Hard Move Show and Tell
This week’s (inaugural) episode: Player Spouts Lore and misses
What was the setup? What was your GM move? How did you narrate it?
GO!
Hard Move Show and Tell
Hard Move Show and Tell
8 thoughts on “Hard Move Show and Tell”
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(I’ll go first)
Setup: The fighter got cut off from the other PCs by a cave-in. Pressed on and encountered some orcs. Fought hard but got knocked out. The other players saw this but didn’t know what happened next. Their PCs eventually dig through, find the signs of the fight but no fighter.
The cleric identifies it as orc blood. The wizard pulls out his book and. “I swear I’ve read something about orcs keeping their captives alive…” and rolls Spout Lore. Biffs it.
GM Move: Reveal an unwelcome truth. “You find the page on orcs, and yeah… looks like, they do take live captives. There’s a woodcarving of captives on a spit over a flame, and orcs chewing on what looks like a leg! What do you do?”
Hmm I don’t have a lot of really solid Spout Lore hard moves.
The Setup: the players are on a quest to an ancient city of Yusu that once stood against the tyrant from another plane that ruled the world in his day, which the Big Bad End Guy is trying to resurrect. The city, they figure, stood against him, so should have weapons to fight him and maybe stop his resurrection.
They make it into the ruined city, now leveled and filled with strange creatures from the tyrant’s home plane. Upon delving, they come across a giant underground chamber plated in solid gold holding a floating orange cube. The bard says “I’m sure we read something about this cube in all the Yusu research we did…” and promptly bombs the roll.
GM Move: “As you peer up at the cube, trying to recall it in pictures or words, you notice, quite abruptly, that strange tingling on the back of your head when you’re being watched. As you stare at the cube, the cube looks back. It looks at you. It looks through you, dredging through your memories to find horrors to make real. As it rummages, it finds something. Your greatest moment of terror. What was it?”
The Setup: The party is working its way through a swamp dungeon set up like a series of trials, the first room containing some giant mosquitos, the second room having a pit of snakes, etc.
Upon entering the 4th room, the party makes the shocking discovery of a giant lizard beast who resides in a grand hall (in fact, this is the final area before the boss). This lizard begins charging at the person in front of the party- who happens to be the Fighter. But, in true “Dashing Hero” style, the bard lunges in front and tries to Spout some Lore about this thing’s fighting technique- something he can use to his advantage- and proceeds to roll a 1 (that 8 Intelligence really showed through).
GM Move: Show signs of an approaching threat/Use a monster move/Reveal an unwelcome truth; “You’re trying to remember something- anything about the way these things fight. Maybe you heard about a great hero defeating one in battle? Just when you think these are completely foreign to you, you remember: ‘These things fight in pairs!’ right when you notice the other one spring from behind a pillar and lunge towards you. Fighter, what are you doing when you see the Bard so exposed like this?”
Pin for now bc these are great. I’ll add one of my own when I have more time to write
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Nestor the cleric is trying to translate some law-poetries in one of the justice temple of Kali-Ma – he remembers that, once, one of the thief he helped escape from justice had a sort of “rosetta stone” she stole form the City of Brittle Beauties.
He is so absorbed (6-) that he didn’t notice that the obsidian statue behind him cough steam from its mouth and sings, in a higher and higher pitch, until it explodes in a shower of jagged shards.
(Offer an opportunity/deal damage)