Category: Powered by the Apocalypse: Playbooks

this is an idea I’ve been working on

introducing THE UNSTITCHED

STATS

Choose one set:

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

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

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

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

MOVES

You get all the basic moves. You get I’m from the future! and Time’s Running Out then choose another Unstitched move.

GEAR

You get:

• one weapon or one piece of clothing worth 1-armor

• oddments worth 1-barter

• fashion suitable to your look (you detail)

• a time machine (detail)

WEAPONS

• 9mm (2-harm close loud)

• crowbar (2-harm hand)

• machete (3-harm hand messy)

• many knives (2-harm hand infinite)

HX

On your turn, choose one or both:

• One of them helped you while you were weak from the journey. Tell that player Hx+2.

• One of them is suspicious of you. Tell that player Hx=0.

Tell everybody else Hx-1, you came out of nowhere.

On the other player’s turns, whatever number everyone tells you, give it -1 and write it next to their character’s name. You’ve not heard of any of them.

STARTING MOVE

I’m from the future! whenever you ask the MC what you know about a particular place, person, or thing, roll+Sharp. On a hit, you get to know stuff. On a 10+, choose 3. On a 7-9, choose 1:

• you know why this is happening

• you know how things are about to go down

• you know who is nearby that might help you

• you know when a thing is going to happen

• you know where to find some gear easily

• you know what is going on (take +1forward)

On a miss, you can still choose 1 but advance your Mission Failed countdown clock by 1 segment and tell the MC to make a threat move or advance one of their own countdown clocks.

Time’s Running Out At the start of the session, mark a segment of your Mission Failed countdown clock. You may avoid this by erasing the highlight on one of your stats.

UNSTITCHED MOVES

Quicker than most When violence occurs near you, roll+Cool. On a 10+, hold 3. On a 7-9, hold 1. Spend your hold 1-for-1 to choose options:

• Name a person who is witness to the violence, you cross the distance to stand beside them.

• Take +1harm from an incoming attack against you and reflect an equal amount of harm back upon your attacker(s).

• Name an NPC who is engaged in violence, as either assailant or victim, and you escape their notice.

• Reduce a Harm move roll by -1.

• Name a character engaged in violence whom you could assist, increase the amount of harm they can inflict by +1.

Gemini incident At the start of the session, roll+weird. On a hit, there are two of you. On a 10+, you can coordinate freely with your other self. On a 7-9, the MC controls your other self but your other self will either actively try to harm you or will try to scuttle your mission. On a miss, you found your other self’s dead body, or one of them, take -1ongoing for the rest of the session.

Voice of authority when you reveal what you know to a person, mob, gang, or group of people, roll+sharp. On a hit, they listen to you with fascination. On a 10+, choose 2. On a 7-9, choose 1:

• None of them leave while you speak

• None of them will inflict pain or violence in front of you

• None of them will betray you later on

On a miss, they don’t care who you are, what you know, or if you get in their way.

I know what will become of you when you manipulate someone, roll+sharp instead of roll+hot.

Telepathic feedback when you read a person, your questions can act as a weapon. You can spend one of your hold to +stun them.

UNSTITCHED SPECIAL

If you and another character have sex, subtract 1 from your HX with each other but you both take +1forward to roll+weird.

TIME MACHINE

Choose size:

• small, fits in your hand

• medium, can carry it in both hands

• large, need to ride inside of it

Choose one:

• mobile

• indestructible

• inconspicuous

Using your time machine is not reliable. It was only meant to bring you here and then return you home, and if you use it too soon your superiors may not allow you to return or will insist that you return to the point where you left from.

When you use your time machine before your mission has concluded, mark 1 segment of your Mission Failure countdown and roll+weird. On a 10+ you can return to your point of departure, refreshed, healed, and fully resupplied. On a 7-9, you return without being resupplied. On a miss, make a new Unstitched character: either a different agent sent back to complete your mission, or is a rival agent from an alternate timeline with a completely new mission, your choice, but do not reset your Mission Failure countdown.

MISSION

For each mission below, the MC is not obligated to provide any details about the mission beyond the instructions for the mission itself. Choose a mission:

Assassination you must find and kill your target, the MC will choose your target

Assistance you must preserve a community, the MC will tell you where help is needed most

Historical survey @ you must document and record an important event, you and the MC will determine the event together

Interview @ you must find several people and ask them questions about their lives, the MC will provide you with a list of names

Paradox you must destroy a community, the MC will tell you the most effective way to destroy a nearby hold

Temporal Fix there is an already existing time paradox that you must fix, the MC will tell you what part of the timeline was damaged

@ for these missions you also start with recording equipment, it counts as +hi-tech and +valuable gear

MISSION FAILURE

Mission failure is not the end of your character, but you have to suffer the consequences for not completing your mission. If your mission fails, the MC chooses one:

• your time machine returns home on a preset journey, you are now stranded in the past forever

• your time machine has been disabled by agents from an alternate future timeline you’ve created by accident

• your time machine stops working due to your alterations of the timeline, you might be able to repair it…

The MC should also create a new threat and add a countdown clock as further and deliberate disruption of the timeline, or established history as the Unstitched knows it, will create more severe consequences.