A question came to mind after reading an earlier question/discussion (https://plus.google.com/u/0/105199399549482359686/posts/TnkhKR2TrWx).
How often to GMs out there skip a move just to let something awesome that a player narrates happen? For example, the rule book indicates that attacking an enemy who is surprised may not trigger Hack n’ Slash and the player just deals damage. If the player narrates instant death do we give it to them?
Or as another example, if a player narrates something that would kill the enemy and they are in active combat (like decapitation a la the linked discussion), but the enemy may have just enough HP that they can’t take them down with a single roll, do we give them the outcome they narrate when they roll successfully (10+)?
Never. If you trigger a move you better roll it.
However sometimes an attack just damages the enemy enough so that they can’t really act anymore in a meaningful way. Especially with messy weapons in the mix.
They are still alive but mostly out of the fight.
That makes sense to me, and things like losing limbs I feel like I could run with fairly easily. But having them narrate something like losing a head seems a bit more tough, as I’d have to tell them “no, you didn’t actually do X” after they the roll a 10+, but not enough damage to make that result a reality. I’m curious how people handle those type of situations.
As a player you don’t get to narrate the outcome of your move by default I think.
Tim Franzke has the right of it.
Player: I attempt X action.
GM: That triggers Y move.
Player: This is my result.
GM: This is the outcome.
Alternately, you can replace that last line with;
GM: What does that look like?
Perfect. In my mind I wasn’t framing the moves as “player attempts” so much as “player does.” Thanks!