run the risk of making powerful items too cheap, because really, how much barter is that junkyard stuff worth?

This is silly. I mean, really, do you think it's an intrinsic property of ripped-off car doors that they're a 3-harm weapon? You really do? Don't read equipment stat lines as inalienable descriptions of objects in the game; the MC chapter goes so far as to say, "Create the illusion that what you say is caused by events in the fiction, but you're actually following the rules and principles instead." I don't see a rule or principle that says equipment stat lines are objective. If a brainer gave your chracter a violation glove, would you know what to do with it? Same thing.

What I'm saying is that you're making a giant horrorshow out of character creation because you're doing it wrong. There are two ways to fix it:

1 - Don't come to character creation with a concept. Flip through the playbooks, choose one, and make the choices it asks you to make, the way the book tells you to do.

2 - If you come with a concept, be comfortable with tweaking the color of things without getting your kidneys in a bunch. There is no fictional causality in Apocalypse World, and PCs are exceptional rather than ordinary, so your PC is explicitly saying nothing about what else exists or happens in the world. Cling to that, it's your lifeline in the storm of your self-doubt.

My rule of thumb is, in any case where you would give a mechanical penalty, give a fiction-based complication instead. "You have to concentrate to maintain your shape" is just fine by itself, 'cause later the MC can say something like, "There's sudden gunfire through the window. You drop the vial of penicillin you were holding and it spills everywhere as you ghost out."

"Take -1" is also pretty much not a good mechanic. It's there as debilities because, well heck, I don't really know, but as a player, when you say, "Take -1 in circumstance X," I hear, "Do not take action in circumstance X," and that isn't fun. Penalties decrease player involvement and cause disengagement and consequently create bored people. Not what you want.

Either just let it be a proper miss and the MC makes a hard move (which prompts the character for response, obviously) or invoke action under fire or just use a mechanic that isn't bad.

The more I think about this, the more I think it should just be a small set of addon moves for the Brainer.

I wasn't sure about that either. I kind of figured if you've been around long enough, you have had time to find just the weapon to suite you, as well as having an old piece that you hang onto out of nostalgia, even if it doesn't always work great.

What I'd do is have these two notional weapons be the -same weapon- and call it 'a weapon that suits you best' and then just give you a list of prebuilt weapons.

The character may well have customized it but that doesn't mean you need to spend all this word count and brainshare on it.

Tim, it's however you want to play it! My plan is to post a playbook and come back a little later with some analysis of why I don't think it would lead to good play. I don't intend these to turn into playable books in any way, because frankly I think these are flawed at the conceptual level and can't really be made to work.

The Child is all about griefing, endangerment, and pedo. You don't want to endanger a child because it's mean and AW sucks but it's not definitionally mean. (Here I use that word to indicate ignoble as well as jerky) But there are great reasons to endanger this kid! He's an xp factory for everyone!

The parent moves are a way for the MC and the child to give grief to another player - even if they're not wielded that way, it's what will come of them. I think it's a reasonable way to model how you deal with your kid in AW (we are actually playing a game with a teenage son-of-a-PC NPC right now) but it sucks to be on the receiving end.

The non-parent child moves are like a battlebabe's - they draw attention and trouble without providing solutions to them. Unlike a battlebabe, though, the child simply consumes attention and resources.

And I think the creepiness of playing a juvenile in a game as sex-charged as AW is a big problem, which is why the sex move works like it does.

first hermit commentary

The Hermit is problematic because he specifically fights against interaction with other characters by not only having moves that support being a loner (Scrounge) but also moves that benefit from it, and so your Hermit player will always push back against any attempt to integrate him into the action.

Also, Speak Of is problematic because the coolest way to use it is to bring people back from the dead, which frankly is definitely going to upset anyone who worked to dead them.

and now for the child

Oh Meg you are going to like this so hard

The Child

Not everyone in the world is a grownup. You're a kid and everybody knows it.

CREATING A CHILD

To create your child, choose family, name, look, stats, moves, gear, and Hx.

FAMILY

You've got a mama, a papa, or both; they might not have birthed you but now they're your keeper. Ask the MC who they are, and if they're an NPC ask the MC what their name is.

Mama, Papa: When you name your kid don't please be a jerk about it. People are gonna call him names anyway.

NAME

If your mama or papa is a PC the player gets to name you. Otherwise, go look at one of the many other child playbooks on this forum.

LOOK

Boy, girl, tomboyish, effete, ambiguous, something new

Oversized grown-up wear, hand-me-down wear, homespun wear, scrounged designer wear

Baby-fat face, clever face, bright face, open face, curious face, dirty face

Dewy eyes, dancing eyes, guileless eyes, sleepy eyes, dark-lashed sensual eyes

Little body, pudgy body, delicate body, sturdy body

STATS

+2 Hot, weak in Sharp and Hard.

BASIC MOVES

You get the basic moves just like anyone.

CHILD MOVES

Choose one parent move that affects your mama/papa:

That's Not The Way I Taught: When you fuck up, the blame's on them.

Distracted: When you're around, your parents act under fire. When they're not around, you act under fire.

Hot Link: Your parents always know what you're up to, no matter what.

Thanks Mom: Whenever you need an object that would fit in a purse or handbag, roll +hot. On a hit, you managed to steal it from your parents earlier. On a 7-9, they need it right now, and don't have it. On a miss, you stole it, but on the way it came apart or broke somehow.

You pick two:

Helpless: When others help or interfere with you, they roll+your hot.

It's Not Nice To Hit Kids: When you're harmed, all the adults around you can get +1 Hx with you; if they do, they are acting under fire when you're around, until you're healed.

Whine: When you get a 7-9 on Persuade or Manipulate, you treat it as a 10.

I'm Scared: When you ask for safety or comfort, persuade or manipulate, but for PCs they get to mark experience twice if they do it.

A Growing Boy: (or girl) When you eat 1-barter's worth of food in a sitting, you get +1 forward until you're hungry again.

GEAR

You get fashion appropriate to your look, and two of these:

- A good pocketknife, not a weapon
- Useful string (infinite)
- A slingshot or boomerang (s-harm far infinite)
- A teddy bear (1-armor but that destroys it and mama has to make you a new one)

HX

When it's your turn, pick:

- The person that stares at you. Tell them Hx+2.
- The person who you listen to. Tell them Hx+1.

If your mama/papa are PCs, tell them HX+1.

Everyone else gets Hx-1 because hey you're a kid and even though you're an open book, no one cares to read it.

No matter what anyone else tells you, write down Hx-1 because you're a self-absorbed prick. Damn kid.

SPECIAL

If you and another character have sex, do the top item on the list and cross it out, until you get to the bottom one. Don't cross that one out.

- They hold 3 over you. They can spend their hold, 1 for 1, to persuade/manipulate you like they rolled a 10.
- They hold 2 over you, as above.
- They hold 2 over you. They can spend their hold, 1 for 1, to persuade/manipulate you like they rolled a 7-9.

IMPROVEMENT

Uh, I dunno yet. I think maybe you can get a gang of kids. Pieces of gear from your mentors. Etc.