Apocalypse World: Burned Over on Kickstarter Delivers the Definitive Post-Apocalyptic RPG Experience

Apocalypse World: Burned Over on Kickstarter represents the third edition of the groundbreaking tabletop roleplaying game that launched an entire design movement. Vincent and Meguey Baker return with a fully reimagined version of their 2010 masterpiece, funded in just 18 minutes and now exceeding $131,000 from over 2,100 backers. This edition refines the high-octane cinematic post-apocalypse that established Powered by the Apocalypse as one of gaming's most influential frameworks.

The World 50 Years After Everything Burned

The setting establishes immediate tension through its core premise. Fifty years ago, humanity incinerated everything in an act of collective desperation. Cities, nations, families, friendships, identities, ideas, and ideals all fed the furnace. The conflagration birthed the psychic maelstrom, a shrieking wind of fear and rage existing at the limits of human perception that never falls silent. Players now navigate the ruins of this burned-over world, enraged and afraid themselves, fighting for survival and any semblance of future. If hope exists in this landscape, characters must forge it through their own desperate actions.

Twelve Core Playbooks Define Your Survivor

Character creation begins with playbook selection. Each playbook functions as both character sheet and rules reference, containing everything needed for immediate play. Apocalypse World: Burned Over on Kickstarter includes twelve core options representing distinct survivor archetypes. The Angel serves as medic and healer while the Brain-picker wields psychic powers alongside weird interests. The Gearcutter scavenges and invents from salvaged technology. The Harrier commands a dangerous battle gang and the Hocus leads a devoted cult. The Lawmaker rules a stronghold as compound boss while the Luminous brings grace and insight as light in the ashes.

The Maestro D maintains a venue serving as social hub. The Operator wheels and deals through farflung connections. The Restless wanders as explorer and survivalist while the Volatile carries enough weapons for any fight. The Standout represents gang members, cult followers, or supporting characters. Some playbooks update familiar options from previous editions like the Angel, Maestro D, and Hocus. Others represent radical revisions including the Gearcutter, Harrier, Lawmaker, and Volatile. The Restless and Standout arrive as completely new additions.

Move-Based Mechanics Drive Consequential Action

Apocalypse World's rules backbone consists of moves—tight, consequential packages defining character options and available actions. The Sharp stat's "Read a Person" move demonstrates this elegant structure. When reading someone during charged interaction, players roll plus Sharp. Throughout the interaction, they can pause to ask questions reflecting what their character realizes about the target. The target must answer frankly. Rolling 10 or higher allows three total questions. Rolling 7 through 9 permits two questions. Options include determining truth, identifying feelings, predicting actions, understanding hopes, recognizing vulnerabilities, or discovering manipulation methods.

Every character accesses basic moves including read a person, act under fire, reason with someone, read a situation, and attack someone. Each playbook then provides specific moves reflecting that archetype's capabilities. The Angel might possess healing touch, morbid curiosity, or sixth sense. The Harrier could have chaotic presence, battle-hardened, or skirmishers. The Lawmaker might wield ears in the walls, forbidding presence, or a right hand. Standard moves apply universally—gangs grant leadership, vehicles provide behind the wheel, cults enable devotion.

Extended Playbook Collections Expand Campaign Possibilities

Three PDF playbook sets function as add-ons, available individually at $15 each or bundled for $35. These expansions push Apocalypse World into specialized narrative territories while maintaining mechanical compatibility with core rules.

The Burned Over Extended Playbooks

This collection introduces ten additional playbooks exploring optional thematic directions. The Bloodhound grapples with reality's mysteries while the Child-Thing plays a feral kid not quite human. The Contaminated spreads apocalyptic horrors as disease vector. No One carries trauma and visions of forgotten past. Quarantine awakens as soldier locked in stasis since before the world ended. The Symbiote exists as compound entity and hive mind. The Undaunted protects real or metaphorical children fearlessly. The Vigilant guards against Wolves of the Maelstrom. The Weaponized survives as combat cyborg. The X-Earther descends from refugees who rode out the apocalypse in Earth's orbit. The Forerunner experiences the apocalypse happening now rather than 50 years past.

