I could use some input on an AW "end of the universe" hack

Here's a link to my post about the setting.

I'm looking over the book again now, and most everything seems to fit pretty nicely into this setting. The Chopper, maybe not so much, but the Savvyhead oh yes, and the Hardholder could make a nice "tribe elder" kind of character, vying for power with a Hocus.

What other playbook ideas do you think would work, or would need to be made?

Well, depending on how much you want to modify it, the Chopper could definitely fit right in. People live under no real authority or sense of a purpose, and the place they live in is large enough to physically withdraw from the tribe or whoever is in charge. That's pretty much all it takes for someone to gather people around him and just hang out with his new gang, not caring for anyone else (and, since it's AW, probably not much for each other either).

I've seen a lot of cool ideas for choppers in other settings, like a band of horse-ridden bandits in a car-less setting, a jetski gang in a waterworld setting, and so on. But I don't think the vehicles are that important. Decide on something that not everyone has aboard the ship, and let the Chopper be the leader of a gang of people who have that. It could be that they have access to and know their way around the maintenance shafts. It could be that they have crude exo-skeleton style power armor, poorly functional, originally intended for repairs work or heavy augmenting strength or agility (not straight-up weaponry). If the group decides it likes space, it could be those hoppers you mention, and then the Chopper is suddenly even more interesting since he's the only one except the driver who can travel between ships by default.

Either decide on one of these or an idea like them and remake the Chopper costum-made for it, or just strip away the bikes from the Chopper and make him the kind of character you get when a gunlugger gets a gang from an improvement. Just "I'm the leader of a gang of violent badasses and I'm totally their alpha" is interesting enough, and if you have a hardholder too, then sure, they may be pretty alike, but in that case it's almost mandatory that the Chopper is vying for power anyway.

I really like the sound of the setting.  There's some great stuff to work with there, and it already creates a strong visual image for me.

And the above suggestions for the Chopper are great as well.  I want to play a space chopper now, just so I can have a gang of exo-skeleton wearing badasses.

But as you said, most of the original playbooks should work in the setting, but my suggestion would be to look at any weapons with the "-far" tag.  There aren't likely to be many long distance shoot-outs in the debris of space.  Perhaps consider swapping them out for weapons that work IN space. Energy weapons, and/or antiquated weapons (Laser vs. Speargun).

Another thing to consider is the null-gravity environment.  How does this affect the PC's, are they used to it?  If there's gravity on the ships, then perhaps anytime they are in zero-G, they have to Roll Under Fire to do anything challenging. Or if they're used to floating around, A weird roll when they feel gravity for the first time.

These are just a few thoughts I had after reading your synopsis.  I should warn you, this comes from a player with only 14 sessions under his belt (with delusions of being an MC someday), so feel free to take my suggestions with a healthy helping of salt.

Yeah, the more you guys talk about it, the more I think the Chopper could fit right in with little change required. The Chopper could add an element of "fuck yeah space fighters!" to games, definitely.

Gravity is an important consideration. I think it could actually be included as a potential Scarcity during the threat/front setup.

I'm thinking of some kind of "Vent Rat" custom playbook, or similar custom moves for the Savvyhead. Someone that can get anywhere at any time, knows all the shortcuts, and frequently finds the most random cool shit in the Decks Below. That kind of thing.

EDIT: Man, this just screams Pandorum. Now I can't get that movie out of my head.

Ooooh and a Bioshock-inspired playbook, The Big Daddy: a guy in a big scary space suit, heavy on the hard/weird. Goes out into the Void, sees the Things That Man Should Not See, and protects kids. Uh. Yeah, something like that.

For the Vent Rat idea, you could probably look at modifying the Feral Kid playbook slightly.  I'm playing one right now, in an abandoned arena and he's great and getting in and out of places no one else can.  Sounds like it could fit right in with your Vent Rat concept.

Apocalypse World works just as well in the ruins of spaceships as it does in the ruins of wastelands because of your choice of source material (Pandorum, EH, etc.) You don't need to change any of the playbooks, or LE playbooks at all. Except for things like Motorbikes into Space Motorbikes and 9mm to las-pistol.

You could use for the Feral Kid or the Rat-Pack as duct-work kinder. The Big Daddy is a Faceless. The Driver is a pilot. Etc.

Of the current playbooks, are there any that could fit the role of a Protector type, with moves based on that? I admit to not often following this forum.