I wrote a move for a playbook, but I’m thinking maybe it’s not balanced. Tell me what you think?
He’s Got A Gun!: when you’re in a tense situation, you can say something crazy or sudden and roll+cool. On a hit, you will get to see or hear violence occur. No one present may parley until violence has been done. On a 10+, if any of your fellow players’ characters start a fight on your behalf, they mark experience. Furthermore, nobody may initially target you. On a 7-9, if a PC won’t start a fight then an NPC will. You still won’t get hit first, unless a PC starts the fight. On a miss, nobody needs to start fighting if they don’t want to, but you are no longer exempt from getting hit first if they do.
Screw balance, He’s got a gun. I like it personally. It’s kinda like the hocus’s Frenzy ability but less broad (or controlled). As far as being powerful, I think it’s fine. Nothing about the dictates the kind of violence nor the length it occurs. In addition, just because nobody targets you initially doesn’t mean people won’t want to hunt you down later for instigating a fight. It’s a move that is exciting, fun, and furthers the narrative, everything I’d ever want from a AW move.
“just because nobody targets you initially doesn’t mean people won’t want to hunt you down later for instigating a fight.” exactly my intention with the wording
Thanks!
You could have an opposing move called /Grenade!/. When you sound the alarm, everyone scatters, if only temporarily. PCs may stay but they must act under fire if they aren’t in on the ruse. Something to that effect.
“GRENADE!” That’s brilliant Marshall Miller !
You might be able to simplify this move by making it choose-options-from-a-list. “You’re not the target of the initial exchange” can be one of the options on the list.
I totally dig the two moves balancing each other, not balanced in themselves.
Lists are good, and that might tweak the “you will get to see violence” out of it’s weird future tense.
On a hit, other people present react with violence before doing anything else. Choose three:
-someone starts a fight on your behalf – they mark experience
-you are not targeted in the initial exchange
-someone reveals something true
-someone takes a blow meant for you
-you get away with it
On a 7-9, if a PC won’t start a fight then an NPC will. Chose one form the list.
On a miss, nobody needs to start fighting if they don’t want to, and you are no longer exempt from getting hit first if they do.
This totally Sound like an Operator move
The companion move I originally wrote was Why Me?!: when you find yourself stuck in the middle of battle, roll+hard. On a hit you can escape the battle and effect the outcomes as you leave. On a 10+, you can redirect one attack from one player’s character or NPC toward another player’s character or NPC. On a 7-9, you can leave the battle but either you or one of your allies will suffer harm or loss, relevant to the sitch. On a miss, you can’t leave this fight until it’s done and nobody else is shooting at you or any of your friends.
Though I’m thinking about that GRENADE! idea now.
Wouldn’t an aggressive move like this be a roll+hard instead of cool and the companion move be roll+cool?
Paul Tobia No. He’s Got A Gun! is not an aggressive move, it’s a calculated move to instigate violence between other people. “Cool” is defined as “rational, clearthinking, calm, calculating, unfazed” and that’s what you have to be to get others to act out without paying attention to you.
Why Me?! represents a desperate physical act that allows the character to escape both physical harm and further threat. I put it under the aegis of “Hard” because of the words “strong-willed” and “physically and emotionally strong” under the description of “Hard.” In play, or in meta, it allows the player to dictate an act of violence that is perpetrated either in reaction or confusion (i.e. friendly fire).