Not that my players would ever disagree, but I’m curious: player moves are written with a very NPC facing tone; how would you handle PC vs PC activities?
Not that my players would ever disagree, but I’m curious: player moves are written with a very NPC facing tone; how…
Not that my players would ever disagree, but I’m curious: player moves are written with a very NPC facing tone; how…
I have both roll. Then I take the acting PC’s roll + 7 – the defending PC’s roll. It’s a bit math-y, but the results should generally be in the right zone. They can get much higher or lower than a regular roll, but those just fall into the fail and full success zones anyway. It’s the mid-range that counts.
It’s the main problem in dw. It’s not a pc vs pc system. I usually use the help/hinder rule.
“What do you do?”
followed by
“How do you respond?”
For direct violence, if one tries to disengage and has a realistic ability to do so it ends in a stalemate. And as the GM you’ll get a Hard Move sooner or later you can use to introduce a complication that will likely draw them back together. Try to come up with something they could EASILY handle together, but that’ll be a trial without them.
If they’re going blow-for-blow on each other, I’d keep asking for (usually alternating) H&S and Defy Danger rolls. The first miss falls HARD though. The missing player ends up on his butt in a corner, either unconscious or with the other player’s sword to their throat. Or one tackles the other THROUGH a wall, they fall a story into the dark alley next door and get set upon by opportunistic thieves.
In future I think I’m going to steal the Dark Age Apocalypse World mechanic for Single Combat. Keep an eye on lumpley.com – it’s going through playtesting now and looks pretty awesome.
If it’s non-violent I’m a fan of notes midsession, minimum die rolling, and asking them to spell out their machinations between sessions through email or talking before/after the game. It can take a while to convince traditional roleplayers that you aren’t asking for their plans to set up ways to screw them over.
I had just two examples of PC vs PC conflict. The first involved a demon-hunter discovering that one of the party was secretly a Tiefling. The Tiefling was a swordmage though, who had a blink ability to jump through space. And she knew she couldn’t take the demon hunter in a fight, so she just stayed WAAAAY out of his way for a session and a half.
Don’t forget there is an interfere move.
When you help or hinder someone you have a bond with, roll+Bond with them.
On a 10+ they take +1 or -2, your choice. On a 7–9 you also expose yourself to danger, retribution, or cost.
Someone comes at you with Hack and Slash you roll Interfere.
I’m with Delos. Whoever declares action first gets to roll and the victim gets to interfere. After that I ask the victim “what do you do” and the cycle continues till a fail gives me a chance to give them bigger problems.