Custom Playbook - The Huntress

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Re: Custom Playbook - The Huntress
« Reply #15 on: February 14, 2017, 08:56:26 PM »
One random idea:

Make a custom move for exploring new types of terrain. The best outcomes are ones where the Hunter is at home there - it becomes just like his "home terrain". However, it won't always turn out that way, and could lead to unpleasant outcomes instead (unfamiliar terrain which is disorienting).

Now the Hunter is best off staying "at home", but exploring new terrain is also part of the fun. As you play, the MC is instructed to keep things interesting, with each new location explored.

Re: Custom Playbook - The Huntress
« Reply #16 on: March 04, 2017, 09:30:25 AM »
I would change nearly everything about this playbook.

Hunting Grounds
"While you may not have uncontested control of this land, it is yours just the same."
You know this land like the back of your hand, but it is not yours.

Choosing a location should be the player answering a series of questions to help the MC define where & what the Hunting Ground is.
Ideas: Where do you lurk when you hunt? What do you hide from there? Who might see you hunt?

I think the choices of prey should have drawbacks that the MC can draw more directly upon. And maybe not so many choices. Fewer and harder choices make it more interesting. Maybe even correlate the choices directly to terrain threats.
Desert (an exposed place)
Mountain (a precipice or a wall)
Valley (an overhang)
Swamp (shifting ground)

The Hunt seems like a move that is designed to just give stuff to the PC at the start of every session. The hit/miss results should be more explicit, and the miss should have some real consequences that the MC gets to play off of. I would change this to be a substitution for Lifestyle, not something to add to it:
at the beginning of the session, either spend 1- or 2-Barter for your Lifestyle. If you can't or won't, you can spend time in your Hunting Grounds instead. Roll+sharp, on 10+ you've hunted gloriously and you have some leftover, claim your Bounty; on a 7-9, you claim no Bounty but at least you ate well; on a miss, you have no Bounty, you're starving, and you're currently being hunted

In Your Element
Keep in mind that the cat/mouse moves use cool. So you either have to substitute cool for sharp here, or you have to give the move an edge for a Huntress with a low cool. Either take this out of their Hunting Ground and just say "when you're the cat, you roll+sharp instead of roll+cool" or "when you're in your Hunting Ground, you may roll+sharp instead of roll+cool when you're either a cat or a mouse" or "when you're the cat or the mouse, you can't miss, but only in your Hunting Ground"
I'm partial to that last one because players should feel like badasses when they're doing their "thing" and the Hunting Ground seems like this playbook's "thing"

Depth of the Track
you can read a trail like you would a person, roll+sharp and ask questions, on 10+ ask 3, on 7-9 ask 1:
- when did my prey pass through here?
- what was this prey thinking or feeling?
- where is this prey going?
- is this a false trail?
- how might I lead this prey into a trap?

Lying in Wait just seems like a different version of Hunt Prey or Bait Trap from the rulebook
You could go for stat substitution again but that's boring so I would probably make this more of a stealthy kind of move instead
when you sit in silence waiting for your prey at a location you know they will be at, roll+sharp. On a 10+ you get the drop on them and they are at your mercy (sucker someone?) On a 7-9 you surprise them but they were ready for you, take +1forward, on a miss your prey gets the drop on you instead or they evade you completely (MC's choice)

so here are some questions to ask yourself:
1) What does the Huntress do? What's their "thing"?
2) What makes the Huntress unique? Is it the Hunting Ground? Is it being able to hunt, in general?
3) Why would I want to play a Huntress instead of a Battlebabe? - the only thing separating these two is the Hunting Grounds except Battlebabes start with kickass custom weapons and the Battlebabe is uniquely suited to using all of the subterfuge moves because of their high Cool
Looking for a playbook? Check out my page!
http://nerdwerds.blogspot.com/2012/12/all-of-playbooks.html