Playbook Draft: The Survivor (Feedback please!)

Hi all,

I've put together the following character in an attempt to portray a strong but emotional survivor character. Let me know what you think!

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Introducing
The Survivor

A quiet life was never an option. The apocalypse ripped the world apart, and left us with the burnt out husks of the hopes and dreams of the golden age. Now, we struggle: to eat, to hope, to survive. But despite the hardship, the danger, the fear, we somehow find a way to keep ourselves going.

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Creating a Survivor

Name:
Hope, Cave, Maglight, Destiny, Splint, Mountain, Croft, Choice, Wood, Woven, Husk, or Sky

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

Moves:
You get all the basic moves. Choose 2 survivor moves.

Look:
Man, woman, concealed, or ambiguous.

Utility wear, outdoor wear, scrounge wear, tattered wear, or common folk wear.

Weathered face, honest face, kind face, stern face, strong face, scarred face, or striking face.

Distant eyes, fierce eyes, darting eyes, squinting eyes, tired eyes, loving eyes, or tender eyes.

Dirty body, worn body, thin body, firm body, strong body, scarred body, or tall body.

Gear:
You get
•   1 trusted weapon
•   oddments worth 2-barter
•   fashion suitable to your look, including at your option a piece worth 1-armor (you detail)

Trusted Weapon:
•   A climbing axe (2-harm hand hi-tech)
•   9mm (2-harm close loud)
•   machete (3-harm hand messy)
•   crowbar (2-harm hand messy)
•   hunting rifle (2-harm far loud)

Hx
On your turn, tell everyone else to write Hx-1 with you. You’re hard to get close to.

On the other character’s turns, choose both, one, or none.
•   One of them was once there for you when all seemed lost. Give yourself Hx+2 with that person.
•   One of them works for your adversaries, either as a hired hand or a true believer to their cause. Give yourself Hx+1 with that person.
For everyone else, whatever number they tell you, write it next to their character’s name.

Advancements
__ Hard +1
__ Hard +1
__ Hot +1
__ Hot +1
__ Sharp +1
__ Get a new survivor move
__ Get a new survivor move
__ Get an angel kit (cf) with a capacity of 2
__ Get a move from another playbook
__ Get a move from another playbook

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Journey
You life has always been a series of trials and struggles, driven forward by a larger purpose. This may be a life you choose, or one that has chosen you, but for better or worse, it is a part of who you are. Choose 1 purpose around which your life revolves, and detail:
•   Protection of someone vulnerable
•   Protection of a community
•   Seeking of secrets or relics
•   Hunting of a person or group
•   Serving a lord or master

Adversaries
There are others who wish to interfere with your journey. Choose 2 or 3 for your opposition and detail:
•   They are widespread – numbering in the hundreds in total
•   They are vicious – willing to harm those close to you without pause
•   They are mad – tied to and driven by the world’s psychic maelstrom
•   They are trusted – many will view you as the wrongdoer
•   They are feared – few will aid you against them

If at any point your journey ends – is lost, won, burnt out, or collapsed – pick a new journey or change your character type (providing the advancement is available to you).

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Survivor Moves (Choose 2):

Inner strength: When your survival or the survival of someone imperative to your purpose is at stake, you get +1 to your roll. Note that this move only works when a failure means life or death, not for injuries or other consequences that might lead up to such a situation.

Unwavering: Ignore the effects of your first debility, when it is taken or henceforth for one already chosen.

There’s always a way: When you must enter or exit a place to fulfill or continue on your journey, roll+sharp. On a 10+, choose 2. On a 7-9, choose 3. On a miss, choose 3, and take -1forward.
•   The way is harmful – take 1harm (ap)
•   The way is treacherous – you are acting under fire
•   The way is loud – whomever blocks your path will know of your movement
•   The way is costly – you must spend 1 barter to bribe or negotiate your path

Will to live: As long as you are not actively bound or otherwise unable to tend to yourself, wounds at 10:00 or 11:00 automatically stabilize. Acting under fire rolls may still be called for strenuous movement or the like, at risk of further injuring yourself.

Resourceful: When you need to fashion a simple tool or supply, and have time and reasonable materials at your disposal, roll+cool. On a 10+, choose 1. On a 7-9, choose 3.
•   It will last for more than one use
•   It takes a long time to put together
•   It isn’t quite what you need, but close
•   The search and process leaves you worn down (take -1forward)
On a miss, there is nothing nearby that can be fashioned into what you need, and your search has brought unwanted attention to you.

Only human: When you bear your soul – your suffering, your fears, your unmet dreams - to a close friend or lover, you and they mark experience. This can only be done once per person.

