[Big Maul] Table Chatter / Out-Of-Character

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Comments

  • Not to answer for Rich, but I suspect the desire for some sense of vagueness is what made the Coot a difficult concept for this game.
  • Better off revealed during play.
  • Alan said:
    "Is there even an outside, or is there nothing at all?"

    Holy Shit! This would change my character's backstory and lead us far into the realms of surrealism/magical reality, but I would totally be willing to do that if the group reached consensus on it.

    Cuz, like, I'm a Philip K. Dick fan and my favorite movie of all time is Altered States. :-)
  • Nice. Looking forward to this.

    I haven't seen the Coot playbook as I just have the base rulebook.
  • edited April 2014
    Everyone likes a bit of PKD!

    I haven't seen Altered States, but it is now upon my radar. :-)
  • Alan, it turns out The Coot will not be in this game. Tod (AsIf) chose a Maestro'D.
  • I *just* finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep for the first time. I felt like it was so dated that it was hard to see the brilliance.
  • I'll google Maestro'D in the morning.

    Night everyone!
  • DADOES isn't my favourite to be fair. His best stuff is the stories taking place in modern day settings (the 60's and 70's as far as his books are concerned) but which use a sci-fi element as a tool to mind-bend the plotlines.

    Having said that, one of my favourites is Martian Time-Slip, which is set on Mars in the future (a 60's-flavoured future admittedly).
  • Try A Scanner Darkly or The Divine Invasion, if Androids hasn't put you off him for good.
  • edited April 2014
    I'm pretty sewn up other than casual talk for the rest of the day, but I'll get Sweet n' Sour the Chopper up on the wiki tonight.
    Any ideas or comments on ganger names and ages? I'm still waffling between younger (16-20) and 20+ as far as the age group.
  • hey Benjamin, if you go with the gang hanging out at the Food Court, there are lots of names there. Restaurants, menu items, stuff like that. Cool stuff.

    I'd go with mostly younger, maybe a few older. We don't have to name all 15 or so right off, if you don't want.
  • Older? Mid 30's-40's?

    Grizzled and run down, world-weary and fucked off people cooped up together in a run-down shitty mall.

    Maybe we were all parents, shopping in the mall when the Maelstrom hit and the children mysteriously disappeared.

    Perhaps it's the children I can hear when the Breeze breaks through the muzak......
  • Regarding the age of your gangsters, I think it makes the most sense for it to just be a cross-section of all ages unless you're trying to make a point. And then, probably particularly young (13-18) or particularly old (40+) makes the strongest point.
  • Chris, that's a really good point.

    I am sticking with the "fifty years have passed since the world ended" shtick.

    Why? is less important to me than what do you do NOW?
  • edited April 2014
    I feel like we have to either go into an alternate reality immediately, or there has to be a world outside, which is a source of travelers, resources and news, and somewhere to threaten you'll go when you feel pissy and unappreciated.
  • I feel like there's a world outside too. But it could be so hostile that it's pretty extreme when we can make use of it. Or maybe there are special circumstance during which The Breeze goes dormant and we make raiding trips into the surroundings to harvest stuff -- and others might be out doing the same...
  • With a Chopper and expressed interest in traveling outside by others, I think there is an outside.

    Unless others are digging on alt reality?
  • I've started Hottopic on the wiki as "PC 3".

    The playbook says "a piece or three of normal gear or weaponry" and I'm not sure how to go about defining that.
  • edited April 2014
    Maybe a compromise... I like what Chris just said: There is an outside world but it can be so dangerous that most people don't tempt fate by hanging out there for long. The breeze has more active periods and less active periods. Perhaps it's seasonal. Perhaps it's random. Perhaps it's based on something that we haven't drawn a connection to yet.

    During the less active periods you can plan caravans, go on scrounging missions or raiding trips, etc. When the breeze first starts you can resist it - to a certain extent, if you roll well. But as it picks up, it begins messing with your body (twitching, urge to walk), and if it gets really bad it can fuck up your whole sense of reality. Subjectively speaking, you ARE in an alternate reality then. And may die there unless someone pulls you out of the breeze.

