Has anyone had a chance to play The Show in a game yet? It strikes me as one of Vincent's "high mind-share" designs, kind of like the Battlebabe. It's got a lot of tools for causing trouble (battle truck, flame throwing guitar, a gang) but not all that many for getting out of it, pushing the world in a controlled way or even using any of those cool toys well. A Maestro D' might host or a Skinner might put on a performance, or a Gunlugger might be able to intimidate an entire gang into back down but The Show cracks open the world while standing at ground zero. Plus there's the push-pull dynamic of potentially being the leash-holder's meal ticket and the biggest drain on them at the same time. What have everyone's experiences been?

So, as I was sitting here bemoaning some other publishers kicking out more traditional RPGs (anything with derived stats) in a genre I'd like to play, it occurred to me that maybe I should just buckle down and come up with my own AW hack to reinvigorate some fun but dangerously tired stuff. What follows is a very preliminary, back of the napkin sort of thing. My own schedule is crazy through October but I don't think that this is an idea that's going away.

It was an age of great adventure and crushing poverty, an age of relentless expansion and skies blackened by coal fires, an age where the secrets of life and death were within our grasp, where other intelligent life found us (or maybe we found them). That all changed this morning. Maybe it was punishment for our hubris. Maybe it was an alien beam weapon but this morning the dead rose to feast on the living, or maybe great cephalopods filled the air. The Atlanteans retreated beneath the waves to be confronted by their own monsters. Even the vampires are in danger of being over run by the tide of rotting corpses. You're barricaded in your [location] but it won't hold forever. What do you do?

Think about how in Bioshock, the apocalypse already happened but in Infinite it happens right around you, how you get that one glance at this beautiful dystopia before it explodes. Mix in some wildly over the top Victorian sci-fi characters (see below), mayhem, carnage and chaos. Start off with a bang and keep that visceral feel of excitement going.

In addition to the usual stats and moves, every character starts with and describes a location in your city and most will have one or two named NPC assistants. With some Ask Questions Like Crazy, you'll have a whole first session's worth of scenery and people.

Playbooks with locations and rough sketch primary stats

The Resurrectionist - Part Angel, part Victor Frankenstein. Starts with a medical laboratory where he can experiment on. . .er. . .make people better. . .er fix. . .er heal, no really, heal people. (sharp)

The Necromechanic - Brings dead tech to life, literally. He can bottle soulfire as a power source. Of course, someone's life has to be drained to charge the battery.  Has something akin to the Savvyhead workshop. (weird)

The Captain - Of an Airship (if you must), of a space ship (if you like, although then the apocalypse has to effect aliens, too) or even of a submarine (my favorite) or maybe he even commands (although not rules) a floating city. His location is, of course, his ship. (sharp)

The Alien Princess - Is she Atlantean, Venusian? Is she a real princess or just the best of what's left behind? Grace, bearing, diplomacy and all that jazz. She can always find solace in her alien temple. (hot)

The Occultist - master of ceremonial magic and probably cult leader. Perhaps he can find something in those moldy tomes to help fight the apocalypse. (weird)

The Action Archaeologist - Don't let anyone fool you. The 90% of archaeology done in the library is the boring stuff you get the grad students to do for you. The Action Archaeologist gets out there and gets his hands in the dirt and blood and monster goop. He's found lost cities, evaded death traps and wrestled gods to bring his treasures back to the museum/warehouse. (cool)

The Ancient One - Is he a vampire? A resurrected Egyptian prince? An alchemist who discovered a formula that only works for him? The immortal is the mastermind with an army of loyal henchmen (part Dracula, part Bond villain) and an impenetrable Lair who just will not stay dead. (sharp/weird?)

And I'll try not to give away too many spoilers because this is a very cool and deeply weird playbook.
Does The Mac only get a Highlight from the PC they have the highest Hx to?
I didn't see any reference on the sheet to MC Highlights.

I've just started playing a Touchstone in a PBP game. It only now occurred to me that the various "when you go among the people" things on the back aren't moves per se. How have people been treating these? As fairly simple actions requiring a little description (ie move-like) or more like Operator gigs (ie mostly abstracted with maybe an interesting highlight played out here and there) ?

The former strikes me as possibly being too easy. A lot of Touchstones will be offering hope and/or acting with hope on a very regular basis. The end result of that would seem to be that they're well treated by most everyone most of the time, even if it is grudgingly. Then again, maybe that's appropriate.

Just a little something I was musing on today. I'd like others' feedback. It seems different enough from the other weird based characters to me but an outside opinion is always good. Who knows, maybe it'll be an LE release someday. :)

Introducing: The Rust Shaman
Some guys, they can't take the shithole we call society these days. They walk themselves right out into the dust and the sand and the psychic meat grinder with nothing but a pair of shoes. Most of 'em die. The ones that come back, though, soimething's not right about 'em. Eyes are all glassy, one foot in this world and one in the next.

cool   Hard   Hot   Sharp   Weird
-1   +1   +1   0   +2
0   +1   -1   +1   +2
+1   0   +1   -1   +2
0   -1   +1   +1   +2

Moves - Pick 2:
Warp and Weft - When you roll to read a situation, roll +weird instead of +sharp

One Foot in the Other World - Weird +3

Sending a Conjure - Roll to help or interfere with someone, regardless of range. If you can't see the person or otherwise don't know what they're up to, the modifier applies to their next roll.

Dust in the Wind - at the beginning of the session, roll+weird. On a 10+, hold 3. On a 7–9, hold 1. At any time, either you or the MC can spend your hold to have you already be there OR to escape your current scene (or both if your timing is really good). You just step behind a rock or into a dust storm and step out the other side. On a miss, the MC holds 1, and can spend it to have you already be there, but somehow pinned, caught or trapped. Note that this does not assume that you're prepared or know what's going on where you're headed. That's your problem.
 
Voice of the Spirits - You can seek the advice of the spirits of the maelstrom. Roll +weird to see what they want you to do. On a 10+ mark experience and take a +1 if you do as your
they wish. On a 7–9, take a +1 if you do what they want and act under fire
if you don’t. On a miss, they have their own agenda and act under fire if you don’t
follow it.

Guidance of the Spirits - You can seek the advice of the spirits on behalf of others. Tell them what you honestly think the best course is. If they do it, they take +1 to any rolls they make in the doing, and you mark an experience circle.

Advancement
New Rust Shaman move (x2)
New Other Move (x2)
Get followers and fortunes
+1 Cool
+1 Hard
+1 Hot
+1 Sharp
Add an oralce (tarot cards, bones etc) and gain +augury when using it

Good other playbook powers
Just Give Me a Motive
Visions of Death
Healing Touch
Inspiring
Visionary


Honestly, I wouldn't mind swapping out one of the moves above for something similar to Visions of Death or Indomitable, I just didn't want to copy either of those wholesale.