No recursion!

Alright so here is the new deal:

Botanist: When you add a piece of somebody to your life-formula you and the MC each get to add one of their traits to your trait bank.

The Vatlord has extracted some of Rolfball's blood and purifies the sample. The player adds Rolfball's cunning to the trait bank. The MC adds Rolfball's fucked up sense of justice to the trait bank.

The Vatlord has extracted some of Dremmer's sperm and purifies the sample. The player adds Dremmer's likeness to the trait bank. The MC adds Dremmer's hatred of weird unnatural shit to the trait bank.

The Vatlord has extracted some of Jojo's flesh and purifies the sample. The player adds Jojo's intelligence to the trait bank. The other players say that's pretty lame, be more specific! After a bit of discussion Jojo's booksmarts are added to the trait bank. The MC adds Jojos's ugliness to the trait bank but the players protest again. After another discussion Jojo's fucked up teeth are added.

The default trait bank:

crippled
insane
vat dependent
sickly
predatory

Now the Vatlord must go around collecting samples and the Vatborn will have an uncanny likeness to established characters.

I don't really see how the moves fit together, it looks like a bunch of small buffs to the barter moves but nothing that really kicks? If you look at the Maestro'D she is extremely powerful being able to get anything she wants to pass through her hands and get to know what anyone is up to. You want to be stronger and meaner than that. A loan shark! Orient the moves towards the fiction. Bankers are really nasty people, they loan money they don't have and then fuck you up if you can't pay the rate. That's gonna create a lot of conflict.

Blood in the water: When manipulating somebody roll+sharp if it's an NPC or +Hx if it's a player character.

Predatory lending:When somebody comes to you asking for money roll + barter given. On a hit you hold 1 over them. On a 10+ you also have +1 ongoing against them as long as you have hold over them. On a miss paying you back is interely up to them. When they pay you back you lose your hold over them. The hold always counts as leverage when manipulating.

(in thinking this move is about abusing that hold as much as possible asking for interest or favours and making sure they can never pay you back in full)



Market sense: When you scrutinize a piece of merchandize roll+sharp. On 10+ pick 3 things about a potential buyer, on a 7-9 pick 2:

• you know somebody who'd pay 1-barter more than what it's worth
• you know somebody who won't take it by force if they can
• you know somebody who lives nearby (maybe Rolfball?)
• you know somebody who would accept this as a loan of equal value

(so basically this playbook is about find this people want and then giving it to them to get power over them, since lots of people are prepared to do violence against you to take your stuff you need help from others to make the deals safely)

Loan shark special
When you sleep with somebody you lose all hold over them.

(so people who are in debt with you really would like to screw their way out of it)

The gods of the golden age made man in their image. But unlike them you don't
do stupid ass mistakes.

The Vatlord

When you add vats for growing people to your workspace and you have figured out
the formula for creating life, this is what you can do:

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When someone is incubating in the vat they will require daily care and nutritients
worth 1-barter per incubation period. An incubation period can be anything from a
week to several months, ask the MC. At the end of a period roll+weird to see
how the subject is faring.

On a 10+ you get to add a trait from the list or pick the subjects threat type. On a 7-9 the MC
will add a trait from the list. On a miss the subject has either died or escaped.

traits
intelligent
beautiful
fertile
compassionate
trusting
strong
dutiful
big
healthy
slight
child-like
wizened
weak
crippled
bloated
need lots of food
can't live outside vat
shuns daylight
stunted
blind
deaf
mute
sickly
male
female
hermaphrodite
stupid
clumsy
ugly
repulsive
fangs
claws
specific memories
disturbing memories
maelstrom sensitive
maelstrom numb
horny
fearless
predatory
hateful
ashamed
afraid
paranoid
aggressive
phlegmatic


When you decide it is time the subject is born from the vat. Unless you already
chose the MC will decide its threat type from the list below. Additionally roll+number
of traits to see if it will express any unexpected traits. On a 10+ nothing
unexpected. On a 7-9 the MC will pick one unexpected trait. On a miss the MC will
pick two unexpected traits. These traits may not manifest right away.

Threat type:
• Cannibal (impulse: craves satiety and plenty)
• Mutant (impulse: craves restitution, recompense)
• Pain addict (impulse: craves pain, its own or others’)
• Disease vector (impulse: craves contact, intimate and/or anonymous)
• Mindfucker (impulse: craves mastery)
• Perversion of birth (impulse: craves overthrow, chaos, the ruination of all)

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Some additional moves you get as the Vatlord:


I made you: You get +1 when rolling against those born of your vats.

Arborist: When the MC picks a trait during incubation you can choose to erase

it from the list permanently.

Botanist: You can add a new trait to the list if you have sperm or eggs from a person with that trait.

For my players this is the most picked playbook (and it was the first playbook I played myself). 4/6 brainers I've MC'd wore some sort of diving equipment, what's up with that?

I always saw the Brainer as a dark mirror to the Skinner. Both apply overwhelming control over people's emotions and literally occupy their minds. The brainer steals your secrets and forces you to comply so you fear and hate her while you fall in love with the Skinner and you want to do things for her but she doesn't really have control over you.

What I've yet to see and would be super interested in is a Brainer who founds a hardhold. Like, how would that turn out?

Follow the fiction. The harm was well established already! If I was feeling lenient I would have them scramble for a few seconds before opening up giving enough time to act under fire to dive for cover.

Myrmidon's rest is a new town built on a flattened hill. It lies in the intersection of three major hardholds and is a big marketplace filled to the brim with dojos, fighting schools and various gangs. Nobody rules the town and major internal conflicts are usually solved by public duels.

Custom - Warrior code

The Arcology is a domed hardhold with see through glass. It has kept on trucking since before the apocalypse but some crucial system is broken forcing contact with the outside world (either a crack in the dome from which vapor escapes or broken down hydroponics). The inhabitants dress in stark color coded uniforms like mooks in a Bond-villains fortress. They look down on outsiders but are naive to the Apocalypse World. Their patrols have excellent weaponry, 4-harm stuff or better and they wear combat vests with the ability to revive the fallen. They are very afraid of death and they will retreat if they suffer more than 1-harm unless on some important mission in which case they are usually lead by their stay at home leader the Mindputer.

Fortress - The Arcology
Collector - The Mindputer

Arcologist combat vest: 1-armor defibrillator refill hi-tech
An NPC taking 2-harm wearing this vest will likely survive long enough to get proper care. A player character wearing this rolls+1 should they have taken 6-harm as if an Angel tried reviving them. The vest has enough juice and medicine for one charge.

When presented before the Mindputer for the first time roll+hot. On a hit you are allowed to breed, on 10+ you can't decline.

Hardholders can start out with a large gang (~40 bodies) but anyone can get it if they keep recruiting or cloning or what have you.