G'day Gang,
One of my on again-off again players wanted a playbook that wasn't really out there. An android. A droid. A replicant. A Synthetic.

This is my take on it. I wanted it to be slightly alien and off putting, outside the 'normal' setting of AW, somewhat like Quarantine. I also wanted an inbuilt 'timebomb' as self-awareness overtook programming, and the inevitable slave/master, be free from your design paradigm.

Any and all advice or critque are most welcome, and my PDF-fu is crap, so if someone wants to take the challenge and design a professional looking playbook out of it, be my guest!


Introducing
The Synthetic
Sartre used a dialectic in Being and Nothingness, when describing how the world is altered at the appearance of another person, how the world now appears to orient itself around this other person. But is a Synthetic person human? What is Human? I'll Be Back, Therefore I Am. Why are you here?

Creating a Synthetic
To create your Synthetic, develop: name, look, stats, moves, A.I. gear, and Hx.

Name
Ash, Andy, Bot, C3-P0, Cherry, Roy, Zhora, Pris Leon, Deckard, Bishop, Borg, Terminator, Replicant, Skin-Job, Cylon, ED-209, Android, Nexus, Toaster, Data, Murphy, T-800

Look
Man, woman, androgynous, machine, droid
Metal Skin, Real Skin, plastic skin, no-skin, high-tech skin
Glowing eyes, vacant eyes, throbbing eyes, piercing eyes
Metal face, plastic face, skull face, beautiful face, damaged face, no face
Metal Body, framework body, plastic body, real body, strong body, sexy body, functional body, high-tech body
The Synthetic begins as an emotionless machine with an anthropomorphic metal, carbon fibre or plastic endoskeleton, complete with an internal power battery and A.I. CPU ‘Brain’.
You will need to recharge from a power source for a few hours each day and ‘shutdown’.

More advanced models develop an external layer of living tissue so that they resemble a human being. The most advanced models are genetically engineered creatures composed entirely of organic substance.

Stats
A basic Model has its Stat Block with all values @ 0.
Upgrades can modify Stats.

Upgrades
You start with 5 upgrades, one of which must be a program.  Choose from the options below and note changes to the Stats. You may install more through improvement.
-Built to Kill: +1 Hard, + 1 Cool, +1 Armour, -1 Weird -1 Sentience
-Built to Fuck: +1 Hot, +1 Sharp, +1 Weird, -1 Hard, -1 Sentience
-Built to Work: +2 Hard, +1 Cool, -1 Hot, -1 Sentience
-Built to Talk: +1 Sharp, +1 Cool, +1 Hot, -2 Hard
-Built to Design: +1 Sharp, +1 Cool, -1 Hot or -1 Hard
-Encoded -1 Sentience
-Specialized +1 to Hot, Sharp, Hard or Cool
-Bulletproof Endo Skeleton +1 Armour
-Powerful Servos – Increased Strength +1 Harm in melee
-Strong A.I. +1 Sentience
-Memory Implants +1 Sentience, +1 Weird
-External Layer of Living Tissue +1 Sentience
-Genetically Engineered +1 Sentience. You Eat, Drink, Shit & Bleed.
-Everlasting Power Unit – no need to recharge

Programming
Programming effects your purpose, your reason for being. It allows you to access basic and specialised moves, otherwise you are acting against your programming.

Each Basic Program Package costs 1 Upgrade.
Programmed for War, Go Aggro, Seize by Force, Act Under Fire
Programmed for Pleasure, Seduce or Manipulate, Read a Person, Read a Sitch,
Programmed for Technical Specialty, Act Under Fire, Read a Sitch, Open Your (positronic) Brain
Programmed for Diplomacy. Read a Sitch, Read a Person, Seduce or Manipulate, Open your (positronic) Brain

Additional Basic Programs (moves) cost 1 Upgrade each

Prime Directive
This is your purpose, your reason for being, your immediate goal. You don’t choose it, one of the other players does as detailed in Hx. Tell them to choose one:
•You are to Terminate one of the other Characters.
•You are to Protect & Hide one of the other Characters.
•You are to Serve & Obey one of the other Characters.
•You are to Build or Create Something.
•You are to Collect or Catalogue Something.
•You are to Destroy or Dispose of Something.
•You are to serve the Hardhold, protect the innocent and uphold the law

You may also have a hidden directive that you do not know about.

If you fufill your Prime Directive and are at a loss, Ghost in the Machine may give you some guidance.

Sentience
Why are you here? Sentience is a Stat, and encompasses the Synthetic’s association with such human traits as consciousness, sapience, self-actualization and awareness. It also melds the concept of Artificial Intelligence: It’s what makes you tick. Like other Stats, it ranges from -3-+3. But begins at 0.

