Another newbie question: Let’s say PCs are in a room and there are no threats around. No trap, no monsters etc. There’s a rope in the ceiling, connected to a cage, and to reach the cage a PC needs to hit the rope with an arrow. Which move to trigger? Defy danger? If so what are the options? And what’s the danger, lose lots of arrows? And what if PC rolls 7-9? Or trigger any other move?
Another newbie question: Let’s say PCs are in a room and there are no threats around.
Another newbie question: Let’s say PCs are in a room and there are no threats around.
It’s only Defy Danger if “you act despite an imminent threat or suffer a calamity”. If there’s no obvious risk or danger, it just happens, or you can make them pay. No move, no rolls.
In your example, I’d either say “your arrow slices through the rope and the cage clatters to the ground” or “you can shoot through the arrow, but you’ve been adventuring for a while now, and it looks like you’re running low. Reduce ammo by one, and shoot. Your arrow slices through the rope and the cage clatters to the ground”.
If there’s no danger at all let them just hit it. You could say they take an age to get the perfect aim – which could turn in to a danger itself.
Thanks for quick answers. So there’s no check at all. Ok, that was came to my mind but I thought this; what if there’s only a wizard in the room and his Str is 3. Can he use a bow he finds in the same room, which is really hard to use if you don’t have Str in real world? I hope I’m not boring you with those possibilities 🙂
Is it defy danger for wizard now, the danger is hurting himself while trying to use the bow?
Rather then Defy danger which is too character oriented (did they ask anything?) I would choos a soft master move like Offer an opportunity like Adam Drew said or go for Reveal an unwanted truth “the cage clatters and makes an awful lot of noise, probably warning any monster around” or Show signs of an approaching threat like “As the cage clatters you hear footsteps accelerating from the nearby tunnel, etc.
If there is nothing at stake, PCs might just shoot at will, pick up their arrows, shoot again, until the rope is cut. That’s not very heroic to me, so I’d just have them succeed right away. However, I don’t like scenes without stakes, so I usually put a threat on top of it, because that’s what allows my PCs to shine. As others suggested, noises from the tunnel (“Woop, you’re not alone.”), or anything that implies that they have to do it quick or suffer the consequences.
Moves are not about “is something at stake”. When there is nothing at stake but a move is triggered you roll the move.
Say “yes” or roll the dice.
i’d use volley.
You could straight-up Volley, but that would be boring if the players roll repeated failures. Instead, just offer then a choice: either they take lots of shots (use 1-ammo) or they take careful aim (takes lots of time, exposes them to a potential random encounter roll or whatever else would happen while they’re in one room for a long time).
Todd Mauldin, how does this qualify as „When you take aim and shoot at an enemy at range“
I wouldn’t find it a stretch to judge that “enemy”=”target”, in this case, the rope.
Consequences of failures on volley wouldn’t have to any more boring than those any other moves, the GM could make all kinds of hard and soft moves to enhance the flavor of the situation. I agree that a GM could offer a choice, in fact I agree with most of all that’s been written here. I’m just saying, I’d use volley to resolve this if it worked with the fiction.