New Playbook: The Lost

Hey everyone, a while back I came up with a concept for a playbook I dubbed the Lost Girl. Inspired by characters such as Echo (Dollhouse), Jason Bourne and River Tam (Firefly) the character has evolved into the Lost. It's now mostly written up and needs some serious feedback and input. Especially the moves.

As for the Lost: suffering from amnesia and flashbacks the lost has insight into the past and the future. It's a different spin on the Brainer mixed with equal parts Quarantine and Hoarder.

You can find the complete description on Google Docs, which will always be most up to date. Feel free to leave comments over there but for your convenience I've pasted all of it below. Thanks.

The Lost
In Apocalypse World, everyone is broken. Luckily most know why. But not you. Nope. You've lost that. All you've got is your name. Oh and the fact that, you sometimes know stuff you shouldn't be able to know. Like echoes from the past, and sometimes even from the future.

But that's not what keeps you awake when you're all alone at night. No, that's the fear of never finding out who you are. Or maybe you’re afraid that you will and won’t like what’s waiting for you find at the end of that road. Knowing Apocalypse World it's not going to be the something nice.

Name
Amos, Benj, Elijah, Bakk, Hand, Micah, Narc, Rak, or Virgo
Alice, Claire, Crash, Delphine, Hannah, Nenia, Sybil, or Ves
Bird, Drop, Echo, Melody, Mirror, Pebble, River, Sign, Wind or Whisper

Stats
Choose one set:

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

Moves
You get all the basic moves. You get 3 lost moves.

Hx
Everyone introduces their characters by name, look and outlook. Take your turn.
List the other characters' names.
Go around again for Hx. On your turn, chose 1, 2 or all 3:

• One of them took care of you that one time your weird powers got you into trouble. Tell that player Hx+1.
• One of them saw you freak out once and got a good look at the broken visions of your past. Tell that player Hx+2.
• One of them knows you from way back. You don't remember him but he certainly does. Tell that player Hx+3.

Tell everyone else Hx-1. You shy away from the world.

On the others' turns, chose one or none:

• Choose which character's secret past you've seen in your dreams. Whatever number that player tells you, ignore it; write Hx+3 next to the character's name instead.

All other characters  take the number they tell you, give it -1 and write it next to the character’s name. You don't pay much attention to the world around you.

Look
Man, woman, concealed, or transgressing
Casual wear, outdated wear, scrounge wear, disheveled wear, vintage wear, cute wear
Soft face, sweet face, girlish face, boyish face, hard face
Innocent eyes, curious eyes, scared eyes, watching eyes, knowing eyes, sad eyes, old eyes
Small body, soft body, graceful body, lanky body, or young body

Gear

    Fashion suitable to your look
    1 small handy weapon
        Switchblade (1-harm hand hidden)
        .32 Revolver (2-harm close loud reload)
        9mm (2-harm close loud)
    Oddments worth 3 barter

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 options. Check it off; you can’t choose it again.

Starting Options
__ get +1hard (max +2)
__ get +1hot (max +2)
__ get +1sharp (max +2)
__ get a new lost move
__ get a new lost move
__ When resetting stress modify by -1
__ When resetting stress modify by -1
__ get followers (detail) and fortunes
__ get a move from another playbook
__ get a move from another playbook

Advanced Options
__ get +1 to any stat (max stat+3)
__ retire your character (to safety)
__ create a second character to play
__ change your character to a new type
__ choose 3 basic moves and advance them.
__ advance the other 4 basic moves.

Lost Moves
Whispers of the past: You can open your brain to maelstroms echoes of the past. This can be done for a location, an object or a person. In all cases it requires the lost to spend some time interacting with the target. For people this means it requires time and physical intimacy. This move can never be used on the lost. Roll+weird. On a hit, the MC will tell you something new and interesting about the past of the target.
    On a 10+, the MC will give you good detail.
    On a 7–9, the MC will give you an impression. If you already know all there is to know, the MC will tell you that.
    On a miss, you suffer +1stress.

Echoes of the future: When you have time and physical intimacy with someone - mutual intimacy like holding them in your arms, or 1-sided intimacy like they’re restrained to a table — you can read their future. Roll+weird.
    On a 10+, you can set a fate for the character, even a final and lethal one, and specify the rough timetable (“soon”, “within a few weeks”) when it should occur. The MC should to try to make it come true if possible, even if it requires some freak accidents or one in a million events.
    On a 7-9, you can still set the fate but it may not be lethal and you do not specify the time. The fate also only comes true when it's possible and somewhat likely.
    On a miss, you suffer +1stress and you get a glimpse of your grim future: The MC sets a (non-lethal, non-final) fate for your character within the near future and you should try to make it come true if possible. You suffer are acting under fire until it comes true or sufficient time has passed.
For PCs: On a hit, you can only offer a potential fate and the player can refuse it. If he accepts both player and MC should try to work toward the fate. If the fate involves a loss then the player gets 1 experience as it comes true. On a miss, see above but the targeted player and not the MC sets the grim fate for the lost.

