AW: London Calling 2013.5

We actually played on Monday 25th Feb, but I've been a bit slack about writing it up. We've sort of reached the end of a chapter, so we're going to be taking a break from Apocalypse World for a little while.

• Barb plays a Brainer called Marsh, a creepy psychic concealed in androgynous medical-wear.
• Rohin plays a Gunlugger called Keeler, a wild-eyed scarred man with a collection of firearms and the skills to use them.
• +Paul wplays a Savvyhead called LaFayette, a somewhat kooky young woman with a greater affinity for machinery than people.

Having met up with Keeler's forces, Marsh explained to the twenty or so guys that had come from the Bridge (along with Chack, prim's right-hand man) that Prim had authorised them to take over the Tower. Marsh then declared Chack to be a rogue element, and made a horrible example of him. The new guys had no love of Raccaro and the Tower, so they didn't really object to the plan.

The small army returned to the Bridge. Keeler and half the guys hid out in the ruined city nearby, while Marsh, LaFayette, and the other half went into the Bridge holding. LaFayette returned to her workshop to install some newly-acquired medical equipment in preparation for the impending battle.

Marsh took Spatula and III (the Barrier Siltway lieutenant) up to see Prim, ostensibly to explain the situation. However, it was really just a ruse to assassinate Prim. Marsh puppet-stringed Prim's bodyguard, who shot her before being gunned down himself. Keeler took the gunfire as the signal to move in with the rest of the gang.

Marsh rallied the crowd with tales that Prim had been shot down by a Tower spy, and got quite a nice bunch of poorly-equipped bridge-dwellers to swell their ranks. Marsh's forces swarmed out of the Bridge's north gate and began heading down the causeway to the Tower's fortified entrance. Unfortunately this area was a bit of a killing field; some of the civilians were mown down, and most of the rest were routed. While this was all going on, Marsh had returned to the Bridge to seek medical attention for the psychic poison experienced earlier.

Keeler led his pack across the bridge, his heavily-armed jeeps riding roughshod over the Bridge's market area. Their heavy machineguns opened up on the Tower wall, forcing the defenders to keep their heads down as Keeler gunned his motorbike straight for the front gate with his gangers chanting "Door-Buster!" after him. He single-handedly slew the defenders through their own gun ports and used his shotgun to blow the bar holding the gate.

Once Keeler's gang flooded the Tower courtyard, it was nothing but a bloody stand-up battle. However, once more, Keeler's gang received virtually no damage thanks to their superior armour and leadership, slaughtering or routing the defenders.


We didn't actually play through to the bitter end, partly because the odds were so heavily in Keeler's favour, and partly because only Keeler was actually actively doing things at this stage. I guess it's following the game's advice to sometimes elide the action.

Fundamentally though, the session's energy had pretty much died by this stage. I'd had a bad day at work, and my brain wasn't up to much. +Paul was also pretty tired, and I think was experiencing increasing frustration due to a disconnect between what he thought LaFayette should be about, and what Apocalypse World thinks Savvyheads are about.

It seems like Paul wants LaFayette to be a Weird MECHANIC, whereas Savvyheads are pretty much WEIRD Mechanics. Sure, they can build things, but as Paul pointed out there's no dice-rolling involved. If he can't roll dice, he can't gain Experience. Most of their Moves, which you actually roll for, are only incidentally related to equipment. They are, in effect, more like an oracle than a technomancer. He also observed that Apocalypse World doesn't work well for playing "support characters," although I'm not sure that's really true. I suspect it's more of a misunderstanding about the type of support a Savvyhead's intended to provide.

Apocalypse World only makes you roll dice when something's at stake, and when something could go badly wrong. From that point of view, there's not much point rolling to build stuff unless you're open to a catastrophic failure every time you do it. The system's more interested in the social consequences of actions, which is why Savvyheads' rolled Moves are full of divination and advice.

Every time Paul tried to buy a new Savvyhead Move, he was disappointed by its true nature.

