Could someone elaborate on what a “playbook” is?

13 thoughts on “Could someone elaborate on what a “playbook” is?”

1. A class/skin with a list of moves and stats to customize your character

2. The playbook is essentially the character sheet for Dungeon World.  However it also contains everything that the player would need to level up their character, so it’s kinda the ‘character class’ section of a DnD book at the same time.

3. A playbook is a combination of your character sheet and (usually) all of the special rules for playing that class/monster/archetype/whatever.

4. So really Playbook = Character class + Progression? is this a common expression?

5. For Dungeon World, yes. Other AW-based games are not class-based, and so are more “character archetype + special rules + progression”.

6. They are called playbooks because the original Apocalypse World classes were laid out in little 8-page books. And the core rulebook (which includes all the PC info) was called the MC playbook. So a class in Dungeon World is the same as a playbook, except they are called “classes” because: D&D.

   The special rules + progression distinction is probably a bit of a red herring, I’d say. Because if you don’t have those with your DW class, people will say it’s incomplete. Just think of the two terms as interchangeable and everything will be fine.

7. Johnstone Metzger Okay makes sense but what is the most common use? Class or Playbook? I am working on my website and need to know what to call it lol.

8. In my opinion, classes and playbooks are like squares and rectangles. All classes are playbooks, but not all playbooks are classes.

9. If you’re trying to use proper DW jargon, go with playbooks.

10. Christopher Stone-Bush I’m pretty sure the definition of “class” is “character archetype + special rules + progression”

11. I can’t speak for other people Adam Koebel, but for me “class” tosses profession into the mix, too. “Class” to me implies what a character does (both fictionally and mechanically) rather than simply who they are.

    Of course by that definition, the Apcalypse World playbooks are classes, when I wouldn’t have called them that. Ahhh! I just twisted my brain into a pretzel. :P

12. OH NO PRETEL BRAIN

13. Justin Lonas If you are talking about the Dungeon World ones, call them classes (also: base classes and compendium classes). If you’re talking about Apocalypse World, call them playbooks.

    If you’re talking about both games and all AW hacks and other games too, you can probably get away with calling them whatever you want, especially if you pick one word and tell people at the beginning that it means class/playbook/splat/archetype/etc.

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