Traveller-inspired hack

Hi all,

I'm working on a hack bringing together AW and Traveller, and I'd love some feedback on the first two charater playbooks I've made.

As context, if you're not familiar with Traveller, it's "dirty space" sci-fi roleplaying.   Scoundrels, spaceships, aliens, greed, the usual.


The first character is the Sour Knight (name not final).  The Sour Knight is a detective-like character, burnt out and jaded but still following a code.  The classic noir protagonist.  Sharp is the Sour Knight's primary stat, and they're focused more on figuring shit out than winning fights or manipulating people.  Two of the Sour Knight's moves are improved by taking Harm, inspired by the trope of guys like Harry Dresden or Tracer Bullet figuring it all out while nursing bruises from a beating.  I kind of think of the Sour Knight as being like the Battle Babe: good at getting into shit, less good at finishing it.

STATS
Choose one set:
   - Cool+0 Hard +1 Hot-1 Sharp+2 Psi+1
   - Cool+1 Hard+0 Hot-1 Sharp+2 Psi+1
   - Cool+1 Hard+1 Hot-1 Sharp+2 Psi+0
   - Cool-1 Hard+1 Hot+0 Sharp+2 Psi+1

SOUR KNIGHT MOVES

Choose 2:

Scrapper: If in the service of doing the right thing you take two or more segments of harm in rapid succession, you gain +1Hard for the remainder of the conflict.  The MC gets to set the bounds of when this applies and ends.

Investigator: You can roll+Sharp when you Open Your Brain in service of a case or other investigation-type thing.

Perfect instincts: When you've read a charged situation and you're acting on the MC's answers, you take +2 instead of +1.

Mind like a steel trap: Gain +1Sharp (Sharp+3)

From pain comes understanding: When you are trying to solve a case, a riddle, a conspiracy or whatever, you can put your skills and training to unravelling.  This generally requires a bit of time and quiet.  Roll+sharp and take +1 if you've recently taken at least 1harm your antagonists.  On a 10+ hold 3.  On a 7-9 hold 1.  Spend your hold 1 for 1 to ask the MC questions about the case.
<list of questions>
On a miss, ask three questions.  At least one of them will have a kernel of truth.



The other character I've got is the Street Psyk.  Part punk, part Mass Effect Vanguard.  Psi with a side of Cool.  The Street Psyk is meant to be splashy and unsubtle.

STATS
Pick one set:

Hard +1, Cool+0, Sharp-1, Hot+1, Psi+2
Hard+0, Cool+1, Sharp-1, Hot+1, Psi+2
Hard-1, Cool+1, Sharp+1, Hot+0, Psi+2
Hard-1, Cool+1, Sharp+1, Hot+0, Psi+2

STREET PSYK MOVES
Pick 2:

Lift and Slam: You can pick up shit with your mind.  You can't do much subtle, but who needs subtle?  Roll+Psi.  On a 10+, you can throw things for 1-, 2- or 3-harm (ap) depending on their size or you can lift crap up and move it around, just not gently.  On a 7-9, you do it but you expose yourself, take backlash or otherwise suffer consequences.  On a miss, the MC can make a move as hard and direct as they like.

Intuition: You can roll+Psi when reading a situation or a person.

Invisible hand: You can use your telepathy for fine manipulation.  It's not enough to cause harm directly, but you can do all sorts of things.  Roll+Psi.  On a 10+, you do it.  On a 7-9, you do it but expose yourself, add unintentional consequences, suffer backlash, etc.  On a miss, bad shit.

Inner focus: You use your powers to focus inwards and enhance your physical capabilities.  Roll+Psi.  On a 10+, hold 3.  On a 7-9, hold 1.  Spend your hold 1-for-1 to take +1forward on Going Aggro, Acting Under Fire and any other physical tasks in the current situation (MC's discretion).  You can also spend one hold to modify a Harm roll by 1 in your favour, but no more than 1 per roll.  The hold dissipates when the current situation ends.  On a miss, the MC holds 1 and spends to hinder you.

Tough shit, loser: You can roll+Cool when going Aggro.

Barrier: When you have time, even a very short time, to react to incoming harm you can throw up a shield of psyker energy.  If it's unclear whether you'd have time, you're acting under fire.  Roll+Psi.  On a 10+, the shield is worth 3-armour and can protect two people other than yourself.  On a 7-9 it's either 2-armour and protects only you or 1-armour and capable of shielding you and one other person.  On a miss, you're caught in the open.

Thought I'd share my changes to the barter/money.  I wanted to create a boom/bust cycle of income with an inevitable trend towards bust, and pressure their shortages/weaknesses.