He thought Augury would give LaFayette a psychic antenna that would allow her to affect machinery and electronics at a distance, through the psychic maelstrom. In actuality, it's a tool for manipulating the vaguely-defined maelstrom itself. On reflection, I suppose "insert information into the world's psychic maelstrom" could include instructions for machinery.

After adding life-support equipment to LaFayette's workspace, he expected to be able to make "medical rolls" on injured characters. When I explained that there really aren't any healing rolls for non-Angel characters, and certainly not on people who aren't critically injured, it was yet another thing that didn't actually provide an avenue for rolling and gaining experience.

Things Speak was about the closest he had to what he wanted, but even then he was only interested in how to repair things rather than finding out peripheral information.

Paul wasn't with us when we first started the game, and LaFayette's always been fairly peripheral to events just because she's not really a combat-happy character and Keeler is such a force of nature. I suspect the issues may be partly due to a misapprehension of the character type, and partly because of not reading rules-fragments (augury, healing) that were in different playbooks. It's also partly my fault as MC for not having total mastery over all the playbooks; I've basically left it up to the players to be the authority on what their guys can do, because they have most of the specific rules in front of them.

I've started making some notes on a custom playbook - the Scavvy. It shares some mechanical similarities with the Savvyhead and the Driver (primary Stats are Sharp, with a side-order of Weird). It's about improvised gear, jury-rigging stuff in the field, and a little bit of technopathy. If we play London Calling again, I'll suggest we change LaFayette to a character type more suited to Paul's intentions.

Until then, Raccaro and Prim have been replaced with Keeler and Marsh...

AW: London Calling 2013.4

It was a very hot day today, but my place was relatively cool enough to allow thought and gameplay. We had a full house tonight, with all three players present. The PCs were all at the recently conquered Barrier Siltway holding.

• Barb plays a Brainer called Marsh, a creepy psychic concealed in androgynous medical-wear.
• Rohin plays a Gunlugger called Keeler, a wild-eyed scarred man with a collection of firearms and the skills to use them.
• +Paul wplays a Savvyhead called LaFayette, a somewhat kooky young woman with a greater affinity for machinery than people.

LaFayette headed out into the poisoned fields to survey the Barrier and see if she could find a way to open it up and restore the river flow to drain away the toxic waste. She was accompanied by Marsh, and Keeler sent along a few gangers to look out for them. LaFayette opened her brain to search for a solution to the drainage problem, and discovered the pylons between barrier plates were mostly hollow. She figured that demolishing a couple would make at least one dam plate fall away, causing a silt-slide and opening up a drainage channel.

Meanwhile, Marsh noticed two of Keeler's gangers, Last and Twice, acting aggressively towards III. Apparently there was still some tension between the Bridge gang and the newly-absorbed Siltway raiders. Marsh touched Last on the arm and strongly suggested (on pain of psychic death) he and Twice go find sledgehammers and knock down one of the pylons.

Keeler was finishing up mounting the Barrier's heavy machineguns to his jeeps when Twice and Last came back looking for hammers. Curious what was going on, he followed them out to the fields and met LaFayette and Marsh coming back. They discussed plans to improve drainage, and all returned to the holding because LaFayette had realised it was probably part of the original Barrier system, and might connect to the pylons by underground access tunnels.

Marsh tried to get a read on the situation at the holding, and noticed the tension between the two former rival gangs bubbling below the surface. Marsh tried opening their brain to identify any impending threats to this holding, but an unfortunate fumble resulted in a mysterious case of toxic waste poisoning. Marsh decided to return to the Bridge with Spatula to seek medical attention. The experience was taken as a premonition that maybe the water table had been poisoned. Marsh also eventually released their hold over Last, and he and Twice gave up their hopeless task.

Keeler and LaFayette discovered a hatch leading to a storage cellar, and an access tunnel which led to the base of the first Barrier pylon. The tunnel further on had collapsed, but they were able to climb the inside of the tower and lever open an unused door at the top, which Keeler plans to use as a back door if they ever need to retake the holding. LaFayette was eager to return to the Bridge to install some newly-acquired medical gear, so the entire gang mounted up and drove back to the West.