In tune with time: you get +1weird (weird+3).

Déjà vu: The record of time skips in your mind and the action happens again but this time you can react. Against NPCs you can use this move when you take harm from a discrete physical source you could possibly evade, even if you normally shouldn’t be aware of it. Roll+weird.
    On a 10+, you manage to get out of harms way just in time. The attack misses.
    On a 7-9, you see the attack and react but too slow. You take -1harm from the attack.
    On a miss, you suffer +1stress
With other players you may use this move instead of helping or interfering with a character. Roll+weird.
    On a 10+, after the target character rolled but before resolving the move you can cancel the result of their dice and force them to re-roll (with all bonuses, reductions and effects from the first roll still intact). If you want them to they also suffer An additional -1 on that new roll.
    On a 7-9, as above but without the -1 and you also expose yourself to fire, danger, retribution or cost.
    On a miss, you suffer +1stress

Infectious amnesia: When touching someone, even if only for a moment, you can pluck up to an hour worth of memory from their mind. You can specify the start and end of the memory but not access it yourself. It is simply repressed deep within the target.
    On a 10+, The memory is lost completely. The target will never stumble upon this by itself and shun away from uncovering the amnesia. The character will discount almost all signs pointing to the lost memory. Only if the target is forcibly and inescapably confronted with the memory they suffer s-harm as the memory comes back with a vengance.
    On a 7-9, The memory is repressed. It will eventually come back to the target, especially if there is evidence about the time. They will maybe even try to investigate themselves if there is no explanation for the sudden loss of memory.
    On a miss, you suffer +1stress and your character loses a memory of the MCs chosing (or of the targets chosing if you use this move against another player). You need to immediately make the messing with your memories move to cope with this loss.

Pulling memory’s strings: When you try to manipulate someone you can let your mind wander and pick up a sin or wrongdoing from their past. Come up with a fitting past action and use that as leverage against the character. The MC or player of that character may veto your choice meaning that you come up empty and can not use this move this time. Use your leverage from them past and then make your manipulation move with a bonus of +1. Note that if you fail you suffer +1stress. Also regardless of the outcome this violation of the targets past and memory will most likely irrevocably sour the relationship between the two of you.

Special
If you and another character have sex, roll+weird:
    On a 10, it helps you calm down: -1stress.
    On a 7-9, you wind down but somehow fuck up your partners head as you let go of your tension. Their memories of the night are all jumbled and broken in an uncomfortable sort of way. You get -1stress and they get 1 harm.
    On a miss, the whole thing's was bad idea. You just knew it. Your mind gets on edge and slips. Both of you have incoherent, garbled and fucked up memories of the night and suffer 1 harm. In addition to that you'll have to immediately take the “messing with my memories” move. (Yes, this means you can get -1forward or +1stress on top of the harm)

The Past
You simply can not remember large parts of your past: your childhood is completely gone, maybe even more.

Your amnesia coupled with your connection to the psychic maelstrom didn‘t work out to well for you. Your mind is fragile and subject to mental stress that can cause you to suffer terrific freak outs and flashbacks. Stress starts at 0 and can range from -4 to +4 and it accumulates over time, mainly when bad things happen. Once stress hits +4 you freak out (see below) and the stress is reset to 0.

Sources of Stress
The following things may cause stress to the lost.

    Many lost moves increase stress when they fail.
    When another player successfully interferes with you and the resulting action fails you suffer +1stress.
    At the beginning of the session, roll+stress. On a 10+, you've found some time to calm down: -1stress. On a 7-9, shit just keeps piling up: no change. On a miss, bad dreams, bad thoughts: +1stress. If this causes you to freak out you set up the flashback scenario as normal but maybe your MC decides to start the session right there without giving you knowing when and where in the real world his happens.
    When you know that someone messes with your memories (this includes brainscans, memory loss, someone confronting you with evidence about new details of your past etc.) roll +cool. On a 10+, you're used to this crap, you can deal: no change. On a 7-9: you don't freak but shit still gets to you: -1forward. On a miss, you twitch. Someone messing with your head just puts you on edge in a real bad way. +1stress.

