Playbook: The Entrepreneur

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Playbook: The Entrepreneur
« on: September 21, 2010, 04:40:06 PM »
This is a complete playbook ready to go. I am looking for any feedback or suggestions anybody has. Enjoy!

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Bastards who want what you have for as cheap as possible have been around since the beginning of time. They want to rip you off, turn a profit, and leave you breathing just enough to come back for more. And when their ain’t no more to be had because they have bled the place dry, then it is time to move on to the next poor suckers who don’t know the real value of what they have.

The gangs will come in and take what they want by force and leave you with nothing. The Entrepreneur comes and you give them what they want and then leaves you with nothing. Think East-India Company, Wall Street, or Mad Men. A real bastard.


CREATING AN ENTREPRENEUR

To create your entrepreneur, choose name, look, stats, moves, company, patron, gigs, gear, and Hx.

NAME

Young, Madoff, Draper, Cromwell, McDonald, Briggs, Say, Lorenzo, Ash, Walt, or Beni.

Bull, Mister, Capital, Tokyo, Express, Coco, Rottweiler, Lady, Mercury, Kaiser, Wiggle, or Sahib.

LOOK

Man, woman, recognizable, or old.

Well-worn professional attire, patched coveralls, sports paraphernalia, piece-meal military outfit, immaculately clean clothes, or eccentrically colorful.

Leathery face, impassive face, twitchy face, circumspect face, cautious face, or agreeable face.

Intense eyes, reassuring eyes, impenetrable eyes, knowing eyes, smiling eyes, or greedy eyes.

Creaky body, spry body, prime body, towering body, long-limbed body,or well-aged body.

STATS

Choose one set:
Cool+2 Hard-2 Hot+2 Sharp+1 Weird-1
Cool+2 Hard-1 Hot+1 Sharp+1 Weird=0
Cool+2 Hard-1 Hot+2 Sharp=0 Weird-1
Cool+2 Hard-2 Hot+2 Sharp=0 Weird=0

BASIC MOVES

You get all the basic moves (p86-88).

ENTREPRENEUR MOVES

You Get these 2:

Moonlighting and Juggling-3.

Board of Members - Once per game when you attempt to invest in a local area, you can use up to 5-barter to purchase a single building/town/fort/mine/trading post/facility for the Company, which you then have control over until the end of the game. The Company is quick to ensure its’ holdings, and at the start of the next game a representative of the company will be in charge instead (requires obligation gig keep board of members happy).

And Then Choose 1:

Blame Someone Else - Once per game when one of your gigs has a catastrophe, you ignore it and it doesn’t advance, but you have to put the blame on a named person within the Company, and they will suffer whatever consequences you avoided.

Company Man - When you trade with someone, roll+hot. On 10+ you can trade 1-barter for 2-barter. On 7-9, you can trade 1-barter for 1-barter. On a miss, you have to trade 1-barter for 0-barter, they know something you don’t.

Risk Taker - you get +1 cool (max +3).

Who are you???  - In a charged situation in a public place with others watching, roll+hot. For NPC’s on 10+, they will be intimidated into silence until you have ended the conversation. On 7-9, you can spend 1-barter to keep them silent. On a miss, -1 forward for the rest of the conversation as the NPC has disrupted your flow. For PC’s, on a 10+ choose both, on 7-9, choose 1:
PC must act under fire to speak
If they stay quiet throughout the conversation, they get an XP


Show me the money! - Whenever you help another player, you can bet 1-barter on the outcome.
Choose 1:
Player will roll 10+
Player will roll 7-9
Player will miss

If you are right about the outcome, barter 1+1. If you are wrong, the 1-barter is paid. Maybe it was wager, a fee, or just advantageous to you, but you see the chance to make money by helping those around you.

THE COMPANY

By default the Company has:

A Board of Members - This a group of 10 people who are financially backing the
    - Company and your plans.
    - Various Employees
    - A Central location

    Choose 1 Company name:

    Winnipeg Moose, V.T.C., Joe’s Shopping Mall, Best Barter, United National, Albert’s Quick Fix, Mango and Orange, or Future Deal.

    Company Policy:
    The company promotes:
    - Going out and finding new sources of income (+mobile)
    - Everyone in the company is in it to make money (+rich)


    Choose 1:
    The kind of people the company has:
    - Everyone is looking at the next rung and the next promotion, and it isn’t always pretty (+unruly)
    - The company stirs up shit where ever it goes (+reprisals)
    - The company’s bottom line is profit for the board members (+desertion)


PATRON

Choose 1 Patron Name:

Jackson, Wallstreet, Cheeseburger, Magnum, Hates, Hollingworth, Big Apple, or Bosun.

Choose this when you select the improvement patronage:

Patronage - Once per game when you interact with your Patron or a representative, it is as if you rolled a 10+ with the Skinner’s Hypnotize move. This only works with the Patron or a representative, and they can only do what is within in their power to do (requires obligation gig keep patron happy).