Meanwhile, Marsh had arrived back at the Bridge. After a brief visit to the nurse (and rejecting the offer of debilitating narco-stabs), Marsh went to pay a visit to Prim, claiming that the raid on the Siltway had gone well, but that they needed more manpower to drain the poisoned river. Despite Prim's conservative nature, Marsh was persuasive, and Prim gave the go-ahead for a dozen men so long as they were back in a day or two. Marsh provided assurance of this, then went and puppet-stringed Chack, taking twenty men in a convoy of motley vehicles. Marsh threw up, taking more Harm but clearing the psychic poison from their system.

Marsh met up with Keeler and LaFayette around Dog Island, with an hour or more until sunset. They plan to return to the Bridge in force, although they have yet to decide whether to take over the Bridge or the Tower first.

So, their total forces number around fifty, but they are from various factions - the Bridge farm guards who became loyal to Keeler, the Siltway slave-raiders who were persuaded to join, and Marsh's newly-acquired Bridge guards. It's questionable where some loyalties lie, but even if the Bridge guys acquired under false pretences don't want to join up, they are at least isolated and outnumbered, and their departure has depleted the Bridge's defences.

As long as they decide on a plan, next session should finally see them attempt to conquer the Tower or the Bridge, or both!

>>> Session 2013.5

AW: London Calling 2013.3 Intermission

Barb, Rohin and I met up tonight, but instead of a regular session we engaged in a little Apocalypse World-Building. Since it'd got to the point that Barb was wondering what the rest of the world was like, we decided to flesh it out a bit more. Our first session hadn't been all that informative about life in post-apocalypse London and beyond. With a little flavour and context established by our playtime so far, we started looking around at the world beyond the characters' immediate concerns.

Barb made a short list of questions to start things off. Marsh is 31, favourite food is dandelions, prized useless possession is a dejected Rubix cube. Marsh thinks there was no apocalypse; it's always been this way! Keeler's 33, likes to eat rats, possesses a tin whistle for sentimental reasons, and thinks that the old governments were somehow responsible for the apocalypse.

Last time, I'd asked both of them to come up with an NPC each, someone they knew at the Bridge holding. These didn't end up being defined until last thing tonight, but Barb had done a stellar job developing some back-story for her Brainer, Marsh.

Marsh's father was a doctor named Stimmon who took advantage of a woman and ended up keeping her in an abusive relationship. Marsh's elder sister Chester was much older, and died somehow... Chester's friend Edenbra works with a gang of scavengers in Central London; Edenbra resents Marsh for not being closer to Chester when she was alive, even though Marsh was just a child at the time.

Marsh eventually fled the abusive family situation by joining up with a gang that Dr. Stimmon was working for. From there, Marsh drifted from gang to gang, but always remained on the outskirts and never really fitted in. In time, Marsh developed a reputation and became widely known, but has never made any close friends or lasting connections.

Keeler, on the other hand, seems to have started life on the barges plying trade up and down the Thames and old canal network, and has literally drifted to the Bridge. Beyond the city, the hinterlands seem to be in reasonable ecological shape, although England is warmer and drier now than in the Golden Age. The barges are pulled upstream mostly by cattle, or by teams of harnessed slaves. Civilisation beyond London seems to be similar to that in the city - fortified and isolated Dark-Ages holdings separated by wilderness where nomadic tribes and raiders roam. Travel is dangerous, and Keeler got an early start manning a mounted machinegun on his family's barge.

We decided Keeler needed someone to get his copious quantities of bullets off, so we created an armourer called Dustwich who has a shop in the Bridge's North Tower. She can be abrasive at first, because nobody much respects the craftsmanship required to make bullets these days, but Keeler appreciates her work so they have a reasonable trading relationship. He brings her various scrap metals she can use to make ammo and repair weapons.

Although Barb had already created many NPCs, most of them were now dead, and none of them lived at the Bridge. She came up with Roger, a hairdresser whose only tool is a straight razor, and whose only style is a clean-shaven head. Marsh uses his services to keep a smooth scalp. He otherwise works to keep the hold free of head-lice.

