Author: Chris McNeilly

Okay, so far I’ve been very broadly generous with my understanding of GM moves and procedure. By that I mean, don’t even worry about consciously addressing GM Moves™ because everything that comes out of a GMs mouth ultimately falls under one of the moves.

So imagine a scene where I as a GM describe your trek through the Adjective Woods. I colorfully describe the weird undulating barking noises in the distance as you break into a small clearing where two wild dogs are tussling over a carcass. Also, unbeknownst to you, they are actually Blink Dogs and are appearing to be somewhere they are not.

With me? Is what I did there procedurally sound according to DW? I’ve assumed that it is. And whether it is it not I’m confident the game will roll forward from there and we’re going to have an exciting and fun scene. BUT, technically I just made at least 3 soft moves while building that scene. Is that legit?

I’m really hoping you guys tell me that I’m getting tripped up over a procedural structure that doesn’t really exist. Otherwise I’m going to have to revisit my interpretations of the games mechanics.

So every time I see a custom move pop up, or think about them at all, it occurs to me that really they’re just ability checks. Its functionally exactly like what we used to do when we played D&D and AD&D. Now I have no idea if that was in the rules or not, I assume so, but it very well may have been a drift. But they were important and drove play. And custom moves are just formalized ability checks. And that’s cool.

So a burglar henchman who was handed a copy of the DW hireling rules would read them and then immediately look for another line of work. Right?