    This kinda takes us back to "the breeze is a physical manifestation of the maelstrom".

    ???
  • Also, I'm most interested in there being a scary but navigable world outside. I believe a good chunk of Jet's story revolves around on him being from somewhere else before washing up at the Maul.
  • AsIf, that's pretty close to what I've been feeling.
  • Yeah, an although he's not a PC, in my backstory of the Coot I had an idea I liked: people who get trapped outside or wander off can get "blown by the breeze" in a semi-conscious or unconscious state, until they wash up somewhere else. Because they've been drawn toward something, the new place they find themselves is always closer to "ground zero" than they were before.
  • Cool stuff. Lets make PCs and leave some mysteries out there.
  • Can I chat a little about the choices I made? This is my first AW character, and I wouldn't mind seeing what y'all think.

    For stats, I took Cool+1 Hard-1 Hot=0 Sharp+1 Weird+2. I'm thinking of Hottopic as smart and fearless, but not necessarily pretty, and certainly not punchy.

    For moves, I wanted something that's kinda technomystical, and something to connect her to people. I chose Things Speak, which is sort of psychometry (reading objects), and Oftener Right, which allows her to give advice and have it create a mechanical advantage.

    Do these things seem "right" to y'all?
  • edited April 2014
    Paul, it's up to how see your character, ultimately. We could get minmaxxy here, but that affects the rest of your character too.

    In the game world Hottopic has 2 important functions as I see it: one is working with Jet on Circus stuff but the more important one is mall maintenance. The muzak, the air vents, power, all these things are vitally important for everyone's survival and that makes you our Scotty!

    ETA: Unless there are NPC technicians around, that is.
  • I'd like to offer a suggestion for Alan. I think it would be good to have one more character who "owns" a significant location in the mall.
  • My recommendation, based on having had a PC that had Oftener Right - make sure PCs will actually come to you for advice! If you don't set up familiar / friendly relationships (RE: HX), then it is a tough move to fire.
  • edited April 2014
    Just checking out the mall directory, I noticed there's two theaters (not movie theaters), several production companies and a theatrical costume shop in there! Isn't that weird? Anyway, Jet is gonna have a field day romping through old playbills, reading scripts, raiding wardrobes, and scavenging stage tech. Woot! "Hottopic, do you know how to fix this? I think it's a halogen spotlight controller."
  • Hey Tod, I think that's because the mall sort of "turned over", meaning there are no mall-type shops there anymore, just rented space to whoever.
  • I'll take it!
  • The Breeze is somewhat resisted via a roll+Weird. How about something like:

    10+ Resist, MC pick 2
    7-9 Resist, MC pick 1

    You don't take -1 Forward (this stacks)
    You don't take 1Harm AP

    Another option I can't think of. Maybe, you don't pass out. The penalty and harm are from cramping muscles and nose bleeds.
  • edited April 2014
    Well, "Open your brain" is a +Weird roll that "succeeds" in freakyhoohah. I think we're looking at something more nuanced, along the lines of...

    Roll +Weird to try and ride it, interpret it, or utilize it (this mirrors "open your brain").

    Roll +Hard to try and resist it, fight it, delay it (this mirrors "act under fire")

    Meanwhile, the whole syndrome should proceed on a countdown clock.
  • That's a good starting point, Niko. I'll noodle on it. I think that custom move is pretty important to the setting, not to be taken lightly.

    OKAY, looks like we have 3 PCs up on the wiki (Playboy the Faceless, Jet Black the Maestro D' and Hottopic the Savvyhead).

    Who needs help with their PC or the wiki?
  • Blow a resistance roll and you take 1 or maybe more hits on the "breeze clock". Here's a first-pass at the clock:

    1-3 distraction, inability to concentrate, irritation
    4-6 minor twitching, trembling or fumbling
    7-9 significant twitching, probably shouldn't drive
    10 noticeable but discontinuous muscle contortions
    11 continuous muscle contortions
    12 you're a walker
  • edited April 2014
    hey guys!

    Stop doing my job now. Let's focus on PCs. Thanks.

