Character Creation: Apocalypse World 2nd Ed

Oh, what a day! What a lovely day!

The Game: Apocalypse World 2nd Ed
The Publisher: Lumpley Games
Degree of Familiarity: A lot with PbtA games generally, but only occasional one-shots of the OG
Books Required: Just the one

One of these days maybe I'll run a longer game of this. I love post-apocalyptic RPGs, and one of the things I love most about them is the transformation of the familiar world into the "world after people" of the post-apocalypse. Not every PbtA game actually works long-term at the table, but I have to assume this one does, considering. 

Anyway, I backed this on Kickstarter and Kickstarter says I marked my physical copy received in February 2017, but buggered if I can find it. I have the PDF, though, so HERE WE GO. 

So the first thing we do is pick a playbook. Last time I did this (for 1st ed) I made a Brainer, this time I think I want to go a little more physical and gritty. Let's do a chopper.

We're meant to choose name, look, stats, moves, bike, gang, Hx. I'm probably gonna wind up skipping Hx since that's the part that requires other players, but otherwise, pretty simple. His name is Brian Meats. It's stenciled on his bike. It's supposed to say "Brain Meats" but the guy who made the stencil fucked it up. Whatever, close enough. 

For look, Brian is a man. He's wearing scrounged biker gear - he's wearing leathers but they've been patched and sewn together a lot. His face is rugged, narrow eyes, sturdy body. 

Stats involves picking an array rather than distribution. I want Brian to be good at aggression stuff, so I think I'll go Cool +2, Hard +2, Hot -1, Sharp 0, Weird -1. Lots of potential for XP. 

Moves! I get pack alpha and fucking thieves, and unlike a lot of other PbtA games I don't get more stuff, and that's easy. 

Bike! I start off with speed 0, handling 0, armor 0, massive 0, and then I apply stuff. So: I get to pick one or two strengths. I shall take aggressive and responsive. I get one or two looks, so I shall take vintage and massively chopped. Weakness! I'll take slow, just because it's not the first thing you think of when you think of a post-apoc bike warlord. And then I get to increase speed or handling; obviously handling. 

And now, gang. By default we've got about 15 violent bastards, but I get to pick two traits off a list. I shall bump numbers to around 30 and say that they're nomadic at heart, so the gang gets the mobile tag. And then I get one negative trait. I'll say that members come and go as they please, so we're vulnerable to desertion. That seems about right; Brian's good at getting them to do what he wants but he's not great at commanding ongoing loyalty. 

And that's actually it, because the last thing would be Hx and as mentioned that requires a group. I think Shea Whigham would play Brian in the movie.