Quote from: Fniff on July 08, 2016, 01:18:11 PM

Perhaps a better idea would be they have to roll Hx first? On a hit, you know what the Ditto needs, on a miss you haven't got a clue.

This is good. I like this better.

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Also, what does it mean to "read someone on the Psychic Maelstrom?"

For clarity, it means you ask the MC questions from the Read a Person list, except it's on the Psychic Maelstrom. So, if you ask 'What does the psychic maelstrom intend to do?', your MC has to say what the Maelstrom is about to do.

This raises huge red flags for me, because it is based on the assumption that the Psychic Maelstrom is a definable thing with a specific intent, specific feelings, etc. In most of the games I've run or played, this is often NOT the case. In our current game, the Psychic Maelstrom is "I see dead people." The shades of the departed occasionally turn up, offering insight into the world - you dear, deceased granny is all, "I never liked Dremmer. And after she killed Twitch, it pretty much proved that she can't be trusted."

"Wait, Dremmer killed Twitch?"

"Well of course dear. And believe you me, Twitch was very angry about it."

So in this case, the Psychic Maelstrom isn't a "thing" that "wants" something. It's just people. The Maelstrom in general therefore lacks specific intent.

That's not to say that it has to be this way - you could certainly play it such that the Maelstrom could be treated like an entity in its own right, with motivations and intents and whatnot, and handle it like any other NPC Threat. But in some sense I think this is overly reductive, and actually lessens the mystery/wonder/uncertainty that dealing with the Psychic Maelstrom should entail, especially for games where different characters perceive or interact with the Psychic Maelstrom in very different ways.

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One of the things I love about Apocalypse World is the fact that one of its most interesting elements is left entirely up to the group. I tried to limit the assumptions made, but there are two big ones that I noticed.
A. the psychic maelstrom is recording people's brains and putting them in mechanical corpses for some reason
B. if you pick Maelstrom Dependent, the psychic maelstrom gives these corpses visions and wants (or seems to want them) turned into reality.
I'd be curious to hear what you think of these assumptions and any I missed. Plus, I plan to put a 'the assumptions about the maelstrom in this playbook do not apply if it isn't picked) warning on this like the Quarantine.

To my thinking it's more like the assumptions built into the Macaluso, that there are entities native to the Maelstrom. Only moreso, because it ascribes some sort of "plan" to the Maelstrom itself.

You might be better off severing this link entirely, and having the Ditto be the product of a Golden Age technology gone horribly, horribly awry. It's unclear what the intent behind the project was, but it has somehow become co-opted or corrupted or was just flawed from the get-go and the Ditto is the end-stage creepy result. That way, you don't have to specify anything about the Maelstrom itself, and can leave it up to the player to decide how the Ditto fits into the world that was and the world that is.

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I intended that to mean you look like a person except for an uncanny valley-esque flaw: your movements are stiff, your smile is creepy, you don't blink, etc.

I'd say being an obvious cyborg, while not having mechanical downsides, does have fiction downsides.

Sure, but is the character unique in appearance? Yes, there's only one "Ditto," but are there other cyborgs? In my current game, some people have neural interface jacks, the Savvyhead and Juggernaut chief among them. This fact sets them not slightly apart from the rest of the populace, but rather puts them above the rank-and-file peasantry. It is the mark of a "knight," which is how people view the oath-sworn pilots of Dreadnaught armor. This little fictional tidbit is completely the product of the collective world-building that happened during the first session, and not something I planned at all. It emerged from the results of the players' answers to my provocative questions.

So again, assuming that being an obvious cyborg puts people off is incorporating another built-in assumption to your playbook.

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I'm not happy with the move. Can you think of what I could do to make it better or do you think I should replace it with something more fitting?

I'd say replace it. For reference, the Synthetic's fuck the laws of robotics move is one I'd use for better inspiration. It's just a flat +1 Harm when fighting humans, and represents the cold, hard, robotic killing potential of the playbook.

If I had to make a suggestion, I'd say maybe take a page from the Brainer's move that lets that playbook go aggro using Weird instead of Hard. So you could have it be something like:

10 KILL 20 CRUSH 30 DESTROY 40 GOTO 10 - When faced with a violent situation, the Ditto is adept at allocating processing resources to determining the optimum intercept and attack vectors. Roll +Sharp instead of +Hard when seizing by force.

This makes the Ditto good at a straight up fight, but not so good at threatening people (because it's bad at human psychology). You could place further limitations on it (for laughs I might tie it to a -1 Hot attribute penalty), but the fact that it fills one of the playbook's precious integral component slots might be drawback enough.

• How would a Ditto PC be treated in your game of Apocalypse World?
• The Ditto's primary concept is that they are a copy of a person from before the apocalypse struck placed in a robotic body. I think this would lead to interesting interactions with other players, especially the Quarantine if they're in play - but they might be too similar to the latter.
  Is the Ditto too close to the Quarantine or does it stand on its own?
• I recall reading on Story Games that the problem with custom Playbooks is that too many of them inadvertently make the whole game about themselves rather than letting the other players have time to shine.
  Do you think the Ditto avoids this? If not, what could be fixed?
• What do you think of Vampiric Drain Protocol and Maelstrom Dependency as moves?

THE DITTO
Back when computers weren't paperweights, you could move data around the place. But you weren't really moving anything; the computer just copied it and deleted the original. Same thing here, just replace the computer with the psychic maelstrom and the data with your brain.
You went from your boring pre-apocalyptic life to being a corpse stuffed with wires in a dying world. You're succumbing to entropy and you can't fix it. A few people claim they can repair you, but they're not doing it out of the kindness of their hearts. Before you know it, you'll be their pet abomination.
But just because you're dying doesn't make you weak.

