of note is that I'd probably not want to join this if the characters are going to be limited to basic human only; I tend to find playing humans boring on my part and would want to do something as a mutant of some kind.

A mutant is acceptable, but it depends on how monstrous and disfigured this mutant might be. This isn't a fantasy setting with elves and dwarves and whosits and whatsits, it's apocalypse ravaged America populated mostly by humans, so if you're disinterested in humans as sexual partners then I might struggle to offer what you're looking for, because I expect most non hostile NPC's, and a lot of hostile ones besides, will be human survivors.

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

I mean, you literally mentioned fallout as part of the setting inspiration and that has plenty of mutated entities that are far from human. I'd be looking to play a mutant that is transformed enough to no longer appear human. Not necessarily grotesque or such but perhaps animalistic or anthropomorphic, I haven't really got a solid idea in mind yet but using fallout again I'd toss out a gecko person or intelligent deathclaw as rough ballpark references to the vibe I'm thinking.

In terms of sexual partners though I have no issues with humans. My preference is to play as a character that is effectively nonhuman but that is only personal, I have no problem being surrounded by mainly humans and such.

 

[Silver Screen Fiend]

I'd be looking to play a mutant that is transformed enough to no longer appear human. Not necessarily grotesque or such but perhaps animalistic or anthropomorphic, I haven't really got a solid idea in mind yet but using fallout again I'd toss out a gecko person or intelligent deathclaw as rough ballpark references to the vibe I'm thinking.

I've never been interested in sex scenes with anthro, beast, or feral characters, and I don't want them featured in a role play that I'm participating in. I'm sorry I'm not flexible enough to accommodate your tastes. I can certainly work with a character cursed with green skin, extra arms, or something like tentacles sprouting out of their back, but I can't say I've ever wanted to fuck a deathclaw, or watch someone fuck a deathclaw, or write about anyone fucking a deathclaw.

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

Okay well good luck to you then.

 

[Silverbird]

I'd love to join in! Big fan of Powered by the Apocalypse games in general, though I've only played a very small amount of Apocalypse World itself in the past.

There's a lot of playbooks that speak to me for a smutty game — the skinner, the maestro d' and the brainer are all appealing — but I think I want to play a battlebabe.

This is Valkyrie.

Image source is https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ZGNYKG.

She had another name once, and what passed for a peaceful life — a farm, a partner, even a kid — but it didn't last. Nothing does anymore. So now? Now she lives in the moment, drowning herself in sex and violence and whatever other cheap thrills she can find to kill another day and keep the past and future at bay. Valkyrie is technically a mercenary, but most people think of her as the local hardholder's enforcer. It's an arrangement that works well enough for her for now, at least until something better comes along.



I'll disagree with Inkybus a little and say I actually do like the sex moves. I feel like most of them are loose enough that they can be interpreted multiple ways (with the big exception of the Driver, though even that one I do like). Maybe a compromise is to make them optional, so they only apply if the player involved wants them to and feels they make sense?
(Mind you, the battlebabe's sex move is "cancel other sex moves", so it doesn't really affect me much either way.)

 

[Silver Screen Fiend]

Cool. Maybe we can talk about how Valkyrie and Nadja know each other. It's fair to assume both work for the same Hardholder.

 

[Motoharu]

I'm very excited for this game. I have experience running Masks, Urban Shadows, and Monsterhearts, along with other non PbtA systems. I very rarely get to be a player though.

I'm slightly pro sex moves, especially in this game where psychic characters get a strong benefit from it that makes sense in fiction, and the rest mostly effect the weird Hx stat that is useful to gain exp. I would at least like to keep them for NPCs.

I've got a rough idea for a character concept, and am leaning towards playing either a Hardholder or Maestro'd. I really want to own something that's useful. If anyone else wants to play one of those, I can play the other, or if wants to help me pick between the two, I'd consider their advice.

Also, how long do we want the apocalypse to have occurred? It's relevant to my backstory on how old I was when the apocalypse happened, or if I was even born.

 

[Silver Screen Fiend]

Also, how long do we want the apocalypse to have occurred? It's relevant to my backstory on how old I was when the apocalypse happened, or if I was even born.

