My character took pretty bad hits again during our Wayward Sons session last Friday. This means its time to start thinking about a plan B in case my character happens to die (although I did write-up a hacker character I would probably enjoy playing, but which might be a bit too on the nose). Obviously, in most games the players don’t come up with the playbooks as they go, but this is still a game in development, so I have pretty free hands to do what I want.

Lauri has tried his best to emphasize that the playbooks should be normal people (although their stats say they are pretty good at what they are doing). They just happen to have strange experiences and want to act on them for whatever reasons.

So here’s one pretty normal person: a middle-manager. You know… someone who thinks (or used to think) he’s important because he has a few underlings below him, but isn’t actually that competent, except maybe in office politics. You know, a good old-fashioned yuppie.

Let’s see what Lauri says.

Who are you?

In your middle-class family, the importance of making and spending money was the thing. Your parents put you into the best schools and got you your first job to kickstart your career in a big faceless corporation, in a job you held no interest in. Not that you knew what you were doing. You always knew how to talk big and and maneuver in the office environment. Competence wasn’t an actual requirement for your career. But the corporation was faceless for a reason. It held secrets you couldn’t just forget by getting a new car or a line of coke. Well, now as you left your job and career behind, not even having the nerve to tell your parents, you wish you had not spent all your money and put at least a little on the side to fight back.

Appearance: Pretty generic yuppie, with fake tans and clothing ripped from Miami Vice.

Your angle

Corporation literally sucked out a soul, human sacrifice for Mammon, spreading something through the multitude of local franchises, strange data in the corporate databases

Moves

So, what useful stuff does this kind of a guy actually know? This is problematic… but hey, I’m good at coming up with this stuff. I have a feeling these should be pretty high impact, but carry a price or a pretty bad downside if they miss, because that will bring on the outcome people might generally wish for these people.

First, this person has managed to climb in his job for years despite being incompetent. So, maybe he knows how to place blame somewhere else.

Divert attention: When faced with violence, hecklers, blaming, or other aggressors, you may roll +INTELLIGENCE. On a 10+ you dodge the attack and choose 1:
* you are left in the splash
* someone on your side takes the brunt
* you are left alone for a price
* you lose something valuable
* you may not take part in the rest of the conflict
On a 7-9 you dodge the attack, but choose 1 from above and the Keeper chooses 1
On a miss, if the attack would do damage, take +1damage

In a similar vein:

Fast talk: +1 in all INFLUENCE rolls, but on a miss -1ongoing for that person until the next time you succeed in influencing that person.

Spot the sucker: When trying to decide where to begin influencing people in a crowd, organization or other group, roll +INSTINCT.
On 10+ you find the right person. Gain +1forward on influence rolls with the person and the person will not ask for anything in return.
On 7-9 you find the right person and the person will not ask anything in return.
On a miss, the person goes right to the security after talking to you, is an undercover cop or the plan otherwise backfires.

Your rules: Whenever you roll ACT UNDER PRESSURE, you may choose the stat you roll. Whenever you roll for SPARK OF TAINT, you don’t have a choice on 7-9, you always take the taint.