>>> Session 2013.4

AW: London Calling 2013.3

• Barb plays a Brainer called Marsh, a creepy psychic concealed in androgynous medical-wear.
• Rohin plays a Gunlugger called Keeler, a wild-eyed scarred man with a collection of firearms and the skills to use them.
• +Paul wplays a Savvyhead called LaFayette, a somewhat kooky young woman with a greater affinity for machinery than people.

Before we began, Barb talked to me a little about some minor problems she was having. Because of the morally grey, sandboxy, anything-goes nature of the game, the pressure to make hard decisions, and the fact that so much of the world is undefined, she was finding it mentally taxing on occasion to figure out what to do, or even evaluate their choices properly. I said if she's unsure how part of the setting works, or why something is a certain way, or what might be an appropriate response in a particular situation, that the players should bring it up - either I'll give them an answer, or ask them what they think, and we'll nail down the important stuff as we go. Apocalypse World really encourages the MC to access the versions of the world that exists in the players' heads, rather than using their own version as the only "official" one. The world is very much built by collaboration.

Rohin mentioned at the start of the session about changing marked stats, but when I asked him directly if he wanted to call for a re-marking he didn't say yes, so he missed out on about six XP from running around shooting everything as he had Sharp and Weird marked. We changed it up at the end of the session, and I had him mark XP as a consolation prize.

Having just doubled the size of his gang by bailing up and recruiting the Barrier Siltway's slave raiders, Keeler decided to press on East to see if they could deal with the remainder of that holding. According to the slavers' lieutenant, III, there were probably less than a dozen guys still in the Siltway holding with Newton, plus maybe five or six acting as border guards.

The convoy roared up to the edge of the silt fields, and looked out upon a flat, sodden expanse of dead, pestilential farmland. Not a living thing moved between the crumbling city and the Barrier wall, and only a few dead black plants remained where once had been lush crops. On the southern edge, in open ground, stood the heavily fortified Siltway holding.

The group flushed out an emaciated scout by name of Missed. Marsh gave him a silenced 9mm pistol and messed with his head, compelling him to go to the holding and shoot Newton. They watched Missed run across the fields and into the fortress. A minute later, they heard a shot ring out, and then the walls were manned by dark, scurrying figures.

Keeler led his gang on a direct frontal assault, laying siege to the hold but not doing much more to those inside other than keeping their heads down. Marsh got Spatula to ride their bike up to the foot of the wall and lobbed the Pain Grenade over, causing much anguish and disabling some of the defenders. The gang set up behind parked jeeps for cover and kept the walls under fire as Keeler single-handedly blew the fortified doors open, leading the rush inside.

Keeler found Missed dead in the hold's main room, with a shot and unconscious Newton receiving attention from a medic. Keeler just strode straight in and pasted both of them with his heavy machinegun. Meanwhile, his gang poured up to the roof and massacred the remaining defenders. They celebrated by mounting heads on the hold's battlements, and followed that up with a vigorous round of looting.

It looks like the former slavers have been bound together with Keeler's original gang in a frenzy of blood and vengeance, proving their worth in battle by turning on their former comrades. It was a great victory, with no serious injury or loss of life despite the unsubtle tactics. Keeler has earned their respect as a worthy and fearless leader.


Rohin rolled a 10+ for every single Seize by Force move Keeler made, which was a lot. His gang's 2-armour, plus the fact that his gang was larger, contributed to the lack of casualties even under 3-harm machinegun fire.

With an advance, Keeler chose Merciless - which, on top of his Bloodcrazed gives him +2 harm. Using one of his larger guns, he'll physically destroy an NPC who's not wearing armour. Since Marsh also has Bloodcrazed, this is really turning into a steamroller group - any problem they see, they can obliterate it with overwhelming force. There's been very little Going Aggro, as they can generally Seize by Force with little risk of actual harm. I'm going to have to see what else is going on around the place that they can't fix with sheer damage output.