The basic Synthetic isn’t empathetic or ‘human’ in character, and as their Sentience increases, become emotionally unstable. They may have a built-in lifespan to prevent them from developing their own ‘emotional responses.’ This is especially necessary for models whose intellectual capacity (Sentience +2 - +3) at least matches those of their genetic / robotic designers.

Basic Moves
You get these two moves:

Hasta La Vista Baby! Your Terminal Lifespan rears its inevitable head. At the start of each session roll +Sentience:
On a 12+ these are your end times. You know the truth of your existence. Ask the MC any questions about your design, maker, programming, purpose or directives. Do you act with a purpose?
+1 Ongoing to any move and you can choose the result (including 12+) of any available move once during the session. If you don’t construe your shutdown (retirement) by the end of the session, the MC will.
On a 10-11 You can feel the impending finality. Hold 2. Ask the MC a question or two about either your purpose, programming, hidden directive or maker and they will answer with detail. If you act on the answers, spend a Hold for +1 to the move, or to nullify acting against your programming. Mark Experience.
On a 7-9 You Hold 1. Spend it to nullify acting against your programming.
On a Miss you are none the wiser about your Synthetic Story.

When you act in synch with your programming, you are acting With a Purpose, which covers all your programmed basic and specialist moves. If you are also acting in accordance with your Prime Directive, you are Focused and carry +1 Forward.

Conversely, when you attempt a basic move you don’t have access to, you are:
Acting against your programming Roll + Sentience:
10+ Do it! Roll for the move as written and mark experience
7-6 You Do It, But….Choose 1 prior to rolling for the move.
On a Miss you do it, but at what cost? all 3 take effect.
-You reboot – default systems check. You hesitate, a time critical incident occurs.
-Your burgeoning emotional instability causes an Internal Logic Conflict  - this entitles the MC to give you a move-related  ugly choice, worse outcome or hard bargain.
-You can’t manage the override without suffering 1 AP (self) harm in the process.

and choose one more:

More Human Than Human:
Some Synthetics were engineered to tolerate extreme environments.  When you take Harm from an environmental stress, Roll+Hard: on a 10+, you ignore it, on 7-9 you take -1 Harm, and on a miss you take +1 Harm.  Note that this does not work for attacks like gunshots, but may work for chemical or electrical attacks at the MC's discretion.

Fuck the Three Laws of Robotics:
In the final analysis, people are the problem.  You dish out +1 Harm when fighting humans.  

Ghost in the Machine You access your deep processing for guidance on the current situation.
Roll +weird to see what your circuits (the MC) directs you to do.
On a 10+ mark experience and take a +1 Forward if you do as instructed.
On a 7-9, take a +1 Forward if you do as instructed and act under fire if you don't.
On a miss, act against your programming if you don't follow your deep processing.

Gear
You get Not Much, unless your build requires you too:

Built to Kill:
•1 Ranged no-nonsense weapon (these can be inbuilt)
-magnum (3-harm close reload loud)
-smg (2-harm close area loud)
-hunting Rifle (2-harm far loud)
-sawed off (3-harm close reload messy)
•1 Close Combat Weapon (these can be inbuilt)
-police baton (2-harm hand messy)
-many knives (2-harm hand infinite)
-sword (3-harm hand messy)
-taser (s-harm hand)
•Armour worth +1Armour (you detail)

Built to Fuck:
•fashion suitable to your look, including at your option a piece worth 1 armour (you detail)
•oddments worth 1 barter

Built to Work:
•equipment needed for your work (you detail)

Built to Talk
•fashion suitable to your look

Built to Design
•specialised toolkit (you detail)


Hx
Everyone introduces their character by name, look, and outlook.
List the other character's names.
Go around again for Hx. On your turn:
- One of the characters is your Friend / Master. They know your programming – tell them. They Know your Purpose – Tell them. They know your Prime Directive – They tell you, as they helped you to understand your reason for being. Tell them Hx+3
Tell everyone else Hx -1 They are afraid, derisive or treat you like a toy.
On the others' turns, choose one or both:
- One of them is curious about you. Ignore what they tell you and write Hx+1.
- One of them is part of your Prime Directive. Add +1 to whatever number they tell you.

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. (Sentience can be highlighted)

Harm & Healing
Synthetics take harm just like regular folks, they just may feel it slightly differently. Roll the Harm move as normal.
Note that some Synthetics have actual armour, both inbuilt and external.
Angels can only heal Synthetics with the Living Tissue or Genetically Engineered Upgrades. Other Synthetics need to find a specialist NPC as determined in the rules.
Debilities occur as normal, Synthetics can also choose to take:
Memory Wipe – Lose one Program
Circuitry Collapse -1 Sentience

Synthetic Special
If another character imparts an upgrade, by design or arrangement, you mark +1Hx with them and hold 1. If they get into shit, either you or they can spend it and you are there with a purpose.

Synthetic 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 (Upgrade) and erase.

