New Playbook: The Shining Boy

Hey all! This is my shot at an unusual view in Apocalypse World: hope. In the form of a gods-honest knight-in-shining-armor. Check it out, please!

{Yeah, hope is Weird in a time like this. This dude over here doesn't despair in every minute? Fuck, what an oddball.}

{Also, yeah, I see this guy with potentially, like, glowing swords and shining eyes and spirits swirling around him and shit, but it's variable. It's a dial, oh, like supernatural stuff in Dogs.}

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The Shining Boy
   They say this fucking apocalypse breaks everyone. They say it steals people's hopes and dreams.
   Well, fuck that. We lot made it through the fucking dark ages, and, fuck, maybe it's a bit darker now.
   Well, let's cut the fucking darkness and despair right where it hurts - let's give it a medievil ass-kicking.
   
Names
   {Needs names}

Look
   Man, Woman, Scarred beyond recognition
   Buff, wiry, crippled
   Cloak, robes, armor
   Piercing eyes, searching eyes, bright eyes
   
Stats (Choose one)
   Cool +1 Hard -2 Hot +1 Sharp +2 Weird +2
   Cool +1 Hard -2 Hot +2 Sharp +1 Weird +2
   Cool +2 Hard -2 Hot +1 Sharp +1 Weird +2
   Cool +2 Hard -2 Hot +1 Sharp +1 Weird +2
   
Moves (Choose either 'A Vision of Power' or 'Living Tank' and one other)
   Archaic: You've got some shit-old weapon and armor, shouldn't work, but maybe the maelstrom likes it, maybe you're just lucky. Your weapon does weird-harm at hand range, messy, and your armor is 2-armor but you take -1 to all rolls made wearing it outside of battle. (See [stat]-harm, below)

   A Vision of Power: When you go aggro, roll+weird. If they suck it up and what they're taking is harm, you do 0-harm, but, hey, they still roll the harm move.

   Hope Floats: When you act under fire, roll+weird. When you take harm and roll the harm move, roll+harm-weird.

   Judgement: When you read a person, roll+weird. Add the following questions:
      - Who have they hurt?
      - How do they view my beliefs?
      - How can I bring them in line with my views?
      - What do they hope for?

   Living Tank: When you seize by force, roll +armor +harm of your weapon.

   Messiah: When you show true kindness to someone, or else offer them hope in some way they believe, or else show mercy when you don't have to, roll+weird to manipulate them and include the 12+ result.

   Not The End: You can talk to, manipulate, and use the dead as though they were alive.
   
Gear
   Fashion appropriate to your looks, mostly old-fashioned
   One old old-fashioned weapon
      - A rusty knife
      - A silver revolver
      - A nasty, brutal axe
      - A heavy, brutal hammer
      - A big-ass sword
         
   One bit of armor, appropriate to your look

   One relic of the before-times
      - A painting of some long-forgotten hero
      - A book of strategy or history or fairy-tales
      - A watch, still working
      - Someone's skull, haunted or not
      - Beautiful designer clothing from New York, Paris, or Milan - perfect condition
      - A first-aid kit
         
   One helper, sidekick, or pet
      - A horse, suitable for riding
      - An advisor, sage and wise
      - A childhood friend, loyal to death
      - A lover, mysterious and tempting
      - A brainer, hocus, saavyhead or other mindfuck-wizard
      - The ghost of someone from before or after the apocalypse, real or in-your-head
   
Hx
   {Needs Hx}

Advancement
   - Get a new Shining Boy move.
   - Get a new Shining Boy move.
   - Get a new Shining Boy move.
   - Get a move from another playbook.
   - Change your hard to +2 but lose two or three Shining Boy moves.
   - Add +1 to any stat, not hard (max +2).
   - Add +1 weird (max +4).
   - If you have "Messiah", change your playbook to Hocus.
   - If you have "A Vision of Power", change your playbook to Hardholder.
   - If you have "Living Tank", change your playbook to Chopper.
   - Get one of the moves "Shining Symbol of Hope", "Crusader", or "Hope Everlasting".
      