The book mentions it being roughly 50 years since the apocalypse, and that only the oldest survivors can remember what happened, but even then there's no real concrete answers to be found. Long enough for two or three generations to have been born and reached young adulthood is my answer. There won't be any plots about discovering how it all actually happened, as I don't think that's the point of Apocalypse World. It's more about the stories told living moment to moment in a dramatic, strife riddled wasteland where there isn't quite enough to go around for everyone, and things can't ever be simple and easy, but they can be fun and exciting.

 

[Ask the Question]

I'm interested in giving this a try. My first choice for a playbook would be the Faceless, followed by Gunlugger and Brainer.

As far as sex moves go I don't mind their use and inclusion, and to me they're no more intrusive than any of the other moves that have an emotional outcome.

What kind of pace are you looking for as far as posting goes?

 

[Inkybus]

Cool. Maybe we can talk about how Valkyrie and Nadja know each other. It's fair to assume both work for the same Hardholder.

Sure, I'm on board with that idea.

We can say that Nadja met with Valkyrie and her partner while she was out scavenging a debris-filled building: they had an amicable chat, where Valkyrie and her partner warned Nadja about one of the many short-lived nomadic raider groups, Nadja traded them a few refurbished flashlights for some rations before they both split.

Then tragedy struck, Valkyrie lost her previous idyllic life and they met up again when Nadja was being pursued by some creeps. Valkyrie shot them all dead and Nadja persuaded her to come with to stay with a group of survivors who'd built up a community.

That's my idea/suggestion if you want it.

 

[Silver Screen Fiend]

What kind of pace are you looking for as far as posting goes?

The great thing about Apocalypse World is that the party can split for any reason at any time without compromising the action or the forward advance of the story. Each member of the player group has time to shine in the spotlight, so if one or two players aren't able to post for a week or more, that gives me time to focus on the activities of the other playbooks for a time. There will be no pressure to maintain a specific pace. Post when you can and when you are able.

 

[Ironuyh]

I'm always happy to see System-based threads up and running, and even more to take part in them! I'm vaguely familiar with PbtA games, so I know generally what I'm doing here and there with these, but that's not to say I won't be stumbling from time to time. All the better to have more people around to tell me how to fix things going forward.

I saw what people have put forward so far, and it looks like an Angel could well be in order. Not to mention I like the powers I saw on them. So, without further ado:

Here's Alana. She's very acquainted with the value things have in this world. People might think it's all sunshine and roses for Angels - who would possibly want to hurt 'em? It puts the hurt on yourself and everyone around you. So people get crafty in the ways they hurt others. This young woman has been a respected Angel-for-hire, to being one kind Hardhold's Medic, to a much-less-kind Hardholder's Plaything-slash-personal physician, plus a few other attractions and oddities in-between.

She knows well her value, and how much trouble it gets her in. It's not all downsides, though! She's seen her ups, here and there. When said prior Hardholder pushed a few others too hard, and as this world is ever-changing, people pull each other down to keep afloat. Alana was fortunate enough to get out of her poor situation, and has found herself rather nicely back to the sorta start of the cycle: freelance Angel work.

While it rather useful to her, the Angel's rather nice looks have been detrimental from time to time. Despite the ever-changing lifestyle, whoever she's been around has been more than happy to see the non-threatening, easy-to-look-at body of hers well kept. She's known hard times, but it sure don't look it, and while she knows how to keep herself safe, her short frame and rather thin body seems unfit for great amounts of combat.

It's for this reason that she keeps herself all prim-and-proper, looking as if a doll who would never harm a soul. It gets her what she wants, and it keeps her safe. It also affords a rather static sort of appreciation from the many people she's liable to meet.

And after such extensive fluidity, Alana is desperate for some simple, unchanging times.

Thanks for taking the time to read all this, and I'd love to hear back!

 

[Motoharu]

Alright, since no one claimed either, I'll pick Hardholder

Adelaide Gascon

An 18 year old girl that has just recently inherited control of the St. Mary's Holding. Of course, birthrights mean little during the apocalypse, everything must be fought for. The St. Mary's Holding used to be an all girl's boarding school in Rural New England. Adelaide's grandmother, Mary Gascon, was the Student Body president at the time, and has evolved into a legendary figure that saved the students with her leadership. She led the Holding for 40 years before passing it to her daughter, who ruled for 10 years before being assassinated.

