Hey eeyore!

I like the idea of an infectious playbook, and hey a psychic horse that's pretty zef

I think it drinks the Brainers milkshake a little too much though.

Brainer: A weird (+2) person that can use their brain as a subtle, but weak and specialized weapon, plus read you deeply or implant commands under inconvienant circumstances, and a hand full of weird gear.

Transmitter: THE WEIRDIST (+3) person that has powerful, flexible psychic weapons, can make everyone into freaky psychic radios and read them anytime, and has a psychic horse.

I heard someone request a guide for creating new playbooks, and I thought it might be a neat thing to work on. I'd encourage the participation of anyone interested.

Here's my thoughts on such a guide:

1. Vincent Baker is a smart dude. You should listen to him.

2. New playbooks shouldn't be strictly 'worse' or strictly 'better' than the starting playbooks. 'worse' and 'better' are subjective terms, but you can probably agree on negative examples such as "Like the Gunlugger but better at killing" or "Like the Skinner but more limited in concepts"

3. The LE playbooks are pretty well designed. They're in the ballpark of what you'd consider a good playbook (but not unfalliably so.)

4. Think of a playbooks moves as individual entities outside of playbooks that anyone could take for an advancement. In most cases, again, they shouldn't be strickly 'worse' or 'better' than existing moves, and they should be -roughly- on par with the functionality of other moves.

So, on specific notes:

Stats:

Each stat line balances to +3
The first +2 counts as +2, but a second +2 counts as +3.

The battlebabe exception: If its really a big deal how Cool or Sharp your character is, you can give them a +3 to those stats at the start and treat it as them using up their required move. Don't make it an actual move, because it should be hard for the other characters to be Cool and Sharp (But its already easy to be Weird, Hot and Hard)

The driver exception: If there's a really cool move and really cool gear tied to the character that gives them a wide range of stat bonuses, maybe they should start off with slightly worse stats, like +2.

Advancements:

The standard set of advancements are:

2x get a move from another playbook

2x get a move from this playbook

1-3x get a particular move (or a workspace) that gives your character more external power + the stuff tied to it (Wealth + holding, Fortunes + followers, Moonlighting + gigs, gang + pack alpha/leadership, workspace + crew)

3-5x stat bonuses (to max +2, except for your main stat(s?), which goes to max +3)(Probably a good range of stats, but you could double up a stat if it seems where the character is headed)

If your playbook is already tied to external power, like the Hardholder, Hocus, Chopper or Operator, give them 1-3 options to change that power.

Quarantine exception: If the playbook is someone who is -becoming less of what they were-, than maybe it makes sense to not allow them to take more of their own moves and give them more take other people's moves.

If you haven't seen it, I'd strongly recommend Vice's guide to Liberia - http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/the-vice-guide-to-liberia-1

Re: Psychic Maelstrom: I don't think you need it. I think the Psychic Maelstrom is a good setting spin for AW, but you don't really need the setting spin for modern day Africa because its very unusual as an RPG setting.

If you're really set on having a "Open your Brain" move, I would turn it into "Follow the Money" (Trust me, only weird people do this.) which I would like because it adds emphasis on the corruption and whatnot.

Alternatively, you could plop down the Psychic Maelstrom whole sale, and say "Its David Lynch's Africa."

Thanks a lot everyone!

I'm looking at it now and feeling likes its kinda incomplete. I think there should be a consideration for whether you're attacking another PC, which warrants more pro-activeness in terms of avoiding being shot / getting into a fight in the first place - maybe they're jumping behind cover! Maybe they're screwing with your mind to stop you from shooting them! - I think of it in terms of the possibility of the player theoretically being shot at having initiative, but its not something I've had that much experience with.

I don't think the Ghost as written would be better at murder than the Gunlugger. For one thing, as written they only have access to Going Aggro, meaning that they don't straight up and kill a dude like a Gunlugger could, instead they force people to do things or else get all messed up from Ghost powers.

If I was playing a Hardholder and there was a big gang headed at me, a Gunlugger between them would probably be great. A ghost would be less useful in that situation.

Sounds awesome!

What kind of Fans/Arena did Rockabilly pick? (I kind of want them to level up to Psychobilly at some point)

As far as I'm aware you have the first Spectacle in play (I made it an option at my AW game, no one's taken it yet, one person's taken "The World's a Stage" as another playbooks move but hasn't used it yet) Any comments on it from that experience?

I like it conceptually! I'm not sure how well such characters would gel with the game.

For me, it'd be important that the playbook is a good A Ghost In The Psychic Maelstrom of Hate From Apocalypse World, as opposed to just a ghost playbook that hey you could drop into Apocalypse World.

I would like it if the Look was less generic-ghost to that effect. Maybe they could look kinda cenobitey? Maybe a Look could be covered in some sickening liquid? Be covered in piercings? Have their skin turned to leather? Lady Gaga touches?

I like the Hardless idea! It seems like the most sensical way to fuck with ghosts would be A) Brainers and B) Augury.

What is communication with ghosts like, you figure? Can they talk normally? Is it largely mediated by players Opening Their Brain? Is this for the group to decide?

You might want to note that incorporeal means that they can't be healed in the standard way. Would the Angel's weird healing move work?

I like the idea of ghosts being able to Help/Interfere with people Opening Their Brain as a part of their being. Maybe you could add that to "Let me show you"?

I assume Terrifying is mostly equivalent to the Brainer's Direct Brain Whisper? It does harm with their mind, and doesn't require much from the situation? Perhaps it would be good to note that.

My philosophy about Motivation-y stuff for characters like Aspects is that they should be less "Be better when following your motivation" and more "Here are specific outcomes that will occur depending on what happens to a thing you are responsible for" (Think Hardholder, Hocus, Hoarder) - Maybe get rid of Rejuvenation and tie Ghostly healing to taking care of your business? Maybe have neglecting your business lead to psi-harm esque uncontrolled rampages?

I would be very entertained if you stole moves from Murderous Ghosts.

Flowchart for translating violence into moves:

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1ETp72rzwzNhfGEb-yKj2buZlrZ3zfQqUnHStoNCDRBQ/edit

I don't think it fits all situations, but its a good starting point.