Question: How often do you GMs call for PCs to make a basic move?
Example: a sandy lagoon has hidden quicksand spots. Do you call for everyone to make a move (discern realities/defy danger), or just see what happens? I have a few thoughts but just wanna hear all your options.
Tell them what they see. Ask them what they do. Work together to identify when a PCs action has triggered a move.
I realized after my last session that my PCs have never rolled a basic attack move (Volley or Hack and Slash). They have either used specialty moves like Called Shot, or positioned themselves fictionally to just straight up hurt someone.
For less violent moves, there’s a lot more frequency of basic moves. But I try to always make them in response to a player action, rather than an unprompted call for a roll. In your example above, I would describe the lagoon, and then wait for either:
1) A player to say they are looking for unsafe areas (Discern Realities) or
2) A player to do something likely to cause them grief, such as charging at a monster, and then call for Defy Danger to do it without accidentally stumbling into quicksand.
Agreed with Marshall, describe it then just ask them ‘what are they going to do?’.
Ideally never. GMs don’t call for things in World games. They describe what is happening, players describe what their characters are doing, and if a move is triggered then the player roles that move.
I say ideally because tricky bad habits like this one stick around sometimes.
Agree with the sentiments above. You never just call for a basic move, especially from the whole group. “What do you do?” should be directed at a particular character.
Examples:
GM: “Ranger, you follow the tracks to a sandy lagoon, but they end abruptly in the middle of the beach. What do you do?”
Ranger: “I study the spot where the tracks end.”
GM: “Discern Realities” (Roll +Int)
GM: “Ranger, you follow the tracks to a sandy lagoon, but they end abruptly in the middle of the beach. What do you do?”
Ranger: “What do I know about this area and the types of dangers that could cause a person to disappear from the middle of the beach?”
GM: “Spout Lore” (Roll +Wis)
GM: “Ranger, as you walk across the beach bordering the lagoon, you step into a soft spot of sand and begin sinking. What do you do?”
Ranger: “I try to reach back and grab the legs of the Fighter who is walking behind me and pull myself out.”
GM: “Defy Danger” (Roll +Str)
GM: “Ranger, as you walk across the beach bordering the lagoon, you step into a soft spot of sand and begin sinking. What do you do?”
Ranger: “I unsling my bow and stretch it out to the Fighter to grab hold.”
GM: “Fighter, the bow is within reach, do you grab hold?”
Fighter: ” I wait until the Ranger has sunk up to his neck as punishment for failing to notice this hazard and then grab hold of the bow and pull him out.”
GM: “With some effort you pull him free. The Ranger lies on the beach caked in wet quicksand.” (No roll required)
GM: “As the group traverses the beach bordering the lagoon with the Ranger at point, he steps into a soft spot of sand and begins sinking. Fighter, you are right behind him, what do you do?”
Fighter: “I pull rope from my pack, throw one end to the Ranger, and begin pulling him out.”
GM: “As you start pulling on the rope it seems like something is actively pulling back on the Ranger. You are starting to get dragged across the sand, what do you do?”
Fighter: “I dig in my heels and pull with all my might.”
GM: Defy…
Cleric: (Interrupting) “Seeing the mighty Fighter struggling, I also grab hold of the rope, pray to Solus for strength and help pull.”
GM: “Cleric, Aid” (Roll +Bond with the Fighter)
Cleric: “I rolled an 11 as my Lord imbues me with supernatural strength.”
GM: “Fighter, Defy Danger with a +1” (Roll +Str)
Pahtfinder: “Roll perception. You you and you see nothing. You, however see the tripwire.”
DW: “As you walk along you feel a tripwire snagging your shin. You may or may not have triggered it. What do you do?”
You don’t call for rolls in DW. You make soft or hard moves and the players trigger rolls. It is one of the “other rpg habits” you need to lose when you GM DW.
Great advice everyone! I’ve played as a character and read through the rules once. The GM I played with was so smooth it was hard to tell exactly what his moves were. As I wanted to GM a game I wanted to make sure I got that straight.
Wynand Louw “You don’t call for rolls in DW. You make soft or hard moves and the players trigger rolls. It is one of the “other rpg habits” you need to lose when you GM DW.”
Amen, brother.
Also, Master, ask more questions, especially if you are (and you should) playing without a “squared zoomed in map”. Who is the first in the party’s formation? Then your character could see something first”. “Ehi, why you stay last? Is there something you are worried about? Tell me more.”
“You ranger (or maybe, “you mage”, or maybe “you elven warrior”…), have the best attuned senses. You feel something odd in the forest. What do you do?”.
I dunno Matt Smith . Vx has often commented that moves can be meta-gamed by the player, often at the behest of the GM prompting them to make a move. This is even described in the play example in the book.
“Hey is this now a charged sitch? Anyone wanna make a move?”
The players can totally say “I wanna go aggro, hack ‘n slash, open my brain, or discern reality”, they just don’t get to make the roll until they embed their intent into the fiction.
“O.K. so what do you do?’ is such a powerful GM move to prompt the players to narratively tie move triggers into their narration of what their character is doing in the story.