Apocalypse World: Burned Over is kinder and much angrier

Despite its launching a whole design movement, there are a lot of people who didn’t like the text of Apocalypse World — which isn’t really surprising, given all the swearing, sex talk, and general abrasiveness. But for designers Vincent and Meguey Baker, that wasn’t enough of a reason to rewrite the game. They had made something that was a reflection of who they were and what they care about. Other people could come along for the ride or not, that was up to them. 

Then Tovey Baker, youngest of the Baker household, saw their siblings playing the game at the dinner table and asked to join. There was just one problem: Tovey was 12. " That is when I decided [a new version] was a legitimate thing to pursue. I can't say no to my youngest child, like that kid could ask me anything and I would say yes,” said Vincent Baker. 

But that was seven years ago. Now Tovey Baker is not only old enough to play Apocalypse World, they’re also designing their own games. Creating a more PG-13 version of Apocalypse World might be tricky, but it can’t be most-of-a-decade tricky. So what happened? 

The easy answer is that the Bakers fell prey to the curse of game design: scope creep. “I did this thing that I realize is a personal failing, which is that I had the opportunity to redesign everything. And so I did,” said Vincent Baker. But a love for (or obsession with) messing around with the nuts and bolts of rules isn’t the whole story.

The more complicated truth behind Apocalypse World: Burned Over is that the designers, and the world they lived in, had changed. 

“ In Apocalypse World, you have as one of the core questions: something is wrong with the world, and I don’t know what it is,” said Meguey Baker. “In Burned Over, we have the core question: something is wrong with the world, and everyone knows what it is.” This is a subtle language change, but it’s a cipher to understand the whole design process. It isn’t that the cause or nature of the apocalypse has changed between versions. The game still doesn’t really care to nail down precisely what led to the world being like this. “In the 2010 version, that's an invitation. Something's wrong. I don't know what it is, let's go find it out,” said Meguey. In the new version, it’s still an invitation, but a slightly different one. It’s an invitation to find your people.