Tangent: I giggled at your comments about "Speak Of", because I've had a player use "Visions of Death" to bring people back to life that had "died", and to kill off NPCs that weren't even connected to the fight at all. They were actually really clever in how they applied it, but it did make for some interesting speculation as to the intended limits of the move.

The Look options for Voice are genius. I love this sort of thing, I find it really hard to write compelling Looks etc.

That said, I'm not sure about the sex move. Have you instead considered:

When you and another character have sex, if it's no big deal then fair enough. If you love them, take a note of their name. From now on, when you use a Shifted move, you can take them with you.

I agree with what people have said about Kinship. How about something that pulls characters together? "When you help another character open their brain, you automatically roll a 10+."

I also think Insubstantial is unnecessary. It's text that I don't think adds much to the concept.

Withered as a gender? Fucking A*. In fact, the work you've done on Look and Name is excellent.

I'm not sure I'm digging Insight though. I'd probably have to see it in play before I could grasp how it worked.

Well, it's clear to see the source of your inspiration!

But I wonder if there are many ways for this character to play out? Enough different angles to take on the character? I also worry that, really, the rest of the party are going to have glum time trying to hack out a little bit of sanctuary in the waste of apocalype world if they have a Freaker along. How do you see the rest of the party getting on with the Freaker?

Oh, and some of the stat lines add up a bit strange. Is that deliberate?

A lot of the moves are written like this, wide open to interpretation. Arvid nails it; ask the players what it's like. If you're worried about why the target would ever not choose to suck it up, then remember your agenda to make Apocalypse World seem real. If someone is feeling strange and weird compulsions in their head, are they strong enough to fight them, even though it may mean ripping their brain apart? Do they care that much? It will all depend on the characters involved, the fronts and threats you have written, and how you feel they would react to the move as it's been established.

The scene in the book is a particularly nasty example of the MC putting their bloody fingerprints all over a situation.

Thanks for the kind words! I like the idea of getting a cult, as I can see a lot of Shapers as cult leaders, but gangs that consisted of humans seemed like overkill and gangs that consisted of creations... well they can be created anyway.

I don't have The Hoarder as a playbook, so I can't comment on hunger. What does it do, act as a source of trouble if the Hoarder doesn't act so as to serve the hoard?

The Shaper
"The world is gruelling aches and nerves afire. It is bone-deep hunger and a future of dust. What kind of gift is life?"

Or

"Maybe, once, it would have been fair to say that some things should not be. But when your progeny heaved itself upright and drew its first, ragged breath, didn't you just feel like a God?"

To create your Shaper choose name, look, stats, design a strain, beget your starting progeny and choose Hx.

Name:
Stitches, Master, Wombjob, Herbert, Prometheus, Hallow, Milf, Proffessor, Baker, Weaves, Sculptor

Screwfly, Chorister, Sanguine, Frankie, Rhea, Locus, Makesmith, Pasture, Geppetto, Curie.

Look:

Male, Female, Concealed, Transgressing.

Utility wear with tech, scrounged vestments, tattered formal wear, casual wear.

Innocent face, eager face, scarred face, blank face, leering face, dour face, smiling face, commanding face.

Wild eyes, sharp eyes, piercing eyes, mocking eyes, calm eyes, haunted eyes, warm eyes.

Bloated body, lean body, muscled body, hunched body, voluptuous body, hard body, looming body.

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

Moves

You have these two:

Old wounds
When you meet someone, either you or the MC can decide that their past suffering was tied to you or your creations. If either of you do, roll +weird. On a hit, you decide what went down and how it binds you together. On a 10+, you take +1 forward when dealing with them. On a miss the MC will fill in the details.

Beget
When you bring forth life, it'll be from a strain you've already designed. You'll have to satisfy your creation criteria and then roll +weird.  On a 10+ you'll create progeny with the specifics of the strain. On a 7-9 you create progeny with the specifics of the strain, but choose an additional flaw. On a miss, the MC chooses one or more of:
~it dies in creation.
~someone sees you at it.
~it has the ability to procreate, wildly.
~it's murderously hostile towards you.
~it escapes from you.
~it suffers another two options from the Flaws list.

Detail your new progeny and give it a name. This can be whatever you choose.

Strains.
When making progeny, the first step is to develop a strain that will act as a template for creations. By default, your progeny are 2 harm seemingly inhuman threats that are easily distracted and fascinated by the world around them. They have the capacity for simple speech but can't act coherently for prolonged periods without your guidance. You can choose for the strain to be partially mechanical (+Hi tech) or exist solely in the maelstrom. (Harm +psi)

Creation criterion:
Creating progeny is a process that needs time, concentration and relative solitude. Also, choose one from the following for this strain:
~ it takes several fresh corpses.
~ it requires a living host for the progeny to gestate in.
~ it incorporates supplies worth 3 barter.
~ it requires elaborate and extensive prep with more than one participant.
~ it does you or someone nearby 2 harm ap. (Your choice if this is +psi or not.)

