I actually think that In The Zone may be more overpowered. Isn't moving under fire the only thing that you use cool for?

Well, a bunch of playbooks have similar moves (Gunlugger, Driver, etc). On the other hand, there is no move to get +1sharp. I think this may be saying something, even if I dont quite grasp what it is. lol

The Places Speak move is nifty, though there doesn't seem to be graduated success. Do you just get 2 questions on 7+?

I also feel like "what was this place like in the Golden Age" and "who lived here during the Golden Age" kinda overlap. Since who lives there probably influences what it was like, a lot. However about swapping "who lived here during the Golden Age" with "what thing, relatively intact, remains here from the Golden Age"? Though maybe not exactly that. I'm having a bit of trouble formulating it in a succinct way.

Got your point. Yeah, I will reformulate the questions a bit, and add a mid tier success (on 10+, ask 3, on 7-9 ask 1).

Maybe just go for 3 nomad gear, instead of bolthole + 2? The artefact also seems like it could be separated from the bolthole, and made a gear option of its own. Maybe add in the medkit in its place (no infirmary, just a stash of medical supplies).

Hmmm, I like the idea of making the bolhole obligatory (without being a command center hehe ), but I agree about the strange artifact and medical supplies. Makes sense.

As for jerry-rigged, I really like the move and it really fits the character. But to reiterate, I just don't see it getting used much in the average campaign. Unless it is a signal that the player wants stuff breaking to be a theme, kinda like how the Angel's Touched By Death signals that he wants his patients to die. But that sucks for the other players when their stuff starts to break. Maybe just drop it. Six moves is a healthy amount.

I agree with whay you say, but I think its such a emblematic move for the playbook concept that I would prefer it to be there even if it means the MC should be on the lookout to break people stuff here and there.

About dropping the total moves to six, yeah, I thought about that by taking out Places Speak. But then how many moves should the player pick then ? Scavenger +1 ?

I think Stalker would be too on the nose. There is already a bunch of stalker names there (Red is the protagonist of Roadside Picnic book, and Yar, Wolf, Scar and Nimble are from the videogames).

And I agree the bolthole is looking almost like a penthouse. But how do I make it have personality and narration-power without making it look like a full-blown command center ? xD

I see three possibilities here:

1) imbue it with one or many disadvantages. Perhaps making each option have its own disadvantage, or giving a list of disadvantages and asking the player to pick one.

2) cut off the more impactful moves from it (augury, somewhere out there) and make it give just slight bonuses (+barter, +1forward with something, etc)

3) go back to Bolthole being just another Nomad Gear option, providing some shelter and supplies in case of emergency.

As awesome as 1) sounds, I think 2) and 3) fits the archetype better, at least the way I see it. A Ruin Runner / Stalker shouldnt be someone with a nice house or shelter no, his "house" is the Zone/the Ruins. Its when he is out there, communing with the landscape, that he feels at home. The Ruin Runner is a nomad at heart. Thus the boldthole should be just a place to crash when some emergency arrives or for sleeping.

*EDIT*

Ok, I think I came up with a good compromise. What about going back and making the bolthole a Nomad Gear option, but one with 3 other options to choose from ? Something like this..

Nomad Gear (choose 2)

- bolthole: a small, hidden shelter in the middle of a dangerous terrain. It has: ( ) a personal stash with oddments worth 4-barter, ( ) a collection of old maps from Golden Age (+1 forward when navigating terrain), or ( ) a mysterious and beautiful artifact you brought from the ruins (get augury).
- multitool: Pick an extra option on a hit with Jerry-rigged
- remote detonator (hi-tech): With reasonable foresight or planning, any terrain is considered dangerous and
inflicts +1harm.
- rope and climbing gear: Pick an extra option on a hit with Scavenger
- gas-mask and makeshift envirosuit (worn hi-tech refill): Receive +1armor when outside on a dangerous terrain or landscape. Plus
protection from toxic hazard and contamination.

This way we give some personality to the Bolthole without going full-blown command center. hehe

Thoughts ?

Thought about another move to substitute that lame one (spooky):

In the Zone: When you're out there, all alone and communing with a dangerous terrain, you may open your brain to the maelstrom at +1weird. On a miss the terrain tries to expurge you: take ?-harm.

