Let’s say you’ve got a Hardholder who rolls their Wealth move and gets a 10+ and then proceeds to completely avoid getting involved in any conflict for the session. Or maybe a Savvyhead who hides away into their workshop, not building anything but not doing anything either. Or any character really, who might have secured a place to sleep and just stays in their shelter for their session. Are you obligated to force conflict onto them? Would letting them waste the session do nothing (and focus on other PCs) be preferable? How would you handle it?
Let’s say you’ve got a Hardholder who rolls their Wealth move and gets a 10+ and then proceeds to completely avoid…
Let’s say you’ve got a Hardholder who rolls their Wealth move and gets a 10+ and then proceeds to completely avoid…
I handle it in two ways:
– I throw perils against him;
– an NPC (or more) comes to speak with him.
In either this cases you can decide what happens (“and this happens/and they ask you this”) or disclaim decision making (“what is happening?/what do they want from you?”).
Whoops, there is a third option: give another PC the chance to contact the “retired” PC.
i.e.: “Snazzy, when you get up from your bed you can swear there is that Wolf’s (“retired” PC) pendant on the floor. Do you know why is it there? What do you do?”.
It depends.
If they’re staying put doing nothing which would trigger a move, but still interacting with NPCs, or other PCs, or even just having fun describing a day of their character “just being” – I’d let them be once in a while – its all good colour/setting/character building stuff.
It doesn’t have to be wall to wall mayhem in AW. I think it’s in some advice for In a Wicked Age where Vincent says something like “for goodness sake, let the characters just sit and drink tea once in a while” I think the same applies to AW. Not every scene has to be about conflict – sometimes its fun to just live with the characters and see what they do on a “normal” (lol) day. In these cases, I would not consider this a “waste” of the session.
Mind you, I’d only not push them for one session perhaps. Or half a session. After that, something’s gonna come knocking, or force them to leave their cocoon.
On the other hand, if the reason they are hiding away is purely as an exercise in protecting the character – if they’ve thought to themselves – “Welp, this is a cold hard world, and its out to fuck me up, my best option is to hide and refuse to engage. How are you going to kill me if I don’t trigger a move MC?” then maybe there is another issue which needs to be addressed.
Drew Harpunea what if it’s a one-shot?
Ah. Yeah, then that is a waste of the session. 🙂
I would definitely look to move them out of their safe place and into some conflict – there is no game for that player in a one-shot if they don’t get involved. I’d just make a nice hard and direct move which will force a response.
For the examples you give:
Hardholder – OK, so they have rolled 10+ on wealth, and they stay put and do nothing – so maybe there’s a rival gang who sees how prosperous and nice the hardhold is, and decides to take it as their own. That’s a nice easy and direct way to emperil the set up and force a response. (probably a threat move, depending on how you set this up)
Savvyhead – I’d just have the workshop catch fire, forcing them out and looking for something to stop the fire. Maybe some vital part of their tech is ruined and they need to find a replacement. (take away their stuff)
Daniele Di Rubbo Asking leading questions would probably work (“where is your hold most vulnerable?”/”who is your most dangerous citizen?”), and then play a hard move off of that.
Yeah!
Communication is key in that case- especially if it’s a one-shot. If they’re trying to turtle and do nothing, then I don’t see that you’re obligated to bring them in. Focus on the other PCs. If they want to waste the session, that’s up to them. On the other hand, if they’re just preparing and expecting fit to hit the shan, then I like the suggestions by Patrick Henry Downs.
I’d go social. “Dude are you really just going to not do anything all day? Well… uh… okay.” And then ignore them. If they want to play, they can bloody well play. If they want to watch, everyone (including them!) will have more fun if you pay attention to the characters who are actually doing things.
Remember your agenda. Make the players’ characters’ lives not boring.
What “not boring” means might depend on people and groups, but I figure if you’re letting their lives be boring, you’re not doing your job. So remember you can always “ask provocative questions and build on the answers” as often as you need to. If the questions are provocative, the situation will be provoked. Find out who they need and use that info to make PC-NPC-PC triangles.
I’d ask things of a turtling player like what’s your sister’s name and how do you keep her safe? While thinking about that, turn to the next player and ask them when was the last time you kissed? Etc. You should be able to weave people into provocative, unstable situations with the MC tools provided — it’s just sometimes a trick to remember them all.
I’d say make a move to bring a threat into the character’s life, but one that can have a potential benefit to the PC after it’s handled. One of the MC’s jobs is to ‘make the character’s life interesting. Maybe for the Savyhead example, send some mechanized clanks to attack his workshop for parts. Yeah, that will make the PC nervous, but after the automatons are dealt with the PC has some new toys to play with and a new plot line to explore (Where did these things come from or how do I make more)
I wouldn’t go straight for the hard moves if the Hardholder passed their wealth roll. That means their hold is safe for now.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t cause trouble. I’d go for digging into some personal needs and let them cause the trouble themselves though.
Try to figure out what they have and who needs it, then have the person who needs what they have ask for it.
Alternately, find out what they need, then tell them who has it.
Trouble will probably happen.
I follow Drew Harpunea and Christopher Weeks techniques with good effect, and then use Jamey Crook’s if it’s clear they are really disengaged. Their loss, especially in a one-shot.
Look, if the hardholder’s holed up for too long, all kinds of interesting weirdness can go down outside, and the rest of the PCs are going to do stuff and the other players are going to have fun!
I’ve been thinking about this some more.
If its a one-shot, I’d just write a custom love letter for each playbook and then hand that out at the start as a launchpad. Make sure it guarantees a compelling fucking reason to get out and get involved. I might not even bother with the Hardholder’s Wealth roll – just include some element of that in the love letter. BAM! Problem pre-empted!
Oh yeah, for sure, With a one-shot, love letters are super-golden.
Definitely always begin one shots with love letters that kick-start the action.
Also don’t forget you as MC can jump the time forwards by larger amounts, instead of focusing on the minutiae of what the characters are doing hour by hour.
e.g. For the Savvyhead “OK Morrell, so you’ve been holed up in your workspace for like a week now. You’re starting to stink more than usual and have run out of fried 3 eyed fish and swamp juice. What do you do?”