The Orc attacks the pc with a reach weapon.
does the player first have to use defy danger (either with +dex for some acrobatics or +str for brute force) and then attack with hack&slash?
What happens if the pc carrying a reach weapon gets attacked?
The Orc attacks the pc with a reach weapon.
The Orc attacks the pc with a reach weapon.
Why don’t you describe what happens (like telling a friend about a scene in a movie) instead of naming moves? All the rules are triggered by the fiction.
What does the fiction tell you?
Does the PC not have a weapon with Reach? Then the PC needs to get past the Orc’s spear (Defy Danger).
Can the orc defend themself even at Close range? Then the PC needs to actually fight them (Hack & Slash) to deal damage to them. If the orc can’t defend themself, the PC doesn’t need to roll and just deals damage.
If the PC has a Reach weapon and gets attacked by an enemy with a Reach weapon, it’s the same as if they were both using Close weapons: they fight (Hack & Slash).
I very rarely would have an orc just attack a PC. I usually say something like “A huge, muscle-bound humanoid leaps down from the ledge above, brandishing a rusty cleaver. He looks around at his potential dinner and chuckles to himself as he readies himself to leap right at you. What do you do?”
I agree with Mr. Reece. If the player says “I duck past the blade and get close to stab him,” that sounds like Defy Danger to me. Remember, the players trigger moves, not NPCs or the game rules themselves. All you have to do is keep an eye out for a player to trigger one.
For discussion’s sake—for those that declare once you’re inside opponents reach you just do damage, how does the opponent ever become a threat again? Other than using a “miss” from somewhere else in the fiction, you won’t be getting move opportunities with the Reach opponent any more.
They back up to be able to use their weapon again, or drop the spear and pull something out better suited for close engagements, exactly like you’d expect a person to reasonably do.
You think the Orc is going to just stand there if he can’t hit you with his spear? You’d better be wearing a nicely padded codpiece.
Yep that’s exactly what the fiction calls for but those are what Id call soft moves. Why do you get to make a move once no dice are being rolled and the player is pressing the attack?
Chris McNeilly two reasons:
First, you always follow the fiction. Even if that means an event that could have been a hard move occurs without a roll. If the players decide to collapse the tunnel they’re in to save the village from the thing growing inside the tunnel collapses and they’re cut off. That’s a petty hard move (they’re cut off from the outside world trapped here), but its what follows.
Second, soft moves occur whenever the GM is talking. You can always make a soft move. As it says in the book, when the players look at you to find out what happens, which is pretty much always. Here it’s pretty explicit: the character got the orc and looks to you to find out what he does (I’d guess the player is Hoping you’ll say die).
Very cool Sage, the second part is where I was headed so thanks for the lift. The conclusion I had drawn was that the GM makes a soft move after pretty much everything for the reason you pointed out. The dice really have no authority over GM moves, which I had started to consider.
Indeed, Brennen Reece I have a character in my current campaign (a paladin no less) that learned that lesson exactly about faces and infighting orcs. He’s not very pretty anymore.