(and the part below could be placed at the "aditional rules" part of the playbook)

?-HARM
A person suffers ?-harm from exposure to the world’s psychic maelstrom. It might be first exposure, as in the case of people released from stasis, or it might be some subsequent unusual exposure.

For players’ characters, when you suffer ?-harm, roll+?-harm suffered (typically, roll+1). On a 10+, the MC can choose 1:
• You’re out of action: unconscious, trapped, incoherent or panicked.
• You’re out of your own control. You come to yourself again a few seconds later, having done I-don’t-know-what.

On a 7–9, the MC can choose 1:
• You lose your footing.
• You lose your grip on whatever you’re holding.
• You lose track of someone or something you’re attending to.
• You miss noticing something important.
• You take a single concrete action of the MC’s choosing.
On a miss, you keep it together and overcome the ?-harm with no effect.

Thoughts ?

MisterOwl, thanks very much! I gave such a mad laugh when I first read your post that my wife entered the room and scold me for waking the children. :D

Right off the bat, I would make the Bolthole a separate section, with its own options. It isn't interesting as a player to see that I HAVE to fill in a little circle. If I have to have it, then let me make options that will flesh it out like a Maestro-D's Establishment, or the Savvyhead's Workshop.

In fact, I'd do away with the practical weapons and lump everything together into Nomad gear. Make the player decide if they really need a gun at all! Maybe it's more exciting to have multiple pieces of cool gear (and I think a lot of the ideas you have there are pretty epic).

This is pure gold. Do you have something in mind for this, even as a first-start ? Im not familiar with the MaestroD, but I am with the Quarantine, which could serve as a basis. I will be thinking about something too.

As for your moves, I think that scavenger fails to impress. I think that it should be less about finding things that are hi -tek or luxe or whatever, but more about gaining narrative control over what you find. Here's my less than stellar attempt, just to get your gears churning:

Scavenger: when you spend some time searching through remnants
of the old times, roll+sharp.
On a 10+, you find precisely what you were looking for. Tell the MC what it looks like and what it does.
On a 7-9, the MC will ask you what you were looking for, and tell you how what you found is similar.
On a miss, you find trouble.

This gives you a huge say in what you find: the better you are at your job, the more say you have in the object.

While I agree with your point, I see two things that bother me in your example: 1. the 7-9 range dont really give you a hard choice or complication, something that could happen with the original move (if you look at it again, you will see that "You avoid serious trouble" over there, which means that if you hit it with 7-9, you will have some trouble spawned, be it harm, or contamination, or whatever happens to be coherent to the situation.) And 2. I find it too vague.

I came up whit this, see what you think:

Scavenger: when you spend some time searching through remnants of the old times, roll+sharp.
On a 10+, you find precisely what you were looking for and then choose two. On a 7-9, choose one.
- you find something worth +1barter
- you find something that is +hi-tech
- you avoid serious trouble
- you do it quickly


*EDIT*

In the original Scrapper thread HERE there is another version of scavenger. Perhaps using that as is could be a nice idea too. here, lemme transcribe it. See what you think.

Scavenger: when you search or scavenge, roll+sharp.
On a 10+, choose two and find an oddment worth 1-barter. On a
7–9, choose one and find an oddment worth 1-barter:
You find it quickly.
You find it with relatively little trouble
You find an item that is +1barter
You find an item that is +hi-tech
You find just the perfect thing

Well, pack rat is basically Fucking Thieves, so you can take that as an advance if you want. I'd replace it with something else

But Fucking Thieves is based on +weird while Pack Rat is on +sharp, no ? I think that could be an interesting move to have, even for other Sharp-based playbooks.

Here, I've turned remote detonator from gear into a move (again, this is not the best version of what this could be, just an idea I had):

It's a Minefield out there!: When you are being pursued and want to permanently erase your pursuit, roll +sharp to see how well you planned for this. On a 10+, your pursuer takes 3 harm AP from land mines or similar explosives. On a 7-9, your pursuer becomes trapped, slowed, or otherwise incapacitated. On a miss, sure you booby trapped the place, but so long ago you forgot the safe path, and become incapacitated yourself.

Hmm I think its too similar in concept to the "They would be crazy to follow me here" move, which already makes the terrain into a trap/weapon. Also, notice the remote detonator as a gear synergizes with this move (if you have both, the move makes +1harm).

