Threats that don't fit and Custom impulses

High everyone,

I've seen a piece on here that I liked but am having an issue with. The advice was to make everyone and everything a threat my problem is that some of my NPC's don't fit into the threat types for example in my current game I have Dustwich, she runs a bar called the FC. Based on play I made the FC a Furnace landscape threat. But Dustwich's has been nothing but helpful to the players and hasn't lost her humanity and doesn't have any sort of gang so she doesn't fit into any of the NPC type threats.

Should I make a benign threat type with a list of custom moves similar to those of the other threat type or should basic MC moves be enough for these sorts of NPCs?

Also I noticed the example fronts have impulses that are different than the ones listed beside the threat types so I assume that I should be coming up with my own any advice on that?

One thing to keep in mind is that she doesn't have to personally represent the threat, she doesn't have to mean to harm anyone. She threatens the players in other ways. The players may feel a duty to protect her when she's in danger, her choices may put others in jeopardy, she may expend resources unwisely (even to the PC's benefit) and cause unintended problems. Someone may be jealous of her attention or her success.

She's still a threat, even not meaning to be one, but where to put her? Probably in the home front. She's not really a part of that furnace threat if she doesn't reflect it's purpose, even if she's in close physical proximity to it.

If she doesn't act through others or have crippled humanity (and ask yourself, after living in Apocalypse World, why hasn't her humanity been crippled?), then she is probably part of a Brutes threat.

"But she's not part of a group!" You might say. But think about that. A fully functioning human being definitely belongs to a group. If she doesn't, she's almost certainly a grotesque.

So think broader. Her family, friends, cult, team, scene, etc. I mean, she runs a bar, it's pretty easy to say the people there act as a family, or as sybarites, even a cult or mob. Maybe she doesn't like the difficult things they do if you really want her to be a saint, but that's part of the way Brutes threats can work.

Based on play I made the FC a Furnace landscape threat. But Dustwich's has been nothing but helpful to the players and hasn't lost her humanity and doesn't have any sort of gang so she doesn't fit into any of the NPC type threats.

Simply put, she's part of the FC's landscape threat... she doesn't have to be part of another one.

That said, she certainly could be part of another threat, brutes in particular!  What threat are the people that live around the FC or work there?

Right! Every threat has room for a whole cast of people in it. It shouldn't always be one person one threat.

-Vincent

Okay. Now it makes sense. The advice should be make everyone and everything a threat or a part of a threat. It's the same problem I was having with Fronts thinking of them in too limited terms. If i make the threats and fronts as broad as possible I'll have less issues. Thanks for the help on that one.


What about the second question? Tips for coming up with custom impulses.