Each time you improve, choose one of the following. Check it off, you can't choose it again.
Other Programs may be available which replicate specialist moves from other playbooks. Each such programmed move costs one upgrade.
All Upgrades / Programs require some crap (tech) and knowhow (workshop) as pre-requisites to the purchase.
All Upgrades / Programs are:
•High-Tech
•Implanted
•Valuable
You also need the services of a tech/savvyhead and their workshop - this will always cost you.
When they go into their workshop and dedicate themselves to your Upgrade / Program the MC will tell you “sure, no problem but….” and start with 1 condition. Some upgrades cost more than one condition which are connected with an ‘and’.
•Basic Program Packages cost +1 Condition
•Programs from other Playbooks +1-3 Conditions
•Ever lasting Power Unit +1 Condition
•Powerful Servos +1 Condition
•Bullet Proof Endo Skeleton +1 Conditions
•Basic Builds cost +2 Conditions
•Memory Implants cost +2 Conditions
•Strong A.I. / External Layer of Living Tissue cost +2 Conditions
•Genetically Engineered costs +3 Conditions

__install one Upgrade
__install one Upgrade
__install one Upgrade
__install one Upgrade
__install one Upgrade
__install a move (program)
__install a move (program)
__install a move (program)
__install a move (program)

Yoki said over @ Story Games - Cut Scenes are scenes without the presence of the protagonists, that is the player characters (PCs), that the GM can use to show the players, not the characters, what's going on elsewhere in the story. Normally they focus on what the antagonists are doing.

The Third Person, Past Tense technique works wonderfully well in Cut Scenes, since they allow you to summarize the scene in past tense letting the GM get away with roleplaying multiple NPCs in conversation. This momentarily puts the players into Audience Stance, which is also away from Player Stance, and if used well will give the players motivation to use Author Stance to have their characters do something plausible about what occurred in the cut scene.

All good stuff. It got me thinking about my actual play however as MC. It may be simply a byproduct of playing primarily one-on-on AW over the last few sessions, and not having the luxury of more than one other player's input, but I've been indulging in much announcing future badness during play. In fact announcing off screen future badness has often taken the third person, past tense technique that Yoki describes above (since I use that in my other RP too), rather than the first person present examples used in the rules (p.118).

My quandry is that the rules ask MC's to follow the principles, one of which is to address the characters, not the players. This is the norm for most of the play, it makes for immediate, conflict driven scenes that demand choices or moves from the players. However, with the cut scene technique of announce future badness MC move drift I've been guilty of employing, I'm addressing the audience. Thus the misdirect followup question of what do you do? tempers the resultant character (player?) reaction.

In play, I will always draw a connection (generally a provocative question)  between the cut scene and likely ways of the character hearing about, or interacting with the fallout of the cut scene; to give credence to the follow up: what do you do? But still.

Does this sort play fight against the system? I mean its done not only to indulge, but (as the rules suggest) respond with fuckery and sets me up for a future harder move and gives something for the character to react to. It does however require a distinct maturity on the player's part to separate their stances somewhat (based on the information - as audience - they've become privy too).

To my mind its no different from a 3+ group, where some players may become audience to a particular scene (as their characters are not involved). Invariably that scene involves some sort of primed conflict or move making opportunity that upsets the status quo - ergo future badness - that their character can now react to as the MC asks them what they do now? Pushing them to make a move of their own.

It hasn't seemed to harm our play, or cause disconnects with the immediacy of the fiction. Has anyone else drifted other story games techniques not specifically part of the AW ruleset and survived? Thoughts? Advice?

Given that MC prep is fundamentally conceptual (with some neat pre-determined possible mechanical effects), its primarily designed to give the MC something interesting to say, within the confines of the MC principles.

So, would it be detrimental to share this with the players at a meta-game level prior to play, in order to give them some focus in their roleplay? What I'm driving at is that as a story game, and principally reactive in nature, the concept of Always Say... (p.109) could be facilitated with a bit of shared knowledge all round.

Stakes, for instance. They are questions the MC raises in their prep that they commit to answering at the table. If the player's are privy to these questions before playing the second session, if they are vested in them, they can drive the narrative's internal logic and causality through their character's moves to find out the answers.

Threats become MC flags. The players can skim them over and note to themselves that hey, our MC wants to see this shit in play, how can I engage (given my own agenda and agency) with these priorities in play?

It doesn't change the reality of roelplay at the table. The principles stand, the players jobs stay the same, simply that their meta-knowledge gives them more front loading for tense, tightly controlled reactive play.

Thoughts?

Ephemera is transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved. The word derives from the Greek, meaning things lasting no more than a day.

Now hopefully our AW ephemera will last more than a day or so! As I've been reading threads on NPCs, R-Maps, tools, visual aids and the like I've been particularly interested in how ephemera (rather than tactical floor plans and dolls) can tap into our Apocalypta.

