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Messages - nerdwerds

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91
Apocalypse World / Re: New Playbook: The Scholar
« on: February 28, 2013, 05:16:25 AM »
Any more progress being made on this?

After 1 year, 3 months, and 10 days... yes.

I like the concept of the Library, but I agree with elkin that it should have some more broad and narrative concepts added to it. I also like krippler's idea of making it tied to a genuine move, this gives the Scholar an exclusivity with the library that another character can't achieve. I think the library could be similar to the Savvyhead's workspace, it's a place you go into and research to figure something out or make a deduction.
Example: "The Burn Flats used to be part of some golden age city, and that asshole Windows always comes back from there with weird little pieces of white glass. What's that about?"

92
Apocalypse World / Re: Custom Playbook: The Synthetic
« on: February 28, 2013, 12:42:35 AM »
I wrote a couple of new moves to take advantage of the fact that the Synthetic has no inherent specialty (i.e. a stat that goes to +3). I owe a lot to the Advanced Fuckery chapter.

I think I have a finished copy of the trifold now. As soon as I get a decent picture in for the portrait I'll post it here.

93
Apocalypse World / Re: Custom Playbook: The Synthetic
« on: February 27, 2013, 04:16:14 AM »
I forgot to include Programs:

This is your purpose, your reason for being, and/or your immediate goals. You don’t choose it, one of the other players does as detailed in Hx:
• 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 might also have a hidden directive that you do not know about.

When you complete a Program, tell the player with the current highest Hx with you to pick a new one and mark a section of your Sentience clock.

When you deliberately do something that counteracts, delays, or prevents you from completing a Program, you are violating your programming. Choose 1:
Internal Logic Error: you force yourself to continue on and ignore the feedback in your system the best you can. Take 2-harm ap, but at least you're still standing.
Override: you've found a way to justify your decision by deleting some programming. Take a debility.
Reboot: your programming shuts down and you are prone and vulnerable while your system comes back online.

...

This might seem harsh, but that's why you do not violate your programming! (see Robocop)

I'm thinking that instead of just dying, a Synthetic with memories ought to be violating their programming when their Sentience clock is filled up at the end of every session that they're still alive. (see the ending of Blade Runner)

94
Apocalypse World / Re: Custom Playbook: The Synthetic
« on: February 27, 2013, 03:23:41 AM »
I think the whole Upgrades-Programs-Prime Directive mechanic is too complex! Verbose too. We want simple and concise.

These are all great ideas, but they don't need to be separated out into different columns. The Prime Directives and the Programs can be collapsed together, and while I think the idea of giving a limited number of the basic moves is novel, I don't think it should be connected to this mechanic. Either the player should have a hard choice of four moves or their Stats choice alone will determine what moves are available (as a part of their design). The Directives go away and become just "Programs," and this leads to HX needing to be altered, but we'll get there in a second.

Hasta La Vista Baby! we keep, but we change it into a countdown clock which we're going to call Sentience. And we're rolling Weird so there's no way the player can switch this up and get a penalty or bonus with their starting stats, since all of their stat options leave Weird at +0.
So now it reads:
At the start of each session roll+weird.  On a hit, ask the MC one question about your purpose, programming, hidden directive or maker and they will answer with detail, or mark an experience (your choice). On a 10+, you can feel the impending finality, mark a section of your Sentience clock. On a 7-9 You Hold 1. Spend it to nullify violating your programming. On a miss, you are none the wiser about your origins.

How does the Sentience clock work? Well, I was thinking long and hard about this and I think it should mean either that the character is about to die OR they are about to discover emotions. But this should be left up to the player based on their starting moves.

Starting Moves now reads:
You get hasta la vista baby! and your choice of either memories or pinocchio. You get one more synthetic move.

Memories: You have been programmed with memories, they are yours alone or somebody else's. These memories guide you and make you seem almost real. You get all of the basic moves. Nobody knows you are Synthetic unless you share it with them or you are obviously and visibly not a living person. When your Sentience clock fills up, your internal hardware collapses and you will die.