I felt better this time about Moves and judgment calls, even though I had to pause and think a couple of times. I just gave myself permission to take the time and think things through.

Just before they left, I asked Barb and Rohin to each come up with one or two NPCs at The Bridge; people they know from their everyday life, just regular people or those they get something from. Hopefully that'll flesh out the holding a little, make it feel more alive, and make up for the somewhat slipshod first session of following them around I did.

>>> Session 2013.3 Intermission

AW: London Calling 2013.2

• Barb plays a Brainer called Marsh, a creepy psychic concealed in androgynous medical-wear.
• Rohin plays a Gunlugger called Keeler, a wild-eyed scarred man with a collection of firearms and the skills to use them.
• +Paul wplays a Savvyhead called LaFayette, a somewhat kooky young woman with a greater affinity for machinery than people.

Keeler, Marsh and LaFayette sought an audience with Raccaro, the Tower's 'holder. The guards at the gate gave them a hard time, but let them in under armed watch. In the courtyard, they noticed that there were many more armed people than last time - it looked like the Tower was recruiting and gearing up for action. Raccaro agreed to see them if they disarmed first; Keeler left his ganger, Spatula, in the jeep with a machinegun to make sure their property was still there when they got back.

Raccaro received them in his audience chamber, seated upon an antique, ornately carved, high-backed chair with loose stuffing. The leader of the Tower forces is a man in his thirties, with a mane of long curly auburn hair, small round tinted glasses, and an impressive russet-coloured overcoat. The characters were under constant armed guard. Keeler spilled the beans about the river contamination and its effect on the Barrier Siltway. They pointed out that, as Hackney Marsh is north of the river, it was Raccaro's responsibility to deal with the contamination. After some posturing and wrangling, Raccaro agreed to check out the marsh. He also attempted to recruit Keeler to his cause; he claimed that it was Prim's duty to look after the farm, and his duty to go forth and acquire new farms. However, Keeler refused due to still being under contract to work for Prim. Marsh cast aspersions on Raccaro's intentions and usefulness, and was generally annoying, so Raccaro kicked them out.

Next, Keeler pulled his entire gang together, and along with Marsh and LaFayette they formed a convoy to explain the contamination to the people at the Siltway, and offer to take them in as refugees. However, just past Dog Island they saw the telltale dust-cloud of a Siltway raiding group. Keeler quickly arrayed his gang around a "killing field" and waited until the Siltway slave raiders were inside before opening up. Apart from disabling their lead jeep, the raiders suffered no major casualties. Keeler's guys attacked with such speed and ferocity that the raiders' convoy was stopped dead in its tracks, demoralised and surrounded, despite outnumbering their attackers.

Keeler negotiated with their lieutenant, explaining about the poisoned river and offering to take them in as refugees if they'd help in an attack against Raccaro. Fed up with their leader, Newton, who was insisting on maintaining an increasingly untenable position at the Siltway, the slavers agreed to the deal.


Next time, it looks like Keeler and the gang will be mounting an assault on the Tower in an attempt to topple Raccaro. Marsh has been itching to take Prim down for some time now because she's made some calls Marsh doesn't agree with, and there may soon be a perfect opportunity. LaFayette has several projects on the go, but I'm not sure if she'll get the chance to finish any of them in the middle of a turf war.

Even after probably more than half a dozen sessions, I'm still spending a lot of time analysing whether something counts as a Move for the PCs or not, and still don't seem to be able to keep all of the MC Moves in my head. I either end up forgetting to use anything unusual, or I spend ages poring over the list to see if I can find something interesting to do, which tends to disrupt the flow of the game. I also worry that I may be making uninteresting choices or accidentally shutting things down instead of opening them up.

I've let the players know they shouldn't think in terms of Moves all that much (although many of the Playbook Moves do kind of require direct engagement), but just explain what they want to achieve and how they want to go about it. Last session I kept having little brain-flashes when a Move was called for, but not so much this time... I think maybe there wasn't that much Move-worthy stuff going on, just lots of people talking and making decisions according to their natural tendencies.