As the first session looms on the horizon like black oily smoke in the fringes, I've had a few pre-game conversations with my group of wanna-be misfits and established some shared thoughts on our 'Big Picture' apocalypta with them. We are going with Sydney and its surrounds (Australia) as our setting to begin with. We've left the AW theme nebulous as suggested - to be brought out in play. The Players are aware of Playbooks, and we've talked a little about the archetypes and who they represent in broad brush stokes. We've watched a few films, discussed a few favourite books / graphic novels and all in all are psyched to 'bring it'!

After coalecsing all of the excellent advice dropped in my laptop over the past few days, what I want to bring (other than the rules, question prompts, session sheets, some dice and a whiteboard) is this:

1) A rather large tourist map of Sydney & Suburbs with all the 'sights' highlighted with large icon boxes. It includes public tranport networks, roads, parks, and infrastructure, cool. Its already been splashed with expresso and stirfry (by accident!) and will take pride of place in the centre of the table, or pinned on my rather large corkboard.

The map is gonna be defaced. As we explore and involve ourselves with the landscape: labels added by hand or old-skool labeller, holds marked, roads destroyed, future badness indicated. Pictures can be scribbled onto it, images stuck on, push pins and threads detailing gang territory added or removed.

2) All the pictures of folks from the images thread, plus hundreds of random 'portrait' photos from the interweb, all reduced to passport size and printed en masse onto recycled paper from work (often with fax notes or misprint half pages or whatever). I only use the draft B&W ink setting and the lowest DPI available. This has resulted in a rather scruffy collection of NPC pictures, all suitable for cutting out and colouring in (or defacing) as the NPCs get named and added to threats.

They can be stuck on R-maps, posted on the Sydney map with push pins near their 'last known' location or scrubbed out with red texta when they bite radioactive dust. They can be added to player journals and detailed with colour and verve, or remain a transient name and a face to be re-incorporated into later threats or simply become bruised by repeated crosshairs. The net result (I'm hoping) will be a sordid CSI style 'investigation' of our cast and crew, our situation and territory.

But I want more now. My brain has been grasping at all sorts of possibilities. From snippets of plagurised prose from the Visions thread written onto scraps of cardboard boxes with charcoal to collecting an old canvas satchel filled with palm sized 'junk' from our local jumble store. The idea being to bring out these 'unknown' artefacts onto the table to spark future badness,provacative questions, barf forth apocalypta or provide tangible objects to NPCs or the setting.

I've already dismembered and stuck John Harper's MC cheat sheet all over the margins of the map, collected a disjointed collection of unique d6's (none of them are the same size, shape, colour or print) and bought a 'wind-up' lamp to light the playspace, that someone is going to have to spend 60 seconds out of every hour winding lest we fall into darkness and despair.

So I'm a voyeur. What other ephemera have you AW folks brought to your games in order to engender a curiosity, a fevour for musing I wonder.... about the Apocalypse or the Maelstrom? For genuinely finding out in play, not deciding in advance. Its almost as if they are stakes of ephemera, that you are committing to the game's fiction, driven by the player's characters to find out what these little atefacts mean at the table, which questions do they answer or snowball?

And finally, how to you collect and display said ephemera? Player Journals? Noticeboards? Wikis?, Maps? Scrapbooks? Storyboards? Please share, so we can all collect bits and bobs that we like to our own games.

G'day Again,
Sorry if it seems a mite obvious, but after reading through numerous APs and identifying a strong tendency for the MC principles to engender an extraordinary amount of details from the group as they play that needs must be recorded somewhere, somehow. In addition to the playbooks, Session Sheets, and Front Sheets, how does your group detail the story 'as it is written' for future reference in play? Which NPCs come from where? Who has died/broken/reborn? Setting detail for explored map areas and holds?

I know I know, just write it all down. The APs suggest a healthy memory on the part of all concerned, especially Judd and Arvid! My group traditionally nuts out all session generated story/NPCs/setting/colour & ephemera on the margins of the map in the centre of the table, or on a large piece of 'session paper' with various markers, colour pencils and pens. (strangely, the choice of medium often reflects the demeanour of the detail).

Due to Burning Wheel in particular, introduced NPCs are often the responsibility of the player who brings them into play - recording their name and three notable aspects of their character / appearance / disposition, and any future generated information sorrounding the NPC. We also have a gentle agreement that if you spout it, its up to you to write it down, though in the heat of the moment, players of characters not in the scene will take over 'scribe duties'.

At the end of the session, its generally me (as GM/MC) who edits all this brainstorming into suitable chunks of referable information into the game notebook. Phew.

My query, prior to running my first game is to 'throw it open to the forum' as it were. To get an appreciation of how other groups set up their AW playspace and what tools they have for play? Hopefully this will let me establish a grabbag of practical tricks and tools to help the game run smooth.

Advice?