Warriors of the World Ablaze

When the world ended, necromancy, sorcery, and wicked magic returned. This sword and sorcery post-apocalypse mashup includes eleven playbooks. The Axe King rules a stronghold and warrior garrison. The Bloody Sword masters combat as free warrior. The Errant explores seeking treasure and secrets. The Gutter Jay combines beauty, grace, streetwise awareness, and capability. The Harrow Queen leads a fierce independent enclave. The Hunting Kite strikes as warrior and killer, quick and almost untouchable. The Inheritor guards ancient knowledge and secrets. The Lost Priest retains power despite broken faith. The Outlaw Heir rallies loyal warriors despite being dethroned and beaten. The Warlock commands sorcery at peak power. The Feral Born adds sorcerous elements to any character as partial playbook. One Untried covers minor or supporting characters. These playbooks work exclusively or integrate thoughtfully into broader selections.

The Classic Playbooks Updated

This collection updates the original eleven playbooks for players seeking familiar territory with hot as stat and special moves. The set includes Angel, Battlebabe, Brainer, Chopper, Driver, Gunlugger, Hardholder, Hocus, Maestro D, Savvyhead, and Skinner. The collection carries content warnings for adult language and non-explicit sexual references, maintaining the original edition's mature tone.

Physical and Digital Formats Serve Every Gaming Style

The digital tier delivers the complete rulebook in PDF and plaintext formats alongside downloadable playbooks and reference sheets. Lumpley Games offers full-price and reduced-price options, with the reduced tier available no questions asked for those facing financial hardship. Patreon supporters already receive digital versions and playbook sets as patron rewards, so the campaign recommends they only back for physical products.

The print tier provides the approximately 300-page paperback suitable for backpack transport and bus reading. This version includes all digital materials—rulebook in PDF and plaintext plus downloadable playbooks and reference sheets. The retail slash co-op bundle offers five-book packs at discount for retailers or friend groups pooling resources.

PbtA Pay-It-Back Tiers Support the Design Community

Lumpley Games never charges Powered by the Apocalypse creators royalties or licensing fees. Vincent and Meguey Baker view money as sunlight and water for new games, refusing to siphon resources from emerging designers. However, creators who built successful profitable PbtA games or established PbtA as part of ongoing business can back at special voluntary appreciation tiers. This mechanism allows successful designers to support the framework that enabled their own work.

International Fulfillment Through European Partnership

The campaign partners with Grumpy Bear in Italy for European production and delivery. This arrangement permits normal shipping costs rather than inflated international rates. Current estimates place EU shipping between 12 and 18 euros. For backers in Africa, Asia, Australia, and non-US Americas, Lumpley Games will comparison shop between their own fulfillment and Grumpy Bear's services, providing the best available rates.

Human-Made Content in an AI-Saturated Market

Apocalypse World: Burned Over on Kickstarter maintains complete human creation. No artificial intelligence touched game design, art creation, or layout work. The Bakers emphasize this commitment through explicit "Human Made" branding, positioning their work against what they term creative assault. The DIY spirit remains central—if Lumpley Games can create their own game, design their own art, and lay out their own book, so can anyone else. This philosophy extends beyond production methods into the game's design ethos and community values.

Stretch Goals Fund Creator Bonuses and Additional Content

The stripped-down campaign focuses on core products—PDF, paperback, and playbook add-ons—avoiding complexity that generates fulfillment headaches. Two stretch goals enhance creator compensation and expand available content. At $28,000, Annika Sturmer receives bonuses for the campaign animation, with additional bonuses at each $10,000 increment. At $50,000, backers receive a free PDF ezine collecting 15 years of accumulated Apocalypse World material. Contents will mix additional playbooks, alternate setups, free-floating moves, weird hard zones, mutations, battle moves, edge cases, and similar experimental content. Further stretch goals await once these first two clear, with hints about the Faceless playbook returning.