Every game revolves around the PCs as a crew, codependant if not friendly.  Every PC tracks their own ready resources, measured in units of cash.  Beyond that there is wealth, a communal measure that is stated as flush+2, getting by+0, or broke-2.  When you're flush, times are good.  There's fresh food, easy repairs and new gear, while when you're broke you're eating decade-old ration packs and gods help you if you run put of gas.

Cash is an abstract measure covering a variety of various currencies, shiny objects and preciouses.  Most businesses and people who deal with travellers expect to deal with non-standard forms of payment, and most starports provide ready exchange services.

When you give 1-cash to someone, but with strings attached, it counts as manipulating them and hitting the roll with a 10+, no roll required.

Most things you buy yourself with your own cash.  If the MC says a thing is readily available you can just mark off the cash and take it.  Otherwise, unless the MC says there's just no way you're getting it, you can use the following moves:

When you go into a bustling market, looking for some particular thing to buy, and it’s not obvious whether you should be able to just like go buy one like that, roll+sharp. On a 10+, yes, you can just go can buy it like that. On a 7–9, the MC chooses one of the following:
• it costs 1-cash more than you’d expect
• it’s available, but only if you meet with a guy who knows a guy
• damn, I had one, I just sold it to this guy named Rolfball, maybe you can go get it off him?
• sorry, I don’t have that, but maybe this will do instead 

When you make known that you want a thing and drop jingle to speed it on its way, roll+barter spent (max roll+3). It has to be a thing you could legitimately get this way. On a 10+ it comes to you, no strings attached. On a 7–9 it comes to you, or something pretty close. On a miss, it comes to you, but with strings very much attached.


Some purchases need bigger scratch than what the PCs having lying around and get paid for out of the communal pool of wealth.  Ship upgrades and repairs are the most common use for this.  When making such a purchase, use this move:

When you make a big purchase, roll+wealth.  On a 10+ you get what you were looking for.  On a 7-9, it's close or mostly what you want, there are strings attached or it costs a few extra cash.  On a miss, there are big strings attached and immediately make the expenses roll.

For this move, a hit is bad.  When you make a big purchase, circumstances dictate, or roughly a month of game time has passed, roll+wealth.  On a 10+, your wealth drops one category now.  On a 7-9, players can spend their own cash to change the roll, 1-cash for -1.  On a miss, carry on.

If your communal wealth is already Broke-2 and you hit on the expenses roll, one or more of your ship's downsides is immediately activated.

The expenses roll being bad on a hit is to represent how the good times tend to slip through your fingers, while people get sharp when times are tough.

When you get a payday, roll+wealth.  On a 10+, your wealth rises by one category and there is enough left over for everyone to get 1-cash.  On a 7-9, your wealth rises one category.  On a miss, you cover your expenses but no more.

For especially large paydays, the MC may give you a bonus +1 to your roll.

Overall, the playbooks look okay, though they might need a bit more bite somehow. They seem a bit thin, but that might just be lack of gear, hx, etc.

Invisible hand probably uses telekinesis, not telepathy.
And I think Inner Focus would do better without a specific miss effect (just let the GM make a move).

The cash/wealth system looks good, but I think it needs some tweaking here and there to shine. It feels a bit too fuzzy right now for my tastes.

One thing you might consider is whether cash can be converted to wealth and vice versa. Maybe 6-1 relationship, so the crew can make a successful payday roll into enough cash that it can be redistributed to all the characters. And enough that on-hand cash can't easily raise the wealth.

So I'm gearing up for an actual playtest in the next week or so, and I did some work on the playbooks to give them a bit more meat.  I also tried to focus them a bit more.

The Sour Knight is all about 1) taking a beating, and 2) figuring out what's going on and how to deal with stuff.  I have that iconic image in my head of the noir detective picking himself up after getting shit-kicked by some heavy and, as he ices his ribs, figuring out that the murderer must actually be X and there's a big conspiracy to Y! 

SOUR KNIGHT
"That code is going to get you killed one day."
"I thought that was the point."
 
When you take a good person, a person committed to order and justice and place them between the grindstones of Law and Reality you either get rubble and dust or a Sour Knight.  A Sour Knight no longer believes in True Justice or intrinsic goodness or any of that idealistic crap, and yet… and yet they just can't stop helping.  Even when they know it won't last, or it won't matter, or it'll mean getting the shit beat out of you, they still gotta help.
 
STATS
Choose one set:
Cool+0 Hard +1 Hot-1 Sharp+2 Psi+1
Cool+1 Hard+0 Hot-1 Sharp+2 Psi+1
Cool+1 Hard+1 Hot-1 Sharp+2 Psi+0
Cool-1 Hard+1 Hot+0 Sharp+2 Psi+1
 
SOUR KNIGHT MOVES
 
Choose 2: 
 
Scrapper: So long as the Sour Knight has at least 1harm on their clock, they can subtract their Hard from the Harm roll. 
 
