Apocalypse World

The game's implied post-apocalyptic setting is fleshed out during character creation.{{Cite web|url=https://critical-hits.com/blog/2010/08/15/barf-forth-apocalyptica-review-apocalypse-world/|title=Barf Forth Apocalyptica! Review: Apocalypse World|date=August 15, 2010|website=Critical Hits}} Each playbook involves and provides inspiration for certain details of the setting, such as the Hardholder, who rules the local settlement and therefore has control over its size, population, and appearance. The characters' shared history is also determined in the course of character generation. Themes of the game are survival and relationships, and they come out in the "pure lethality of the game".{{Cite web|url=https://www.flamesrising.com/apocalypse-world-rpg-review/|title=» Apocalypse World RPG Review}} Notably, the Master of Ceremonies (MC) is not supposed to do any planning before sitting down to the first session, so that all players have an opportunity to shape the game world collectively.{{Cite web |url=http://www.playunplugged.com/2012/07/review-apocalypse-world/ |title=Play Unplugged review |access-date=2013-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203011546/http://www.playunplugged.com/2012/07/review-apocalypse-world/ |archive-date=2013-12-03 |url-status=dead }}

• One MC (Gamemaster)
• Three to five players
• Two six-sided dice each
• A different playbook for each player{{Cite web|url=http://apocalypse-world.com/AW-basicplaybooks-legal.pdf|title=Standard Apocalypse World handouts}}
• Quick reference sheets for "moves" and the MC's "fronts"

The system uses the Powered by the Apocalypse engine. It features dice-rolling checks for challenging situations of 2d6 plus a relevant stat. Results of 10+ are successes, while 7 to 9 are partial successes or hard choices, and results of 6 or less allow the MC to make a move. A notable feature of Apocalypse World is the inclusion of a "special move" for each class, which triggers when a character of that class meets the appropriate triggers.

Examples of playbooks include the Hardholder, the Gunlugger, the Battlebabe, the Driver, the Chopper (Gang Leader), the Hocus (Cult Leader), the Brainer (Psychic), the Savvyhead (Mechanic/Inventor), and the Skinner (artist). Stats used in rolls are: Cool (Calmness, Rationality); Hard (Strength, Intimidation); Hot (Attraction, Charisma); Sharp (Empathy, Intelligence); and Weird (Psychic, Luck). Characters also carry History (Hx) stats, referencing their non-symmetric relationships with other players; the stat adjusts and grants XP as the characters understand each other more or less.

Reception was positive, with Apocalypse World winning numerous awards. There was praise for the streamlined nature of the game, as well as the MC job, although the inclusion of a sex move was controversial and was explicitly called out as not for children by SFSignal.[http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/07/roll_perception_plus_awareness_apocalypse/ Roll Perception plus Awareness review] – SFSignal

Academic PS Berge wrote, "Vincent and Meguey Baker's Apocalypse World (AW, 2010) marked the beginning of a critical era in 'fiction-first' TRPG design. [...] A violent, dystopian, wasteland-punk game, AW itself is less important to the legacy of independent TRPGs than the Bakers' invitation to other designers: 'If you've created a game inspired by Apocalypse World, and would like to publish it, please do'".{{Cite book|last=Berge|first=PS|date=2021|editor-last=Mitchell|editor-first=Alex|editor2-last=Vosmeer|editor2-first=Mirjam|chapter=Monster Power. Rebel Heart. Gay Sword: Queer Structures and Narrative Possibility in PbtA Tabletop Roleplaying Games|url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-92300-6_16|language=en|publisher=Springer International Publishing|volume=13138|pages=179–192|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-92300-6_16|isbn=978-3-030-92299-3|access-date=2021-12-31|title=Interactive Storytelling|series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science |s2cid=244882412 |place=Cham}}{{rp|182}}

James Hanna, writing for CBR in 2020, commented that "ten years on, Powered by the Apocalypse games (PbtA) are everywhere. The Bakers designed the PbtA engine so that other game designers could 'hack' it, creating games with similar mechanics, but unique worlds and rules. More than four dozen games bear the PbtA license, making Apocalypse World incredibly influential. That influence continues to be felt as games move into new territories and find new audiences".{{Cite web|date=2020-10-04|title=Powered by the Apocalypse: How an Indie RPG Is Still Changing the Industry|url=https://www.cbr.com/powered-by-the-apocalypse-indie-rpg/|access-date=2021-12-31|website=CBR}}

Chase Carter for Polygon listed it as one of the "seminal" games during the "blooming of indie RPG designers" in the latter part of the 2000s, along with Fiasco, Lady Blackbird, Dogs in the Vineyard and the Romance Trilogy.{{Cite web |last=Carter |first=Chase |date=2022-09-12 |title=The fork in the road facing third-party tabletop RPGs |url=https://www.polygon.com/23344107/dungeons-and-dragons-third-party-licensing |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=Polygon}}

In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath noted, "All of [the game's] mechanics pale in comparison to Apocalypse World{{'}}s major innovation: The way it handles actions .. This bundling [of different actions] is what Apocalypse World does to RPGs with the introduction of the Moves mechanic, and it marks an important milestone for RPG design." Horvath also pointed out the many RPG hacks that had been created using the game mechanics of Apocalypse World, collectively known as Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA). "PbtA excels at facilitating these sorts of tightly constrained, emotionally charged games that ultimately focus on the mess of interconnected relationships."{{cite book| last = Horvath| first = Stu| title = Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground| publisher = MIT Press| date = 2023| location = Cambridge, Massachusetts| pages = 310–313| isbn =9780262048224 }}

• 2010 Indie RPG Awards – Game of the Year – Winner{{cite web|url=http://www.indie-rpg-awards.com/2010/game_of_year.shtml|title=Indie Game of The Year, 2010|accessdate=3 December 2018|website=Indie RPG Awards}}
• 2010 Indie RPG Awards – Best Support – Winner{{cite web|url=http://www.indie-rpg-awards.com/2010/best_support.shtml|title=Best Support, 2010|accessdate=3 December 2018|website=Indie RPG Awards}}
• 2010 Indie RPG Awards – Most Innovative Game – Winner{{cite web|url=http://www.indie-rpg-awards.com/2010/most_innovate.shtml|title=Most Innovative Game, 2010|accessdate=3 December 2018|website=Indie RPG Awards}}
• 2011 Golden Geek Awards – RPG of the Year – Winner{{Cite web|date=November 21, 2011|title=2011 Golden Geek Award Winners! {{!}} Geekdo|url=https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/727488/2011-golden-geek-award-winners|access-date=2021-12-31|website=BoardGameGeek|language=en-US}}
• 2011 Lucca Comics & Games – Best Role-Playing Game – Winner{{Cite web|url=http://lucca2011.luccacomicsandgames.com/index.php?id=1059|title=Best of Show: i vincitori|website=Lucca Comics & Games 2011|accessdate=3 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309044141/http://lucca2011.luccacomicsandgames.com/index.php?id=1059|archive-date=9 March 2012|url-status=dead}}

• Monsterhearts
• Dungeon World
• Dogs in the Vineyard

{{reflist}}

{{Powered by the Apocalypse games|state=expanded}}

Category:Indie role-playing games

Category:Indie RPG Awards winners

Category:Role-playing games introduced in 2010

Category:Post-apocalyptic role-playing games

Category:LGBTQ-related tabletop games

Category:Romance role-playing games