The Contaminated

Dear Lumpley,

I should probably figure out this whole patron situation now, but I've been otherwise focused. I wanted to chime in here for a second to say, that this Contaminated playbook is CRAZY FUN! I was kind of apprehensive at first about it, it's really strong and plays the game by a different set of rules... Really though as soon as I gave it a test drive it was so freaking cool that everyone involved with it just kept bringing up other uses.

It was not lost on my players that while many subtle versions of this class work incredibly well: the drug-addict, the machine-obsessed, the cannibal. At the same time, we looked back at some of our home-brewed characters and custom moves from our last 4 games and, there were at least two of them that this playbook would have done our hack jobs a significant simplification/improvement. Basically, we've been playing with stuff like this from the get-go!

Lots of excitement around the possibility of dealing with the occasional Vampire, Werewolf, Mutant, Freak, and Irradiated Beings. Obviously, my groups interest in DarkAges games were cropping up again. haha. I'll probably have to keep it locked up most of the time, or it'll be hard not to have one in our games every time. I look forward to any other cool creations you wanna make official.

Well! If Ebok's endorsing it, then I'd better take a look...

Thanks for the heads up!

It sounds like you were apprehensive about it having too much effectiveness and therefore, perhaps, taking up too much spotlight time.

What happened at the table, instead?

Without going into too much detail, what I was apprehensive about was it could trivialize certain events by just being way to powerful. What worked out really well was the fact that the others around the table didn't just endorse the addiction and strangeness: Some tried to stop it, some tried to direct it. It added both an incredibly personal story to the development of the maelstrom, while at the same time allowed a bad-guy type of vibe from the players that felt uncontrolled, and therefore less personally aggressive. Some people don't like it when another guy at the table shoots some NPC they care about, and if it happens a few times, they might take it personally. In this case, the contamination was really the thing in control, and it really brought the threat home to the group. 

It's like when we did barter in AW1, people really didn't use barter very much, it was almost a background living expense or a plot device. Either way the players didn't struggle themselves, so the suffering was a step removed. In this case, it really took the threats in the world, a disease crippling a people, a strangeness of drug-addiction clawing its way through... and brought that into the game in the same way. Suddenly the PC's were personally confronted with a contamination that was fun enough to have around, but in the same way, was corrupting them and their agendas.

All that said, I probably won't be running a full game with the playbook in the immediate future, I just wanted to try it out, and then give some feedback. I have a long-running game atm and won't be seeing this until the next one rolls around probably.

This kind of impulse that's out of the player's full control is one of the reasons I've always loved the Hoarder playbook so much. And in our last game that included one, the Hoarder very much became a PC villain, which brought a really fun dynamic to the table. Hilariously, multiple people ended up playing the Hoarder - as he kept getting killed, the semi-sentient horde would pick a new avatar, so when someone had a "pick a second playbook" or "change playbooks" option open, on the dance went. It wasn't until they managed to find the Hoard, kill the Hoarder, and set fire to the Hoard itself that they were able to put an end to its meddling. It was awesome.

It sounds like you were apprehensive about it having too much effectiveness and therefore, perhaps, taking up too much spotlight time.

I had the same concern when I read the playbook. I guess if all the players buy in to the Contaminated being the focus, everyone can share the spotlight based on how they interact with it?

If you have a Hardholder, all of a sudden everyone is committed to seeing that Holding as a common setting for the game. If someone is playing a Hocus, the cult gets into shit and going to be a looming presence in the game. The contamination isn't any different in terms of how it reaches out and affects people. It does, just like a Gunlugger brings violence, a Skinner brings sex, the News brings Radio, and the MaestroD brings food.

This is just one of those things, sure, the Contaminated brings contamination, but it's probably there anyway, it just wasn't as close to home as it is when it's inside one of the voices at the table and creeping on people on the edges.  No, I don't think it dominated the game any more than any of the other player's things and agendas, but, the other players all had agendas and things they wanted to do. If you have a bunch of reactionary players, maybe they have trouble focusing on anything other then the monster in their midst. Maybe. That really depends on how the class is played, but I don't think it's anywhere near as unavoidably potent as the water bearer or the rock'and'roller thing.

I don't think it's anywhere near as unavoidably potent as the water bearer or the rock'and'roller thing.

Okay, cool - both Waterbearer and Show seemed manageable to me.

... and the MaestroD brings food.

Point of Order! My Maestro'D is going to bring Fight Club.  8)

Awesome, Ebok. Thanks!

-Vincent