Playbook: The Shifted

As in, to shift in and out of reality, between here and the psychic maelstrom.

The Shifted

Broken, like the world, by, because of, or since, the psychic maelstrom. Twisted, some say tainted, they walk as ghosts among humanity, flickering, faltering, unable to remain for long. Sure is useful though. Gift or curse, whatever. I guess it depends on whether you think the fact that you might just pop out of this life at any moment and never come back is a good thing or not.


Creating a Shifted

To create your Shifted, choose name, look, stats, moves, gear, and Hx.


Name


Look

Man, woman, transgressing, or ephemeral.

Casual wear, scrounged armour, bathed in light, utility wear, naked, or hazmat wear.

Glowing eyes, hollow eyes, no eyes, haunted eyes, weeping eyes, bleeding eyes, or detatched and floating eyes.

Freaky face, melting face, wispy face, haunting face, screaming face, or gaunt face.

Blue body, transient body, over-there body, glitchy body, coruscating body, or smoking body.


Stats

Cool+1, Hard=0, Hot-1, Sharp+1, Weird+2
Cool+2, Hard=0, Hot-1, Sharp-1, Weird+2
Cool=0, Hard+1, Hot=0, Sharp=0, Weird+2
Cool+1, Hard+1, Hot-2, Sharp+1, Weird+2


Basic Moves

You get all the basic moves.


Shifted Moves

You get these 2:

Kinship

Whenever you open your brain to the world's psychic maelstrom, on a hit, mark experience.


Insubstantial

You can never wear 2-armor or greater, or you loose all Shifted moves and make basic moves under fire until you take it off.


And choose 2 more:

Step Through the Storm

Declare where you want to be, take a step, and roll+weird: 10+, you're there. 7-9, you're pretty damn close to the mark, and the MC will ask you a question, answer it, or take s-harm. 6-, you missed. Where the fuck are you?


Fibrillation

Whenever you make a melee attack that would cause 0-harm (due to armor or whatever), it instead causes s-harm.


Vaporous

You count as having 1-armor even when wearing no armor, and even versus ap attacks. If you are already wearing 1-armor, this stacks with it, but only 1 of it is effective versus ap attacks.


Ghost

Whenever you attempt to avoid detection, roll+weird. 10+, you must be inside the maelstrom or something, cause they can't see shit. 7-9, the hairs on the back of their necks are standing up. 6-, you're oddly solid, all of a sudden.


Phantasm

When you go aggro, roll+weird instead of roll+hard.


Gear

You get:

• One fuck-off melee weapon
• Oddments worth 1-barter
• Fashion suitable to your look, including at your option a piece worth 1-armor (you detail).

Fuck-off melee weapons (choose 1):

• Machete or axe or sword (3-harm hand)
• Chainsaw or hedge trimmer (4-harm hand messy)
• Many knives balanced for throwing (2-harm hand/close infinte)
• Souped up cattle prod (2-harm+s-harm hand)
• Your hands become (2-harm hand ap)

Hx

Everyone introduces their character by name, look, and outlook.

List the other character's names.

Go around again for Hx. On your turn:
Tell everyone Hx-2. People don't usually stick around long enough to figure you out.

On the others' turns choose the player with the highest weird and tell them Hx+4. If it's a tie, choose.


Shifted Special

If you and another character have sex, they get Hx-1 and you get to ask them a question, unless their weird is equal to or greater than yours, in which case you both get Hx+2 with each other.


Shifted Improvement

Whenever you roll a highlighted stat, and whenever you reset your Hx with someone, mark an experience circle. When you mark the 5th, improve and erase.

Each time you choose to improve, choose one of the following. Check it off, you can't choose it again.
__ get +1 cool (max +2)
__ get +1 hard (max +2)
__ get +1 sharp (max +2)
__ get a new Shifted move
__ get a new Shifted move
__ get a new Shifted move
__ get 2 gigs (detail) and moonlighting
__ get a workspace (detail) and crew
__ get a move from another playbook
__ get a move from another playbook


Barter

If you’re charging someone wealthy for your services, 1-barter
is the going rate for: one act of murder, extortion, or other violence, one threat delivered, one month's employment as a thug on hand, one message or valuable delivered, one week's haunting or otherwise terrorizing someone, or one successful peek into the psychic maelstrom on someone else's behalf.

Damn... Kinship is probably the most mechanically powerful move I've seen in the game. I like the concept, but this character is probably going to shoot straight past the other characters in advancement ridiculously quickly with that move. I'd seriously consider what purpose it serves and whether it's necessary.