Edges:
Choose 2 that all progeny of this strain share. Then each time you create a new progeny, choose an extra edge for it.
~ Paralyzing. (Can inflict s harm.)
~ Dangerous. (+1 harm)
~ Deadly. (+2 harm, counts as two)
~ Piercing. (+ap)
~ Focused. (-easily distracted and fascinated)
~ Rugged. (+1 armour).
~ Normal looking. (-seemingly inhuman).
~ Far roaming and independent. (Can act coherently without your guidance.)
~ Bonded. (You can communicate with them at distance.)

Flaws:
Choose a flaw that your progeny suffer from.
~Decaying. (They fall apart in a matter of weeks.)
~Disloyal. (They'll take any opportunity to betray you and break free.)
~Vengeful. (They aggressively and disproportionately pursue anyone they feel has wronged you.)
~Desperate. (They hunger for something inconvenient or controversial; blood, sex, barter, your attention. Yours to detail.)
~Mute. (They're incapable of speech.)
~Shocking. (When they reveal their true nature for the first time, PC witnesses get +1Hx with you, NPCs take S-harm.)

Why do they follow you?
~Loyal - they adore and obey you, devoted to your every word and whim.
~Craven - they fear and respect you, clamouring to avoid your wrath.
~Dependent - they need you or something you give them, and this need holds them in thrall
~Lacking - they don't have the imagination to think for themselves. Perhaps they're little more than extensions of your will?

Whatever you choose, that's just how it is to begin with. Expect each progeny to grow, to evolve, and to develop its own sense of self and direction.

Starting progeny.
You start the game with some progeny, one or two. If you choose one, detail it as if you'd rolled a 10+ on the beget move. If you choose two, detail them as if you'd rolled a 7-9 both times

Shaper Special
When you and another character have sex roll +weird. On a hit, you've successfully manipulated that person, treat it as 10+ if you rolled 10+, 7-9 if you rolled 7-9. If it's another PC, they also count as having manipulated you, same terms. On a miss, one of your progeny gets obsessively jealous or fascinated about your lover.

Hx
Everyone lists their characters by name, look and outlook. Take your turn, and while you're at it tell people a little about your progeny.

List the other character’s names

Go around for Hx, on your turn choose one or both:

One of them you've had to protect or serve somehow. Tell them Hx +1
One of them you're itching to improve, shape, change. Tell them Hx +2

Tell everyone else Hx+0.

On others’ turns
Ask them if they admire your creations or are appalled by them. It's not an either/or choice. If they admire, whatever number they tell you give it Hx+1. If they're appalled, then give their number Hx-1. Write it next to their character's name.

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.

Shaper 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.

-get +1Sharp (Max +2)
-get +1Hot (Max +2)
-get +1Cool (Max +2)
-get +1Hard (Max +2)
-develop another strain
-develop another strain
-get a move from another playbook
-get a move from another playbook
-get followers (detail) and fortunes
-expand your Beget move. (On a roll of 12+ create your progeny as per the strain but choose either to take an extra edge or that your creation is without flaw.)
-----
-get +1 to any stat (max stat+3)
-create a second character to play
-change your character to a new type
-choose 3 basic moves and advance them.
-advance the other 4 basic moves.

General comments welcome of course, but I have some specific questions. Firstly, prospective players: is there enough in this playbook? Is the right amount of trouble going to happen? Are the progeny powerful enough, significant enough, flawed enough, or are they a little too ineffectual? Will they occupy too much of your time to deal with the rest of the world? Will they pull you away from the other characters?

And secondly, prospective MCs, would you want to see a Shaper in your game? Progeny sort of aren't human, and that messes with what threat type you can give them. To me, they scream that they want to be Grotesques rather than Brutes. Will that even work?

Another question. It isn't the point of The Shaper, especially the Old Wounds move, that the playbook produce only evil, maniacal monsters. The flavour may be My Life with Master, but I don't want to push people into that, hence why Beget isn't simply called "It's alive!" (I realise that getting rid of the "Retire to safety" option feels a little hypocritical now. Hmm.) Do people think there's enough different ways this character could play out? The indecision about intro text is tied into this dilemma.

Lastly, I haven't mentioned anywhere that, by the time of the Ungiven Future, it'd be cool if people were building the progeny up as second characters etc. Is that the kind of idea people will stumble on anyway, or is it worth making explicit?

I'd be really interested to hear how they go in play as well. I think a degree of tweaking is probably necessary!

Oh now that sounds like a good set up and a good way of tying people together. The two least satisfying campaigns of Apocalypse World I've been in were that way because the player characters weren't sufficiently entangled. This sounds like a fabulous way of easing the players in to really being a part of each other's immiediate worlds.