Category: Apocalypse Galactica

Well, without much ado, I converted the Doctor, Engineer, and Marine to the new bi-fold format. I didn’t make any mechanical changes except in Hx (as I’m using a new Hx system with version_02).

I do think the Marine needs some looking at. Currently a lot of what the Marine is about is having big guns, but they only get to take the “really big guns” if they take the Master at Arms move. I dislike a chunk of a playbook being limited by having to take a move, so I’ll noodle on that more.

Rather than put up a bunch of new pictures, here’s a link to the PDF of what I’ve done so far: AG_CorePlaybooks_ver02 (incomplete)

Happy Frakking!

I’ve updated the Captain playbook. Not many changes really. The book has only been played once, and it seemed fine. None of the moves looked broken or unusable, so I pretty much left it as is changing only the formatting (to letter size bi-fold) and the Hx. The latter was really fun actually, it helped me refine who the Captain should care about. It starts with other political figures at +2, people living on her ship at +1 and everyone else at -1. I rather like having different ways of evaluating Hx for different playbooks (Pilot is concerned with who is in the military vs. Captain who is concerned with other political figures and people on their ship).

Here the revised playbook.

It occurs to me that the more I use language from the show, not only does it make the game more evocative, but it also helps me figure out what the moves should do.

Example. The Commander needs Leadership. He is the Hardholder after all. But instead of calling it leadership, I’m going to name it “So Say We All”. This isn’t just a re-skin though, it means that when I’m thinking about what the Commander can do, I’m thinking about what kind of things the Commander would do in a BSG universe.

Make a hard advance, for instance, isn’t as appropriate as “Protect the Fleet”. So, that said, I’m thinking about other moves, named after lines in the show. So far I’ve got:

• So Say We All (Commander)
• Martial Law (Commander)
• CIC (Commander)
• Roll a Hard Six (Pilot)
• Get your Gun and Bring the Cat In (Partisan)
• All of This Has Happened Before (Visionary)
• All of This Will Happen Again (Visionary)
• Officer on Deck (CAG)
• Necessary Evil (Businessman)
• Quorum of Twelve (Captain)
• Tribunal Judge (Captain)
• Sickbay (Doctor)
• Boarding Party (Marine)
• Master-at-Arms (Marine)

The CAG has been consistently one of my most problematic characters. Both because he sits somewhere between a Commander and a Pilot with aspects of both, and because the one example I have of the CAG in the show was such a diverse character (his rank/status changed about 12 times during the show) that he makes it very hard to model.

Here are the changes I made since version_01. First, stuff removed:

• Apocalypse World Credits (since it really isn’t a playbook from AW anyway, but I still want to give tribute somewhere.
• Military Unit rules. Will have to put them into a supplemental moves book (to be created)
• Look box. Redundant anyway (choices already circled)
• Playbook picture shrunk to 2/3 height.
• Creating a CAG rules. Basically all they did was tell you to choose things (moves, stats, etc).
• Improvement instructions. Probably unnecessary anyway.

Changes made to CAG (as of Version_02):

• Moved Raptor Scouting to be an optional move, and took as self-evident question off the list.
• Added Squadron Commander as a fixed move, as Leadership is falling back out of the basic moves list. Gave Squadron Commander specific battle choices for pilots.
• Changed Brief the Squad to be more general (making a plan) and removed a fight specific option (moved to Squadron Commander).
• Removed all the optional moves: Lead the Way, Wingman, Leave No Man Behind, and Raiding Party. Replaced with Tactical Leader (what I wanted instead of Lead the Way), Harsh Lessons (taken from the Officer in The Regiment), Dearly Departed (suggested by Soylent White on the forums), and Raptor Scouting (a cool move but not an essential CAG move).

Lingering concerns. The CAG is full of roll to do stuff off this list, he has 4 moves that do that, which seem too much. Not sure what to cut or condense though. Given that it is a “sharp” character, I like that choices where questions are answered is an option. Musing on it still.

And here’s the CAG:

I’m starting to wrap my head around not only why the Leadership move exists (to push your gang to do things they normally wouldn’t do, or that goes against their instincts) but also what it should do (make moves that fit the narrative, flexible enough to adapt to situations, but not all encompassing).

So, I thought about what a CAG would do, what he would send his pilots to do, blow up Cylons, protect the fleet, create an ambush, etc.

So. I created Squadron Commander. The CAGs equivalent of leadership, and I like it (though I’m still open to suggestions), but now I’m really wondering about Brief the Squad. It just seems too similar, or like it overlaps too much. What do you think?

I was driving to work today and thinking about custom moves. It hit me that one thing that happens in BSG is people find out the ones they love are Cylons. It happens go Chief (with Boomer), Adama (with Boomer), Helo (with Boomer/Athena), Gaius (with Six), Cain (with Six), etc. It happens, and people react differnently to it.

