Master of Ceremonies
THE M.C.
That's you, the Master of Ceremonies, Apocalypse World's GM.
THE MASTER OF
CEREMONIES
DECISION-MAKING
In order to play to find out what happens, you'll need to pass decision- making off sometimes. Whenever something comes up that you'd prefer not to decide by personal whim and will, don't. The game gives you four key tools you can use to disclaim responsibility: you can put it in your NPCs' hands, you can put it in the players' hands, you can create a countdown, or you can make it a stakes question.
NPCs
Tum Tum · Gnarly · Fleece · White · Lala · Bill · Crine · Mercer · Preen · Ik · Shan · Isle · Ula · Joe's Girl · Dremmer · Balls · Amy · Rufe · Jackabacka · Ba · Mice · Dog head · Hugo · Roark · Monk · Pierre · Norvell · H · Omie Wise · Corbett · Jeanette · Rum · Peppering · Brain · Matilda · Rothschild · Wisher · Partridge · Brace Win · Bar · Krin · Parcher · Millions · Grome · Foster · Mill · Dustwich · Newton · Tao · Missed · III · Princy · East Harrow · Kettle · Putrid · Last · Twice · Clarion · Abondo · Mimi · Fianelly · Pellet · Li · Harridan · Rice · Do · Winkle · Fuse · Visage · Enough-to-eat · Barker · Imam · Bowdy · Daff · Exit · Chin · Look · Shazza · Fauna · Sun · Chack · Ricarra · Prim
Cross them off as you use them. Scavenge unused names from the character playbooks, too.
Make your NPCs human by giving them straightforward, sensible self- interests. They're just not that complicated. They do what they want to do, when they want to do it, and if something gets in their way, well, they deal with that now. What they do in life is follow their parts around – their noses, their stomachs, their hearts, their clits & dicks, their guts, their ears, their inner children, their visions.
Then, you can make PC–NPC–PC triangles just by making sure that their uncomplicated self-interests involve the players' characters individually, not as a group. Show different sides of their personalities to the players' different characters.
HARM
Harm before 6:00 heals automatically with time. Harm after 9:00 gets worse with time, unless stabilized. If the player marks the segment 11:00 to 12:00, it means that the character's dead but can still be revived. Any harm past that and the character's dead for reals.
Typically, when a character takes harm, it's equal to the harm rating of the weapon, attack, or mishap, minus the armor rating of the character's armor. This is called harm as established.
When the character's harm countdown crosses 9:00, the player can choose to mark a debility. If she does, she gets the debility, but the harm stops sharp at 9:00 on the countdown. Once she's past 9:00, she can choose to take a debility instead of any new wound.
NPCs, GANGS, VEHICLES, & HARM
When an NPC suffers…
1‑harm: cosmetic damage, pain, concussion, fear if the NPC's likely to be afraid of pain.
2‑harm: wounds, unconsciousness, bad pain, broken bones, shock. Likely fatal, occasionally immediately fatal.
3‑harm: give it 50–50 it's immediately fatal. Otherwise, terrible wounds, shock, death soon.
4‑harm: usually immediately fatal, but sometimes the poor fuck has to wait to die, mangled and ruined.
5‑harm and more: fatal and bodily destructive.
When a gang suffers…
1‑harm: a few injuries, one or two serious, no fatalities.
2‑harm: many injuries, several serious, a couple of fatalities.
3‑harm: widespread injuries, many serious, several fatalities.
4‑harm: widespread serious injuries, many fatalities.
5‑harm and more: widespread fatalities, few survivors.
With a strong, present leader, a gang will hold together if it suffers up to 4‑harm. If the leader is weak or absent, it'll hold together if it suffers up to 3‑harm. If the leader is both weak and absent, it'll hold together if it suffers 1‑ or 2‑harm. If it has no leader, it'll hold together if it suffers 1‑harm, but no more.
If a PC is a member of a gang taking harm, how much harm the PC takes depends on her role in the gang. If she's a leader or a prominent, visible member, she suffers the same harm the gang does. If she's just someone in the gang, or if she's intentionally protecting herself from harm instead of fighting with the gang, she suffers 1‑harm less.
When a vehicle suffers...
1‑harm: cosmetic damage. 0‑harm can blow through to passengers.
2‑harm: functional damage. 1‑harm can blow through to passengers.
3‑harm: serious damage. 2‑harm can blow through to passengers.
4‑harm: breakdown. 3‑harm can blow through to passengers.
5‑harm and more: total destruction. Full harm can blow through to passengers, plus they can suffer additional harm if the vehicle explodes or crashes.
Introducing
a playsheet for