So, I'm running AW at a smallish UK con in a couple of weeks. I know that people have had troubles running AW at cons before and Vincent recommends himself that the system doesn't really sing until a few sessions in. I'm going to do a mix of GM pre designed setting and player input, basically I got a copy of Tony Dowlers excellent Seattle Doomsday map - Doomsday Map - which I will put in the middle of the table and let players draw over the top of it. There's space for 4 players and I'll bring along 6 playbooks and let them choose which ones they want. I'm thinking of doing love letters that involve all 6 playbooks, the spare two will become NPC's, so hopefully there will be some triangles already set up.
I'll make a few fronts as well and see what happens.

Any advice and which playbooks should I include? I definitely want a Brainer and I like it when players have a Hardholder so there's a bit of setting they can define straight away. As there might be players who have never played before I'm gonna avoid more complicated playbooks like the Macaluso.

For quite a while now my brother and a few mates have been thinking about a writing a steampunk RPG, but have been struggling with system design.
I've been GM'ing Apocalypse World at every UK convention I've been going to for a few months and really dig how quick the system runs.
Could a hack be the perfect design choice?

Problems I have:
Weird and the psychic mealstrom are pretty integral to AW, there is going to be an etheral aspect in EoS called "Steam" but it's probably not as pervasive as the mealstrom and not accesable to everbody.

Combat in AW is (IMO) pretty lame when it comes to PC vs PC and also against NPC's that the GM may want to have some kind of plot for. Does the AW system totally fall apart if you remove the whole not pre planning plot and putting NPC's in crosshairs aspects? There's no real reason why steampunk requires a GM to pre plot anything any more than post apocalyptic settings but it's just the way I see the game coming together. There's going to be a setting in place already for starters.
I've already come up with some ideas myself about how I want to modify combat and the moves system but I do like the way AW works with the 2d6 + stat, 7-9 success with a little bit of GM fuckery, 10+ success.

As for setting, it's not straightforward Victorian Steampunk, more a mix of post apocalysim and steampunk, with a heady dose of Empirialism thrown in for good measure. The mystical "Steam" is going to allow the building of steampunk style artifacts and get around the whole real science hangups. Setting after a massive apocalypse, instead of in alternative history, also allows us to add whatever stuff we want into the mix, without having to worry about history buffs contradicting us on what real people may have been doing at the time!

As always, the trickiest thing is going to be coming up with iconic archetypes and good moves for them. here's what we've got so far-

Articifer/Engineer
Black Widow
Bounty Hunter
Clairvoyant
Crime Lord
Dilettante
Detective
Gyroscope Rider
Harlot
Law Man
Mercenary
Officer
Scavenger
Sky Pirate
Spy
Steam Priest

Anyway, here's some of the imagery that my bro has come up with so far-
STEAM PRIEST

SCAVVIES

MERCS

HARLOTS

DETECTIVES

BLACK WIDOWS

SKY PIRATES

BOUNTY HUNTERS


If anybody's got any cool ideas for steampunk architypes then feel free to chip in!

More posts on system changes and setting to follow soon!

So, I run Apocalypse World at as many UK cons as I can get to, and I also post on UK Roleplayers quite a lot, so I thought I would try and come up with a playbook that's only available to download from that site.
The idea behind this is basically that stereotypical English toff, usually an Officer in the military like what you would get in A Bridge Too Far, or an aristocrat like from in The Kings Speech.

Here's what I've got so far....

The Gent

When the cities fell and the maelstrom began and everything was just going to shit all around, there was one thing that looked like it was lost forever.

But this guy, he’s still got it. That certain thing that makes you believe in the nobleness of the soul. That some people are just born better than others.

This guy, you know what he is? He’s a Gent.

Creating a Gent
Choose your name, look, stats, moves, gear and Hx.

Names
Harry, Will, Windsor, Phil, Greek, George, Henry

Di, Liz, Vic, Kate

Look
Man, Woman, Transgender
Lux wear, high formal wear, Military wear
Arrogant face, cunning face, haughty face, caring face.
Cold eyes, empty eyes, warm eyes, loving eyes.
Angular body, soft body, weak body, bony body.

Stats
Choose one set:
Cool+2, Hard+1, Hot+1, Sharp-1, Weird=0
Cool+2, Hard-1, Hot-1, Sharp=0, Weird+2
Cool+2, Hard=0, Hot-1, Sharp+1, Weird+1
Cool+2, Hard=0, Hot+1, Sharp+1, Weird-1

Basic moves
You get all the basic moves.

Gent Moves
You get this one:
•A Gentleman’s Home is His Castle: When you are safe and secure in your own abode you may roll Cool instead of the listed stat for any of the basic moves.

Then pick two of these:
•Stiff Upper Lip: +1 cool (cool +3).

•The Old Boy Network:

•Blue Blood: You can roll +Cool instead of +Hot when you manipulate someone.

Gear
You get clothes appropriate to your look (worth armour-1 if you want), and one Gentleman’s weapon.
Gentleman’s weapons (choose 1):

Hx
Everyone introduces their characters by name, look and outlook. Take your turn. List the other characters’ names.

Go around again for Hx. On your turn, choose 1, 2 or all 3:
•   Pick who you think is beneath your contempt, tell them Hx -2.
•   Pick someone who hasn’t let them self degrade into savagery. Tell them Hx+2.
•   Pick someone who you find amusing in a pitiful kind of way , tell them Hx+1.
Everyone else, you stay distant from. Tell them Hx -1.

On the others’ turns,.

At the end, find the character with the highest Hx on your sheet. Ask that player which of your stats is most interesting, and highlight it. The MC will have you highlight a second stat too.

Special Move
When you have sex with another character,.

Improvement

Whenever you roll a highlighted stat, and whenever you reset your Hx with someone, mark an experience circle. When you mark the 5th, improve and erase.

Each time you improve, choose one of the following. Check it off; you can’t choose it again.
__ get +1hard (max hard+2)
__ get +1hot (max hot+2)
__ get +1sharp (max sharp+2)
__ get +1weird (max weird+2)
__ get a new Gent move
__ get a new Gent move
__ get 2 gigs (detail) and moonlighting
__ get a gang and leadership
__ get a move from another playbook
__ get a move from another playbook

Barter
If you’re charging someone wealthy for your services, 1-barter is the going rate for:

1-barter will cover a month’s living expenses, if your tastes aren’t too grand.

As a one-time expenditure, and very subject to availability, 1-barter might count for: a night in high luxury; any weapon, gear or fashion not valuable or hi-tech; repair of a piece of hi-tech gear by a savvyhead; a year’s tribute to a warlord; bribes, fees and gifts sufficient to get you into almost anyone’s presence.

Yo,

I got myslef a copy of the rules (awesome by the way!) with a copy of the Faceless playbook (awesome+) off of the marvelous Graham Walmsley (cheers Graham!) but I keep on seeing mention of a Maestro D' on these forums. Who is this dude (or dudette)?

More importantly, is there a way I can get my grubby mitts on a copy of the playbook?

And on a related note, I've been making some laminated copies of the playbooks for when I MC games of AW at cons, as I'm UK based when I print the playbooks out they are a slightly different size to the American ones I got with my rules (A4 as opposed to foolscap(sp?)). Is there anyway to get a pdf copy of the Faceless playbook just so's I can make them all the same size and, you know, look all purty like?