A long while ago, I went to NYC and played Apocalypse World for the first time with a group of my friends from college.  What ensued was one of the best couple of sessions of gaming I've ever experienced.  Sadly the session ended when my weekend trip to the city came to an end as well. 

However, it inspired me to get Apocalypse World, and to run Apocalypse World at a convention and also to try my hand at creating a playbook.  Since I'm playing Apocalypse World again, I got inspired to revisit the playbook.  I posted a rough draft of it a long time ago here but rather than resurrecting a long dead thread I figured I'd post a revised and newer version of it here. 

The Blisser is a drug addict.  They take potent concoctions of drugs to dull the pain of Apocalypse World and to give them an edge.  That edge has a price though. 

My one concern with the book as it stands now is that it's too complex.  I wonder if there isn't too much going on here?  I like the theme of the book and I think the moves are pretty neat but it seems like there might be a bit too much to keep track of the way I have it written now.  Anyway I'm taking feedback on this that's why I'm posting it here.  I'd like it to become a finished playbook at some point and one that people could use in play if they so chose. 

Playbook: The Blisser

The world is dead and most people have forgotten what to live for.  Not you.  You have your pills and your vials and your liquid gold that you pump through your body.  When that hits you're a fucking god and no one in this shithole is going to stop you.

To create your Blisser choose name, look, stats, moves, gear and hx.

Names:
Bubs, Waylon, Booth, Sid, Junk, Hunter, Brady, Narc, Toker, Trip, Acid, Head, Nancy, Joplin, Hendrix, Kurt, Mary Jane, Betty, Crystal, Speed.

Look:
Man, woman, transgressing, ambiguous, concealed

Filthy wear, luxe wear, scrounged wear, vintage wear 
Drawn face, tired face, relaxed face or twitchy face
Vacant eyes, glassy eyes, wild eyes, intelligent eyes, or shameful eyes
Gaunt body, broken body, scarred body, or neglected body.

Stats:
Cool-1, Hard+1, Hot+0, Sharp+0, Weird+2   
Cool+0, Hard-1, Hot+1, Sharp+0, Weird+2
Cool+1, Hard+0, Hot+0, Sharp+0, Weird+2
Cool+0, Hard+0, Hot-1, Sharp+1, Weird+2

The Drugs:
You have a concoction of drugs which you take to make you function better in the reality of the world around you.  Give it a name.  You are addicted to these drugs and must take them at the beginning of each session or act under fire until you do.
Whenever you take the drug roll +weird.  On a 10+ choose two, on a 7-9 choose one, on anything else the dose is not enough and you must either dose again immediately and risk overdosing or act under fire for the rest of the session.

• This dose is intense, you suffer one harm(ap) but you will not come down from this dose until the session ends no matter what happens.
• The dose is more potent than usual boost your stats one more than normal.
• The dose opens your mind to new possibilities get +1 weird for the duration of the dose.
• The dose makes you feel invincible get +1 armor for the duration of the dose.
• The dose isn't as large as you thought, your stash does not decrease due to this dose.

You start with a stash of six doses worth 1 barter each.  If your stash gets depleted you must barter for more at a cost of 1 barter to 1 stash replaced.
 
If your stash is ever completely depleted any time you take an action that is not aimed at replenishing your stash you act under fire.
 
Alternatively you may raid an Angel kit to replenish your stash.  You can deplete an Angel kit by 1 stock for each stash you choose to replenish. If there's no Angel in your game then you don't get this choice.

In addition to the effects listed above each dose you take gives you a +1 bump to two stats or a +2 bump to one stat of your choice except Weird.  If you choose to gain a stat bonus from the effects of the initial dose as listed above you add that in addition to the normal stat bonuses you get from the dose anyway.  So if you choose the extra stat bonus you get +1 to three stats, a +2 to one and +1 to a second or +3 to one stat.  No stat can ever exceed a +4.  Once you hit that mark you're topped off.

At any time you may choose to dose again to push your stats up by +1 again.  You can choose the same stats or different stats.  Each time you take another dose on top of the dose you just took you automatically suffer 1 harm(ap).  Roll again for the dose effects but this time subtract one from the roll.
Each dose you take in addition to the primary dose cumulatively subtracts one from each further dose effect roll you make.  I.E. Two doses equal -2 to the dose roll.

You can take as many doses as your body can handle.   

Coming Down:
Anytime you suffer more than one harm, or fail a single roll to open your mind to the psychic maelstrom, or any other two rolls in a row you come down from your dose.  When you come down you lose all bonuses you currently have immediately.  You must dose up again as if the session just started or act under fire for the rest of the session. 