    I appreciate the excitement, but I'm eager to get the PCs and the immediate situations going now, and we can see how things develop in play.
  • edited April 2014
    Sorry Rich! That's what happens when GMs come to play! :->

    ETA: However, I can make a case for our characters being pretty familiar with the symptoms of the breeze, even if they don't have it down to a science.
  • Yes, indeed. GMs come to play. heh, this is going to be a wild ride, it seems. (not complaining)

    Being familiar with the symptoms that you've seen or felt, sure.
  • (Also usually a GM, and will try to be good.)
  • (you guys aren't being "bad", I'm trying to keep momentum moving towards play and first session. When we get to a need for a custom move in play, I'll talk about loud about it here and get suggestions)
  • Hey Rich, I was watching this develop -- players making custom moves and stuff and I was thinking that would irritate you a little. But then I compared it to the way the BGG game started last year and I think you have to admit that this has a little more promise. More vitality! Even if you're herding cats a bit. :)

    (Also, I find myself sorely tempted to suggest custom moves, but I'll be good.)
  • Man, Chris, you are right on the money! I would rather have a bunch of wild excitement and creation than the opposite. I'm just herding cats, ignore my bluster, don't be offended.
  • I made a custom move thread for you crazy cats who are done with your PCs.

    Here it is.

    None of it is official. Imagine you're writing fanfic. It only becomes official if it sees play.
  • Rich, if this is bluster, you're totally cool.

    When you HERD CATS, roll +Cool. On a 10+, choose 3. On a 7-9, choose 1.
    * You totally don't come off as an asshole.
    * You get them all heading the same direction, for now.
    * You don't get distracted by the effort.
    * Take +1 forward to your next attempt to herd the same cats.
    * Kittens! I love kittens!
  • I have no Cool

    (Rolled: 2d6. Rolls: 3, 5. Total: 8)
  • I hope I get option two. We'll see.
  • edited April 2014
    Based on something Paul said, I think maybe the Circus only recently came to town. Less than 6 months ago, maybe even 3. So we were out there in the last Calm. Our travel strategy included earbuds for those with battery-operated music devices, and earplugs & acoustic instruments for those without. Fortunately we made it here before it became too breezy.

    Now that the breeze has picked up again, it may be a while before we're back on the road. Which is maybe not such a bad thing, Jet figures. After checking out all the various stages and theatrical crap in the mall, he was convinced - by the surprisingly candid Hottopic - to dream bigger. Take over the cineplex. Turn it into a 24-hour escape from the muzak, which itself is an escape from the breeze that somehow always makes it through the airvents and busted windows of the mall.

    The first couple weeks were skittery as the Circus tried to establish itself with the local audience. Then Cache and Jet conceived of the epic rock operetta "FUCKING FREEDOM". It told the story of a lux civ under attack by Satan's terrorists, and featured a tragic protagonist and increasingly-dramatic arias set amidst scenes of rising chaos and temptation. In the last act the Great Satan is overthrown by Superman with a Twelve-Foot-Gun and the show culminates in a gigantic orgy - involving some members of the audience - under a giant flashing LED American flag (Hottopic's personal contribution).

    The show was a hit. It ran for over a month, and it may have gone on indefinitely. For all Jet knows - and fears - it may have been his greatest work.

    Then that sick fuck grabbed Cache and did a permanent number on zir mind.
  • Sorry, but that fucking LED flag was not JUST a flag... that was Hottopic's AUDITION. And she rocked it. Subliminal dithyrambic messages between the flashes, what-have-you.
  • edited April 2014
    Damn straight she did. I mean, Boiardi has always been the go-to guy for lights and sound, and Jet still relies on him heavily for advice on acoustics and rigging, but there's no way he ever coulda rigged up a timed multidimensional array of flashing LEDs. Hottopic takes repurposed stage tech to a whole new level.
  • With AsIf's comments in mind, about a PC maybe needing to own a chunk of the Mall, should I roll up a Hardholder?
  • edited April 2014
    I know Rich has a little issue there, but I am playing a Maestro'D after all, so... I think since we're kinda all stuck in the maul most of the time anyway most of the drama will probably happen indoors, and that might obviate any of the immobility problems of the Hardholder. Besides, somebody has to keep the power going.

