22. Sex moves

Let’s talk about sex moves, or as they are called in Apocalypse World, special moves. On the 2nd edition playbooks, the special moves are placed front and center on the first page. Here is how MCs are told to introduce the moves during character creation (“Introducing the Special Moves”—page 73):

. . . They’re based on the idea that when you have sex with someone, you get to know them better than you did before.

Sometimes they’re straightforward and positive: now you know each other better, and that’s good. Sometimes they’re more complicated: now you know each other better, and is it cool or awkward? Some of them can be a little creepy: now you know each other better, and do you like what you’ve learned?

The special moves tell us how each type of character handles initimacy. We know that AW centers not only the protagonists but the relationships between our protagonists. Having the sex moves right there on the front page of the playbooks reminds us of two things. First, that intimacy between these characters is possible and encouraged by the rules of the game. Second, that our character generally interacts with others in particular ways.

The Angel, she’s an awesome lover:

If you and another character have sex, your Hx with them on your sheet immediately goes to +3, and they immediately get +1 to their Hx with you on their sheet.

The Angel pays so much attention to her lover that her Hx goes as high as it can for this level of intimacy. Not only that, the Angel is an open lover, revealing things about herself in such a way that her lover knows her better too.

Compare that to the Battlebabe:

If you and another character have sex, nullify the other character’s sex move. Whatever it is, it just doesn’t happen.

Damn. She gives nothing away and she looks for nothing in return. She might be very competent in the sack, but she guards her secrets even in the most intimate moments, nor does she probe into the secrets of her lover. And if that’s how she is at the most stripped-down moments, imagine her openness the rest of the time. These moves tell us tons about how the archetypical character interacts with people.

Or the Chopper:

If you and another character have sex, they immediately change their sheet to say HX+3 with you. They also choose whether to give you -1 or +1 to your Hx with them on your sheet.

Now the Chopper might be a skilled lover, but she is in it for herself and she gives herself to the act with abandon. Fucking a Chopper tells you everything you can know about them in a single encounter. Meanwhile, you can decide if you give of yourself or if you disguise yourself. The Chopper won’t notice if you fake your orgasms. Hell, she probably won’t notice if you even have orgasms.

There are clearly rewards built into these exchanges to make you want to have your characters have sex with each other (gaining Hx leads to XP, the Brainer gets to scan, the Gunlugger gets a +1forward, etc.), but those rewards, to me, seem secondary at best to the flavor of how these characters handle intimacy. Hardholders give of themselves through gifts. Savvyheads are in-tuned to their lovers, but in a clinical way like they approach the machinery they work on (or perhaps they approach their machinery with warmth and intuitive curiosity in the same way they approach a lover). Whenever the Maestro D’ hooks you up with anything, that act is as intimate as sex. So much color and cool shit here.

Communicating that information through a move is brilliant, because even if you never trigger the move, that information is there—you now know that. And I think that as a move, it has a greater buy-in with the player (or at least has a chance for a better buy-in with the player). If that same information was told to you just via flavor text, the player could easily say, don’t tell me how to make my character. But as a move, that’s it, there it is; if you don’t want to trigger it, stay celibate, because there is no “may” clause built into the moves. Appropriately, when you do it, you do it.