New Playbook: The Ghost-Face Killer

Hey AW needed a ninja

Description: In Apocalypse World, everyone kills. In Apocalypse World, everyone steals. But for you, killing is life. Stealing is freedom. In a world streaked with darkness, you're blacker than black.

CREATING A GHOST-FACE KILLER

Choose a name, a look, stats, moves, gears, and Hx

NAME

Strawberry, Dog, Bunny, Ken, Parkour, Hand, Gin, Hibachi, Iron Chef
Wraith, Shadow the Hedgehog, Witchblade, Hellboy, Abyss, Battlestar
Black Box, Captain Germany, Eyekillers, Foxfire, Deacon Frost

STATS

Cool+0, Hard-1, Hot+1, Sharp+1, Weird+2
Cool-1, Hard+0, Hot+1, Sharp+1, Weird+2
Cool-1, Hard+1, Hot+1, Sharp+0, Weird+2
Cool+0, Hard+1, Hot-1, Sharp+1, Weird+2


HX

On your turn:

Choose 1, 2 or 3:
You keep yourself secret. Tell everyone else -1.

On their turn:
- One of the characters, you've made a study of them. Add +1 to what they tell you.
- One of the characters, you've got a blind spot about them. Add -1 to what they tell you.

LOOKS

Man, Woman, Concealed, Ambiguous

Stealth wear, battle wear, theatrical wear, gang colors

Scarred face, hard face, blank face, haunted face, thin face

Cool eyes, masked eyes, unnatural eyes, red-rimmed eyes, drug-addled eyes

Wiry body, small body, powerful body, aged body, battle-hardened body

GEAR

You get 2 sneaky weapons, 1 weird trick, and fashion according to your look.

SNEAKY WEAPONS
- Hidden knives (we know this one)
- Grappling chain (1-harm hand / close entangle)
- Claw gloves (1-harm hand messy)
- Garrotes (2-harm intimate infinite)
- Gunblade (2-harm hand / 1-harm far reload)

WEIRD TRICKS
- Flash bomb (s-harm far area reload)
- Toxic kiss (3-harm intimate applied)
- Internal Bees (s-harm close area infinite)
- Handcuffs (hand entangle infinite)

ENTANGLE gear means, when you get a guy, he acts under fire unless he moves where you direct him. For NPCs, it's 50/50 whether they act under restraint or try to get out.

MOVES

Choose 3:

Bullet Throwing: When you're taking fire, roll+weird. On a hit, you catch and throw the bullets thrown at you; you inflict your opponent's harm at 1 target. On a 10+, choose one too:
- You have 1-armor
- You choose an extra target
On a miss, you still throw some bullets, but take 1 extra harm yourself.

Demon Face: When your harm countdown is at 6 o'clock or later, roll+weird instead of +hot to seduce or persuade, and you can see and talk to the ghosts and shadows of the maelstrom.

Fighting Spirit: When you seize by force, you roll+weird instead of +hard.

Ghost Dance: When your enemies' attention is on something else and you vanish into the shadows, roll+weird. On a 10+ you are unseen by all until you reveal yourself. On a 7-9, one enemy sees you, and you know it. On a miss, someone else vanishes too.

Nasty Surprise: When you get the drop on someone, you do +weird harm.

Shadow Walk: When someone opens their brain, hit or miss, you can appear beside them.

CLAN ENEMY

There's someone out to get you (Ghost Rider, Shadowcat, or Belvedere) and he's not gonna stop until...well, you don't know, but there's probably a way to call him off. If you make it happen, he becomes an ally.

SPECIAL

When you and another character have sex, it ties your shadows together. They gain the ability to Shadow Walk when you open your brain, even if you don't have the move yourself.

IMPROVEMENT

- Get +1 hard.
- Get +1 hot.
- Get +1 weird.
- Get a new Ghost-Face Killer Move
- Get a new Ghost-Face Killer Move
- Get a Bike (as a Chopper)
- Get a new Clan Enemy
- Get a workspace (as a Savvyhead)
- Get a move from another playbook
- Get a move from another playbook

BARTER

If you're charging someone wealthy for your services, 1-barter is the going rate for:
- Killing a dude
- Acquiring a thing, not too secure and not too valuable
- A week's worth of bodyguard duty
- Your services as shock troops for one battle

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

I like this playbook a lot except the Bullet throwing move seems a little goofy/over the top to me. Where did you get the inspiration for this move?

Gavin, it's like arrow throwing / shuriken throwing / missile deflection in ninja movies but since it's Apocalypse World it's with bullets.

I considered a version of the move where you just have a "bullet throwing" weapon; it'd be like ( *-harm close area, the * is your enemies' greatest harm), with the area tag intended as an opportunity for the MC to create friendly fire. But since the Ghost-Face Killer gets so many weapons anyway, I figured building a new move would give the character some more texture.

The intention here is to create a character that's good in a fight but not really an asset in a battle; if you're prepared and you get the drop on someone, you can do some nasty stuff to them, but if you are dropped into a big firefight you've got inferior armaments and both your Hard and Cool are weak.

This is also intended for a game where "do harm to a guy" isn't a move you roll, but one that happens when circumstances are right. The moves are for when you have non-harm objectives.

I love the referentiality of the names.