I saw somewhere a fan-made playbook called The Ruin Runner by Jeff Russel which had some similar ideas. You might want to look at it.

Cool idea, though, and I absolutely love the contribution to the setting that comes along with the library.

My opinion on the moves:
Librarian. This, I think, is better off at the crap / peripheral section of the playbook rather than with the other moves. Maybe add some concrete options instead of "Detail it's size and portability as you see fit". Maybe choose 2 good options (portable, comprehensive, hidden, duplicate documents you can occasionally sell, etc.), and 1 bad option (coveted, vulnerable, requires power etc.). I'd also love a list of place names: Dog's Head, the Flytrap, the Pits, etc. Having library staff or research assistants is also a cool option.

Ten Barter Words. This one is a little bland. Maybe you could change the name of the move to something like "I know you" or "piercing gaze", and/or add some restrictions, such as "When you manipulate, and your intention is simple enough to convey in two or three words..."
Mechanically, I think my players would love such a move.

Professor. The Savvyhead have a somewhat similar move, and this one is a little out of context when chosen by another character type, since other character types usually have no libraries. Maybe when willingly following the Scholar's advice, the Scholar may remotely aid or interfere, succeeding automatically.

Archeologist. This looks more like a generic custom move; it doesn't say a lot about the archaeologist. Maybe something that begins with "when you find an item of the Golden age", or "when you encounter trouble in a region marked in your library". The part about finding barter in ruins could go under the barter section: 1-barter is the going rate for one non-valuable, non-high tech item scavenged from a ruin, your crew's cut from a successful haul, etc.

Book Learning. This one is my favorite. It says a lot about the character, and is super-useful even for non-scholars.

Ear to the Ground. This one might disrupt the flow of the game for groups like mine, that don't play with the retroactive moves. Maybe change it a little, so that on 10+ the MC must tell the player whether the player-created rumor is true or false.

Sex Move. This one is a little bland, and is subsumed by the Gunlugger's move. If I can make a suggestion, I'll offer this instead:
When you and another character have sex, it counts as if you manipulated them to either go with you on or the stay the fuck away from your next expedition (your choice) with an 10+ result.

I decided to try my hand at crafting a new playbook. I really want to play this guy, which probably means I'm somewhere in the right direction. I still need help with the LOOK, and with phrasing in general. Maybe the Hx should be changed to make the Wildcard more friendly with the other PCs. If anyone can think of potential problems or improvements, I'd appreciate that too.

Mechanically, the Wildcard can get a roll modifier of between +2 and -2. Combined with stat and help/interfere modifiers, this can mean modifiers of +5 (unfailable) or -6 (unwinnable). Are such modifiers acceptable, or should I try to replace them with something else?

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There is no status quo in Apocalypse World, and there's sure as fuck no certainty. Will you find something to eat for lunch? Will you find a place to sleep tonight? Will your friends and loved ones still be alive when you wake up? Nobody knows. Might as well take a wild guess.

Lucky Charm
Your lucky charm gives you random insight when making difficult or fateful decisions. It is (choose one):
* A coin (worn, shiny, antique, novelty, odd)
* A deck of cards (standard, ornate, tarot, naughty)
* A pair of dice (shiny, heavy, big & fuzzy)

Maybe it has a name like Sally or Truman. You need to have an actual representation of it at the table, readily recognizable and available exclusively for your use.

When you are on a roll, everything goes your way. People come to you with beneficial offers, take shit from you and still leave happy and with empty pockets. Any events that hang on pure chance resolve to your benefit. When relying on a combination of chance and skill, you take +1 ongoing. Good things come your way, and bad things stay away, mostly.

When you are down and out, nothing goes your way. People come to you with problems, and heap them on your shoulders. Anything that can go wrong, does. When relying on any combination of chance and skill, you take -1 ongoing. As long as you are without your lucky charm, you are always down and out.

You are either on a roll or down and out, never in between.

Flipping for it means narrowing your options in a difficult or fateful decision down to two choices, and choosing one at random, at a near 50-50 chance. This could be face or tail, black or red, high (8-12) or low (2-6), or any other way you can quickly think of and explain. Make it simple and consistent, please.
Before flipping for it, declare the stakes at hand:
"Red I take the job, Black you go find someone else".
"Face I kill you, Tail I let you live".
"Better hope I roll high, boyo, or I'm not going to believe that silly story of yours".

