Niche protection could be created (to some degree) through a couple other methods:
1) If there were a nice big list of moves and no character could choose a move already taken by another. Mini-specializations, as it were.
2) The setting lets players differentiate their characters through the Secrets that they know. Suppose three characters are fairly similar in general aptitude and skill, but one of them knows about dealing with mutants, one of them knows a safe path through a particular deadly location, and the third knows how to bypass the Brain Scorcher. The three of them together are capable of slipping past the mutant nests, through the dangerous location, and past the Brain Scorcher to find the treasure beyond. They're each vital to the success of the expedition, because they know Secrets the others do not. It's a degree of niche-protection, though not as concrete as discrete playbooks.
Something else I've thought about is voluntarily surrendering your niche-protection. Suppose your character knows some Secret that the crew will need to deal with some hazard. Do you keep it to yourself, pissing them off but ensuring that they need to keep you safe until your knowledge is required? Or do you share that Secret, improving the odds of the crew's success but making you personally less necessary and degrading the value of your hard-won Secret by spreading it around?
TL;DR Niche protection could be maintained by emplasizing what you know instead of what you can do.