Hello all. I am trying to wrap my head around Parley and the use of counteroffers… I was thinking about the archetypal situation of trying to bribe a bouncer.
PC: I offer 20 coin to the bouncer to “find” me on the guest list.
GM: Beefgate the Bouncer eyes your coin. This seems like a Parley, roll for it.
On 6-, I understand all sorts of fun things could happen, because the GM gets to make a move. Maybe the bouncers take the PC out back and beat him. Or toss him into a canal. Or embarrass him in front of his date. Or, more deviously, maybe the bouncers let in the hapless PC but alert the Big Bad Evil Guy ™.
On a 7-9, I understand that the Bouncer will do what the PC asks, but will demand “concrete assurances.” I guess this means that he wants the 20 coins right now, and he lets the PC in.
On a 10+… I assume the Bouncer will still want those 20 coins right now, because it follows from the fiction. Which makes a 7-9 result here identical to a 10+. I mean, I could imagine a result on a 10+ where the Bouncer just likes the cheek of the PC so much that he lets him in for free, but that strikes me as diminishing the importance of the leverage.
What I am getting at is how to better make distinctions between 7-9 and 10+, or “concrete assurance” versus mere “promise.” And is there room for something like a counteroffer? Suppose on the 7-9, instead of “concrete assurance” of the 20 coins waved under his nose, the Bouncer comes back with a request for 30 coins? Or would that kind of counteroffer be more appropriate as a GM move, in the event of a 6- roll?
Anyway these are just head experiments, I have relatively little DW game experience under my belt at this point. So how do you handle Parley? Do you have awesome Parley stories to share? I genuinely think it is an awesome mechanic, I’m really just trying to understand it better.