After flipping for it, you're free to do whatever. If you follow through on your lucky charm's advice, you take +1 forward and are on a roll. If you defy it, you take -1 forward and you are down and out.


CREATING A WILDCARD
To create your Wildcard, choose name, look, stats, moves, gear, and Hx. Choose in any order you like.

NAME
King, Queen, Dame, Jack, Knave, Ace, Dagger, Cups, Snake Eyes, Boxcar, Loaded, Crimp, Baccarat, Holdout, Martingale, Poker, En Prison, La Partage, Sweepstakes, Hold'em, Crazy Eight

Bellagio, Mirage, Palace, Circus, Caesar, Royale, Riviera, Palazzio, Desert, Rancho, Vegas, Reno

LOOK
Man, woman, ambigious or transgressing

Luxe wear, elegant wear, vintage wear or scrounge wear

Emm.. gambly face. Or something (needs more!)

Twitchy eyes, crazy eyes, squinting eyes, hungry eyes (needs more!)

Stocky body, stout body, lean body, gorgeous body (something else?)

STATS
* Cool+2 Hard-1 Hot=0 Sharp+2 Weird=0
* Cool+1 Hard=0 Hot+1 Sharp+2 Weird-1
* Cool-1 Hard+1 Hot=0 Sharp+2 Weird+1
* Cool=0 Hard-1 Hot+2 Sharp+2 Weird=0

MOVES
You get all the basic moves. You get Lady Luck, and then choose a second wildcard move.

GEAR
You get:
* Your lucky charm (detail)
* 1 small, practical weapon.
* Oddments or debt worth 4 barter (flip for it).
* Fashion suitable to your look.

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:
* One of them frequents your favorite gambling spot. Tell that player Hx+3.
* One of them you owe something that you can't possibly repay. Tell that player Hx+2.
* One of them tried to get you to change your ways. Tell that player Hx-2.
Tell everyone else Hx=0.

On the others’ turns, choose 1 or both:
* One of them owes you something. Whatever number they tell you, instead write +1.
* One of them you got to have. Whatever number they tell you, instead write +2.

Everyone else, write whatever number they tell you next to their character's name.

Wildcard special:
When you and another character have sex and you're on a roll, they take +1 forward, and they get 3-hold which they can spend 1 for 1 to make you flip for it.
When you and another character have sex and you're down and out, they take -1 ongoing until you're on a roll again.

IMPROVEMENT:
__ get +1 cool (max +2)
__ get +1 hard (max +2)
__ get +1 hot (max +2)
__ get +1 weird (max +2)
__ get a new wildcard move
__ get a new wildcard move
__ get followers (detail) and fortunes
__ get a holding (detail) and wealth
__ get a move from another playbook
__ get a move from another playbook


WILDCARD MOVES:
(X) Lady Luck: At the beginning of the session, roll+Sharp. On 10+, you're on a roll. You've got 2, maybe 3 barter worth of newly-acquired valuables (detail with MC), and the MC holds 3. On 7-9, you can either choose to take the 10+ result, but your family, your friends, your work or your dreams suffer; or you can take the 6- result. Either way, MC holds 1. On a miss, you're down and out. Your oddments and gear put together are worth no more than 2, maybe 3 barter (the rest is probably pawned pawned at Sharpie's). You also have a crushing debt, an unwanted job or an unsavory obligation.
During the session, the MC may use her hold 1 for 1 to make you flip for it.

( ) Good for it: When you give someone a promise or an IOU worth 1-barter, it counts as manipulating them and rolling 10+.

( ) Cheating Death: When you take a debilitating or lethal blow, you may flip for it to avoid harm.

( ) Loaded Dice: Once per session, you may defy the will of your lucky charm with no adverse effects. This does not work in conjunction with Cheating Death.

( ) Ace up the Sleeve: When you try to hide something important or valuable, roll+Sharp. On 10+, all three. On 7-9, choose two:
* It will remain unchaned and unharmed.
* Nobody else knows where it is hidden.
* You can get it back with little trouble.

( ) Changing Fortunes: When you are down and out, you may publically reveal a secret or secretly betray a friend to be on a roll again.