Blisser Special:
If you and another character have sex choose one:

• You can ignore the effects of refusing a dose or having a depleted stash for the rest of the session.
• If it's a PC they act under fire in the next scene you're in together unless they accept and take a dose of your stuff.  They get the dose effects the same as you do.
• If it's an NPC you take +1 forward against them unless they accept a dose of your stuff.

 
Giving doses out in this way depletes your stock by one dose.

Gear:

You get:
* Stash with 6 doses
* 1 Respectable Weapon
* Fashion Suitable to your look.

Respectable Weapons
* Pump Shotgun (3-harm, close, reload, messy)
* Submachine Pistol (2-harm close, area, loud)
* Magnum (3 Harm, close, reload, loud)
* Fire Axe (3 harm, hand, messy)

Moves:

You get all of the basic moves.  You get one blisser move.

Blisser Moves:

Blisser moves are only available to you if you're dosed up.  If you are straight then you're fucked.

Blissed Out: Once per session for the duration of a scene you can ignore any ill effects you suffer from harm past 9:00 up to and including being killed.  Also if you've ever chosen to take a debilitation you can ignore that too.  Once the scene ends you suffer the full effects of any harm including death and any debilitating injuries you might have.  If you come down during the scene you also suffer these effects as if the scene ended.

New Horizons: You can roll +weird instead of +sharp to read a charged situation.

Long Strange Trip: You get +1 weird. (Weird +3)

Dusted: Any time you would suffer harm, take a -1 to the harm roll.

Juiced: When you inflict harm inflict +1 harm.
 
Good Vibrations: Roll +weird on a 10+ you can ask two of the following questions on a 7-9 ask one on a miss nothing happens:

• What is this person addicted to?  What can't they live without?
  
• Where does this person keep their most valuable possession?
• What has this person done that they're most ashamed of recently?
• What would it take to push this person to the point of desperation?

Blisser Advancement
Each time you improve choose one and check it off you can't choose it again.
_Get +1 Cool (max cool +2)
_Get +1 Hot (max hot +2)
_Get +1 Hard (max hard +2)
_Get a new Blisser Move
_Get a new Bilsser Move
_Get 2 Gigs (detail) and Moonlighting
_Get a gang (detail and Leadership
_Get a move from another playbook
_Get a move from another playbook

I'm planning on running an Apocalypse World game at a convention in May.  I was looking for some advice on what to do with it. 

I've been talking to Bret, a bit about it, and he's said first of all don't use pre-generated characters which was my inclination as well.  Character creation shouldn't take too long and I plan on telling the players to not agonize over choices as no matter what they choose their characters are going to be awesome.

What I'm more concerned with is how should I structure the game?  Should I just run it as a first session play through?  Or should I cook up some fronts and things just out of my own head.  My concern with doing that is that none of the fronts and threats are coming organically from the group as a whole.  Instead they're being made up wholesale by me as the MC which I don't think really captures the fun of having the player's inputs on what things are threatening to their characters.  Right now, I'm inclined towards running it as a first session and just working with it from there. 

So basically I'm looking for input from people who have run the game at cons.  What advice do you have for someone running this at a con?  Are there any things that worked really well for you or that didn't work at all?     

This is my attempt at a playbook that revolves around drug use.  I do not have a copy of the main book yet.  I am doing this based solely on the playbook .pdfs and what I've seen others doing here with custom playbooks.  So if you notice something wrong feel free to point it out.

Obviously this is not complete but I wanted to post what I had so far.  I'll be working on the rest as soon as possible.  

The central ideas I'm working with here is that though the Blisser's drugs are powerful they have a cost.  The Blisser can become an unstoppable monster but it will take a lot out of him to do it.

Here are the things I'm wondering about:

Are the basic dose effects reasonable?  I'm talking about both the table you roll on first thing and the stat bonuses a dose gives you.  

Does refusing to take a dose have an appropriate penalty?  Is it too harsh or not harsh enough?  

Does it make sense to exclude weird from the stat bonuses the dose gives?  It is a weird playbook but if you rolled well on a dose you could theoretically get +3 weird if you so chose. With the base +2 weird for the playbook that would give you a +5 to weird.  That would ensure that any weird roll you made could not fail.  That seems too powerful to me.

I like the idea of being able to push things by taking more doses of your drug.  I want there to be consequences to that but again I'm not certain of the balance for those consequences.  

Finally I want there to be a way in which you can involuntarily come down from a dose during play.  Right now what I have seems really messy to me.  I'm not sure exactly how to work this yet.  

