I have an inkling that it's a happy end more often than not, just because of the way character advancement is structured.

That sounds like giving too much agency to them. You basically want the players (and not their characters!) to be complicit in the murder of their favorite NPCs, without even being upfront about it.

You probably already know what their favorite NPCs are by now anyway. If you need to, kill them yourself. It's perfectly fine to - people die all the time in Apocalypse World. But it's your job to do it, not theirs.

Paul - I'm not gonna lie, I'm secretly hoping that my words flow like a magnificient rainbow and you're just too awestruck to see their majestic beauty clearly.

But yeah. There is actually an important reason why I want to keep the 'go aggro' phrase in there.

Let me begin with an example. Compare:

You're a Gunlugger. Before you is a gang of bikers, along with their leader. They attack you.

You're a Gunlugger. Before you is a gang of bikers lead by a Chopper. He goes aggro on you using his gang, and they attack you.

Which one registers as something that would matter more, in the context of AW?

In AW, there is a PC way of doing things and a NPC way of doing things. The NPC way of doing things generally crumples when it gets in the way of PCs. Mostly this doesn't matter because who really cares about NPCs, right? But this matters for cases where the NPCs are part of a player's ability. If a PC has an ability that gets a bunch of aggressive NPCs on another PC, but does not take away at least part of the players right to initiative, it'll be a NPC-like move in it's effectiveness.

My worry is that if an Abacus uses a move with your phrasing, it'll be like:

"Hey, Driver, a bunch of dudes show up to beat you up, like the Abacus said they would." "I run them over. *dice rattle*"

As compared to:

"Hey, Driver, a bunch of dudes sent by the Abacus have just beat you up. What do you do?"

So it's not just clarity that's at stake, it's the question of mechanical bite as well. Phrasing the move in terms of go aggro lets the Abacus get some of that bite at least some of the times.


Danny - fair enough! I didn't want "disrupting" to mean "intentionally disrupting", but that Hx option is definitelly the most flailing sentence of the group.

"One of them has skills, resources or people that would be managed far more profitably if you were in charge of them. Tell that player Hx+3."

Better?

I'll consider adding a PC version for In the pocket, that should solve most problems.

As is, I don't think the special is that problematic - either you fuck with the Abacus to use him, or you fuck him 'cause you like him, in which case he gets to use you. You get to choose whether or not the Abacus gets to use you, so you should generally be good with things he asks you to do.

Still, would this phrasing be any better?

In the pocket - at the beggining of a session, roll +cool. On a 10+, hold 2. On a 7-9, hold 1. Spend your hold 1 for 1 to have someone in your network act on prior orders or established duties and make a move on your behalf as if you were there to do it yourself.

You use the Abacus's stats. Ever had a job where you followed orders even where the task was pointless or counterproductive, using not your own best judgement, but your boss's? This is that.


Spread around in Options means 'spend', yeah. It also means that the target of the spending is not necessarily well-defined. I think one of the barter moves shares this usage, more or less with the meaning of "give a little to everyone."


Swimming with sharks is triggered with you threatening other people with gang members that are close enough in the fictional timespace.

So, if you threaten a farmer with violence and he tells you to fuck off, maybe you have like a week to have local toughs fuck him up.

If you're locked in the farmer's closet and he's sharpening his skinning knife, there has better be a bruiser within shouting distance.

Also, if you have Swimming with sharks, you immediatelly skip all of the steps that you'd normally have to take to do something similar with a regular character - actually convincing the harholder, actually convincing members of her gang, making them care about the exact worth of their debt to you, etc.

Also, the debt owed by the authority needn't be be barter. When I made most of the moves, I kept thinking how other playbooks could use them - in the case of Swimming with sharks, it's definitelly a move intented for Angels or Drivers, people who the authorities might be indebted to because of the valuable service they provide, not the money you lend them directly. You're important, is the thing - whether by providing healing, or transportation, or brokering deals for hard to get stuff. It's like being rich and white and calling for the police. So you could even get away with using the gang without the local authority's direct knowledge - only you'd lose face with them if it was something against their interests.

Does the above make the intended use of the move clear?

With that in mind, how about this phrasing:

Swimming with sharks - as long as you remain on good terms with whoever is in charge, you can roll +sharp instead of +hard to aggro, using members of their gang as a weapon.


The Abacus is going to get an option to get another Network options as advancement, maintenance-free. If I make the parts of Abacus's network a more uncertain gamble as you're proposing, I might give him a bigger list to choose from as well as more options, though.

Cool! I'll try to get this guy up to spec faster, then.

Here's some gear & Hx.

In addition to your network, you get:
* 1 failsafe weapon.
* Oddments worth 5-barter.
* Fashion suitable to your look, including at your option a piece worth 1-armor (you detail).