I also think I need to provide more non-combat stuff for people to deal with, since it's mainly only Keeler getting to make rolls during large engagements at the moment. I really need to flesh out the holding's population and work on some other pressures and concerns.

That said, I think everyone's enjoying the game, and that's the main thing!

>>> Session 2013.3

AW: London Calling 2013.1

I ran our first Apocalypse World session for 2013 on the 14th of January. It's been a couple of months since we last played, so it took a while for everyone to remember what was going on!

• Barb plays a Brainer called Marsh, a creepy psychic concealed in androgynous medical-wear.
• Rohin plays a Gunlugger called Keeler, a wild-eyed scarred man with a collection of firearms and the skills to use them.
• +Paul wplays a Savvyhead called LaFayette, a somewhat kooky young woman with a greater affinity for machinery than people.

Over on G+, Seth Blumberg suggested I should have given out "Love Letters" to provide some impetus after the break - you get the players to roll and pick some random stuff that's happened with their characters during the down-time. I'd forgotten about the concept, since I only read that page once several months ago and promptly forgot about it. I'm keeping the idea in mind, though - if one of my players doesn't turn up to a session, they'll find a "Love Letter" waiting for them when they get back.

The group's working for a holding based in the Tower Bridge in the middle of London, which is allied with a holding based in the Tower of London itself. Last year they were mostly concerned about marauding bikies from the Brick Field, slave raiders from the Barrier Siltway holding (who were on a "recruitment drive" because their workforce was dying of a mystery illness), and that the Tower's holder looked like they may have plans to fully annexe the Bridge or start a war.


This session they uncovered another problem. A large number of giant rats (about 2 feet long, not including the tail) started swimming upriver past the Bridge, almost certainly fleeing Dog Island for some reason. Many of them bolstered the local food-pots.

The three PCs drove with some of Keeler's gangers on an expedition to the east to see if they could scout out the Siltway, but as they neared Dog Island they noticed a large number of dead rats, both in the river and on the bank. LaFayette tested the water, and discovered it contained a toxin. Keeler took a look at some of the dead rats, to find they'd been bleeding from the soft tissues and vomiting before death. LaFayette spotted an ancient water filtration plant on Dog Island, but getting to it would require a boat, or a swim across the poisonous water. They abandoned the Siltway plan, and headed back upriver, finding that the toxin became weaker as they moved back upstream - it hadn't reached the Bridge yet.

LaFayette stayed behind at the tower to find or build a boat and analyse the water samples, while Keeler and Marsh crossed to the north bank to check the river on the other side. The contamination was about the same, until they reached the brackish, overgrown streams flowing into the river from Hackney Marsh. Keeler made Rover, a captured slaver from the Barrier Siltway, wade into the mud to secure a sample of the water. The toxin levels were several times higher than those seen in the river. On the way back to the Bridge, Rover started vomiting blood, so Keeler shot and abandoned him in case he was infectious.

LaFayette couldn't find the materials to make a boat, and had even less luck trying to co-opt the only river-craft she did find. Overnight, she confirmed that the contaminant is chemical, not biological, so there's little chance it's contagious. It seems that some sort of toxic waste is leeching into Hackney Marsh and contaminating the river. Because the Thames Barrier was closed before the end of the world, it's built up a massive silt deposit that makes for great farmland, but has also caused the river to rise and slow. So, the contamination is slowly spreading upstream, and will eventually affect the Bridge's farmland, leading to sickness and death as seen at the Siltway.

They're working on a plan to get the Tower to deal with the toxic leak, while they assimilate refugees from the Barrier, and use their extra numbers to take over the Tower before it takes over the Bridge. Hopefully the Brickheads will hold back on their attacks until everything's under control!

;)

>>> Session 2013.2

AW: London Calling 2012

I don't recall exactly when I started running Apocalypse World, but it was some time in late 2012. I'd read many interesting things about it, and wanted to try it out to see how it handled.