There was a brief week of Chaos, where Adelaide led one faction in memory of her mother, and another faction tried to seize the holding for themselves, but in the end, Adelaide defeated the other faction and killed their leader herself. The rest that rebelled were given clemency, since otherwise there wouldn't be enough violent bastards to protect the holding. The person who committed the assassination was never discovered, leaving Adelaide afraid for her life, and her hold is precarious, where many feel she is too young to lead.

I might change my faceclaim later. I've been using AI to make it, and might keep trying to improve it. Silver Screen Fiend, let me know if you want me to change anything to make it easier for you to MC.

 

[Silver Screen Fiend]

An 18 year old girl that has just recently inherited control of the St. Mary's Holding. Of course, birthrights mean little during the apocalypse, everything must be fought for. The St. Mary's Holding used to be an all girl's boarding school in Rural New England. Adelaide's grandmother, Mary Gascon, was the Student Body president at the time, and has evolved into a legendary figure that saved the students with her leadership. She led the Holding for 40 years before passing it to her daughter, who ruled for 10 years before being assassinated.

This is completely different from what I originally had rolling around in my head, and that's a good thing! An old New England girl's school gives very cool, gothic vibes that contrast with the sun blasted desert I initially thought of. I have one question though, and that's about the hold's culture and history. It being a girl's school, one that was controlled by its top students, what was its general attitude towards male survivors who might want to join? Is it a matriarchal community? I assume there were male staff at the school during the apocalypse, but it's likely they never had a strong influence on the school's policies and agendas following the country's collapse given the strong female majority, but that's just an assumption.

 

[Silver Screen Fiend]

Thanks for taking the time to read all this, and I'd love to hear back!

No problem! I think your character, and all the others presented so far in this thread, are more than adequate for building a story with all of you. I really get a sense of each character's strength's, weaknesses, motivations, and fears. Right now we have four players with ready to go character ideas. I'll leave the thread open for a potential fifth or even sixth before moving forward. We'll see how it goes!

 

[Motoharu]

Few, glad you thought it was a good thing. I was going to leave it up to you, but since you asked, I'll assume you want my input. Change any of these details you want, but my thoughts were that it was originally very Matriarchal. The staff probably tried to stay in power at first, but the girls would have outnumbered them so much, that they would have taken over quickly. Men were probably banned at first, but many girls would have fallen in love or just gotten horny, and request for men to join, and slowly more and more men would join the Holding, but never making a majority.

I think it'd be best if there was mixed opinions on men. Adelaide's thoughts would be that men are useful, for things like physical labor, sex, fathering children, but that they are overly violent and arrogant, and she is afraid that if she allows too many to stay, that they could overthrow her. I'd assume female led Holdings are rare, and male raiders would love to target something like a holding full of women, and this would feed her distrust of men. Her thoughts would be common, but many would disagree.

 

[Silver Screen Fiend]

@Motoharu
Old institutions built on solid ground with strong foundations and sturdy walls of brick and mortar, framed with steel, their roofs clad with slate tile, the sort whose basements doubled as fallout shelters, would prove a very solid base of operations. Add an athletics field for farming, and preexisting living quarters, a big kitchen, open land to expand upon, it's really perfect. I imagine that the surrounding area is under their purview, but them being in the country means they're far from significant urban centers, and the resources of those centers. What sort of products do they manufacture to make bartering with them profitable? I belt they're largely self sustaining, but they're at the point where farming vegetables, and keeping a small herd of livestock, is barely able to keep everyone fed, so they need to make improvements, but that costs time, materials, and expert labor. What's their local specialty that brings a trading caravan to St. Mary's?

 

[Motoharu]

Hmmm, I want to turn this around and ask the other PCs for input. I get to choose one of these three, and I'm not sure which one I want?

for gigs, add protection tribute. Surplus: +1barter, want: +obligation.
for gigs, add a manufactory. Surplus: +1barter, want: +idle.
for gigs, add a bustling, widely-known market commons. Surplus: +1barter, want: +strangers.

I excluded raiding, since it's not my preference. I could see any of these three working. Maybe Nadja leads a group that manufacturers goods for others? Maybe we offer protection, since we have the sturdiest holding in the area and a large gang we use to defend smaller holdings? Maybe despite being rural, we are a midway point between other holdings, so people stop and trade here? I see the appeal of all three options, but since it's the other players that need to take on gigs more than the Hardholder, I'd like to pick what works for others.

If we should have a local specialty either way, I think it'd be best for @Inkybus to pick it, since she is playing the crafting character