Advancement Moves
   Crusader: The MC will ask you about your hopes, beliefs, cause. When you see your hopes challenged and attacked, take +1-forward. When you put yourself at risk or in danger for them, or else sacrifice in their name, mark XP. If you ever give them up, drop your weird to +0, add +1-hard (max +3), lose all Shining Boy moves and change to another playbook.
      
   Hope Everlasting: You never take debilities and never roll the harm move. When your harm would move above 9, roll+weird.
      On a 12+: Die immediately, sorry, but someone with you when you die takes up your cause and assumes this playbook.
      On a 10+: Ignore the harm and keep going, fine and dandy. In fact, heal 1-harm.
      On a 7-9: Ignore the harm and keep going, but roll the harm move after all.
      On a miss: Take the harm and -1-forward.
         
   Shining Symbol of Hope: When someone sees you for the first time, or else sees you in action supporting your beliefs, roll+hot+weird.
      On a 12+: They come to your cause, loyal followers.
      On a 10+: Roll right now to manipulate them. No need to talk to them, even, they just feel it, and your leverage is your approval of them, shown freely.
      On a 7-9: Take +1-ongoing to manipulate them, but take -1-ongoing to do anything else until you turn them to your cause or else they aren't around any more.
      On a miss: They turn on you.
         
Other Stuff
   Weapon Tag - Infectious: When you harm someone with this weapon, make them roll the harm move. On a hit, they're infected and the MC will write up a countdown for them.
      
   Weapons
      - A rusty knife (1-harm hand infectious)
      - A silver revolver (3-harm close reload ap)
      - A nasty, brutal axe (2-harm hand messy area)
      - A heavy, brutal hammer (2-harm hand messy)
      - A big-ass sword (2-harm hand)

   [stat]-harm: If [stat] is positive, you deal damage equal to your stat or the weapon's base harm plus one, whichever's higher. If 0, just deal the weapon's harm. If negative, deal the weapon's harm minus [stat]; if this drops your harm to 0 or less, deal no harm, but they still roll the harm move.

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I don't know how good this is! Is it at all?

- Alex D.

You should explain what weird-harm is, of course.

Thanks, Shreyas; it's a thing I use in a lot of my playbooks and drafts, so I didn't think to spell it out. A note's been added.

Is it intentional that the stats sum to +5? (second +2 counts as +3). That seems like an odd choice.

I'm not sure what you're going for with the low hard and then moves to compensate for either sieze by force or go aggro. What do you imagine that looking like in play?

I like "Judgement"

Yeah, the stats are probably high - one of the +1s on each line should probably be +0, but I'm not sure yet.

"I'm not sure what you're going for with the low hard and then moves to compensate for either sieze by force or go aggro. What do you imagine that looking like in play?"

    So, like, he's just not *hard*. He's not "hard-hearted, violent, aggressive, strong-willed, mean, physically and emotionally strong." by nature. Doesn't mean he can't kick ass; he's an asskicker because he's weird and cool and has nice shit and uses all that to his advantage.

Why is it you like "Judgement"?

My gut tells me: "This sounds like a RIFTS character."

But I probably read too many RIFTS books.

Evan, can you please expand on that for people who know nothing about RIFTS (like me)?

That part about manipulating the dead? Creepy as all get out.

My gut tells me: "This sounds like a RIFTS character."

I think the Glitter Boy (the dude with armor so shiny it was immune to lasers) was in the core book actually.

Shreyas:  Nods.  Although Glitter Boys are shiny, laser-resident mechs. There are also Cyber-Knights, RIFTs version of the Paladin.

Alex: I like the idea of using armor for Sieze by Force in Living Tank.  No need to add harm to that roll.  It's redundant with the possibility of dealing actual harm if the target sucks it up.