Dittos are tragic cyborg abominations. They have serious power at their fingertips, edging into terrifying if you're creative. However, they require regular maintenance or else they turn into a pile of malfunctioning junk. Warning: you're going to be in debt to either fellow players or the MC. Prepare to get fucked around with.

You get this one and another move of your choice.
Terminal Entropy Operator
At the end of every session, roll weird.
On a 10+, all systems optimal.
On a 7-9, choose two effects that apply for the next session.
* Your body will malfunction at an inconvenient time.
* You can't use your integral components.
* All harm you receive is doubled.
* If you refuse an order from anybody, it's acting under fire.
On a miss, mark a segment of your countdown clock with a symbol. These marked sections cannot be healed and effectively cap your health. This move does not inflict damage, you keep the health but cannot heal the segment when it goes. You can mark segments until 9:00.
If 9:00 is marked, the MC chooses one from the 7-9 results. It's in effect until you get a segment unmarked.
A PC can operate on you like a Savvyhead making something, but they have one goal; unmark every segment on your countdown. You cannot operate on yourself.

Vampiric Drain Protocol
You can rob psychic energy from people's brains to replenish your own. Roll weird for NPCs; for PCs, roll Hx and only if they're past 9:00 on their countdown clock.
On a hit, you unmark a section of your health. On a 10+, choose two from the list. On a 7-9, choose three;
* You'll never forgive yourself.
* Something beautiful is destroyed.
* There will be consequences for you.
* Something ugly is created.
* They will never forgive you.
The MC will interpret what they mean.

Predictive Analysis Software
When you Read a Person, add these questions to the list.
* How do I find you?
* How do I break you?
* Why do you __?

Efficient Algorithms
+1 Sharp(+3)

Maelstrom Dependency
You can leech off some energy from the psychic maelstrom, but it'll fuck with you first. Roll weird.
On a 10+, the maelstrom unmarks two segments of harm but shows you a vision that you must fulfil. Until you do, one of your highlights is erased.
On a 7-9, the maelstrom unmarks a segment of harm but gets inside your head. Treat this as having Opened your Brain and missed.

D.S. Al Coda
When you die on your own terms, choose three. You interpret what they mean.
* They forgive you.
* Something beautiful is created.
* This has changed things, big-time.
* Something ugly is destroyed.
* You forgive yourself.

Integral Components
Chameleon Module (Implanted)
You can imitate a human almost completely; PCs must Act under Fire to being fooled by it and roll Hx instead of Cool.

Consciousness Transfer Kit (Hi-Tech, Applied)
If you have a brain recording, including your own, you can create a new ditto from a suitable body. Roll sharp. On a 10+, choose two; On a 7-9, choose one.
* Their soul survived the transfer. Otherwise, they can't perform actions that their previous self didn't do.
* They're mentally sound. Otherwise, they are prone to murderous insanity.
* They can control multiple bodies and count as a gang. Otherwise, they're limited to one body.
* They're physically able. Otherwise, they're weak and prone to malfunctions.
* They obey your every order. Otherwise, they have free will.
A player can consider this a second character or an NPC: their call.

Noospheric Psychrometer (Implanted)
You can Read a Person on the psychic maelstrom.

Terminator Chassis (Implanted)
You have 2-armor (This doesn't stack) and a hidden sword (3-Harm, Hand, Implanted).

Growth Gel (Applied, Remote)
You can infect a building/area with Giger-esque tumors. You may Go Aggro on people near them. If they force your hand, they forcibly exit the area and can't come back for a day.

10 KILL 20 CRUSH 30 DESTROY 40 GOTO 10
Once a session, you can transform into a murdermachine for a scene. Roll weird. On a 10+, you get all six; on a 7-9, two; on a miss, you get one but mark one segment of your countdown clock.
* You're terrifying. Anyone with an ounce of self-preservation runs screaming from you, and rival players are Acting under Fire if they do anything except flee.
* You're huge. You're Massive-4, and your steel fists count as Using a Vehicle as a Weapon.
* You're heavily armored. You have 3-Armor.
* You're a one-robot-army. You count as a medium gang with harm and armor according to your weapons and armor.
* You've got mounted artillery (4-harm, far, area, messy).
* You can fucking fly.

Name
Simon, Sho, Sonny, Hal, Orsina, Caroline, Ash, David, Kyoko, Maria.

Look
Mechanical body, dead body, mix and match body, skeletal body, makeshift body, spiderlike body.
Red eyes, dead eyes, human eyes, glowing eyes, video eyes, no eyes.
Filtered voice, monotone voice, deep voice, stuttering voice, glitched voice, child's voice.

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

Improvement
- Get +1cool (max cool+2)
- Get +1hard (max hard+2)
- Get +1weird (max weird+2)
- Get a new Ditto move
- Get a new Integral Component
- Get a vehicle (You detail)
- Get a gang (and Pack Alpha)
- Get a move from another playbook
- Unmark one countdown clock segment
****
— get +1 to any stat (max stat+3)
— retire your character to safety
— create a second character to play
— change your character to a new playbook (lose all your integral components and the terminal entropy operator move)
— choose 3 basic moves and advance them.
— advance the other 3 basic moves.

Gear
You get:
1 Integral Component
Oddments worth 1-Barter
Fashion suitable to your look (You describe)

Hx:
* Which one of you fixes me up on a regular basis?
For that character, write Hx+3.

* Which one of you helped me and wanted no reward?
For that character, write Hx-1.

* Which one of you had a hand in my creation?
For that character, write Hx+1.

For everyone else, write Hx-2. You don't recognise anything in this place.

Ditto Special
If you've got unrestricted access to somebody's brain, you can record a copy for you and the psychic maelstrom. You jump to Hx+4 with them; if you're already there, reset to Hx+1 and mark experience. What the maelstrom does with the recorded soul, you don't know... Yet.