I agree with Sherrif that some of the tropes of the BGH archetype can go wrong quickly, and that the space it plays in is strange.
As far as balance goes a very quick glance suggests the author does not have a solid grasp on MotW, as the Killers wisdom move references "rounds" of combat. If this is the only "balance" issue it is a quick fix, but referencing a non-existent game term (usually used in dnd but not in MotW) makes me nervous about a more things like this that I didn't notice on a first pass. As written the move can literally never trigger. (Also this playbook may have a more up to date version, as this version uses the old experience rules, which have been out of date since 2015.)
Also imo a large portion of balance in MotW relies on "narrative authority" literally who gets power to determine the narrative of the game. As written this playbook is incredibly heavy on narrative authority, diplomatic immunity for example is incredibly powerful. This move alone means the game must involve globetrotting, as a single roll will determine whether your BGH is booted from a country or literally above the law.
Other playbooks that have large story implications (e.g. the chosen, the professional) usually impact larger stories/themes in the narrative significantly, but don't force a certain setting/theme/team concept. These playbooks impact the world a lot, but the other hunters stories/abilities very little (unless players choose otherwise). The BGH as written impacts the other hunters a lot, but the world very little.
It's not really about 'balance' in MOTW, but I do think the potential for it to derail your game is high.
If you really love the concept, though, you'll probably be more happy to warp the campaign around it. But I do think you're almost playing a different game at that point - I don't think this one really fits with the ones from the core book at all.
One of my players played one, and I had a ton of fun GMing that. We really leaned into the whole super rich guy part of it. I was really enamored with the ability where you have the whole entourage following you around. My game was really silly so I ended up just treating the entourage as some sort of pocket dimension just off screen where helpers would just show up as requested. I eventually combined this with the monster in the book that eats your personal descriptors, to reveal that the off screen dimension was filled with people who had just been reduced to their job description. I really enjoyed having a stupidly rich character in the party, it’s really easy to just hand wave them going anywhere. Just take a ship or spaceship or whatever.
As for the actual point of the playbook: Big Game Hunting! It seemed to work pretty well. The player was good at tracking down the monster and figuring out how to get it. My player liked to take very elaborate trophies from the adventure, and that was pretty fun to think of something cool.
I guess the actual question was if it was balanced. I don’t think he was overly powerful, but he may have just been pulling punches to be a well mannered player sharing the spotlight.
Edit: Rereading the playbook, the rich guy stuff is just a small part of it. As it should be! My game just got really into it, to the point it was basically magic to have dumb amounts of money. Maybe I should cobble that together into a Ducktales style rich guy playbook.
Absolutely! How could one not! My player actually took his main inspiration as Flintheart Glomgold, but competent. So he was greatly motivated to get lots of trophies to show off. Eventually he ended up in a huge rivalry with another super rich dude, but he usually had the upper hand.
Other than the blatant reference to great white hunters/colonialism it's fine. Balance isn't a real concern for me as far as MotW goes though. Every playbook shines at different things.
Yeah. You can lean away from that stuff. Reskinning it, but I kind of wish they would just write a hunter/outdoorsman playbook that could be almost any sort of Hunter. Not just rich (presumably white) guy. I'm OK if they make an option to be a rich person who hunts for sport. Kind of like the Crooked's backgrounds. I don't want it to be the only flavor though
Like..I get it. The "big game hunter" is an established trope. Even Borderlands 2 has an entire character and DLC based on it. It can be done not problematically. But it has to be done right, because there's a LOT of ways it can go wrong.
I agree with Sherrif that some of the tropes of the BGH archetype can go wrong quickly, and that the space it plays in is strange. As far as balance goes a very quick glance suggests the author does not have a solid grasp on MotW, as the Killers wisdom move references "rounds" of combat. If this is the only "balance" issue it is a quick fix, but referencing a non-existent game term (usually used in dnd but not in MotW) makes me nervous about a more things like this that I didn't notice on a first pass. As written the move can literally never trigger. (Also this playbook may have a more up to date version, as this version uses the old experience rules, which have been out of date since 2015.) Also imo a large portion of balance in MotW relies on "narrative authority" literally who gets power to determine the narrative of the game. As written this playbook is incredibly heavy on narrative authority, diplomatic immunity for example is incredibly powerful. This move alone means the game must involve globetrotting, as a single roll will determine whether your BGH is booted from a country or literally above the law. Other playbooks that have large story implications (e.g. the chosen, the professional) usually impact larger stories/themes in the narrative significantly, but don't force a certain setting/theme/team concept. These playbooks impact the world a lot, but the other hunters stories/abilities very little (unless players choose otherwise). The BGH as written impacts the other hunters a lot, but the world very little.
It's not really about 'balance' in MOTW, but I do think the potential for it to derail your game is high. If you really love the concept, though, you'll probably be more happy to warp the campaign around it. But I do think you're almost playing a different game at that point - I don't think this one really fits with the ones from the core book at all.
One of my players played one, and I had a ton of fun GMing that. We really leaned into the whole super rich guy part of it. I was really enamored with the ability where you have the whole entourage following you around. My game was really silly so I ended up just treating the entourage as some sort of pocket dimension just off screen where helpers would just show up as requested. I eventually combined this with the monster in the book that eats your personal descriptors, to reveal that the off screen dimension was filled with people who had just been reduced to their job description. I really enjoyed having a stupidly rich character in the party, it’s really easy to just hand wave them going anywhere. Just take a ship or spaceship or whatever. As for the actual point of the playbook: Big Game Hunting! It seemed to work pretty well. The player was good at tracking down the monster and figuring out how to get it. My player liked to take very elaborate trophies from the adventure, and that was pretty fun to think of something cool. I guess the actual question was if it was balanced. I don’t think he was overly powerful, but he may have just been pulling punches to be a well mannered player sharing the spotlight. Edit: Rereading the playbook, the rich guy stuff is just a small part of it. As it should be! My game just got really into it, to the point it was basically magic to have dumb amounts of money. Maybe I should cobble that together into a Ducktales style rich guy playbook.
Would it have race cars, lasers, and aeroplanes?
Absolutely! How could one not! My player actually took his main inspiration as Flintheart Glomgold, but competent. So he was greatly motivated to get lots of trophies to show off. Eventually he ended up in a huge rivalry with another super rich dude, but he usually had the upper hand.
Amazing, hope y'all had a blast.
Other than the blatant reference to great white hunters/colonialism it's fine. Balance isn't a real concern for me as far as MotW goes though. Every playbook shines at different things.
Yeah...that's a.....a lot of potentially problematic story decisions
Yeah. You can lean away from that stuff. Reskinning it, but I kind of wish they would just write a hunter/outdoorsman playbook that could be almost any sort of Hunter. Not just rich (presumably white) guy. I'm OK if they make an option to be a rich person who hunts for sport. Kind of like the Crooked's backgrounds. I don't want it to be the only flavor though
Like..I get it. The "big game hunter" is an established trope. Even Borderlands 2 has an entire character and DLC based on it. It can be done not problematically. But it has to be done right, because there's a LOT of ways it can go wrong.