Yes, this had occurred to me as well. It will take some playtesting to find out for sure though. I'm open to alternatives to marking experience that would also fit within the move.

Also, I think I'm going to call them The Shifted instead, since it sounds like something that was done to them, rather than something they are able to do.

I'm trying to sleep but I keep thinking of neat shit to add to this character.

Look

Piercing voice, grating voice, static voice, droning voice, in-your-brain voice, spine chilling voice, or menacing voice.

Yes, this had occurred to me as well. It will take some playtesting to find out for sure though. I'm open to alternatives to marking experience that would also fit within the move.

Also, I think I'm going to call them The Shifted instead, since it sounds like something that was done to them, rather than something they are able to do.

Take +1 Forward when acting on your visions.
(Just as the read a person/sitch questions give you +1 Forward)

The Look options for Voice are genius. I love this sort of thing, I find it really hard to write compelling Looks etc.

That said, I'm not sure about the sex move. Have you instead considered:

When you and another character have sex, if it's no big deal then fair enough. If you love them, take a note of their name. From now on, when you use a Shifted move, you can take them with you.

I agree with what people have said about Kinship. How about something that pulls characters together? "When you help another character open their brain, you automatically roll a 10+."

I also think Insubstantial is unnecessary. It's text that I don't think adds much to the concept.

I'm really uncomfortable, mechanically, with the out-of-bounds Hx that starting Shifts get. I like the color but there is possibly another way that you can represent the effect.

Like uh, say you tie it together with Kinship like Tim says somehow? "When any PC helps or interferes with you, they can roll+weird instead of roll+Hx. When you (text that tim said)" That helps to show how Weird connects you to people.

With high Weird characters there's no reason to encourage the player to use their Weird; open your brain is attractive enough.


Also agreement re:Insubstantial.


Vaporous is weird because it creates a hierarchy of armor and armor-piercing that seems like unnecessary complexity as well as a sort of uncomfortable oneupmanship. If someone works for ap, they should get ap. What about "You have psi-armor and s-armor," or alternatively, "When you take harm, roll+your weird-their weird; on a 10+ you shrug off 2-harm, on a 7-9 you shrug off 1-harm but you take s-harm."


Also that sex move cries out for roll+weird. There are no sure things in Apocalypse World!

Thanks for the replies everyone! I'm really getting into this concept.

@ Tim: Thanks! I love the work Vincent did with the looks, and they just clicked for me. It's definitely easier with characters like this who do have a definite look though.

As for the sex move, what are you unsure of? I do agree with what Shreyas says though, it does cry out for a roll+weird. I like your idea as well, but if a player hadn't chosen Step Through the Storm then it would be nothing, if I read you correctly.

Kinship definitely needs to be reworked. I want it to really indicate some kind of, well, kinship, with the psychic maelstrom, but I'm drawing a blank here. I thought maybe something like, Whenever you open your brain to the world's psychic maelstrom choose one player, and write Hx+1 with them, but then I realized it has the same advance-too-quickly pitfall.

Vaporous and Insubstantial were meant to work in synergy, but I see where you guys are coming from, and thinking more deeply about it, I feel I can represent the flavour better some other way.

@ Shreyas: What about it makes you uncomfortable? If I read the core text right, it would mean that on my turn I tell someone (everyone) -2, and then on someone else's turn I tell them +4, for a net +2 for that one person. Is it meant to be read as set one player's Hx to +4 with you? If so, I would change it to +3.

I like where you're going with Vaporous; If I could rewrite it, it might look like this:

Vaporous

When you take harm, roll+weird. 10+, bullets pass right through you; ignore up to 2-harm. 7-9, ignore up to 1-harm, but roll+harm as though you had taken 1-harm."

This does mean (if we assume also that I also intend to rework Insubstantial) that this character could easily approach 4-armour from day 1. Seems skewed.

Vaporous and Insubstantial were meant to work in synergy, but I see where you guys are coming from, and thinking more deeply about it, I feel I can represent the flavour better some other way.

The best way is to probably fold them into one, mechanically unified move, but frankly moves that make you suck aren't good moves. Just cut Insub.

Hx: The way the Hx rules work, you only ever tell people things on your turn, and only write stuff down on other people's turn.  Maybe what you want is:

"On your turn, choose the player with the highest +weird. Tell them Hx +2. Tell everybody else Hx -2.  Take the number everybody else tells you and write it down."

Kinship: If you want the character to have a relationship to the maelstrom, just give them one.

"You have an Hx with the psychic maelstrom. This means you can roll to help it or interfere with it. It starts at +2."