The Powered by the Apocalypse Legacy

Apocalypse World ignited a revolution in tabletop roleplaying design upon its 2010 release. Hundreds of games now build on its framework, spawning several substantial offshoot design schools. Powered by the Apocalypse serves as umbrella term for this entire ecosystem. The Bakers make PbtA game creation intentionally accessible, refusing licensing barriers that restrict derivative work. This openness accelerated the framework's spread across genres, mechanics, and design philosophies.

Experienced Publishers Navigate Uncertain Times

Vincent and Meguey Baker bring over 20 years of independent game publishing experience despite acknowledging current challenges as the wildest period they've witnessed. Printing costs and times have increased. Shipping expenses continue rising. Reliability has declined across supply chains. Despite uncertainty, Lumpley Games maintains excellent relationships with local printers, bookbinders, and bookstore fulfillment partners. Their established network and long experience position them to handle emerging challenges. Their publishing history includes 1001 Nights, Psi Run, Murderous Ghosts, Mobile Frame Zero Firebrands, The King Is Dead, Playing Nature's Year, and Under Hollow Hills alongside the Apocalypse World editions.

Why Apocalypse World: Burned Over Matters for Modern Roleplaying

Third editions rarely achieve the refinement demonstrated here. The Bakers spent 15 years observing how players engaged their system, which mechanics generated memorable moments, and where friction occurred. Apocalypse World: Burned Over on Kickstarter represents their distilled understanding of what made the original revolutionary while addressing its rough edges.

For players who experienced previous editions, this version offers familiar territory reimagined through accumulated wisdom. For newcomers, it provides the most polished entry point into the system that influenced contemporary roleplaying game design more than any other single title.

The campaign's rapid funding and enthusiastic community response confirm that post-apocalyptic roleplaying still finds its definitive expression through desperate survivors fighting for hope in a world burned over.

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FAQ About Apocalypse World: Burned Over on Kickstarter

What Playbooks Are New to the Third Edition?

Apocalypse World: Burned Over introduces two completely new core playbooks. The Restless serves as wanderer, explorer, and survivalist navigating the wastelands. The Standout represents gang members, cult followers, or supporting characters allowing players to explore non-leadership roles. Several existing playbooks received radical revisions qualifying as near-new designs, including the Gearcutter, Harrier, Lawmaker, and Volatile. The remaining core playbooks update familiar archetypes from previous editions with refined mechanics and contemporary design sensibilities.

Can I Play Apocalypse World: Burned Over Without Previous Edition Experience?

Yes. The third edition functions as complete standalone game requiring no familiarity with previous versions. All rules, playbooks, and reference materials appear within the core book. New players gain the advantage of refined mechanics incorporating 15 years of community feedback and design evolution. Veterans of earlier editions will recognize the fundamental framework while discovering streamlined systems and updated playbook options reflecting modern design understanding.

How Do the Extended Playbook Sets Work With Core Rules?

All three extended playbook collections maintain full mechanical compatibility with core rules. The Burned Over Extended Playbooks expand thematic possibilities while using identical move structures and advancement systems. Warriors of the World Ablaze functions either as exclusive setting for sword and sorcery campaigns or integrates thoughtfully into broader playbook selections. The Classic Playbooks Updated restores original edition archetypes using third edition mechanics, allowing groups to mix classic and contemporary character types freely within single campaigns.

What Formats Will I Receive With Physical Book Purchase?

The print tier includes both physical paperback and complete digital package. The physical book contains approximately 300 pages in paperback format suitable for portable use. Digital materials include the full rulebook in both PDF and plaintext formats plus all playbooks and reference sheets as downloadable PDFs. This dual-format approach ensures players can reference rules at the table through physical copies while accessing searchable digital versions for preparation and online play.

When Will Apocalypse World: Burned Over Ship to Backers?

Lumpley Games has not specified exact delivery timeline in campaign materials. However, their 20 years of publishing experience and established relationships with local printers, bookbinders, and fulfillment partners suggest reliable production schedules. The campaign's partnership with Grumpy Bear in Italy for European fulfillment indicates coordinated international shipping plans. Backers should expect delivery timeline updates through campaign updates as production milestones approach, following typical Kickstarter fulfillment patterns for established publishers with proven track records.