27. say this first and often

We are looking at the short section in the Character Creation chapter that is titled “Say this First and Often,” on page 70.

Before we get to the text, let’s take a moment to talk about the title. Specifically, I am interested in that word, “say.” As we saw at the end of the last section, character creation in Apocalypse World is undertaken as a group, not separately. The role of the MC during character creation is to answer questions from the players. Character creation is where the game goes from being in the playbooks (including the MC’s playbook—aka, the rulebook) to being a social event. There might be paper and dice and books, but everything that really matters is happening in the conversation that these material items spur on and guide. “Say” in the title drives home the fact that we as players are talking to each other and through that conversation we are creating either the play itself (in the form of the collective Fiction) or the boundaries of that play (in the form of the rules that govern the collective Fiction).

In another thread, Rob Bohl pointed out that he was annoyed with the playbooks because information that could have easily been provided on the sheets was not. What does +1forward mean? What does a character’s Hot measure? Etc. It’s possible that the Bakers were not able to figure out how to include this information on either the playbooks or the reference sheets, but it seems to me that this information was instead purposefully left off to make character creation a time of finding our sea legs, as it were, for the social journey that lay ahead. Much of what is in this Character Creation chapter is stated elsewhere in the book. The information about the apocalypse and the psychic maelstrom are in the Basics chapter, as are the stats definitions and limits, for example. They are presented here again to allow the MC to have ready answers to the questions the players are sure to ask—are in fact forced to ask by the design of the playbook if they are at all new to the game. “Somebody’s sure to ask.” “For basic questions about the stats. . . ” “For questions about a character’s move . . .” This chapter provides the answers to those questions (or where to find them) so that the players can begin their conversation in familiar ground, discussing rules that will be reappearing during play.

In the section that is our focus for today, the MC is directed to say the following to the other players:

To the players: your job is to play your characters as though they were real people, in whatever circumstances they find themselves—cool, competent, dangerous people, larger than life, but real.

My job as MC is to treat your characters as though they were real people too, and to act as though Apocalypse World were real.

Here we have a declaration between players that becomes part of the social contract by which Apocalypse World must be played. Everything else we create in the Fiction via play must meet these requirements. The section might as well be titled “Agree to this First.” Anyone experienced with AW will recognize the first item on the MC’s agenda in that second sentence: “Make Apocalypse World seem real” (80). The first sentence, then, is essentially the only item on the other players’ agenda: play your characters as though they were real. As long the players follow their agenda and the MC follows hers, then AW will be half way to providing you an awesome experience.

This notion of making Apocalypse World and all the characters in it seem real is hammered home several times in the rest of the text, typically under the language of following the internal logic of the world and the moves. For example, “You have to commit yourself to the game’s fiction’s own internal logic and causality, driven by the players’ characters” (80). Or, “Always choose a move that can follow logically from what’s going on in the game’s fiction” (89). Or, “taking turns or rolling simultaneously as you think best, always following the logic of the moves themselves” (133). Or, “Push the situation, following the logic of your threats, to its conclusion.” In order for Apocalypse World to create meaningful and enjoyable play, it has to have an internal consistency, and it has to be sure that actions have significant consequences. No amount of rules or mechanics can make that happen—that is something that can only be achieved through the social agreement at the table that that is how we are going to play the game. And that social agreement occurs when the MC says this first and the players assent. That social agreement all begins here during character creation.