Pinocchio: You don't really understand other people. You get four basic moves of your choice. You can still use the other moves, but if you miss the roll it's treated as violating your programming. When your Sentience clock fills up you have discovered your emotions and immediately change your playbook to a new type. You may now also use all of the basic moves without violating your programming.

I haven't figured out how closely violating your programming is going to hew to acting against your programming. It will probably be identical, except no roll. You violate your programming and you pay a cost. Probably in oil.

Oh yeah, and HX?
Now it says this:
Go around again for Hx. On your turn:
• One of the characters is your friend (but not your Maker). They know your programming – show them your Programs and tell them to pick 2. 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:
• You are curious about one of them. Ignore what they tell you and write Hx+3.
• One of them is essential to your programming. Add +1 to whatever number they tell you.

95
Apocalypse World / Re: Custom Playbook: The Synthetic
« on: February 25, 2013, 05:03:28 AM »
Character creation feels a little bloated and unnecessarily complex. While I like the concept that the Synthetic starts with a baseline of zero in all stats, but the manufactured upgrades seem a little arbitrary and powerful.

I think putting the numbers into a traditional playbook is fine, and you can still make it feel unique by including the descriptive text of the manufacturing:
Built to Kill: +2hard, +1cool
Built to Fuck: +2hot, +1hard
Built to Talk: +2sharp, +1hot
Built to Work: +2cool, +1sharp

Gear is no longer included, and since it looks like you've changed your mind about the usefulness of Sentience it's easy to drop that as well. This makes the beginning stat choices a pretty simple question of "What's my specialty?"

Hasta La Vista Baby! can then be turned into a move that relies on choice and has a countdown clock ticking away to impending finality.

96
Apocalypse World / Re: Custom Playbook: The Synthetic
« on: February 22, 2013, 05:03:04 AM »
I like the concepts present here, there are a lot of great ideas, but in practice I think this is a really buff playbook, almost broken.

Example:
I'm going to make a Synthetic, a kill-slut merc-droid used to infiltrate enemy gangs and bring information back to a hardhold. With my starting upgrades I take Built to Kill, Built to Fuck, Built to Talk, and Genetically Engineered so my stats are
Cool +2
Hard -2
Hot +2
Sharp +2
Weird +1
Sentience -1
Armor +1 (implanted), Armor+1 from fashion, +1 no-nonsense weapon, +1 close combat (handy?) weapon, +1-barter

then with my last upgrade I take the Programmed for Diplomacy, er... program. I have all of the moves necessary for infiltrating an enemy faction and escaping when things get tough (act under fire, read a person, seduce/manipulate). I am colossally better at everything than most people (except fighting). On top of all of this I don't have to worry about the Hasta La Vista move deactivating me. If I spend a lot of time getting to know people (with my +2 Hot and +2 Sharp) then I'll probably be able to work up the upgrades to raise my Hard out of a negative digit or pick up the rest of the basic moves.

This brings up an interesting line of questioning: is +2 the maximum for all of the stats? can all of the stats reach +3 (beyond human limitations)? is sentience the only stat that can get to +3 (and why would anyone ever try to do that)?

I think the improvement system for this playbook is laborious and unnecessary. Character creation already seems like it takes too many steps. The upgrade system could be improved by making hard choices complicate what is available, and then cutting it off so it can't be upgraded later. The Hasta La Vista move could be improved with a countdown clock (as already mentioned), and the number of moves available to the Synthetic seems sparse. Only three? They start with one and then the list of Improvement say they can get 4 more, so shouldn't there be at least 3 more?

I've put together a pdf of what's been written so far so that it's easier to read
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9cu0IVYfHtiLVJ5S3RrT2FWYzg/edit

(the only thing I changed in transcribing this were the improvements, I didn't have enough room to put the "pay for your improvement" rules in there)

97
Apocalypse World / Re: New Playbook: The Radio
« on: February 22, 2013, 01:25:57 AM »
I had to fix a couple of typos, here's the newer version

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9cu0IVYfHtiREFKbkRFaUgtR1U/edit

98
Apocalypse World / Re: New Playbook: The Radio
« on: February 21, 2013, 04:06:37 PM »
After a few revisions and edits with the author, I finished up the trifold pdf today

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9cu0IVYfHtiN0xoWndPN05MY2M/edit

99
I ported this into a pdf and this is what I have so far
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9cu0IVYfHtiRDlKdXhsV3h3YTg/edit

As you can see, it does need a lot more work.