    Then again (he said, metagamishly speaking) we don't have an Angel either.

    Have you looked at all the expansion splats and hacks? Check this out:
    http://nerdwerds.blogspot.com/2012/12/all-of-playbooks.html
  • I'll explain the reason I said that earlier. Rich was concerned about Maestro'Ds becoming the center of everything, and I want to avoid that scenario myself. I just figured the more property owners we get in here, the less likely that is to happen (and we could have HOA meetings!). But don't listen to me. Do what feels awesome to you.
  • Alan, my advice - ignore all the expansion what's it playbooks. Look at the Basic playbooks and some of the Limited Edition (like Faceless, Touchstone, Quarantine).
  • Hey Chris - I can tell from this map where the AMC is:
    http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/crestwood-court.gif

    I read a web page that said the cineplex was put in "nowhere near the food court". I'm wondering where the food court is. Do you remember?
  • Oh, that was sort of tricky. There was no food court when I spent real time loitering at the mall, but yeah, now I do! On my map, I marked all the exterior entrances with red lines pointing at the mall. There's one that's on the north side of the mall, intersecting the word "plaza" -- that represents a doorway one level down from the main mall level. When I was a kid, it lead into some clothing store, but later, a big basement area was opened up and made into a food court and that leads into that space. On the map you've referenced, it's in the middle of the biggest brown chunk in the basement.

    Also, good find about the theater! I think of that space as a sporting-goods store and arcade, but now I recall that they built that out into a much bigger space (it's sort of perched over this six or eight story drop into the stream) and moved the theater in there.

    This is the weirdest prep for a game ever. (Just because of my childhood familiarity with the venue, I mean.)
  • Yeah it must be especially trippy for you!
  • @clweeks, I'm thinking that broadening it a little, so that the game is more "heavily inspired by" that specific mall than using it as a end-all be-all resource, might be good. I want to use your memories to help inspire the setting, but I don't want you to feel like you're "holding the keys to the kingdom".

    Also, I want to borrow malls as an idea for the setting, so some mall-type setting stuff may never have existed in that particular mall, but I use it in the game. Nothing huge, not gonna put a Mall of America amusement park in the center of it. But if there is an NPC named "Lids", but that mall never had a Lids store, well, so be it. The NPC's name is Lids and we roll with it.

    Does that make sense? Take any stress / weirdness off?
  • edited April 2014
    Updating PC creation progress:

    Name ---- ---- ----- - Character
    Chris (clweeks) ---- ---- Playboy (Faceless)
    Tod (AsIf) ---- ---- ---- Jet (Maestro'D)
    Benjamin (SilentW) ---- - Sweet n' Sour (Chopper)
    Paul (WPTunes) ---- ---- Hottopic (Savvyhead)
    Niko (Niko) ---- ---- -- Cache (Brainer ex-Skinner)
    Alan (VALIS13) ---- ---- unknown

    Benjamin, can you fill in your PC sheets on the wiki (I included links above)

    Alan, anything I can do to help you on character creation?
  • edited April 2014
    Rich, no stress, just weirdness and "trippy" is even a better word. I'm already off the hook by having not actually been back to that mall for like 20 years. And I approve of making it some generic mall or keeping it Crestwood but adding stuff -- either just because you want it or because the Maelstrom is a hyperdimensional space-and-time folding alien attack.
  • I should have time to fuck around with the wiki at work tonight.
  • @Niko, I took the stuff you posted earlier in this thread and put it in the wiki. Feel free to edit if it doesn't look right!
  • I've created a rudimentary Hardholder at the wiki. Any idea how to edit the character's name?
  • What's his name? I can do it for ya!
  • I don't know. Where's the list of groovy names you said you had stashed somewhere?
  • by the by, something awesome about this forum is that you can copy the URL for a YouTube video, post it as is into the comment box and it will bring up a link.

    I plan on using this for posts when I have background music in mind. Play it or don't, think of it as completely optional.

