In the first edition of Apocalypse World, some moves provided a player with “hold”:
READ A PERSON
When you read a person in a charged interaction, roll+sharp. On a 10+, hold 3. On a 7–9, hold 1. While you’re interacting with them, spend your hold to ask their player questions, 1 for 1:
• is your character telling the truth?
• what’s your character really feeling?
• what does your character intend to do?
• what does your character wish I’d do?
• how could I get your character to __?
This mechanic is also in many of AW’s playbook moves. Dungeon World carried this mechanic forward, but for two moves, it named the hold!
BOLSTER
When you spend your leisure time in study, meditation, or hard practice, you gain preparation. If you prepare for a week or more, take 1 preparation. If you prepare for a month or longer, take 3 instead. When your preparation pays off spend 1 preparation for +1 to any roll. You can only spend one preparation per roll.
BALANCE [Druid move]
When you deal damage, take 1 balance. When you touch someone and channel the spirits of life you may spend balance. For each balance spent, heal 1d4 HP.
Later hacks capitalized this move-specific currency (e.g., Preparation, Balance).
For the cleric in Homebrew World, you either have Favor or you don’t. For the cleric in Freebooters on the Frontier, Favor is a number: the more of it you have, the more you can spend on the equivalent of spells (Invoke). If I recall correctly, only the cleric in HBW has playbook-specific currency, but in Defying Danger, the wizard has Power, the rogue has Cunning, and the warrior has Mettle: each starts at a maximum of 6, which can become a maximum of 9, and can be spent for specific actions.
This isn’t a mechanic I’ve used much in my own designs, yet.
Photo by Tofan Teodor on Unsplash.
You can download this and other essays in my free ebook, Reflections on PbtA Design.