Investigator: You can roll+Sharp when you Manipulate someone.
 
Perfect instincts: When you've read a charged situation and you're acting on the MC's answers, you take +2 instead of +1.
 
Mind like a scalpel: Gain +1Sharp (Sharp+3)
 
From pain comes understanding: The first time you take at least 3harm in service of a job (so this doesn't work in, like, a random mugging) you find inspiration in the pain.  Roll+sharp.  On a 10+ hold 3.  On a 7-9 hold 1.  Spend your hold 1 for 1 to ask the MC questions about the case, as per Reading a Sitch and Reading a Person.
On a miss, ask three questions.  At least one of them will have a kernel of truth.
 
Won't lie down: if you suffer a Debility in service of something that matters you can ignore the effects of that Debility until the matter is resolved.  You can only do this once per thing, and it has to really matter.
 
CONTACTS/NETWORKS/GEAR
You gain a Hx+0 Street Level network
You gain a Trusted Sidearm (see list)
Fashion suitable to your character and history, including a piece of 1-armour that is not milspec
 
SOUR KNIGHT IMPROVEMENT
Gain a new Hx+0 network
Improve an existing network by +1Hx

The Street Psyk is all about the here and the now.  She's intentionally supposed to be very in your face and splashy and good at making people do what she wants.  She draws no small amount of inspiration from Aria in Mass Effect.

STREET PSYK
"There's only one rule in the Underhills: don't fuck with Katja."
 
It's hard enough growing up down-hive, across the tracks, below the pollution cloud, whatever.  It's hard enough growing up like that when your brain doesn't start picking up cars every time you get pissed off or scared.  Once you get a handle on that shit, though…
 
STATS
Pick one set:
 
Hard +1, Cool+0, Sharp-1, Hot+1, Psi+2
Hard+0, Cool+1, Sharp-1, Hot+1, Psi+2
Hard-1, Cool+1, Sharp+1, Hot+0, Psi+2
Hard+1, Cool+1, Sharp-1, Hot+0, Psi+2
 
STREET PSYK MOVES
Pick 2:
 
Thunderfist: You can turn your fists and feet into deadly weapons by adding pyschic force to your strikes.  Roll+Psi.  On a 10+, you count as hitting someone with a 2harm hand weapon.  On a 7-9, you do it but you expose yourself, take backlash or otherwise suffer consequences.  On a miss, the MC can make a move as hard and direct as they like.
 
Intuition: You can roll+Psi when reading a situation or a person.
 
Invisible hand: You can use your telepathy for fine manipulation.  It's not enough to cause harm directly, but you can do all sorts of things.  If you could do it with your hands you can do it with your mind.  Roll+Psi.  On a 10+, you do it.  On a 7-9, you do it but expose yourself, add unintentional consequences, suffer backlash, etc.  On a miss, bad shit.
 
Inner focus: You use your powers to focus inwards and enhance your physical capabilities.  Roll+Psi.  On a 10+, hold 3.  On a 7-9, hold 1.  Spend your hold 1-for-1 to take +1forward on Going Aggro, Acting Under Fire and any other physical tasks in the current situation (MC's discretion).  You can also spend one hold to modify a Harm roll by 1 in your favour, but no more than 1 per roll.  The hold dissipates when the current situation ends.  On a miss, the MC holds 1 and spends to hinder you.
 
Tough shit, loser: You can roll+Cool when going Aggro.
 
Barrier: When you want to push through something physically dangerous (enemy fire, literal fire, fucking bears) you can wrap yourself up cozy in psychic force.  Roll+Psi. On a 10+, sweet, you’re through . On a 7–9, you can go or stay, but if you go it costs you: leave something behind, or take something with you, the MC will tell you what. On a miss, you’re caught vulnerable, half in and half out.
 
CONTACTS/NETWORK/GEAR
You gain an Hx+0 Street Level network and an Hx+0 Underground network (or improve either by +1Hx if you have them already)
You may have fashion suitable to your style, worth up to 1-armour.
You have a basic hand weapon (see list) and a basic sidearm
 
STREET PSYKER IMPROVEMENT
Hadoken: Your Thunderfist move is now 2harm close

The Barter/Cash stuff still needs some massaging, but I'm kinda leaving that until playtesting so I can get a sense of what players will actually do and want.  Unless it becomes a sticking point, I'd rather not give the option to pay into a Payday to increase the payout, as you're basically just putting resources in to get the same resources back.