    EXAMPLE:
  • I think Big Mac is most appropriate.
  • here you go, Alan!

    Big Mac
  • Cheers!

    I've put his holding as a food court (hence his name), is it a problem that Sweet N Sour is located at a food court? Could he be one of my lunatic gang?
  • I suppose that will come out when we do Hx
  • Yeah, that should come out during HX.

    LET'S INTRO PCs and do HX!!!!
  • Ready whenever you are, RR.

    Do we have any idea how many people live in the maul at any given time? I imagine there's a bunch of NPCs who are staked out in various shops, surviving in their own way, yes?
  • We shall figure that out in first session, Tod. Do the HX. Intro your sexy-brilliant PC and tell them HX per the playbook
  • edited April 2014
    Here? Ok. Let's see...

    Jet Black is Maestro of the AngelMetalCircus, a band of talented exhibitionists and sexual deviants who arrived several months ago and set up a ten-stage entertainment zone in the AMC cineplex. Jet's info page is here and more info on the AMC is here.

    Jet is impressed and intrigued with Hottopic and her talents, but his +2Hx must go to Cache, who he feels responsible for and has nightmares about. Everybody else gets +1Hx from me.
  • edited April 2014
    Brainer Hx is based on modifying other's Hx choices. So, I'm going to wait until everyone is done.
  • Hottopic is not the "hide in the workshop" kind of Savvyhead. She grew up in the Maul, and has connections with many of the small communities that co-exist there. The children, in particular, adore her, and she's cool with that even though she's still pretty young herself. Even though the adults find her a bit... off, they don't hesitate to call on her ability to commune with "stuff" when they need something fixed or someone found.

    Even though Cache is definitely strange, Hottopic finds Playboy both disturbing and intriguing. Playboy gets Hx+1 with Hottopic. Everyone else gets Hx-1: Hottopic seems to keep looking for the power supply or on-off switch.
  • edited April 2014
    Hello. I'm Playboy. I'm sort of lost. I don't feel like I belong anywhere and so I haven't carved out a home turf. I rest, of course, like anyone -- I guess I'm human. But I just do it wherever I am when I get tired. When you look at me, you see this giant woman clad in pink and black leather. Fetish gear they called it back in the time when there were things that weren't perverse. You run the risk of thinking it means something. I guess it must, but fuck if I know what that is. Probably not whatever you're thinking. My hood means something. Unlike humans, it knows me inside my head and it sticks with me. Honestly, I wouldn't know what to do with out it. It's only because of the hood that I keep trying to connect with the rest of you -- it keeps pushing me to be a part of things. I've been in The Maul for almost six years and still, we aren't friends. Yet the hood keeps telling me to eat with you. To work with you. To defend you. To fuck you. Whatever. The hood knows best.


    One of you helped me do something terrible. I'm going to say it was Big Mac (you take +2Hx with me). Alan, what do you think? What even counts as terrible in a world like this? Maybe that kid who used to cook for everyone -- y'know for free, just because he loved to cook and see people enjoy his food. Why'd we cut his hands off? There must have been some reason. Wait, duh...stranding a performer outside in The Breeze is pretty terrible! Niko, how do you feel about PCs being responsible for your rebirth? I can't imagine why my hood told me to do that (maybe it just wanted to create the brainer), but what really needs explaining is why Big Mac got involved -- what was he getting out of it?

    Everyone but Big Mac takes +1 with me.

    Maybe (probably) one of you was kind and unafraid toward me. And maybe (probably) I think one of you is pretty. I'll figure that stuff out as we go around. (We're still missing big chunks of character so it would be premature to make all the connections.)
  • Chris-- I'm good with it.
  • Hey Alan, I'm drawing a blank on the phrase "Junta Wear". Can you explain or show me a picture of what that looks like?
  • When we cut off the kid's hands, the Food Court was never busier.

    Apparently the burgers were more flavoursome for a few days.
  • AsIf, something like Che Guevara or Fidel Castro would wear.