Spooky also seems a bit strange to me, as a worse version of Sexy and Dangerous.

Yeah, I agree it feels half-assed. :P

Total Fucking Surrender: When you are backed into a corner, and have no escape, roll +Weird to abandon your instincts to the Psychic Maelstrom.
On a 10+, name a place. You find yourself there, some time later, with no memory of the interim.
On a 7-9, name a person. They come to you, confused and alarmed, without any idea what is happening.
On a miss, the Maelstrom has overtaken you for its own ends, until it decides to release you.

Weird! I have no idea if that's what you were looking for, but it's interesting to me.

This is more or less what I was looking for, yes. I like the idea of disappearing from sight of enemies like a ghost (its very Stalker! ) but loosing total control like that feels too weird. Dont know.

Thanks very much again! Please keep up with suggestions!

Very interesting discussion. My group also got bothered with highlighting and also opted to use DW XP for failing with it. We also felt the lack of a more fiction-based reward (specially as we were coming from Marvel Heroic, and we loved milestones).

Fnord and Irminsul, what other alternatives for XP did you end up using on your tables ? Any idea on how to infuse AW with a more ficton-based reward system ?

I agree with Lukas. Dungeon World is dungeoneering fantasy, which I think is a poor fit for Glorantha. Besides it, DW cuts off the "community-driven" playbooks from AW, which I think are perfect for Glorantha (specially if we take King of Dragon Pass as a reference).

I think some important points to be revised are related to payoff/reward mechanic, as in: instead of gaining XP for using highlighted stats, perhaps gaining XP for acquiring knowledge of your cult, or maybe for doing things related to your cults beliefs, would fit better. Dont know.

Moonrise over Karse is based on the Lunar perspective, but might give you some ideas.

http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=4543.0

Great stuff! I will take a look. Thanks.

Because of the “Apocalypse World fever” my group is in now, I decided to take a look in the STALKER pc game. Despite the hype, Ive never played it at the time, discarding it as just another mindless shooter.

Oh boy, I was wrong.

Im playing the last entry In the series, “Call of Pripyat”, with the mod MISERY. And It must be the most atmospheric game Ive ever played (and I played a lot of System Shock, Bioshock, Amnesia, etc). I don’t know if it’s the mod fault, or vanilla, but the graphics are awesome in a realistic way – the night is pitch black, the ambient lighting is totally realistic, the itens and people and clothes and textures and weather are all “decayingly sober” – and the survival/simulation elements are awesome: you have to eat, sleep, get tired if running constantly, encumbrance effects, etc. And the scarcity is very tangible. Food is scarce, med supplies, etc. even bullets – If you play it like your typical shooter, you will be empty really soon. And since you are fragile and cant stand more than a few blows, its wiser to plan ahead carefully instead of go on shooting. All this really adds to the sense that you “is there”, in this desolate, twisted, and “real” world.

But lets cut to the point:

So, where is the Stalker playbook ? In the vein of the game (and the Tarkovsky  movie who inspired it), I imagine he would be a guy who leaves everything behind to try his luck in searching for "anomalous artifacts" in radiated/contamined/mutated twisted areas in the wastes. He searches for the "Wish Granter" or the "Room in the center of the Zone" who will change his life forever. He would be a lone explorer who knows the zone as the back as his hand. He can take care of himself, serve as guide to others, and have gear and maps to search for misterious anomalies, that he collects - some give him strange sensations, others improve his night-sight, others yet are just beautiful.

Does a playbook like this exist ? 

Just had a great time with my old rpg group (we havent played together since.. dont know, college ? ). It was good ol´ Shadowrun in the 2050´s, a setting everyone in the group knows as the back of their hands.

So, nowadays I dont have much time to prep adventures and the like, and coincidently I just finished reading this "Apocalypse World", a game that advocates a more or less sandboxy style of gaming and even gives techniques for implementing it. So I tohught: why not try it? Well, I did - the night before I spent 10 min taking some notes and memorizing some tips from that book (including the one that says "Do NOT make/plan any adventure!").

So there I went..

And shit, it was awesome. The situations arose from the players own agendas and interactions with the setting, and I as a GM just reacted, adapted and improvised. In the end, we had a great web of plots and hooks and even a big adventure in place, and I never created/planned anything beforehand. You guys should have seen the smile on my face. ;)