Barb, Rohin and I got together and decided on the setting - central London, at a holding in the Tower Bridge, which was allied with a holding in the Tower of London on the north bank. The river was running a bit higher than in the Time Before, and the suburb of Hackney Marsh was an actual marsh again.

• Barb made a Brainer called Marsh, a creepy psychic concealed in androgynous medical-wear.
• Rohin made a Gunlugger called Keeler, a wild-eyed scarred man with a collection of firearms and the skills to use them.
• +Paul wasn't present for the first session, but joined in shortly after things kicked off. He made a Savvyhead called LaFayette, a somewhat kooky young woman with a greater affinity for machinery than people.

Get Sun

The players wanted their characters to be working for someone else, so they were both in the employ of Prim, the Tower Bridge 'holder. Chack, Prim's "fixer" and the PCs' handler, told Marsh that Prim wanted to acquire a guy called Sun from the Tower holding. Apparently Raccaro, the Tower 'holder, had refused a polite invitation to send him over. Chack suggested Keeler go along too, but cautioned against making too big a mess...

The two talked their way into the Tower, where they discovered that Sun was an engineer helping Raccaro outfit a small army. LaFayette joined them, and used her access to the Tower Keep to persuade Sun to come out to her workshop in the courtyard by seducing him. Unfortunately they had to dispose of Mimi, captain of the Tower Guard. Marsh used In-Brain Puppet Strings on one of the other Tower Guard, compelling her to run around telling everyone that Sun had shot Mimi. In the confusion, they slipped out the back way through the garage and returned to the Bridge with Sun in tow.

Siltway Raiders

Prim wanted Sun to help bolster the defences of the exposed southern fields against raiders from the Brick Fields to the south, and the Barrier Siltway holding to the east. She also put Keeler on field duty, as raids had been increasing. LaFayette helped out with the planning and installation of some of the defences. Marsh hung around with Keeler in the fields.

A dust-cloud to the east signalled a raid. The field guards holed up and waited for the attack, but Keeler and Marsh went out to meet them. Keeler sprayed the convoy with machinegun fire, breaking their charge and sending them scattering into side-roads. Marsh used the painwave generator and violator glove to wipe out a jeep-load of raiders, causing one guy's head to explode from accumulated psychic damage. Keeler captured and questioned Rover, the only survivor, learning that they were slave-raiders from the Barrier Siltway, sent to steal more workers as their labour force had been dying from a mysterious illness.

The field guards were so impressed by Keeler's display of combat prowess that they basically said they were working for him now, not Prim. Rover also became part of the gang, under Keeler's protection.
Brick Field Battle
Tired of waiting for raiders to come to them, and tooled up with a new gang, Keeler and Marsh headed south onto the eerie Brick Fields to hunt down the "Brickheads" bike gang. The Brick Field is a vast, circular area where all of the old buildings have been somehow pulverised into a flat field, paved with bricks and dust. Some judicious brain-opening led to them discovering that the Brickheads had a large camp set up some distance away... and that some of them were coming this way, attracted by the convoy's dust cloud!

Clarion, one of Keeler's gangers, took the jeep and drove it back towards the Bridge while the rest hid out behind the only available cover in the field. As the bikers rode past, the gang ambushed them and wiped them out. The sole survivor was puppet-stringed by Marsh to return to the others with the message "you're next."

Having put paid to both major threats for now, the gang returned to the Bridge and reported to Prim. They also discovered that emissaries from the Tower had visited demanding recompense for Mimi's death and Sun's abduction, and that Prim had agreed to supply them with a crate of firearms. Marsh lost all respect for Prim due to this decision.


These first few sessions of Apocalypse World were mostly pretty good, but it did take me a while to wrap my head around some things. Figuring out which Move had been triggered was sometimes problematic; deciding between Seize by Force or Go Aggro can take a bit of mulling over, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it. In the first session I called for a Manipulate roll which probably didn't follow the form exactly. The first big fight between Keeler, Marsh, and the Siltway Raiders was great, but the next battle against the Brickheads didn't "sing" quite as much.

>>> Session 2013.1