Voros
Doomed Investigator
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- Sep 23, 2017
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Okay so since the controversial 'sex moves' of Apocalypse World often come up when discussing it or even other PbtA games that don't have them (the vast majority don't btw) I thought it would be good to have a thread with the actual rules for reference available for those who don't have the game and are wondering what all the fuss is about.
I also figure having a thread called Sex Moves should do wonders for the Pub's internet traffic stats.
I prefer to call them Sex Moves with capitalization because it sounds like a good name for a Punk band. These rule excerpts are from my legal pdf copy of AW 2e so there could be some differences with 1e. I may also mess a bit with the text layout here for ease of reading and reference on the forum.
SEDUCE OR MANIPULATE (Pg 142, AW 2e)
When you try to seduce, manipulate, bluff, fast-talk, or lie to someone, tell them what you want them to do, give them a reason, and roll+hot.
For NPCs: on a 10+, they’ll go along with you, unless or until some fact or action betrays the reason you gave them.
On a 7–9, they’ll go along with you, but they need some concrete assurance, corroboration, or evidence first.
For PCs: on a 10+, both. On a 7–9, choose 1:
• If they go along with you, they mark experience.
• If they refuse, erase one of their stat highlights for the remainder of the session. What they do then is up to them.
On a miss, for either NPCs or PCs, be prepared for the worst.
Seducing someone, here, means using sex to get them to do what you want, not (or not just) trying to get them to fuck you. Asking someone straight to do something isn’t trying to seduce or manipulate them.
To seduce or manipulate an NPC, the character needs leverage, a reason: sex, or a threat, or a promise, something that the character can really do that the victim really wants or really doesn’t want.
Absent leverage, they’re just talking, and you should have your NPCs agree or accede, decline or refuse, according to their own self-interests.
The assurance that the NPC needs should directly address the leverage the character is using. The leverage is sex? The assurance should be sexual. The leverage is violence? “Just promise you won’t hurt me.” The whole process of needing and offering assurance can be explicit or implicit. Explicit: “‘okay, I’ll let you through,’ he says. ‘Just promise you won’t tell Keeler it was me.’” Implicit: “she takes your hand and nods toward the bed. ‘After you,’ she says.”
When one player’s character manipulates another, there’s no need for especial leverage. Instead, the manipulating character simply gets to offer her counterpart the carrot, the stick, or both. The carrot is marking experience, and the stick is erasing a stat highlight.
Some example Sex Moves from the Playbooks.
For some context, Hx an interpersonal stat:
(Pg. 11, AW 2e)
• Hx, meaning history (like Rx for prescription and Dx for diagnosis), particularly shared history, how well one character knows another. It doesn’t mean how well your character likes the other, just how well your character knows the other. It’s also asymmetrical: my character might know yours very well, like Hx+2, while yours doesn’t know mine well at all, like Hx-1. Roll+Hx to help or interfere with someone.
(Player Moves, Pg.183-188 AW 2e)
And here’s the angel’s sex move:
If you and another character have sex, your Hx with them on your sheet goes immediately to +3, and they immediately get +1 to their Hx with you on their sheet. If that brings their Hx with you to +4, they reset it to +1 instead, and so mark experience.
This’ll happen during the session, naturally, so it’s in addition to the end-of-session basic move.
If an angel and an NPC have sex, there’s no mechanical effect.
...
And here’s the battlebabe’s sex move:
If you and another character have sex, nullify the other character’s sex move. Whatever it is, it just doesn’t happen.
For example, when a hardholder and a battlebabe have sex, the hardholder gives the battlebabe no gift; when a driver and a battlebabe have sex, the driver doesn’t roll+cool; when a savvyhead and a battlebabe have sex, the savvyhead doesn’t get to read her.
If a battlebabe and an NPC have sex, there’s no mechanical effect. Um, still. Either. Also.
...
And here’s the brainer’s sex move:
If you and another character have sex, you automatically do a deep brain scan on them, whether you have the move or not. Roll+weird as normal. However, the MC chooses which questions the other character’s player answers.
