So I created another playbook for Troublemakers by James Mullen. This time the books is the Defector. The basic idea with this books is you’re playing a kid who was once part of a group of bullies, but came to realize what a jerk they were being and left. It’s focused on redemption in terms of roleplaying. In game play terms I wanted to mess around with Trouble, so many of the moves revolve around that. As always feedback is encouraged and appreciated.
Edit: Updated and name changed.
I like it: once again though why not go further? How about The Juvie, a young offender who now has to live with the consequences of their past?
Get Down is very like when you protect another kid (by giving them a badge). Do you want to refer to that in the move or base the move on that option?
For Recognise Weakness, what about “When you pick a fight, on a 7-9 you may take +1 trouble to turn that result into a 10+.”
Instead of Self-Reflection, what about Curfew: when you go to your room, take -2 trouble; if you don’t spend the night in your room, take +1 trouble.
Been on the Other Side: Perfect!
This reminds me of the time seems like a lot of effort for a minor effect, perhaps pick one of the options and build the move around that? For example, “When you take on a dare, the kid who dared you takes +1 trouble.”
I’m also not sure Expert Taunter provides a significant advantage, as it’s an average difference of +1 to the roll; I like to reserve moves that substitute one stat for another for when it allows you to use a +1 stat in place of a -1.
All good points, thank you for the feedback. I do want to keep it as an ex-lackey, as I think interaction with the group they left behind and the consequences there of is built in.
And honestly, I just forgot about Protect. Whoops. Maybe you can apply Protect to your friends as well?
Recognize Weakness sounds good.
I like the name and idea behind Curfew.
I definitely agree with you on this reminds me of the time. I wasn’t a huge fan of that.
I see what you mean on Expert taunter. I’ll have to think of a move to replace it.
Thank you for the feedback.
I also ant to expand on the idea behind this character and why I don’t want to make it “the Juvie” even though that’s an interesting idea.
For one, I wanted this playbook to kind of have some options for the player. So they can decided that they were part of a group of the “classic” stereotypical bullies, or more a mean girls style group (hence +1 feels).
Two, I wanted the book to be about moving away from what they were. Redemption. Not that a someone who’s a juvenile delinquent can’t be looking for redemption, but it suggests something different to me. And I think that might be kind of similar to the Devil.
Again, that’s a cool idea, but I wanted to go a different direction.
That’s fair: I think I just like the juvenile delinquent take on the character because it provides a solid reason for the character’s change of heart and backs-up some of their moves.
Going with your take, could I suggest a different name? I like playbooks for this game to have names that kids might use and ‘Ex-Lackey’ doesn’t sit right with that voice. Maybe Turncoat, Exile, Castaway, Defector, Reformer…?
I see your point. I’ll try one of those names. Defector sounds really cool and it sounds like a word a kid would use to make themselves smart/grown up.
Whoops… I’ll put my hands up to an error here: the version of the rules I’ve uploaded is far from the most recent one and doesn’t include many of the changes I’ve made as a result of playtesting!
I’ve corrected that now, so it might be worth taking a look again and seeing if some of the changes inspire you, e.g. there’s a new stealth/hiding move that might be useful to riff off for the Scaredy-Cat.
Oh, okay. I’ve got the new book, and I’ll take a look.
Also, slightly unrelated, but Super Soaker appears twice under toys.
Ah, thanks for spotting that 🙂
I’ve corrected that and re-edited the Online version to get rid of some of the unnecessary white spaces.
That’s what I’m here for, to be that annoying copy editor.