Instead of necroing my own thread, I grant the same permissions based on the same conditions as Philomorph, for the translation of The Shieldbearer.

Very interesting, espeically how the transfer of barter is highlighted. I think, however, that the maintanence cost of the Network a bit high, as after that inital supply of barter run out, the Abacus seem to have no way of earning new barter through moves, and must rely on the narrative to aquire it. Lowering the maintanence to 1-barter would allow the Abacus to spend newly aquired barter on other things, such as bribes or Options, rather than pay an upkeep cost. I think that otherwise, a lot of game time will be spent trying to to cajole others to give the Abacus barter, rather than shift barter around different parties.

EDIT: Did someone say middle management?

I like it, though I'm not so certain about the theme of a failure. If the roll involves weird, why should a failure result in the victim breaking out? Suggestions: How about it causing brain damage to those involved, count as a failure on open your mind for all involved, or is returned to the sender (ie., both victim and user gets hold 1 on each other on the same terms). Or, the risk of physical violence from the victim could be described by the maelstrom temporarily invading them, causing them to break free and either run on fight, etc.

I like that you restrained yourself to 2 hold, as the chair is so powerful. But I think it needs to be more costly or be more risky. An option which costs the user something, in addition to the option of causing amnesia, would make even a 10+ a difficult choice. Such a cost could be related to the theme of the cage (such as losing something, the effects being obvious for outside observers, the victim also getting 1 hold, or open yourself to the Maelstrom), or to the difficulties involved in using it (need to Act under Fire, difficult to insert or remove something with precision, etc).

Love it. Will use it.

EDIT: For use on PCs, the PC affected could potentially get some XP out of it. I'm not sure that is part of the flavour of the brain cage.

For when the victims are PC:

When someone uses the brain cage on you, roll +cool.
On 10+, Hold 3. On 7-9, hold 1. You can spend hold, 1 for 1, prevent the
user from doing the following:
* Take something away from you that made you who you were.
* Put something inside you that becomes part of who you are.
* Make you commit a single act against your will
* Keep you from remembering what they did to you.
On a miss, they do all four.

I found the swashbuckler in document format on the forums then completed it and trifolded it. All my playbooks I've listed as being playteated are trifolds and have yet to be traded. Give me some offers for them. :)

I do have a few LE and fan made Monster of the Week-charcters (non-trifold):
-The Action Scientist
-The Divine
-The Exile
-The Hard Case
-The Luchador
-The Snoop
-The Summoner
-The Mad Scientist
-The Constructed

as well as two coloured trifolds for the Star Wars-hack (The Jedi and The Smuggler)
And, of course, the Shieldbearer, once it is finished.

Any of those of interest to you?

1) Keeper of the old ways bothers me in that forcing too much of a PC's action - particularly in that it seems unnecessary, in that the first two you could accomplish in some kind of of modification to Read a Person.

True; I was going for a situation in which sermons resulted in actions by the listener, rather than the ability of the Shieldbearer to read a person. There's a fundamental difference in forcing the truth and spotting the lie, though I'm not confortable with forcing other PCs to do what you want, outside of going aggro. I'm also a fan of that type of hold-mechanic, but perhaps I should turn the table so that the one affacted spends the hold, as well as trying to distinguish it more from what is possible with read a person.

2) The playbook fits pretty well in AW. Its definitely reads as a justice-oriented character FROM THE APOCALYPSE, as opposed to, "oh hey there's a cop in the group."

It loses points from not having anything to do with bondage masks or psychadelic horror or apocalypse bubble bath or burning man, though.

Thanks! It might be difficult to find a good balance of bondage-y stuff, as "masked crime fighter" is a stereotype that might come up if it isn't handled well. I can't say I understand the "apocalypse bubble bath or burning man"-reference, though.

If there's something that I would criticize on a conceptual level, its that I think the moves define too much of the internal beliefs of a character - Compared to say, the Hocus or the Touchstone, which also imply internal beliefs for the character, but define the character morever on what they are capable of doing - leaving how they want to use that power more in the hands of the player.

Are you thinking of any moves specifically? Shield of Conviction fits the bill - it internalises and incentivisesusing force in the name of justice. Perhaps a more neutral phrasing, such as "do battle to settle scores", or something similar?

Keeper... also fits the bill, but it needs redesigning. Is there any other move which fits the bill?

3) The playbooks stuff seems to hit the theme pretty well.

Great! If you have any suggestions regarding symbols of authority which could broaden the playbook's scope, or add some of that bondage/psychadelic horror, I'm all for it.

4) I like Getting Shit Done a lot, its probably my favorite Move for the book. I would actually suggest changing the special move to ("When someone has sex with you, they tell you of an injustice committed against them, and Getting Shit Done is triggered, whether you have the move or not.")

The Special move I've settled with is one I thought reflected human nature - the rose-tinted glasses, so to speak. It was designed before Getting Shit Done, so I hadn't considered combining them.

Shieldbearer changelog

• Added some Look
• Added a few lines to the Special move
• Removed the possibility of improving sharp, but added weird, as without it players would be less inclined to open their brain.
• Changed Keeper of the Old Ways. Thought long on what it was about it that I liked, so now it  reads as follows:

"When you proclaim the truths of old to another PC, roll+hard. On 10+, hold 2. On 7-9, hold 1, but they get 1 hold on you too on the same terms. You can spend hold, 1 for 1, to make that PC help or interfere with you, their choice. As they do, you mark Hx.
On a miss, you take -1ongoing till you take a bullet with their name on or till they are show their true colors."