I agree with earlier sentiments that you need an actual move here that brings in barter. You can't just assume from a design standpoint that an MC will be able to cover it or fill in the gaps that you leave here. As it is, the Maestro'd playbook doesn't have a barter-producing move and it's assumed their business is always breaking even.

Also, there definitely isn't enough sour here. Between starting moves and improvements a player will pretty much pick up all of the Abacus moves available. It could probably could use one more.

I would suggest killing two birds with one stone. Create a barter-producing move that the Abacus comes equipped with. Then they choose one extra move from the ones already available.

Fleshing out the Network with some cool options, tags, and weaknesses couldn't hurt either.

100
Apocalypse World / Re: New Playbook: The Radio
« on: February 14, 2013, 05:36:23 AM »
HX
On others' turns, ask one of them if they would like to be one of your antenna. If they say "yes" set they're starting Hx with you at +3, regardless of what they tell you. If nobody says "yes" pick somebody who you want to become one of your antenna, if it happens get an improvement.
Everybody else, take the number they tell you.

Just a thought.

I think the antenna themselves should be fleshed out by player options a little more, like the way a Maestro'd can flesh out their cast & crew a little bit.

101
Apocalypse World / introducing the Beast Master
« on: February 11, 2013, 01:56:48 AM »
Tim Franzke and I spent the last week making this playbook together. He thinks it has more of my writing in it than his, and I think it has more of his ideas in it than of mine. Either way, we both hope you download it and enjoy using it. Cheers!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9cu0IVYfHtidXdrTEhGelRCQms/edit

102
Apocalypse World / Re: introducing the Damned (a Heralds of Hell playbook)
« on: February 08, 2013, 10:56:16 AM »
Neat!  But a couple things:

The columns don't induce proper folding at least how it printed for me.  I'm not exactly sure what's wrong -- maybe the middle column needs to be slightly narrower?

Can you lay it out so that there's room under or next to the Hex move?

The lines on "the back" - that is, the side with the portrait - should have been removed before I exported it. Otherwise, it should fold properly.
Picture included = http://25.media.tumblr.com/d7c7bc5cb2e1ad1b35dd40561311ae5f/tumblr_mhws8vwEPB1qj9jfoo1_1280.jpg

I've included more room for Hex. The link above has been fixed to accommodate the new version of the playbook.

103
Apocalypse World / introducing the Damned (a Heralds of Hell playbook)
« on: February 08, 2013, 03:20:00 AM »
The talented and insightful Johnstone Metzger was kind enough to give me a copy of the Heralds of Hell playbooks, and he's given me permission to turn them into trifolds and make them available on my playbook page. This is my first effort to create the remaining three into playbooks: the Damned.
Enjoy!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9cu0IVYfHtiNEpuRHkzWG02N1k/edit

104
blood & guts / Re: Fantasy reskin
« on: February 07, 2013, 06:40:13 AM »
Check out the Hyborian Saga playbooks
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0By4fR8hnM-BPNWRkNTNlMTktNjIxOS00YjY1LTg1NDktMGQ4NTg1NGE4ZWY4/edit

They're petty solid. They're just the core AW playbooks re-skinned, as you put it, into fantasy archtypes.

You can also check out

World of Conan
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1164498/World%20of%20Conan.pdf

and

Apocalypse D&D
http://planet-thirteen.com/apocd&d/ApocalypseD&D3.0.pdf

105
Apocalypse World / Re: Introducing the Wrangler (a new playbook)
« on: February 05, 2013, 06:13:16 PM »
By the way, which program do you use when designing playbooks? I use Scribus, but I am always interested in alternatives.

I've also been using Scribus. It's a pain to work with, but like a buggy video game once you know where it's quirks are it's pretty easy to manipulate.

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