(Cross-posted from RPGnet to diversify my feedback)
I’m again fiddling with a hack of Apocalypse World. The first idea I’m wanting to think through here is the idea of defining your character by two elements: role and identity.
Your identity is who you see yourself as. It probably defines your stats and some key moves. Your identity changes when you decide it does, probably tied to a certain level of advancement.
Your role is how the society around sees you. It probably gives you access to a few special moves, and maybe your starting role also affects starting gear or bonds or something. Your role changes when the fiction/GM say it changes.
This would (I think) make it easier to do the kinds of stories where people’s status can be fluid. (Like in [I]Defiance[/I], at first Amanda is the Mayor. That’s her role. When she loses the election, she takes on a different role (business owner or something), but her identity stays the same.
So when your character with the “hot pop star” role tanks a crucial roll and gets humiliated on social media, the GM takes that role away, and you pick another one–“has been” or “outcast” or whatever.
Some roles might be official things recognized in the fictional world: sheriff, captain, mayor, dean of magical studies, “sexiest man alive,” whatever. Others would be less official roles: voice of wisdom, troublemaker, outcast, spirit booster.
I suspect this could be coupled with a game like Dungeon World to just add a more social/political element. You could use DW largely as written and just make appropriate roles to let people take on (kind of like compedium classes–and maybe in this case I’m just reinventing the wheel).
Responses welcome, of course.
Sounds like Nature and Demeanor, from old World of Darkness. Changing your outward image as a hard move seems like it should work in any PBtA game, so long as the GM doesn’t violate Being a Fan of the Characters.
Have you looked at either Night Witches or Spirit of ’77? They both have two axes of character class.
I think this is already supported pretty well in default AW (p178-184) just perhaps with the distinction between role and identity, as you put it, not quite as explicitly defined.
I remember playing a Hocus who lost her cult in a big climactic battle and we all agreed that she couldn’t really be a Hocus without a fucking cult. I switched her playbook to Skinner.
Of course, I’m sure there’s room for something more explicitly supporting this kind of change, and enabling it to happen more regularly, buy there is already some support in default AW 🙂
This is interesting. You could definitely use it as a hard move to change the role. It would increase complication but maybe each role has a mini-playbook that gives moves that you lose when you lose the role and has instructions for how to avoid losing the role?