Hi all,
I have a question about GM moves. I’ve been running the game for a bit now, and I love it. I really like the 7-9 idea, but I want to make sure I’m using it correctly. I like to learn the rules before I start to hack. My question is, if there is a predefined outcome for the 7-9 roll in the move, does that mean that you don’t make a soft move? Like, take the 7-9 on a Druid Shape-shift or similar move, would that be consequence, or would it enable you to make a “soft move?” I’m probably overthinking it, but just wondered how you all deal with this.
I’m fairly certain just about every move has a predefined outcome for the 7-9 results. But a more direct answer to your question is “no”. From my interpretation, hard and soft moves are two varieties of GM moves, and the GM only makes those on a 6-, when the fiction dictates, or when the players hand you a golden opportunity.
You make a move:
* When everyone looks to you to find out what happens
* When the players give you a golden opportunity
* When they roll a 6-
Thing is, that first one? Happens all the time.
So, on a 7-9 Defy Danger, the move says “the GM will offer a hard bargain, an ugly choice, or a worse outcome.” The player rolls the dice, tells you they got an 8. They maybe read the 7-9 result outloud. Everyone looks at you. What do you do, GM?
You make a move, constrained by the rules. Your move must involve a hard bargain, an ugly choice, or a worse outcome. You don’t have to, like, consciously think “ah! an opportunity for me to make a move, I choose tell them the consequences and ask“. You’re probably going to go “let’s see, how about a hard bargain… you can slip free of the treant’s grasp but you’ll have to leave your backpack behind, do you?”
Let’s say the player agrees… you ask them to narrate wriggling free but leaving their backpack behind. Or you do the narration. That’s resolved. Now what? Do you talk? Does the player talk? If the player doesn’t talk, all eyes are on you. You make a move (use up their resources) and say how the treant moans in rage and crushes the backpack in it’s hand as it lumbers towards you, what do you do?
As for the druid’s shapeshifter: they roll a 7-9, and the rules tell us that the druid becomes whatever and has 2 hold. Cool. Maybe there’s some discussion of what this form’s moves are. You work that out.
Now, one of three things happens (more or less):
* The player seizes the conversational initiative and starts describing what they do.
* Everyone looks at you and go “cool, so you’re a python now, what do you do?” (Which is arguably you tacitly offering them an opportunity.)
* Everyone looks at you and you make a move (probably a soft one). “cool, so you’re phython now, but as you changed shape, the werewolf tackled and pinned Moira, you can see it’s about to bite her, what do you do?”
My point being: yes, you can make a GM move on a 7-9. Sometimes the move results specifically tell you to (e.g. on Defy Danger or Hack & Slash), sometimes because resolving the move naturally leads the conversation to the point where everyone is looking at you. In which case: make a soft move, ask what they do, go from there.