As for the reason I chose a weird playbook, I didn't think any other stat fit.  I know there doesn't seem to be a lot to do with weird in the drug section, but the moves in the playbook will be weird based.  

Any other general feedback is greatly appreciated on this.  


Playbook: The Blisser

The world is dead and most people have forgotten what to live for.  Not you.  You have your pills and your vials and your liquid gold that you pump through your body.  When that hits you're a fucking god and no one in this shithole is going to stop you.

To create your Blisser choose name, look, stats, moves, gear and hx.

Names:
Bubs, Waylon, Booth, Sid, Junk, Kite, Brady, Narc, Toker, Trip, Acid

Look:
Man, woman, transgressive, ambiguous, concealed

Filthy wear, luxe wear, scrounged wear, vintage wear  
Drawn face, tired face, relaxed face or twitchy face
Vacant eyes, glassy eyes, wild eyes, intelligent eyes, or shameful eyes
Gaunt body, broken body, scarred body, or neglected body.

Stats:
Cool-1, Hard+1, Hot+0, Sharp+0, Weird+2   
Cool+0, Hard-1, Hot+1, Sharp+0, Weird+2
Cool+1, Hard+0, Hot+0, Sharp+0, Weird+2
Cool+0, Hard+0, Hot-1, Sharp+1, Weird+2

The Drugs:
You have a concoction of drugs which you take to make you function better in the reality of the world around you.  Give it a name.  You are addicted to these drugs and must take them at the beginning of each session or act under fire until you do.
Whenever you take the drug roll +weird.  On a 10+ hold two, on a 7-9 hold one, on anything else the dose is not enough and you must either dose again immediately and risk overdosing or be under fire for the rest of the session.
* This dose is intense you will not come down from this dose until the session ends.
* The dose is more potent than usual boost your stats one more than normal.
* The dose opens your mind to new possibilities get +1 weird for the duration of the dose.
* The dose makes you feel invincible get +1 AR for the duration of the dose.
* The dose isn't as large as you thought, your stash does not decrease due to this dose.

You start with a stash of six doses worth 1 barter each.  If your stash gets depleted you must barter for more at a cost of 1 barter per 1 stash replaced.

In addition to the effects listed above each dose you take gives you a +1 bump to two stats of your choice or a +2 bump to one stat of your choice except weird.  If you get the bonus stat bump from the table above you can add a further +1 to your stats in any way you choose except weird.

At any time you may dose another time to push your stats up by +1 again.  You can choose the same two stats or two different stats.  Each time you take another dose on top of the dose you just took you automatically suffer 1 harm.  Roll again for the dose effects but this time subtract one from the roll.
Each dose you take in addition to the primary dose cumulatively subtracts one from each further dose effect roll you make.  I.E. Two doses equal -2 to the dose roll.

You can take as many doses as your body can handle.  

Coming Down:
Anytime you suffer more than one harm, fail two act under fire rolls, or fail a roll to open your mind to the psychic maelstrom you come down from your dose.  When you come down you lose all bonuses you currently have immediately.  You must dose up again as if the session just started or act under fire for the rest of the session.  

It's interesting you say that! I posted a write-up of Boo's encounter with the subway hacksaws elsewhere on the internet and there was some concern that I had made him Not Awesome.

And yeah, I think the game does a good job of making characters who are competent and badass but are more Bruce Willis in Die Hard than Bruce Willis in Live Free or Die Hard.

I think Boo got his butt kicked in that scene, but he was still pretty cool doing it.  Plus, he did have an out he just chose not to take that out.  Overall the Hacksaws were a big threat for one person to take on by themselves.  I would've had Burroughs run from them too.

 I played Burroughs in this game and had a great time.  I remember Bret saying at one point that he hadn't gamed this long in one session since high school.  The whole thing really worked well for our group.  I think we had a great mix and even coming into the game completely new to it I had it figured out really quickly.

An hour into it and I felt really comfortable with the game and was having a blast.

Burroughs was played using the idea that he was desperate for physical affection.  That is specifically why he was not choosy in his hook ups.  I also played him as fanatically loyal to Glenview because they had taken him in and given him a home when others probably wouldn't have. 

Game play wise I enjoyed that every time I did something my character was awesome.  He was not a chump, he was a scary bad ass who people were afraid of.  Even when I failed, I didn't really get my ass kicked things just got more complicated for me.   I'm not saying Burroughs was invincible, but he felt capable at all times of totally wrecking shit and that's something that I don't always feel when I roleplay.  I felt like failure was just as cool as success was in most cases.

Overall a great session and I look forward to doing something myself with the game.