So here is what I’m thinking:

I still mean something to you (Cylon move): When you remind a human of the good times you spent together roll +hot.  On a ten plus, then remember the time as you describe it. On a 7-9, the remember the time but question if it was real or deception. On a miss, you’ve hit a nerve. Take -1 going forward when interacting with them until they cool down or forgive you.

Michael’s version:

I still mean something to you (Cylon move): When you remind a human of the good times you spent together roll +hot. On a 10+ hold 3, on a 7-9 hold 1. Spend holds 1 for 1 to make them pause and remember you with fondness.  On a miss, you’ve hit a nerve. Take -1 going forward when interacting with them until they cool down or forgive you.

Heart in the Machine: When you accept a Cylon into your heart, roll +faith. On a 10+ Choose 2, on a 7-9, choose 1.

• Those close to you forgive them for their deception.
• Others believe they have feelings, and are more than just a weapon.
• They aren’t thrown in the brig.

On a miss, they are just a frakking toaster. An enemy to humanity.

I’ve been working on a CAG move analogous to Leadership, used to control the squadrons, and something is coming into focus. I don’t understand what the Leadership move does.

I get pack alpha. Getting your gang to behave is tough, they’re going to fight you, this how you put them down.

But, if your gang is under control, why isn’t the character in charge of them, any character just making basic moves?

• Need your gang to stay sentry and watch out for intruders trying to sneak in? Read a sitch.
• Need them to put the hurt on someone and get them to pay their debts? Go aggro.
• Need them to stay the fuck out of site while you lure your enemies into an ambush? Act under fire.

It just seems to me that Leadership is superfluous unless you need it to control your gang, and that’s not exactly what leadership does. Sure, on a miss, you lose control, but on a hit you get things like “make a hard advance”. What is that? Is it going aggro? Is it seizing by force? If so why not just roll those? If not, what does it do.

In the book Vincent suggests spending hold along with using moves (his example is making hard advance and seizing by force to take a wall). But again I ask what does the Leadership part of this doing? Why couldn’t the Hardholder just roll seize be force to take the wall?

He also mentions using the gang as weapons (p.253) but that also just looks like you do basic moves with them.

What am I missing?

Also, if I’m not missing anything, what about a move like this. Strong Hands on the Rein: You can use your Military Unit (my name for gang) to perform all the basic moves. Add these to all moves. On a 7-9, you’ve got to discipline one of your soldiers after the encounter for something they did or didn’t do. On a miss, your MU has broken formation, been routed, or otherwise leaves you exposed to your enemy.

So, I’m still fundamentally unhappy with the CAG’s moves. This is what I’ve got so far.

Part of my frustration comes from not being entirely sure the CAG should be a +Sharp character. Lee, and Starbuck (for the brief time she was CAG) both led more with their heart than their head. So, I’ve thought of making the CAG +Hot, but hot isn’t really it either. The Opportunist and the Businessman are totally +Hot characters, as is 6. The get what they want through manipulation and seduction, perfect. The CAG speaks to people and they listen because they want the CAG to believe in them, to be proud.

Right now the CAG has two automatic moves: Raptor Scouting and Brief the Squad.

Raptor Scouting comes from the board game, as well as something commonly done in the show. Send out a Raptor to get intel. The move is modeled after the various move -> ask specific questions model (as seen in the Hoarder, Skinner, Brainer, etc). Based on the suggestion from SoylentWhite on the AW forms, I’m going to remove the first question “where do I find this?” because it is implicit in the move working. The move is okay, and it makes sense to go with sharp, but it doesn’t pull my pants down and pleasure me. It’s just okay.

Brief the Squad is a move I like very much. It is a) something that happened A LOT in the show, and b) where I see the CAG really shining. He gets to talk to people before a fight and give them advantages. I took this move from the Lieutenant in John Harper’s The Regimnent and tweaked it for my use. I’m rewording the second option to say “Temporarily remove one weakness for the duration of the engagement [insubordination, reckless, messy, ammo, etc]”. That doesn’t change what I originally meant with it, it just makes it cleaner.

The optional moves however are really where I feel the CAG falls down.

Lead the Way: This is okay. It’s just a stat substitution. I still find myself wishing it said lead with +Heart, but that stat doesn’t exist (see below)

Wingman: This move, taken from the Sergeant in The Regiment, is more complicated that I intended, due to armor. Also, I generally don’t want to think too much about vehicle damage (except with the Pilot) so when the CAGs Vipers get damaged they will take damage like a gang does (or in this case a Military Unit), so the move doesn’t even work. It’s coming out.