Vaporous: "When you suffer harm, suffer 1 less harm." By analogy with merciless/blood-crazed. Could it break something? Maybe. I definitely wouldn't give this guy any armor at all to start off.  But if people want to kill you, they'll find a way.  I also agree that you should just cut Insubstantial -- doing EVERYTHING under fire is a problematic mechanic, and it's not like 2-armor is just floating around.

On the subject of equipment, I'm not really sure why this guy gets awesome melee weapons.  I love the idea of your hands becoming ap, but probably as a move (and probably just 1-harm).  It also plays strongly against Fibrillation.  Why not:

"Fibrillation: your touch is a weapon (1-harm hand ap)."

Advancement: Why does this guy get three new shifted moves?  That puts him in the rarefied company of the faceless as the only characters to get three new moves from their own book.

@Pigeon: Hx, perfect and, thank you. Advancement, was because I couldn't think of anything else and didn't see anything applicable. You're probably right that the more elegant solution is to simply give him 9 options instead of 10. Fibrillation, I like this idea, gonna run with it.

I came up with some alternate versions of both Kinship and Insubstantial. Let me know what you guys think.

Kinship

Whenever someone opens their brain to the world's psychic maelstrom and asks a question about you, if their result was 10+, you both take +1 forward when you next interact with each other. 7-9, the MC chooses one of you to receive that same bonus. 6-, you get Hx-1 with them.


Insubstantial

Whenever you try to walk through solid objects or other people, roll+weird. 10+, no problems, you cross over to the other side. 7-9, you make it, but take s-harm. 6-, you don't make it and, choose 2:

• take 1-harm
• roll as though you had taken 1-harm (whether you do or not)
• you moved in the wrong direction
• the MC gets to make a move as though you had just failed a roll to open your brain

Additionally, if you ever wear 2-armor or more, you lose this move, and if you have them, also Step Through the Storm and Vaporous, until you take it off.

I can't modify my original post anymore, so from now on you should read it as follows:

Fuck-off melee weapons (choose 1):

• Machete or axe or sword (3-harm hand)
• Chainsaw or hedge trimmer (4-harm hand messy)
• Many knives balanced for throwing (2-harm hand/close infinte)
• Souped up cattle prod (2-harm+s-harm hand)

Fibrillation

Your hands become (1-harm hand ap)


Vaporous

When you take harm, roll+weird. 10+, bullets pass right through you; ignore up to 2-harm. 7-9, ignore up to 1-harm, but roll+harm as though you had taken 1-harm. 6-, take harm as established.


Hx

On your turn, choose the player with the highest +weird. Tell them Hx +2. Tell everybody else Hx -2.  Take the number everybody else tells you and write it down.


Shifted Improvement

Whenever you roll a highlighted stat, and whenever you reset your Hx with someone, mark an experience circle. When you mark the 5th, improve and erase.

Each time you choose to improve, choose one of the following. Check it off, you can't choose it again.
__ get +1 cool (max +2)
__ get +1 hard (max +2)
__ get +1 sharp (max +2)
__ get a new Shifted move
__ get a new Shifted move
__ get 2 gigs (detail) and moonlighting
__ get a workspace (detail) and crew
__ get a move from another playbook
__ get a move from another playbook

Oh and, in response to, "Why does he get awesome melee weapons?", he gets them because when I see him in my head, he can shoot, yes, but the bullets become substantial again when they leave the gun. Odd. Also, because I could have equally named him, "Psychic Ninja" or "Murderous Poltergeist". It's for the flavour. I feel it's balanced by the fact that he has no "thing" (holding, gang, gigs/crew, brainer gear, etc).

The more I think about this, the more I think it should just be a small set of addon moves for the Brainer.

In a game that's story (and fluff) first, I feel like this would play very differently than the standard brainer. The brainer is very weird and can definitely use the psychic maelstrom to his advantage, but the shifted are a part of the psychic maelstrom. The brainer is a mostly non-combat character, the shifted are fairly combat oriented. In my mind, they have totally divergent skillsets. To make this a set of options for the brainer would give that character a diversity that no other character has, aside from (possibly) the battlebabe.

It's also possible that the Look and flavour text aren't doing a very good job at making this character come alive for anyone other than me. Try this on:

The shifted are people, basically, but whether they're born this way or grow into it, through some trauma or mind-altering experience, they have become other than simply human. At once a part of both this world and the psychic maelstrom, they constantly flit from one reality to the next extremely rapidly, able to control such displacement only in short bursts, cursed by their loved ones as a harbinger of ill omen, forever to remain ghosts at the edge of vision.

That's about as explicit as I can be without getting science-y or metaphysical.