[PbtA] Apocalypse World [CLOSED]

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OpenApocalypse World 2ePrivate5 / weekcowleyc
Nobody remembers how or why. Maybe nobody ever knew. The oldest living survivors have childhood memories of it: cities burning, society in chaos then collapse, families set to panicked flight, the weird nights when the smoldering sky made midnight into a blood-colored half-day.

Now the world is not what it once was. Look around you: evidently, certainly, not what it was. But also close your eyes, open your brain: something is wrong. At the limits of perception, something howling, everpresent, full of hate and terror. From this, the world’s psychic maelstrom, we none of us have shelter.


Aug 14, 2026 8:25 pm
https://best-sci-fi-books.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Post-Apocalyptic_Cityscape_600.jpgAPOCALYPSE WORLD
PITCHThe world ended more than fifty years ago, but the people have refused to die alongside it. In this game you will play as survivors of the post-apocalypse, and your actions will shape the world around you.

This game is intended to provide me practice in actionable improv and in timing and tension. You will have the opportunity to select how the world looks now, as well as your place in it. It will be up to me to make sure you never have a wasted moment from there on.

Apocalypse World explores the meaning of community and survival, and will force the players to make difficult choices.


SYSTEMApocalypse World 2e
Core only, no extended playbooks


CONTENTThis game will push some comfort boundaries, as it is set in the post-apocalypse. Trigger warnings will include violence, murder, cults, drug use, alcohol use, language, kidnappings, and plenty of others depending on how the story goes.

This game will not include sexual violence, nor will it focus on racism or sexism. Despite the game having "Sex Moves," the moves will be in play but veiled. Fade to black, if you will.

We will have a dialogue before the game starts to make sure everyone is comfortable, but this is a game that will likely be uncomfortable. Uncomfortable, but safe.


TIMINGThe expected posting rate for this game is once a day, five days a week. I tend to spend my weekends recreating, though I always try to fit a post in if necessary.

As for the expected length of the game, I don't have an idea of how long this will go for. I would expect at least a year, but beyond that I can't really estimate.


CHARACTERSWe will be using the playbooks from the corebook, and not using the playbooks from the extended book. Characters are expected to be at least friendly with each other.

APPLICATIONSThis game is accepting of all except those incapable of accepting. My table is intentionally inclusive. To apply, respond with your favorite quote from a post-apocalypse media. This game will take four players, decided with my personal, incomprehensible algorithm.

AI USEThis game does not use generative AI.
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Last edited August 16, 2026 8:14 pm
Aug 14, 2026 9:36 pm
I'd like to put myself forward for this - Apocalypse World is a system I've always wanted to try.

As for a quote, I'm going to go with "As Man had succumbed to the Martians, so our land now succumbed to the Red Weed" from Jeff Wayne's musical version of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. Not entirely sure if that counts as post-apocalytic so much as just apocalyptic, but it hits the right themes and it's a work that's stuck with me, in particular the image conjured by that quote. Though Thunder Child remains the best track.
Aug 15, 2026 7:19 am
I have always wanted to play Apocalypse World. If you have a free slot then I would love to join.

As for my favorite quote it is "You know, hope is a mistake. If you can't fix what's broken, you'll, uh... you'll go insane" from the movie Mad Max: Fury Road.
Aug 15, 2026 2:14 pm
Excited to apply. My quote is from Harlan Ellison: "Living under the land, under the sea, in the belly of AM, whom we created because our time was badly spent and we must have known unconsciously that he could do it better… AM has won, simply … he has taken his revenge … I have no mouth. And I must scream."

KCCInactive for 1 months

Aug 15, 2026 4:13 pm
"Perhaps in the world’s destruction it would be possible at last to see how it was made. Oceans, mountains. The ponderous counterspectacle of things ceasing to be. The sweeping waste, hydroptic and coldly secular. The silence."https://i.imgur.com/JdQavvm.jpegThe Road - Cormac McCarthy
Aug 15, 2026 7:41 pm
I don't know if you need another player but I would be thrilled to join. My quote is also from Mad Max:

Do not, my friends, become addicted to water. It will take hold of you and you will resent its absence. - Immortan Joe.

I think about that quote a lot and how it relates to our modern world.
Aug 15, 2026 8:25 pm
Loving the interest and the quotes! I'll give it another day, but I already owe KCC and Morphling games after what I've put them through. 😅
Aug 16, 2026 2:38 pm
When the foot seeks the place of the head, the sacred line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe. - Snowpiercer

Proposing the Shoe as a playbook in Apocalypse World! ;)
Aug 16, 2026 6:48 pm
Let's see here...

Rolls

1: GE, 2: S05, 3: Six, 4: BZ - (d4, d4)

d4 : (1) = 1

d4 : (3) = 3

Aug 16, 2026 6:50 pm
I've invited @KCC, @Morphling, @GoldenElk, and @Sixkiller. If you don't see the invites, pop over to Game Details to accept.
Aug 16, 2026 7:27 pm
Congrats to the chosen players, may you ride eternal to Valhalla!

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