Leave no man behind: This move is great, except that it it a) looks just like Raiding Party and b) has virtually the same name as the Partisan’s “Leave no one behind”, albiet the Partisan’s move works completely differently. I think I’m going to kill raiding party (as the marine has it as well) and rename it, or rename the Partisan’s move.

Raiding Party: As above, this move is coming out. That makes two moves going though (Wingman and Raiding Party) so I think I should be looking at something to add.

Moves I’m considering adding:

Tactical Leader: When rolling Leadership, roll +Sharp instead of +Hard. This seems like a pretty simple and important move. Since the CAG is a leader, and Leadership is now a basic move. But, it’s a boring stat substitution move. Bleh.

Stickier thoughts

What if I wanted a Heart stat? What would it’s basic moves be? What would it replace (I’m NOT adding a stat)? Could I use Hx instead? If I did, what would the CAG roll against NPCs? If so, should I give the CAG a substitution move to roll +Hx instead of something else?

I made Leadership a basic move because I thought these playbooks would need it: Commander, XO, and CAG. Now, I’ve decided not to man an XO and I’m leery of the Activist jumping on that move, because I want him to use Crime Lord instead (especially since they both use Hard, so there is not reason for him not to use Leadership). Also, I don’t like the imbalance of Hard having 3 moves and other Stats only having one (Cool and Faith).  So, lets entertain the idea that I move Leadership back to the Commander as a special move. That means the CAG needs a way to control his vipers squadrons, and that means a move. Any thoughts on what that should look like? How it would be different from Leadership? (It should not look like Crime Lord/Pack Alpha).

Where to put the Viper Squadrons? So, if the CAG isn’t in play, but the Vipers are (because someone is playing the Commander), it begs the question of where the Viper squadrons should be. To solve this I’ve presently put the Viper information on the Battlestar Playbook and put a note on the CAG’s playbooks to reference that. But… it seems like the Vipers should be the CAGs first and foremost, rather than borrowed from the Battlestar.  So, what about giving the CAG the Viper Squad on his his playbook, and then telling the Battlestar to reference that? Blerg. I hate ambiguity and confusion.

My poor play on words, aside, I’m excited to present the Version_02 Activist.

Here is what has changed (both to work with the bi-fold) and based on feedback.

Stuff removed:

• Apocalypse World Credits (since it really isn’t a playbook from AW anyway, but I still want to give tribute somewhere.
• Military Unit rules. Will have to put them into a supplemental moves book (to be created)
• Look box. Redundant anyway (choices already circled)
• Playbook picture shrunk to 2/3 height.
• Creating an Activist rules. Basically all they did was tell you to choose things (moves, stats, etc).
• Improvement instructions. Probably unnecessary anyway.
• The Activist had a Cause, Demands, and then this fiddly bit of what happened since the Fall. That last part was weak sauce so I yanked it.

Changes made to Activist (as of Version_02):

• Advancement options corrected (they had been accidentally copied from the Commander).
• “Fight for a Cause” move formalized. It was always there, but it used to be lost in the narrative description of the Activist’s Demands. Now it’s a move and one the activist gets automatically.
• Frakking Thieves, Crime Lord and Extortion changed to optional moves. I saw two problems. One was the activist didn’t have any choices regarding moves, and people like choices. Two, especially with formalizing “Fight for a Cause”, having all the other moves automatically is quite overpowered. The current version says pick two of the those three, but I think by the time Version_02 is realized it will just be pick one,  and have an advancement option to pick another.
• Hx has changed based on the new formatting, and I like the change a lot. Now instead of having fixed Hx with each playbook and a then changing one of those values, each playbook start with +3 with someone based on a strong relationship defined by the player, and then gets values to give everyone else based on default relationships.  The Activist, is actually backward of this, they get a single weak relationship (-1) based on someone they have given up on, and their other default relationships are very strong.

Here’s some screen shots.

Here’s my first attempt to shrink my Legal Tri-Folds to Letter Bi-Fold. It is also incorporating feedback from SoylentWhite on the Apocalypse World Hack Forums.

This is what I had to take out to make it happen:

• Apocalypse World Credits (since it really isn’t a playbook from AW anyway, but I still want to give tribute somewhere.
• Vehicle rules. Will have to put them into a supplemental moves book (to be created)
• Look box. Redundant anyway (choices already circled)
• Playbook picture shrunk to 2/3 height.
• Creating a pilot rules. Basically all they did was tell you to choose things (moves, stats, etc).
• Improvement instructions. Probably unnecessary anyway.

Changes made to pilot (as of Version_02):

• Versatile move now implicit. The Pilot can have a Viper, Raptor, or both, by default.
• Daredevil changed to Hotshot. Option for +2 armor to create a problematic situation.
• Perfect Instincts still in there, but it’s coming out, Pilot already has enough ways to get crazy bonuses to rolls. Need a replacement for it.