So, as I was sitting here bemoaning some other publishers kicking out more traditional RPGs (anything with derived stats) in a genre I'd like to play, it occurred to me that maybe I should just buckle down and come up with my own AW hack to reinvigorate some fun but dangerously tired stuff. What follows is a very preliminary, back of the napkin sort of thing. My own schedule is crazy through October but I don't think that this is an idea that's going away.
It was an age of great adventure and crushing poverty, an age of relentless expansion and skies blackened by coal fires, an age where the secrets of life and death were within our grasp, where other intelligent life found us (or maybe we found them). That all changed this morning. Maybe it was punishment for our hubris. Maybe it was an alien beam weapon but this morning the dead rose to feast on the living, or maybe great cephalopods filled the air. The Atlanteans retreated beneath the waves to be confronted by their own monsters. Even the vampires are in danger of being over run by the tide of rotting corpses. You're barricaded in your [location] but it won't hold forever. What do you do?
Think about how in Bioshock, the apocalypse already happened but in Infinite it happens right around you, how you get that one glance at this beautiful dystopia before it explodes. Mix in some wildly over the top Victorian sci-fi characters (see below), mayhem, carnage and chaos. Start off with a bang and keep that visceral feel of excitement going.
In addition to the usual stats and moves, every character starts with and describes a location in your city and most will have one or two named NPC assistants. With some Ask Questions Like Crazy, you'll have a whole first session's worth of scenery and people.
Playbooks with locations and rough sketch primary stats
The Resurrectionist - Part Angel, part Victor Frankenstein. Starts with a medical laboratory where he can experiment on. . .er. . .make people better. . .er fix. . .er heal, no really, heal people. (sharp)
The Necromechanic - Brings dead tech to life, literally. He can bottle soulfire as a power source. Of course, someone's life has to be drained to charge the battery. Has something akin to the Savvyhead workshop. (weird)
The Captain - Of an Airship (if you must), of a space ship (if you like, although then the apocalypse has to effect aliens, too) or even of a submarine (my favorite) or maybe he even commands (although not rules) a floating city. His location is, of course, his ship. (sharp)
The Alien Princess - Is she Atlantean, Venusian? Is she a real princess or just the best of what's left behind? Grace, bearing, diplomacy and all that jazz. She can always find solace in her alien temple. (hot)
The Occultist - master of ceremonial magic and probably cult leader. Perhaps he can find something in those moldy tomes to help fight the apocalypse. (weird)
The Action Archaeologist - Don't let anyone fool you. The 90% of archaeology done in the library is the boring stuff you get the grad students to do for you. The Action Archaeologist gets out there and gets his hands in the dirt and blood and monster goop. He's found lost cities, evaded death traps and wrestled gods to bring his treasures back to the museum/warehouse. (cool)
The Ancient One - Is he a vampire? A resurrected Egyptian prince? An alchemist who discovered a formula that only works for him? The immortal is the mastermind with an army of loyal henchmen (part Dracula, part Bond villain) and an impenetrable Lair who just will not stay dead. (sharp/weird?)