How much of this move’s text would you share with your player(s), right then, in game?
When you dicker with Jacque, roll +CHA: on a 10+, he’ll trade for but a pittance (a song, a kiss, a flask of whisky); on a 7-9, he asks for something innocuous but with an insidious cost (like a song, which you forget utterly after singing, or a kiss—but not a kiss right now, no no, the memory of your first kiss); on a miss, he demands something that you’ll surely miss or regret giving.
Is Jacque a supernatural being with a legendary reputation – if so, read the whole thing or print it and give it to them (seem like the same thing to me but one saves trees)
If not, trigger and result.
Just rolling and narrating a result seems to imply they don’t know what they are getting into while the move seems to describe a negotiation.
shrug
I wouldn’t tell them. It seems the kind of game where caveat emptor applies generally and it’ll be up to the player to decide whether they want the bargain or not.
I don’t really see why you shouldn’t tell them.
I know that the game says to not obscure things from players, but for the sake of keeping the game rolling and to add an illusion of verisimilitude I sometimes just go off the result with no mention of what might have been.
I don’t think keeping the moves from players detracts from immersion – rolling is their moment as protagonists, when they do important stuff and make their mark on the story, and seeing the possible outcomes adds to the delicious suspense before the dice hit the table. Also, they should know what they’re getting into.
Of course, to each their own, but it’s a pretty big drift (if subtle) away from the core flow of the game.
Why wouldn’t you tell people? I can’t imagine what might be gained.
Telling them adds to the suspense; now they know what could be at stake.
Also, I feel that knowing the consequences before rolling gets buy-in to the result. If I don’t know the details of the move and I dicker with Jacque and roll a miss, the GM says he demands something I’ll surely miss or regret giving… eek, I don’t want to pay that much, so I back down and don’t trade with him. We’ve ended up in a situation where nothing much happened.
However, if I go in knowing that’s a possibility and I roll a miss, well, I guess I foolishly trade away my Signature Weapon (or whatever).
I put all my cards on the table when move is triggered, before dice are rolled.
Depending on the scene and the move, I may not tell them of the move before it is triggered, though.
If I have a location move for “When you wander through the Desert of Baddies without guidance…” I may wait until they have triggered it before I reveal the move.
But once it is triggered, before they roll, I let them read it and understand the stakes so that they buy in to the results.
might be worth having a conversation with the players about what they’d prefer
Like Alberto Muti said, the players should be aware of what they’re getting into. One of the basic principles of PbtA games is “tell them the consequences”.
Now admittedly, sometimes this may kill the sense of “discovery” and the impact of the event on the players (although this depends on the group). You may violate the “principle” of disclosing every little detail regarding the consequences, if you feel that the game is more enjoyable that way. But at the very least, you have to warn the players of possible nasty consequences. It’s not in the spirit of these games to have the players indulge in some apparently innocuous activity just to get hammered out of the blue because of a bad roll.
I always read the whole move. Potentially you could leave out the 6- result, but then why even have one? (You could presumably do the same thing with a regular GM move).
Jaques Solitary, Capricious, Magical
Jaques loves a bargain, a drink, and a song. He’ll surely have the thing you want, but you’ll not know the cost: maybe naught but a whiskey, or a kiss, or the memory of you first kiss, or some thing, now or later, that you’ll surely regret. Instinct: To dicker
*Offer a deal, for a pittance, or for some other cost
*Take a memory as a payment
*Take the worst thing in payment, now, or later