Survivor Special:
When you and another character have sex, they may (their choice) join or become a part of your purpose (your choice). You also get +1 or -1forward, also their choice.

Have you thought of doing that as a expanded Playbook instead? The premise seems a bit weak for a whole playbook to me.

I'm not found of the main concept. I mean : what, a playbook to be a survivor ? But every PC in this game is already one ! I like the fact that in AW, there only one person (at time) who personifies his playbook. How can only one person personify the concept of being the Survivor in such a post apocalytpic world ?

It becomes even more clear with the two points "Journey" and "Adversaries", which seems to describe exactly what is the game about (or even any role playing game...) : a series of trials and struggles, with adversaries wishing to interfere. I can't see how those points can be specific to only one playbook.

Concerning the moves "There’s always a way" is not written the proper way, giving the PC agency he shouldn't have. I would change it for something like :

When you must enter or exit a place to fulfill or continue on your journey, roll+sharp. On a 10+, choose 3. On a 7-9, choose 2. On a miss, the MC will tell you.
•   You make the way not harmful.
•   You make the way not treacherous.
•   You make the way not loud.
•   You make the way not costly.

Jwok, if I may make a suggestion: simply change the name of the playbook.
While reading these notes, especially the part about the Journey, I was reminded of a song by the Who called The Seeker. If that name doesn't appeal to you, you could always try renaming it to The Desperate, as the object of the Journey seems to be something that the playbook's central theme should revolve around.

Take this with a grain of salt, but I think there is something compelling about a playbook that is the anti-hardholder, a playbook about constantly being on the move. The Driver has potential to be like that, but a playbook explicitly about moving on might be interesting.

In post-apocalyptic fiction, there is the archetype of a character who is trying to get to some place because they think it's salvation or paradise, like Shell Beach in Dark City, the kids dreaming of paradise in Beyond Thunderdome, etc.

I'd think it'd be interesting if a wanderer-style playbook had Quarantine-like questions about this rumored paradise.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I've been thinking a lot about making new playbooks to "fill spaces in the world," and I'm not sure how much this one does this. I definitely don't mind if this project end up dying, but you all have spurred an interesting idea here.

Lin_fusan's comment on the anti-hardholder led me to realize that my idea is already pretty close to the Touchstone. That combined with Praion's commend on the expanded playbook makes me think this - maybe the survivor could be an expansion of the touchstone?

So maybe something like?
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The Survivor
A Touchstone supplement for apocalypse world

A quiet life was never an option. The apocalypse ripped the world apart, and left us with the burnt out husks of the hopes and dreams of the golden age. Now, we struggle: to eat, to hope, to survive. But despite the hardship, the danger, the fear, we somehow find a way to keep ourselves going.

When you take a debility to survive, you can choose this move instead of another advancement option:

Unwavering: Ignore the effects of your first debility, when it is taken or henceforth for one already chosen.

When you do, henceforth you can choose any of the following moves instead of a Touchstone move or a move from another playbook:

Inner strength: When your survival or the survival of someone you love is at stake, you get +1 to your roll. Note that this move only works when a failure means life or death, not for injuries or other consequences that might lead up to such a situation.

There’s always a way: When you must enter or exit a place to fulfill or continue on your journey, roll+hard. On a 10+, choose 2. On a 7-9, choose 3. On a miss, choose 3, and take -1forward.
•   The way is harmful – take 1harm (ap)
•   The way is treacherous – you are acting under fire
•   The way is loud – whomever blocks your path will know of your movement
•   The way is costly – you must spend 1 barter to bribe or negotiate your path

Only human: When you bear your soul – your suffering, your fears, your unmet dreams - to a close friend or lover, you and they mark experience. This can only be done once per person.

I think this playbook sounds cool!  Even as a stand-alone playbook.  It's about just a regular dude in a fucked up world, who wants to complete a very human purpose, without needing to be that quasi mystical of a Touchstone.  There's something very honest and human about this.

I think it is really encapsulated in the Journey/Adversaries.  I think that's my favorite thing here.  I like the questions that help fill in the world.

I'm convinced. 

@Dragonraven: Glad you like it! I'm still not sure what I want to do with this, or if it really has a place in the AW universe, but here is a link to the PDF trifold I put together if you want to check it out or give it a try. If you end up using it in a game, please let me know how it went!

I also realized that this character kind of fits the father from "The Road" in a way that I haven't really seen yet. Again, I'm not sure how well this archetype will fit into an AW setting (it's a bit more gritty and melancholy than the feel of most games I've seen), but I am interested in playtesting it and seeing how it plays out.