Failsafe weapons:
* .38 revolver (2-harm close reload loud)
* 9mm (2-harm close loud)
* antique handgun (2-harm close reload loud valuable)
* shotgun (3-harm close messy)
* machette (3-harm hand messy)

On your turn (choose however many you want):

One of them owes you for services rendered. Tell that player Hx+2.
One of them owes you, because you said so. Tell that player Hx+2.
Tell everyone else Hx-1. You don't advertise - unless you do, in which case tell everyone Hx+1.

On the others' turns:

One of them has refused you access to their assets or is disrupting a profitable venture. Whatever number that players tells you, ignore it and write down Hx+3 next to their character name instead.
Everyone else, whatever number they tell you, add +1 to it and write it next to their character's name. You stay informed.

Hey Paul! Merry Christmas!

Currently, I'm thinking organized extortion, a cut of deals made, and constant employment as some kind of accountant. I'm figuring maybe a simple "Barter" section, like in the other 'books, would do for getting that accross. Then again, who really reads those...

Hm.

What if I gave the Abacus a ledger full of people who owe him, as stuff? If he runs out of money... He goes aknocking on other people's doors, which could be interesting.

Not fully sure yet.


Oh, and yeah! Definitelly tell me what's not clear with the moves.

You might know about my earlier attempt at a playbook, the Abacus, who was a kind of stealthy hitman type. That one failed to take off - mostly because no one, including myself, was able to point at what exactly the playbook was supposed to be doing.

Well, now I've redone it completelly. Instead of being a cool loner assassin type, instead he's now basically a middle manager - a guy who is all about social leverage and the inability to use it gracefully.

You will find yourself caring a lot more about where and how barter is flowing, and you will be very capable of putting other people into trouble while remaining relativelly safe yourself. You lack the ability to have a "final say" in matters, though, and things ought to get away from you unless you take care of various troublesome details well in advance.

You can play post-apoc middlemanagers, loan sharks, dealers and brokers with him.

Inspirations were the Wolf from Pulp Fiction, Buddy from Swimming with Sharks, Fennyman from Shakespear in love, and my own burning inner desire to make a jerk playbook that doesn't screw the other characters.


Names:

Joe, Gray, Moss, Pierce, Case, Jules, Mirth, Rain.

Adams, Bach, Carter, Evans, Young, Thomas, White, Price.
 
QED, Once, Boss's Man, Mirror, Thirteen, Pi, Carver.

Looks:

Man, Woman, or concealed.

Formal wear, vintage wear, casual wear, signature wear, or luxe wear.

Concealed face, sharp face, stern face, fat face or forgettable face.

Deep eyes, dead eyes, calculating eyes, wise eyes, weary eyes.

Tall body, wiry body, pudgy body, crippled body, hard body.

Stats:
Cool+2 Hard-1 Hot-2 Sharp+2 Weird+1
Cool+2 Hard0 Hot-1 Sharp+1 Weird+1
Cool+2 Hard+1 Hot0 Sharp+1 Weird-1
Cool+2 Hard+1 Hot+1 Sharp-1 Weird0

Abacus's network -

By default, your network costs 2-barter maintenance per session and provides you with services as per your professional agreement. Missing payments means no more service, no more respect. Pick two:
* You've got a rare contact (maybe Milk) for something luxe or rare, like weapons, drugs or transportation.
* You've got two no-nonsense enforcers (maybe Vega and Ezekiel).
* You've got an understanding with the local warlord (maybe Jonathan) that you're the gatekeeper of something necessary, like food, medicine, or gear.
* You've got a front or a patsy (maybe Quentin).
* You've got cachet and an envoy (maybe Trigger) with the distant looming threat (maybe Greer's gang).

Moves:
Pick two:

In the pocket - at the beggining of a session, roll +cool. On a 10+, hold 2. On a 7-9, hold 1. Spend your hold 1 for 1 to have someone in your network make a move for you as if you were there to do it.

Swimming with sharks - if whoever's in charge around here owes you, you can cash in the debt to use +sharp instead of +hard to aggro, using their retribution as a weapon.

Options - you can spread 1 barter around once per session, getting 1 extra hold any time you get hold for the rest of the session.

Keeping tabs - you can read the sitch regarding anything you spent barter on, even if you're not there.

Served cold - when using time and manpower to pursue someone, roll +cool. On a hit, hold 3. On a 7-9, hold 1. Spend hold 1 for 1 throughout your pursuit to:
* Find the least loyal member of their group.
* Trap, imprison them or remove an escape route.
* Put something left unprotected in danger.
* Hide something important or dangerous in plain view.

Special:
When you have sex with someone, either you get 1 hold on them or they get 1 hold on your network as per In the pocket rules, their choice.

Advancement: The usual, details pending, plus:
Retire as a threat.
Cool+3.


You also get some unimpressive weaponry to start with, and a whopping 5 barter. Improvements might get you a small hold or a moonlighting crew, both of which will benefit from the Network move.