GIGS

(Profit/catastrophe)
Choose 2 paying gigs:
Honest Work
Companionship
Deliveries
Infiltration
Scavenging
Brokering Deals


You get 2 Obligation Gigs:

Keeping Board of Members happy (happy with your work/you are ruining the company)

Keeping Patron happy (forwarding their interests/fucking up their plans)

And choose 1 more Obligation Gig:
Paying Debts (you keep up/they come due)
Pursuring Luxury (beauty in your life/you wind up in a bad spot)
Personal Venture (business as usual/it is going to fail)


GEAR

You get:
1 company weapon
1 company uniform worth 1-armor
trade-able goods worth 4-barter
company pack animal worth 1-barter


Company Weapon (choose 1):
hunting rifle (2-harm far loud)
muzzle loader (3-harm far loud reload)
light cavalry sabre (2-harm hand)


Custom Gadget
Base (Choose 1):
- Money Counter: +1 Weird when opening your brain to the Maelstrom when you are alone with your barter. (+close)
- Symbol of Authority: +1 Hard when going aggro if the target is already at 9. (+close)
- Looking Device: +1 Sharp when reading person if they are talking to someone else. (+close)


Options (Choose 2):
click&whir (+hi-tech)
company issued (+implanted)
two parts (+remote)
treasured (+valuable)
always another (+infinite)
large/wide (+area)
elongated (+far)
servant/pet (+alive)


HX

Everyone introduces their character by name, look and outlook. Take your turn.

List the other characters’ names

Go around again for Hx. On your turn, choose 1 or both:
One of them was suckered by you in a deal. Tell that player Hx-1.
One of them was left by you starving after you took all their gear. Tell that player Hx-2.


Tell everyone else Hx+1. Everybody has heard of the company and you, and are naturally positive towards progress.

On the others’ turns, choose 1 or both.:
One of them gave you a valuable gift for an act you took credit for. Whatever number that player tells you, give it +1 and write it next to the character’s name.
One of them called you a dishonest cheat and drove you out of town. Whatever number that player tells you, give it -2 and write it next to the character’s name.


Everyone else, whatever number they tell you, write it next to the character’s name.

At the end, find the character with the highest Hx on your sheet. Ask that player which of your stats is most interesting, and highlight it. The MC will have you highlight a second stat too.

ENTREPRENEUR SPECIAL

If you and another character have sex, you can get a payment worth 1-barter, at no cost to them.

ENTREPRENEUR IMPROVEMENT

Whenever you roll a highlighted stat, and whenever you reset your Hx with someone, mark an experience circle. When you mark the 5th, improve and erase.

Each time you improve, choose one of the following. Check it off; you can’t choose it again.
__ get +1 Hot (max +3)
__ get +1 Sharp (max +2)
__ get +1 Weird (max +2)
__ get a new entrepreneur move
__ get a new entrepreneur move
__ get patronage
__ get a gang (detail) for security and leadership
__ abandon or resolve an obligation gig for good
__ get a move from another playbook
__ get a move from another playbook

BARTER

If you’re trying to turn a profit on a deal, 1-barter is the going rate for: promises that food and water is coming; creating a productive work force; helping another person cheat for profit; advertising a warlord in a positive light to the people; convincing people to invest in you; spending a month improving a places chance to survive.

1-barter will cover a month’s living expenses, if your tastes aren’t too grand.

As a one-time expenditure, and very subject to availability, 1-barter might count for: a night in high luxury & company; any weapon, gear or fashion not valuable or hi-tech; the material costs of resucitation by an angel; repair a piece of hi-tech gear by a savvyhead; a year’s tribute to a warlord; a month’s maintenance and repairs for a hi-performance vehicle well-used; bribes, fees and gifts sufficient to get you into almost anyone’s presence.

For better stuff, you should expect to make particular arrangements. You can’t just wander around the commons of some hardhold with oddments ajangle and expect to find hi-tech or luxe eternal.[/list]

*

Bret

  • 285
Re: Playbook: The Entrepreneur
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2010, 05:11:30 PM »
Heh. Going from +barter to +capital
Tupacalypse World

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DWeird

  • 166
Re: Playbook: The Entrepreneur
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2010, 05:18:02 PM »
Huh! I had exactly the same seed of an idea, but the (tentative) direction I took it in was very much different.

Looking good, though!

I like "Show me the money!". I also like "Board members", but... The name is descriptive, not kicky. And there's *something* about 'once per game' that I don't like. If you're going to do that, why not just give me the thing as part of my default gear, yer?

Re: Playbook: The Entrepreneur
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2010, 03:27:36 PM »
...I also like "Board members", but... The name is descriptive, not kicky.

I see what you mean about the name not being kicky, and it should be. Maybe something like "The Barter Pipe" or "Big Bad Backers". Hmmm. I will have to sleep on that.

And there's *something* about 'once per game' that I don't like. If you're going to do that, why not just give me the thing as part of my default gear, yer?

I think I rationalized this by looking at other moves, like having followers, wealth, or moonlighting, where it is basically once per game for all of those moves. And to create a balance, starting with 3 moves, it needs to be part of the moves and not gear.

Re: Playbook: The Entrepreneur
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2010, 04:07:29 PM »
By once per game, do you actually mean once per session?

Once per game makes me think that over the entire course of the campaign (say, 7 sessions), I get to do it once.

Re: Playbook: The Entrepreneur
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2010, 05:30:33 PM »
By once per game, do you actually mean once per session?

Once per game makes me think that over the entire course of the campaign (say, 7 sessions), I get to do it once.

You are right, I do mean once per session. That is the more accurate term. So thank you! Clarity is a good thing.