Adventurers' World - An Apocalypse World Fantasy Hack

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E_FD

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Adventurers' World - An Apocalypse World Fantasy Hack
« on: January 24, 2014, 06:17:05 AM »
Obviously, pseudo-medieval D&D-esque fantasy is a popular RPing genre that more than a few people have already done justice to using variations on the Apocalypse World rules, but I felt like giving it my own spin. All comments and suggestions are welcome.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6TzJIdlqOYNSWdKZG9YaG92NTg/edit?usp=sharing

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Jeremy

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Re: Adventurers' World - An Apocalypse World Fantasy Hack
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2014, 08:33:00 PM »
I keep meaning to reply to this post.  It makes me sad that this hasn't gotten more attention.  It's a really good hack, with some smart, clearly intentional design.

Things I really like:
 - The way you use the Health stat (and have them roll +current Health to exert themselves); it's really clever
 - The fact that all the playbooks' signature moves are a choice between "being more badass" and "bringing more fiction to the world;" that's a really nice application of Johnstone's old essay on what makes a good AW playbook
 - The way you merged DW's "damage is based on you, not the weapon" with the AW harm system and tags
 - The idea that you define a handful of rituals up front, including the costs/requirements; that combined with the various "magician" moves really evoke a particular type of sword-and-sorcery magic
 - The XP triggers are pretty sweet, too (and I like the fact that both the triggers & rolling a 6- only give you one XP per scene)
 - In general, the playbook moves are all really well done; yeah, I recognize a lot of them (or at least their origins), but lots of them are new and show a real knack for it (I think my favorite might be the barbarian's Halfbreed)
 - The playbooks themselves are a nice take on the fantasy archetypes; I really like the presence of The Youth.

I'm not *sure* that I like the stat compression (Might/Wits/Spirit) but I totally respect the decision.  It seems to work.

I'm not really a fan of the Poison/Potion thing; it seems unnecessary, and I dislike that a poison always works as if it's a 10+ (even against a PC? can't I defy danger?)

My biggest concern is the lack of backstory and setup material for the PCs.  AW, DW, and MotW all benefit from the "how do you know each other" options & questions built into the playbooks.  A lot of them also have world-building questions.  Some of your PCs will have the world-building stuff (via their signature moves), but not all of them.

From the intro notes, it sounds like you and group have been playing this.  How's it been going?  Have there been any significant changes?  What's working and what isn't?

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E_FD

  • 12
Re: Adventurers' World - An Apocalypse World Fantasy Hack
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2014, 05:48:44 AM »
Thanks for your feedback! I know this is a niche that might not pique as much interest since plenty of other games already cover it, so it's nice to get whatever input I can.

Believe me, I'm definitely aware of the lack of backgrounds/bonds; that's something I wouldn't consider the hack complete without. It's coming if I put together a revision. (Though on that front, I'm waiting with bated breath to see the next iteration of AW: Dark Ages, since it seems to be covering some similar ground to this hack and doing a phenomenal job at it. In particular, the rules for working out monsters' stats/abilities without an extensive bestiary are almost exactly along the lines of what I'd been thinking about for Adventurers' World.)

The Potions/Poisons point is a good one that I hadn't considered; I actually first came up with the system solely for the Witch's Alchemical Brewery signature move, and it seemed big and sprawling enough that I moved it into the general rules, but that may not have been the right decision. I definitely want some form of poisons available to PCs, and this felt like a way to do it without having to get fiddly with too many different item types, but the system certainly has its limitations. Something else to look into.