Eruditus: Yeah, in hindsight, the potential +5 or +6 they could get is overkill. +armor is just fine.

This comment is a bit of a piss-taker, but: the flavor text of this playbook actively dissuades me from reading it. The biggest turn-off is the jarring overuse of the word "fuck." The second biggest turn-off is the use of the "medieval ass-kicking" phrase.

Together, these two elements make it hard for me to take The Shining Boy seriously. It feels very juvenile. Now, all of Apocalypse World has a bit of a self-congratulatory juvenile tone to it - that's okay. But the flavor text for The Shining Boy goes way too far down that road.

Mcdaldno: Yeap. The text was written in a moment of personal weakness and fails to properly convey what I hoped it would. It's my least favorite part of the book, I think. Try looking at this here, below, and see what you think of it sans flavor text (and with mechanical feedback from this thread factored in).

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Look
   Man, Woman, Scarred beyond recognition
   Buff, wiry, crippled
   Cloak, robes, armor
   Piercing eyes, searching eyes, bright eyes
   
Stats (Choose one)
   Cool +0 Hard -2 Hot +1 Sharp +2 Weird +2
   Cool +0 Hard -2 Hot +2 Sharp +1 Weird +2
   Cool +2 Hard -2 Hot +0 Sharp +1 Weird +2
   Cool +2 Hard -2 Hot +1 Sharp +0 Weird +2
   
Moves (Choose either 'A Vision of Power' or 'Living Tank' and one other)
   Archaic: You've got some shit-old weapon and armor, shouldn't work, but maybe the maelstrom likes it, maybe you're just lucky. Your weapon does weird-harm at hand range, messy, and your armor is 2-armor but you take -1 to all rolls made wearing it outside of battle. (See [stat]-harm, below)

   A Vision of Power: When you go aggro, roll+weird. If they suck it up and what they're taking is harm, you do 0-harm, but, hey, they still roll the harm move.

   Hope Floats: When you act under fire, roll+weird. When you take harm and roll the harm move, roll+harm-weird.

   Judgement: When you read a person, roll+weird. Add the following questions:
      - Who have they hurt?
      - How do they view my beliefs?
      - How can I bring them in line with my views?
      - What do they hope for?

   Living Tank: When you seize by force, roll +armor (that is to say, roll 2d6 and add the numerical value of your armor).

   Messiah: When you show true kindness to someone, or else offer them hope in some way they believe, or else show mercy when you don't have to, roll+weird to manipulate them and include the 12+ result.

   Not The End: You can talk to, manipulate, and use the dead as though they were alive.
   
Gear
   Fashion appropriate to your looks, mostly old-fashioned
   One old old-fashioned weapon
      - A rusty knife
      - A silver revolver
      - A nasty, brutal axe
      - A heavy, brutal hammer
      - A big-ass sword
         
   One bit of armor, appropriate to your look

   One relic of the before-times
      - A painting of some long-forgotten hero
      - A book of strategy or history or fairy-tales
      - A watch, still working
      - Someone's skull, haunted or not
      - Beautiful designer clothing from New York, Paris, or Milan - perfect condition
      - A first-aid kit
         
   One helper, sidekick, or pet
      - A horse, suitable for riding
      - An adviser, sage and wise
      - A childhood friend, loyal to death
      - A lover, mysterious and tempting
      - A brainer, hocus, saavyhead or other mindfuck-wizard
      - The ghost of someone from before or after the apocalypse, real or in-your-head
   
Hx
   {Needs Hx}

Advancement
   - Get a new Shining Boy move.
   - Get a new Shining Boy move.
   - Get a new Shining Boy move.
   - Get a move from another playbook.
   - Change your hard to +2 but lose two or three Shining Boy moves.
   - Add +1 to any stat, not hard (max +2).
   - Add +1 weird (max +4).
   - If you have "Messiah", change your playbook to Hocus.
   - If you have "A Vision of Power", change your playbook to Hardholder.
   - If you have "Living Tank", change your playbook to Chopper.
   - Get one of the moves "Shining Symbol of Hope", "Crusader", or "Hope Everlasting".
     
