New Playbook: The Feral Kid

Yes, I just watched The Road Warrior again. What of it? As with my Metal Beast/Juggernaut, any and all comments are welcome (in fact, I think I took some of the ideas from other posts here - maybe someone suggested something like this special move already?)

In any case, I present The Feral Kid:

The Feral Kid

You ain't got nothing, you ain't got no family, you just got you.

Creating a Feral Kid
Choose your name, look, stats, moves, gear and Hx.

Names
Kid, Boy, Girl, Heya, Tiny, Scratch, Dirt, Annie, Rich, Daisy, Sammy, Knives.

Look
Boy, girl, concealed, ambiguous.
Animal skin wear, scavenge wear, utility wear, ragged wear.
Dirty face, innocent face, feral face, hopeful face, sunburnt face.
Open eyes, distant eyes, hard eyes, sad eyes, squinting eyes.
Tough body, skinny body, dirty body, chubby body, beaten body.

Stats
Choose one set:
Cool+2, Hard+1, Hot=0, Sharp=0, Weird=0
Cool+2, Hard-1, Hot-1, Sharp=0, Weird+2
Cool+2, Hard=0, Hot-1, Sharp+1, Weird+1
Cool+2, Hard=0, Hot+1, Sharp+1, Weird-1

Basic moves
You get all the basic moves.

Feral Kid Moves
You get this one:

• Little: When you squirm through a tiny space, roll +Cool. On 10+, you can get in and/or out of some place without being seen. On a 7-9, choose 2: you get in; you get out; you aren't spotted; you escape your bonds.

Then pick two of these:

• Just do it: When you just attack someone, without considering the consequences, roll +Cool instead of +Hard for your first go aggro or seize by force roll.
• Fast little bugger: If you have less than 2 armour, you count as having 2 armour.
• Player: You can roll +Cool instead of +Hot when you manipulate someone.
• Hungry: When someone helps you – offers food, shelter or healing – without hope of payment, you mark experience. If they are a PC, they gain +1 Hx with you.
• Harmless: When someone tries to hurt you, roll +Hot. On a 10+, they can't bring themselves to go through with it. On a 7-9, they choose one: you run away; they inflict little harm (-1 harm); they take -1 forward; they knock you down without inflicting harm.
• I'm helping! When someone is in a spot, you can roll +Cool. On a 10+, you are there with everything you need and in a good position. On a 7-9, you're there but (choose one): you're unprepared; you are in the line of fire; you take -1 forward.

Gear
You get clothes appropriate to your look (worth armour-1 if you want), and one freaky weapon.
Freaky weapons (choose 1):

• Stainless steel boomerang (2-harm close/far returns messy) and an armoured glove.
• Scythe on a chain (2-harm hand/close area messy)
• Hatchet with spikes (2-harm hand messy)
• Sawn-off shotgun (3-harm close messy loud)
• Grenades (3-harm close area messy loud)
• Gloves with knives on them (3-harm hand messy)
• Speargun (3-harm close slow reload)

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, choose 1, 2 or all 3:

• Pick who you admire the most, tell them Hx +3.
• Pick someone who is most like the parent you want, tell them Hx +3.
• Someone helped you out when you were hungry, tell them Hx+2.

Everyone else, you stay distant from. Tell them Hx -1.

On the others’ turns, if you picked a person to admire or a person who is like a parent, whatever number those people tell you, add 1 and write that down. Everyone else, subtract 1 and write that down – you keep your distance from everyone else.

At the end, find the character with the highest Hx on your sheet. Ask that player which of your stats is most interesting, and highlight it. The MC will have you highlight a second stat too.

Special Move
When you have sex with another character, you've grown up. Choose a new playbook immediately (just like the ungiven future advance).

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 following. Check it off; you can’t choose it again.
__ get +1hard (max hard+2)
__ get +1hot (max hot+2)
__ get +1sharp (max cool+2)
__ get +1weird (max weird+3)
__ get a new feral kid move
__ get a new feral kid move
__ get 2 gigs (detail) and moonlighting
__ get followers and fortunes
__ 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: one valuable item stolen, a month's work doing scavenging or similar.

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

As a one-time expenditure, and very subject to availability, 1-barter might count for: a night in high luxury; any weapon, gear or fashion not valuable or hi-tech; repair of a piece of hi-tech gear by a savvyhead; a year’s tribute to a warlord; bribes, fees and gifts sufficient to get you into almost anyone’s presence.

I'm struggling with this one. I can't build malacai from Children of the Corn. That's what I want to do with this playbook. Also, I can't model the kid from RW as I'd like to.

But if you added...

Lackey
When carrying out the will of a scary master, and acting as lieutenant, carry +1forward. When you stand up to that boss, despite personal risk, mark experience.

Because the feral kid is often a weapon of the big bad, until you suddenly realize that feral means feral, and the kid can't be controlled.

