Hi all, I’m working on putting together advice for the players of Apocalypse World. I’m hoping to compile ideas that helps point players in the right direction on how to get the most out of their playbook of choice. At the behest of Meguey Baker I’m going to stick with the 1st ed playbooks that are transitioning to 2e for now. The final product will be a word doc that trims the fat and hopefully will end up being maybe a page per playbook with snippets of advice. I will credit everyone who contributes and just ask that folks pass this around in hopes to help make everyone’s game better. I’m going to put up 3 playbooks per week, till we get through them all.
So with that being said, lets get this party started. Using an advanced method of picking one at random, what advice would you give someone who wants to play a BRAINER? How does the player make them awesome? What can the player do to make thing interesting? What amazing things have you seen Brainers do in your game?
(in no particular order of importance, here are a few thoughts. The Brainer was my first playbook, and Delos was my MC, so your distance will vary.)
You are the creepiest, scariest, eeriest person around and you have the mind-twisting mojo to back up the rep. Use it. Enjoy it. Practice your best Sir Christopher Lee leer. Channel your inner Maleficent. If NPCs do not treat you with the requisite respect, remind them of that little thing you do…whether or not you have the move yet.
If you don’t start with In Brain Puppet Strings, consider making it one of your first advances.
Know that even when you are not pulling someone’s strings, the NPCs will assume you are, because that’s what Brainers do. Use that. And make sure you have a violation glove if you also have In Brain Puppet Strings. And a Pain-Wave Projector.
Preternatural At-Will Brain Attunement and Unnatural Lust Fixation can be an awfully fun combination if you’re willing to be a more social sort of Brainer, but may leave you feeling outgunned if you get stuck with poor die rolls.
Don’t cozy up to the Battlebabe. They’re immune to your Sex Move.
Amazing. One question: where could i to download these playbooks. I liked very much!
As a brainer, you walk the fine line of being so scary that nobody is willing to cross you, and being so scary that nobody is willing to let you live.
Never forget that you can open your brain pretty much whenever you want. Same goes for a lot of your powers. If you want to mess with someone’s head, even on a whim, don’t hesitate to grab them by the brain and go for it.
Sebastian Baker: Which is also a great way to get them sweet XPs when your weird is highlighted. As a player and as an MC, I love seeing characters improve quickly.
Alan Scott: Great point. You are dangerous and everyone knows it, and like Henry de Veuve said no one can be sure if you have your fingerprints on someone’s brain.
A Brainer could definitely use his/her rep as a way to get what they need.
Delos Adamski More to the point, dear chap, a Brainer who doesn’t use their rep in such a fashion is missing a trick in the same way as a Gunlugger who neglects to use their omnipresent bang-bangs as an asset in high stakes negotiations.
A Brainer walketh through the Valley of the Shadow of Death without fear, for lo, they are the weirdest mother-humper in that valley.
Sebastian Baker I am almost embarrassed that I forgot to mention that! Yes, being able to open your mind to the Maelstrom (quite possibly with a +3 to the roll) is nothing at which to sneeze!
Here’s a question for you all. Can you think of any Brainer specific goals a player can/should go for? An example might be “Try to use your sex move once a session.”
Delos Adamski Sin tried that, as I recall, but the dice gods were most unkind to her. But her main session goal was just to survive the Front that kept bearing down on her.
I’d say specific goals would probably have to depend on what else is going on, but that’s a good suggestion–initialize the sex move as often as you can manage it.
Also, be careful how you balance the threat of your using ooky mojo on the NPCs around you compared to the actual use of said ooky mojo. You need to do enough, often enough, to keep up the rep, but not so much that someone decides that torches and pitchforks and a quick long pig barbecue are in order.
Delos Adamski Anything that creeps the other players out, in a fun way, is good. Learning people’s secrets, planting puppet strings, anything involving the violation glove, stuff like that.
Of course, if it starts making the other players seriously uncomfortable, that’s a problem, so a Brainer whose goal was to have sex all the time would require some discretion. Mind control and consent could interact in ways that many gaming groups would be really not-okay with.
Sebastian Baker “Mind control and consent could interact in ways that many gaming groups would be really not-okay with.”
QFT x 100000 or so.