( ) Poker Face: If you can see their face, you get +1 when rolling to read a person. When another player tries to read you and you interfere, it automatically counts as you rolling 10+.


BARTER
Barter comes and goes: either you have it now, or you'll have it later, so no worries. 1-barter is what you might expect to gain from a successful night of low-stakes gambling, a week of working a system or a scam, or a month of honest work as a croupier or a pit boss.

The qualm I have with recreate the world is the same one I have with destroy the world.

The monsters, of themselves, are not very interesting. On their own, they don't present the players with interesting choices: if you see a glowing purple worm in the desert, you either try to kill it or run away.
That's why I have the one monster per front rule, and that's why I try to gear the impulses and moves towards more interaction and co-dependency with more human elements of the game. While the world is certainly more evocative, the environment implies that there are people immediately affected: the gray slug is slowly raising the temperature of the mud river, and it's nearing the boiling point. The creepy orphan is talking other children in the hold into killing their parents. Neither of them have some grand scheme for the world, they're just acting according to their impulse.

Thanks Mike! Your list is interesting too, though it might take some customization before dropping into Apocalypse World. Let's see if I can try merging the lists without stepping on the toes of warlords and grotesques, and while still removing human-like impulses (such as controlling others or getting revenge).

I would have added Undead (impulse: craves unsavory revelations and bitter justice) to this list, but on second thought it might be better off with its fellow grotesuqes (think of the ghouls in the Fallout series).


I also want to keep the names as evocative as possible: this is why I like threats such as cannibals and mutants better than disease vectors and pain addicts. I mean, sure, the cannibal doesn't have to be a crazy savage who eats unwelcome guests, it could  be just plain old Dremmer, who steals from the hold's grain stores at night; but if you're looking to create more threats for an emerging front, a threat called cannibal tells you of one very obvious thing that you might create.

--
Here's a revised list. I think the phrasing could do with some polishing by a native speaker.

Monsters Types:
Alien (impulse: to change the environment)
Apex Predator (impulse: to devour and consume)
Beast (impulse: to run amok)
Demon (impulse: to create others in its image)
Horror (impulse: to hurt and terrify)
Hunter (impulse: to eliminate all threats, real or imaginary)
Shapeshifter (impulse: to spread chaos, lies and falsehoods)

MC Moves for Monsters:
* Hint at its presence.
* Display its full might.
* Get a hold of something, disregarding anything that might interfere.
* Crush something, annihilating it completely.
* Make a rash and sudden action, devoid of human emotions.
* Execute a carefully hatched and unmistakeably immoral plan.
* Gloat, possibly revealing a weakness.
* Dictate somebody's behavior: charmed, frightened, enraged.
* Have its behavior dictated by someone else: tamed, provoked, manipulated.
* Grow in size, power or number.
* Make use of an unnatural power (physical, moral or otherwise)
* Leave the scene, with or without an apparent reason.

Thanks for the input, John!

I forgot to add that each PC is supposed to worship one of four gods (I don't know which), so I guess I can assign +1 to one of the non-assist moves based on the patron god; or do you think it's better to let the player choose?

The last option of the battle move does sound wrong. What if I change it to "you prevent your comrades from gaining more glory than you do?", or "you are the most glorious of all combatants"?

Hi all, and thanks for the tips. I'll take Margolotte's advice and stick to a randomized soundtrack.

As for the soundtrack itself, as non-Americans, my group agree that Americana is a huge part of the post-apocalyptic genre, so we'll probably stick to rockabilly, folk and country music.

Hi all,

I've already MC'ed two sessions of my new AW campaign (nomads and water-despots in the now-subtropical Great Lakes region). As it turns out, playing to find out what happens is strangely much easier than pre-planning scenes. I thought I could accompany the campaign with some music. I haven't used music before when GMing, but I have played in a campaign with a GM who had done so, and quite successfully.

However, he used music in order to set the mood and atmosphere for each scene, something that might not mesh too well with the MC agenda in AW. So, does anyone have any tips for me? I'm not looking for particular tracks, just for some general advice: should I play music based on the mood of the scene? based on the NPCs present? the scenery? The PCs? the fronts? Should I share the responsibility of choosing music with the rest of the group?