Advancement Moves
   Crusader: The MC will ask you about your hopes, beliefs, cause. When you see your hopes challenged and attacked, take +1-forward. When you put yourself at risk or in danger for them, or else sacrifice in their name, mark XP. If you ever give them up, drop your weird to +0, add +1-hard (max +3), lose all Shining Boy moves and change to another playbook.
     
   Hope Everlasting: You never take debilities and never roll the harm move. When your harm would move above 9, roll+weird.
      On a 12+: Die immediately, sorry, but someone with you when you die takes up your cause and assumes this playbook.
      On a 10+: Ignore the harm and keep going, fine and dandy. In fact, heal 1-harm.
      On a 7-9: Ignore the harm and keep going, but roll the harm move after all.
      On a miss: Take the harm and -1-forward.
         
   Shining Symbol of Hope: When someone sees you for the first time, or else sees you in action supporting your beliefs, roll+hot+weird.
      On a 12+: They come to your cause, loyal followers.
      On a 10+: Roll right now to manipulate them. No need to talk to them, even, they just feel it, and your leverage is your approval of them, shown freely.
      On a 7-9: Take +1-ongoing to manipulate them, but take -1-ongoing to do anything else until you turn them to your cause or else they aren't around any more.
      On a miss: They turn on you.
         
Other Stuff
   Weapon Tag - Infectious: When you harm someone with this weapon, make them roll the harm move. On a hit, they're infected and the MC will write up a countdown for them.
     
   Weapons
      - A rusty knife (1-harm hand infectious)
      - A silver revolver (3-harm close reload ap)
      - A nasty, brutal axe (2-harm hand messy area)
      - A heavy, brutal hammer (2-harm hand messy)
      - A big-ass sword (2-harm hand)

   [stat]-harm: If [stat] is positive, you deal damage equal to your stat or the weapon's base harm plus one, whichever's higher. If 0, just deal the weapon's harm. If negative, deal the weapon's harm minus [stat]; if this drops your harm to 0 or less, deal no harm, but they still roll the harm move.

There are advancement-only moves that aren't Ungiven Future moves! That's super weird and interesting. Can you talk a bit about what that provides and what you're hoping comes about as a result of that?

Also, super interesting that 3 of the advancement options are about choosing a new playbook. The Shining Boy seems like a very transitory role, as a result of the advancement options you've listed. Interesting! Why?

Infectious is interesting. I'm working on a playbook (The Grotesque) right now that has poisonous. Here's how poisonous works: When you take poisonous harm, mark it with a P. Poisonous harm cannot be healed without the proper antidote. You’re sick, effects determined at MC’s discretion.

I like poisonous because it doesn't force any extra bookkeeping, nor does it demand to be its own front whenever it's used. It also has the awesome side-effect of making poisoned people approach their poisoner again, to seek an antidote. I offer it to you, for your consideration.

The short answer #1 is that the playbook *is* intrinsically juvenile - which meshes with your comment above; it's quite possible that I wrote the flavor text as a reflection of that. The 'book's about growing into who you are (hence the advancement-only moves and changing playbooks) and, maybe, giving up your ideals.

The short answer #2 is that I have a (possibly dangerous) love of "new-ness", mechanically speaking. I've created tons of playbooks and the shells of playbooks, none of which I've ever really put up anywhere, but I try to add something new or interesting to each one.

Sometimes my love of trying new things for the sake of trying new things gets in my way of accomplishing things, but I actually think the ideas I've implemented here dovetail kinda well (as per answer #1).

I like your "poisonous" harm idea, and it's probably over-all better than writing up a whole clock, but I do like that infectious is non-certain (and ties into and provokes the harm move, which is cool and sometimes overlooked, I think).

- Alex D.