This move does apply if the brainer and an NPC have sex.
And here’s the chopper’s sex move:
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.
If a chopper and an NPC have sex, there’s no mechanical effect.
...
Etc.
I also figure having a thread called Sex Moves should do wonders for the Pub's internet traffic stats.
I prefer to call them Sex Moves with capitalization because it sounds like a good name for a Punk band. These rule excerpts are from my legal pdf copy of AW 2e so there could be some differences with 1e. I may also mess a bit with the text layout here for ease of reading and reference on the forum.
SEDUCE OR MANIPULATE (Pg 142, AW 2e)
When you try to seduce, manipulate, bluff, fast-talk, or lie to someone, tell them what you want them to do, give them a reason, and roll+hot.
For NPCs: on a 10+, they’ll go along with you, unless or until some fact or action betrays the reason you gave them.
On a 7–9, they’ll go along with you, but they need some concrete assurance, corroboration, or evidence first.
For PCs: on a 10+, both. On a 7–9, choose 1:
• If they go along with you, they mark experience.
• If they refuse, erase one of their stat highlights for the remainder of the session. What they do then is up to them.
On a miss, for either NPCs or PCs, be prepared for the worst.
Seducing someone, here, means using sex to get them to do what you want, not (or not just) trying to get them to fuck you. Asking someone straight to do something isn’t trying to seduce or manipulate them.
To seduce or manipulate an NPC, the character needs leverage, a reason: sex, or a threat, or a promise, something that the character can really do that the victim really wants or really doesn’t want.
Absent leverage, they’re just talking, and you should have your NPCs agree or accede, decline or refuse, according to their own self-interests.
The assurance that the NPC needs should directly address the leverage the character is using. The leverage is sex? The assurance should be sexual. The leverage is violence? “Just promise you won’t hurt me.” The whole process of needing and offering assurance can be explicit or implicit. Explicit: “‘okay, I’ll let you through,’ he says. ‘Just promise you won’t tell Keeler it was me.’” Implicit: “she takes your hand and nods toward the bed. ‘After you,’ she says.”
When one player’s character manipulates another, there’s no need for especial leverage. Instead, the manipulating character simply gets to offer her counterpart the carrot, the stick, or both. The carrot is marking experience, and the stick is erasing a stat highlight.
Some example Sex Moves from the Playbooks.
For some context, Hx an interpersonal stat:
(Pg. 11, AW 2e)
• Hx, meaning history (like Rx for prescription and Dx for diagnosis), particularly shared history, how well one character knows another. It doesn’t mean how well your character likes the other, just how well your character knows the other. It’s also asymmetrical: my character might know yours very well, like Hx+2, while yours doesn’t know mine well at all, like Hx-1. Roll+Hx to help or interfere with someone.
(Player Moves, Pg.183-188 AW 2e)
And here’s the angel’s sex move:
If you and another character have sex, your Hx with them on your sheet goes immediately to +3, and they immediately get +1 to their Hx with you on their sheet. If that brings their Hx with you to +4, they reset it to +1 instead, and so mark experience.
This’ll happen during the session, naturally, so it’s in addition to the end-of-session basic move.
If an angel and an NPC have sex, there’s no mechanical effect.
...
And here’s the battlebabe’s sex move:
If you and another character have sex, nullify the other character’s sex move. Whatever it is, it just doesn’t happen.
For example, when a hardholder and a battlebabe have sex, the hardholder gives the battlebabe no gift; when a driver and a battlebabe have sex, the driver doesn’t roll+cool; when a savvyhead and a battlebabe have sex, the savvyhead doesn’t get to read her.
If a battlebabe and an NPC have sex, there’s no mechanical effect. Um, still. Either. Also.
...
And here’s the brainer’s sex move:
If you and another character have sex, you automatically do a deep brain scan on them, whether you have the move or not. Roll+weird as normal. However, the MC chooses which questions the other character’s player answers.
This move does apply if the brainer and an NPC have sex.
And here’s the chopper’s sex move:
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.
If a chopper and an NPC have sex, there’s no mechanical effect.
...
Etc.
