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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 9318052" data-attributes="member: 87792">It might be better to say that Apocalypse World is well suited to it because it is Apocalypse World not D&D that is the outlier here.In Apocalypse World there is no setting before character creation - and the characters are key elements in the local setting. And the parts of the setting they are integrated with reflects them as characters.One of the playbooks (classes) is the Hardholder - the town boss. And if you are the Hardholder you make some pretty far reaching choices about the town you live in. And at least one entire column of your character sheet is about the town, its size, its resources,  its needs, its defences (including the fighters) and the movers and shakers. Being the town boss is what you are about, far more deeply and mechanically than a D&D cleric is about their god. Another playbook is the Maestro d'; the person who runs the local scene. What is it? A club? A restaurant? A coffee shop? A brothel? That's up to you. But a lot of the game is going to take place in the Maestro d's venue with their aesthetic.And as an aside is the Hardholder more powerful than the Maestro d? They could certainly have the Maestro d's place burned to the ground with little trouble. But the Hardholder is also statted as a combat class and without the help of social classes (like the Maestro d') they are going to lose their holding - while the Maestro d' is much more stable and has a much easier time if anyone threatens their bar because it's the bar the PCs drink at (or whatever) and the staff are armed. Anyone who can't find the feedback loops and balancing factors in AW hasn't understood it.In addition every character has a history and all have opinions about each other before the campaign starts. You can (and I do) this in D&D - but AW (and for that matter Fate) makes it an explicit part of character creation.Now it's possible to have an Apocalypse World party of e.g. a Gunlugger (combat monster), a Driver (complete with tank), and a Brainer (creepy psychic) that has roots every bit as shallow as the average D&D party that might as well have been Isikai'd into the tavern where they met. But this is the exception - and even then they have a shared history and one way of gaining XP is helping and hindering each other so they are encouraged to show more of themselves in play.</blockquote>

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