What’s So Great About Action Movie World?

Now that I’ve posted a few play reports from Action Movie World, I thought it might be time to discuss the game in more detail. (I like doing things backward.) If you’ve read through the previous posts and wondered what some of the game terms and conventions are about, this post will explain a few of them. If you’re not already a fan of AMW, this post will make you a fan. Or cause you to grimace in distaste. Or walk away unmoved. Look, I’m not the boss of your emotions.

Anyway, here’s what I think makes Action Movie World special.  I will say up front: this is not a review, nor a balanced critique. It’s pretty much a fan letter and a list of things I like. A list of things I dislike might be forthcoming -- if I ever come up with any.

The PCs play actors playing characters. 

In the introduction, Action Movie World admits to taking copious inspiration from Hong Kong Action Theater, an RPG from 1996. I loved HKAT at the time, though I had some gripes with the combat mechanics. I especially loved the mechanic of PCs playing actors who in turn would take on a variety of roles, which HKAT pioneered (as far as I know) and Action Movie World perfects.

Playing the same “actor” across a variety of movies frees up a player to put a new concept into play each time. They can play a renegade maverick on the edge, the quiet loner, or the by-the-book disciplinarian. If they want to typecast themselves and play the same character every time, that’s an option too. This level of player freedom adds a breeziness and flexibility to Action Movie World that has made my play group eager for the next session.

One PC plays the Lead. Everyone else plays a supporting character. 

Many games and play styles tend toward an ensemble mode of storytelling, where everyone is equally valuable and no one character stays at the forefront. Action Movie World gleefully defies this formula as part of the genre emulation element of the game. Movies have Leads, so the game has Leads. One PC stays in the spotlight, and the other players surround the Lead to act as motivation, foils, or hapless buddies only two days from retirement.

Of course, there are many reasons why (especially in a long-term campaign) an ensemble approach might be best for a play group. But for the pace and intensity of something like Action Movie World, having a single lead character around whom the majority of the action revolves really works -- and the game understands this.

The Lead cannot die. Supporting characters get XP for dying. 

In some games -- well, let me rephrase that, in some groups, character death can be a problem. A lot players (for good reason) don’t enjoy putting a lot of time and care into a PC, only to have them die (either gloriously or ignominiously). Action Movie World solves this problem. If your character dies, your actor lives on. They’ll play another role in another movie. Better yet, they get tasty XP for dying, possibly more XP than they might have gotten for surviving the movie. I cannot overstate the sheer genius of this. This is the mechanic that led to one of my most damage-phobic players yelling “I’m trying to die here!” in the middle of a session and enthusiastically throwing himself on a literal sword.

Dying also opens up the possibility of the Vengeance move, a single PC move (usually against the Villain) that garners automatic success when used to avenge a dead supporting character. So killing off a supporting PC isn’t just motivational from a storytelling standpoint, it has real mechanical benefit. Again, this helps guide the games into the shape of your typical action movie.

Better still, supporting players can basically decide to die at any time. The Director can decree that your character dies when you take five harm or take damage from a weapon with the -deadly attribute on it, but a player can also just decide to throw themselves into the fire and have a heroic death in order to trigger that sweet Vengeance move. This might seem counterintuitive at first, but not when you realize that trying to survive as a supporting character in Action Movie World is not only missing the point a bit, but mechanically uncoupled from your character advancement.

When PCs die, their players become “assistant directors.”

When PCs lose their supporting characters, they don’t have to just sit around bored for the rest of the game. They take on the role of assistant directors: fight choreographers, pyrotechnics coordinators, acting coaches, etc. Their job is to “punch up” the flow of the game, suggesting bigger, badder, more exciting elements for the fight scenes and action sequences.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sold on this at first. Players with dead characters sitting on the sidelines making commentary and changing the action as we go? I had my doubts about it working -- but it did. A player at the table whose entire job is to make your fight sequences amazing is a great way to ensure your fight sequences will be amazing. This is a wonderful little innovation.

Action Movie World understands action movies.

I wanted to play Action Movie World from the moment I finished reading the book, but it was an entertaining read on its own. The introduction by Dr. Will Dodson is like a miniature lecture in the ecology of the action film. Throughout the book, the authors demonstrate that they understand how action movies work: from the beginning, you understand the story, and you know how it’s going to end -- the hero kills the bad guy. The whole point is generating excitement (and body count) on the way there.

Action Movie World doesn’t debase its source material, but it doesn’t try to make it out to be more than it is, either -- it encourages “loud, dumb fun” and straight-up tells you not to think too hard about certain elements of the game. After all, many action movies fall apart under close logical scrutiny. Your AMW games will too, if you’re playing them “right.”

So that’s what’s what makes Action Movie World special in my book.