    Google Castro, I can't figure out how to put pictures into this thing.
  • Big Mac's hardholding is in the Food Court at the end of the Maul. For all his business acumen and his tight control of the Courts assets alongside the bravura with which he directs his fucking lunatic gang; no-one really knows him. Nobody gets close, apart from Sweet N Sour, who knew Big Mac from before things went bad, and whose gang share part of the Food Court.

    Big Mac has a problem with [character X*] who has stolen from him in the past. Relations are visibly frosty.

    -------------------------------------------------------------

    Everyone gets Hx =0 with Big Mac, as he has become reserved with his resources and his trust due to the recent betrayal.

    -------------------------------------------------------------

    * Do I need to say who character X is? The Hardholder Playbook gives me a problem with them. I assume I do as anyone could check my Hx and work it out, but I just want to be sure before I name them.
  • That's a fascinating question. In every game (across a table or online) this was all done totally open. I thought that's how it had to be so strongly that I opened up the playbook document to quote it to you. But now I see that it just tells you to decide. I still think there's no reason to keep it secret -- this game thrives on us knowing that kind of stuff. But it's neat to discover that it's not clear-cut.
  • edited April 2014
    Yeah sometimes the books tell the players to keep secrets. However, whether or not we know this stuff about each other's characters (and police ourselves to draw a firm line between what we know and what our character knows) is largely a matter of playstyle and differs from group to group.
  • The books, Tod? Where does it say that in Apocalypse World?
  • edited April 2014
    When I said "books" I meant playbooks. Playstyle is not in the books, it's ephemera. Some groups play this stuff openly and some don't.
  • OK, Big Mac's problem is with Hottopic the Savvyhead.

    Big Mac strongly believes that Hottopic stole from his Hardhold to enable her to fulfil one of her contracts.
  • Ok, Tod. Was curious and a little confused at your meaning.

    Juicy stuff, Alan!
  • So... players know. Does Hottopic know that you suspect her of this theft?
  • Yes. The tension between them is palpable, or at least it feels that way to Big Mac, who doesn't trust her at all.

    It shows in his dealings with her, and he's accused her of corruption and larceny in the past.
  • hahaha, this is great. Hottopic is such a sweetie, too!
  • I get the feeling "sweet" is not high on Mac's list of motivational adjectives :-)
  • Sweet and Sour might be!
  • okay, let's keep going with HX
    I want to have first scenes up by Monday, yo!
  • So, that answers something. Hottopic always thought Big Mac was sketchy, and she's not a fan of the tattoos, but his behavior recently is making her worry that he might become a real problem instead of just an asshole.
  • Q: How long has everybody been here? Jet: seems like 3-6 months.
  • Hottopic doesn't remember ever having lived anyplace else.
  • edited April 2014
    Cache came in with Jet about 6 months ago. Ze was responsible for building hype in the holds for the circus, and so knew everyone. Since zir walk a few weeks ago, though, ze's become something of a cypher. Ze moves through Big Maul mostly via the service corridors. Ze doesn't talk much to anyone, except maybe Jet, but not much even there.

    Most unsettling, ze's frequently seen outside, ears bare, just listening to the Breeze, only coming in when the nose bleed starts. Oddly enough, Ze is completely still when outside. It's the only time the twitches subside.


    Playboy has slept in my presence, though she doesn't know it. She help me after the walk, and I feel strangely protective. I take Hx +3 with her.

    I've been watching Hottopic for a while, and take +3 with her.

    Big Mac, of course, doesn't trust me. My final +3 is with him.

    I take +1 whatever you tell me (-1 becomes 0, etc) with everyone else. I know you all far better than you realize. You think too loud, and the Breeze whispers your secrets.

    I'm a mystery even to Jet. Everyone takes Hx -1 with me.
  • edited April 2014
    By the way, the symbolism in Jet's shows is completely un-ironic, and half of it is taken out of context. That's because he taught himself to read (incompletely it seems), and he gets most of his knowledge of entertainment tropes from old magazines and DVDs. So for him, the flag is neither a symbol of patriotic values, nor an ironic reversal of those values. For Jet, as far as he understands it, that flag simply means "a lux civ with fuck-off big guns that does whatever it wants" and that would be a good place to live.
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