Apocalypse World

Tabletop RPG Fandom
Name:	Apocalypse World
Abbreviation(s):
Author:	D. Vincent Baker and Meguey Baker
Company:	Lumpley Games
Date(s):	2010 (1e), 2016 (2e)
Medium:	Tabletop RPG
Genre:	Post-apocalyptic
Dice:	D6
Sourcebooks:
Official Site:	Official website, DriveThruRPG
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Apocalypse World is a popular post-apocalyptic TTRPG created by married couple D. Vincent and Meguey Baker. It was first published in 2010, and a second edition was released several years later following a successful 2016 Kickstarter campaign.

Its underlying engine, Powered by the Apocalypse, has spawned countless other indie games. Several actual play podcasts that are popular in fandom have played one or more PbtA games, including The Adventure Zone (Amnesty and part of Balance) and Friends at the Table (Seasons of Hieron, COUNTER/Weight, PALISADE, and part of Twilight Mirage). As with D&D, fans have been inspired by their actual play fandoms to run their own tabletop campaigns using Apocalypse World or other PbtA games.

Powered by the Apocalypse

The Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) engine, which was created for Apocalypse World, is open source and available for use by any game designer hoping to create a game using similar mechanics to Apocalypse World. Other indie games based on PbtA number in the thousands.

PbtA also inspired other independent TTRPG designers to develop their own open-source systems that have since spawned plenty of games themselves, such as Forged in the Dark and Belonging Outside Belonging.