Also, this is absolutely the most badass weapon list ever ever ever. Each one is bloody and brilliant.

I was just thinking about the feral kid!

What about a custom improvement track, where you have less stuff but improve faster (like only on four marks instead of five), but your sixth improvement has to be a new playbook?

The star wars RPG kid template had among starting gear: one small furry animal, alive or dead, your choice. That seems somehow appropriate here.

I'm struggling with this one. I can't build malacai from Children of the Corn. That's what I want to do with this playbook. Also, I can't model the kid from RW as I'd like to.

Been a long while since I saw Children of the Corn but wouldn't Malacai by a hocus?  He seems like he is not a feral child.  I dunno.

Joe, I already wrote that playbook.

Mike,

Fast Little Bugger and Harmless are pretty hella powerful. Other moves only give you 1-armour. Maybe 2-armour against gunfire only? Speed's not much help if buddy gets his hands on you.

Harmless cries out for a hold-and-spend mechanic, I think. Like, when you look pitiful and harmless, roll+hot. Spend your hold to have them leave you alone, with or without a harmless display of contempt.

For my child playbook, the special was: when you and another character have sex, you are no longer a child. For your next advance, you switch to a new playbook. The other player chooses what parts of your childhood you keep and what you lave behind, you don't.

I did that so a) it's not immediate and weird (you had sex! so you get a car!) but that's just me, and b) so there's a discussion and not just user sex.

I think the Hungry move is awesome. I like the weapons, too.

Joe,

I don't know Children of the Corn so I don't know what Malacai is like. That Lackey move is great, though, I'll add that one to the list.

Matt,

I'm not sure about quicker advances, but adding "you grow up and take a new playbook" to the advance list would be pretty cool I think.

Johnstone,

I thought about a hold and spend for Harmless, but decided that I'd rather it was more all or nothing, like An arresting skinner.

I'm think Fast little bugger is okay, because almost everyone can get 2 armour as gear, but the Feral Kid can't. The move's really just bringing them up to that level.

Maybe I'll re-word the special move so that it's "you choose a new playbook, as soon as it makes sense." It's not really very different but makes it clear that you don't instantly get a car or a pile of guns or whatever.

I love it Mike! Will someone please make up a nice trifold version so I can offer it to my players?  :)

Making it look fancy is beyond my abilities, I'm afraid.

Feral Kids should be Hard, not Cool in my mind.  Little fuckers that will take a bite out of ya.

Yeah, Hard or Cool was possibly the most difficult decision in there.

I went for Cool because, well, I thought it was more interesting to have a kid who can cope with pretty much anything the world throws at them. Rather than just a kid who is straight up in your face in a fight.

Maybe there should be a stat line with Hard+2, in case you want to go that way instead. But Cool+2 and Hard+2 seems pretty extreme!

I thought about a hold and spend for Harmless, but decided that I'd rather it was more all or nothing, like An arresting skinner.

I'm think Fast little bugger is okay, because almost everyone can get 2 armour as gear, but the Feral Kid can't. The move's really just bringing them up to that level.

An Arresting Skinner has to actually be doing something. Your move kicks in whenever somebody tries to hurt you.

Only the Battlebabe, Chopper, and Gunlugger can get 2-armour as gear. With these two, anybody attacking has to get past the Harmless move, and then the 2-armour. This isn't at the level of the gunlugger, this is invincible. You might as well write the move No Fighting Around the Kid: nobody else can fight around the kid.

If your intention is that the kid kicks everybody's ass while they're totally ineffectually trying to fight back, cool. If you want a playbook that can fight at or around the same level as the other fighty playbooks, something needs to be toned down.

Good points, I hadn't thought about how those two combined. I'm not sure it makes the kid invincible, but certainly that's more than I was aiming for. I'll think about harmless as a hold-based move instead.

I think Fast Little Bugger and Harmless are awesome, with the restriction, that you can't act as a Fast Little Bugger if you're trying to act all fucking Harmless. So, it's either that 2-armor and scrap it out, or you try to invoke sympathy.

Well, you could also add a condition to Harmless, so it's less of a reactive move. Like, when you surrender, or when you cower and look harmless, roll. Instead of whenever somebody else attacks you.

As written, it happens whenever anybody tries to hurt you, regardless of what you're doing. So you could be going aggro and seizing by force all over their ass, and they can't do shit because you keep hitting that 10+. If you just make it a move that ends the fight, or it's a distraction move that you pull to set the guy up or whatever, that's pretty cool.

Yes, I was thinking of redoing it along those lines, Johnstone.

Something like: when you act all vulnerable and harmless, roll +Hot. On 10+ hold 3, on 7-9 hold 1. Spend your hold 1 for 1 to:

• If you suffer harm, you suffer one less harm.
• Make someone hesitate, instead of acting against you.
• Give someone who is helping you +1 on a roll.

On a miss, nobody is taken in by your act - you're marked as a threat right away.