34. MC, Apocalypse world's GM

Here we are, at the beginning of “The Master of Ceremonies” chapter (80). Let’s start with the first five sentences:

That’s you, the MC, Apocalypse World’s GM.

There are a million ways to GM games; Apocalypse World calls for one way in particular. This chapter is it. Follow these as rules. The whole rest of the game is built upon this.

Well there you go. Even in a text that likes to speak directly, those are some no-nonsense, get-right-to-it sentences. There are no subordinate clauses or poetic language to muddy the waters.

Traditionally, the GM sections in RPG rulebooks are full of advice. Not Apocalypse World. There is one way in particular to GM the game and what you find in this chapter are rules, not recommendations. There is no room for misunderstanding here.

The sentence that deserves a little attention here is that last one: “The whole rest of the game is built upon this.” The rules for MCing aren’t just a part of AW; they are the very heart of it.

Let’s look at moves, for example. We get so caught up in the 7-9 and 10+ categories that it is easy to skip over what a “miss” means mechanically. The miss gives the MC the right to make one (and only one) of her own moves and make it as hard as she likes. Without these rules for the MC, moves for the PCs would only be half complete. PC Moves were built specifically to interact with these MC rules. I as a player can’t rely on reading a sitch if my MC doesn’t always say what honesty demands. I can’t manipulate, do battle with, or go aggro on an NPC if my MC isn’t looking at the NPCs through crosshairs and being a fan of my character. I can’t trigger my moves in the fiction if the MC doesn’t “misdirect,” grounding her own moves in the fiction. I don’t have the freedom to drive the narrative according to my character’s desires if the MC is not playing to find out what happens. The entire balance of the game depends on the MC following these rules as rules. If the MC does, then the gears of the mechanics governing players’ actions will mesh with the gears of the mechanics governing the MC’s actions and everything will play out as it should. If the MC does not, then all the player-side mechanics are for naught, spinning without any guarantee that the world will respond as it should, as it needs to for play to work.

Apocalypse World does an amazing job of breaking down what a GM does, and a lot of people admire the way it is analyzed and presented. What several readers fail to appreciate is that it is not simply an exercise in analysis but the central, load-bearing pillar that holds up the rest of the game.