Freak Out
When you freak out your repressed and broken memories from the past take over. Present the MC with a flashback scenario that sheds some light on your past. Be sure to have a clear conflict within that scenario. If you can’t come up with a scenario, ask the table for help and ideas.
The MC then maps the characters and locations from that scenario onto the current, “real” world. This can make friends turn into old enemies (or lovers), turn open windows into barred prison cells and so on. It can also make objects disappear from your awareness or completely imaginary ones to appear. You then act as if in that scenario while still in the real world. You can't be talked to or reasoned with outside of that scenario. Even if something completely violates your scenario you either ignore it or simply adjust your mental flashback.
This state lasts until the flashbacks central conflict is over or the MC deems it was played out enough. While freaked out you do not gain experience for your actions but you also do not accumulate further stress.

Flashback Questions
The following questions may provide some ideas and inspiration for flashbacks.
Who gave you your name?
What is your first memory?
Where do your strange powers and insight come from?
What happened to your family?
Did you have any friends?
Did you have any enemies?

In general I have to say the moves are still pretty rough. Especially déjà vu, which I don't think works as written. At least not the NPC part.

So this is basically the protagonist of Memento, yeah?

I will tell you what I love about this character that doesn't have anything to do with his moves, and that's your chosen statlines for him - low cool. Dude is manipulable and gets into trouble. Sweet!

For gear, you should totally have a clue or a memento of who you are.


One thing I don't like is that this is a very self-absorbed character concept. The playbook makes the whole table's story about the one guy - much like the Quarantine playbook does, say, but the table doesn't get anything back - you have a Quarantine, you get to find out how the apocalypse really happened!

All of the original playbooks have not only a solid theme going, which this has, but also a solid, uh, social function - they do things to other people, hurt them or manipulate them or trade things with them or order them around. You should think about what a Lost does to other people that makes him be still around.

Maybe, like in Memento (or any amnesiac assassin movie), his loss of memory is used to manipulate the Lost into doing dirty work for the persons who are 'helping' him (a simple change of Hx questions could achieve this effect!)? If you want this, you could reduce the sharp line a bit (sharp is experience, after all... where does a Lost get that?) and increase Hard accordingly.

Whatever he's forgotten should also be a big deal - it should matter not only for the Lost, but for everyone. Maybe, like, what he's forgotten is what the maelstorm is? Seems appropriate for the basic character concept, and would get the whole table invested into the Lost's story... "Roll +weird, on a 10+ the MC will tell you what the maelstorm wants. If you give it what she wants, it helps you out, just this once."


The moves... I'm sorry, but I don't like them just because I'm lazy and they're long.

That said, details.

Whispers of the past. How is it different from a regular open your brain move?

Echoes of the future is weird. Seeing a person's future is cool. Controlling what it is? Different thing. "My loved one will be rescued from this world by super nice space-aliens within a week!" "The person I have tied to this table will die within hours!" A "MC tells you" clause could work better, and would totally rock for causing conflict. You have sex with a person and find out that within minutes they're going to die! The ages old "you know fate but can you change it?" question, and you get to play it out.

Deja vu is kind of awesome, but, uh. The Lost can actually turn back time? That is freaky enough to make a whole playbook out of. How about this instead, keeping with the same theme:

Deja vu - remember it or not, you've been around. When you're in danger, roll +weird. On a 10+, you get a vague memory of yourself dealing with a situation much like this one. You can now roll +weird for any of the basic moves, just this once.

Infectious amnesia I just plain don't like. It's a mindwipe - use it often enough, and you're surrounded by empty shells of what used to be people. Boring and not too PC-friendly. Maybe, like, instead of deleting memories, it copy/pasted them, either into your mind (Johny Mnemonic!), or into the maelstorm?

Pulling memory's strings - eh. I pull out a long lost memory of a person and I get a +1 to a manipulate roll? Could be a lot simpler. "When you know something about them they'd rather stay hidden, roll +weird instead of +hot to manipulate them." Lost already has a good-ish hot, so I don't know about this.


And the whole stress mechanic... Do you really need it, as written? It's a bit bulky, and it has the downside of making all of the Lost moves mechanically Lost-specific. You could do with this instead:

When you find out something about your past you didn't know, you're acting under fire from your past. If you fail, you freak out and get lost in a flashback of a memory and confuse real people and things with those from your memories.

Does mostly the same thing you wanted it to, yeah?


I really like the underlying idea, but it needs some serious polishing.

Some good points. Thanks for the feedback. I'll think on it and come up with an update in the next couple of days. In the meantime, everyone else feel free to dogpile on top :)