So, I’ve been Keeper for a MotW campaign for a little while now, and I had a few questions…
1. When someone changes to a new hunter type, I assume all Luck boxes that were checked remain lost, yes? I’m pretty sure turning over a new leaf doesn’t make you less likely to die. 😉
2. So, I love the Mundane’s “Oops” move, but it seems to go against the idea of the fiction going before dice. It seems like the Mundane can “Oops” their way through the whole mystery, since it can happen whenever they “want to stumble across anything important.” If their Weird is highlighted, they’re going to be marking an awful lot of Experience.
I’m sure I’m thinking about this in the wrong way. Should it only work if there’s something to stumble upon in the vicinity? Should stumbling on important things also get the Mundane into trouble? I’ve probably just been too nice about it…
3. On a similar note, the Expert’s “Lore Library” seems an easy way to just push through the mystery, earning lots of experience if their Sharp is highlighted.
I’m sure the “historical or reference works” thing is relevant, but it seems very in-genre for there to be reference works on most monsters that have existed for a decent amount of time, traded among hunters and very much the sort of thing for a Lore Library.
Again, I may just be too nice. Also, I suppose that the other key here is that searching books can take hours or even days, during which time the monster may be advancing its agenda…
1. It is correct: they don’t regain the points of Luck they had spent before.
2. I’ve had a lot of times a Mundane with the Oops move and it wasn’t a problem to our group. The player just used the move when they felt right and described how was plausible for them to stumble against a given clue.
3. Remember that when the players investigate a mystery you, as the Keeper, have to give them only the information that is possible to gain trough the source they are using. So, ask them some questions: what kind of library is it? If he Expert says it’s mainly a pagan mythology library, whenever they are searching information about a fallen angel, it is a wonderful moment to make them investigate otherwise. 😉
It’s worth noting that there’s a significant chance of a 7-9 or a miss even if you have +3 in the relevant stat. And then, totally push through. But also make soft moves and advance the world outside of the players. A conversation isn’t one person saying the same thing over and over, so gameplay shouldn’t flow like that. Respond to an Oops or a Lore Library with information, then prompt for something. Turn to another player.
Oh! And something I would add: just as Daniele Di Rubbo said for the Lore Library, the same thing applies to Oops! If the place isn’t logically one where you’d stumble across clues, the move isn’t going to be triggerable. And some information needs more in-depth investigation than accidental stumbles can give.
Ah, and given the Mundane’s typical Weird stat, misses should be aplenty.
Ah, see, in my campaign, Oops was taken as an “other playbook” move by the Spooky with Experience. It was completely appropriate as the character is something of a flake (who thinks the evil source of her powers is happy little fairies), but it does mean she rarely misses.
Allow me to point out that “oops!” does not specify that what is discovered is relevant to the current mystery – just that it is important.
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Michael Sands I think the point of confusion was that it says it works like Investigate a Mystery, but since it produces evidence from thin air, as it were, there wasn’t the normal control that you can’t get information that isn’t appropriate to the action in the fiction, as the action in the fiction could be anything.
At least, that’s the way we interpreted it. What y’all are saying makes more sense, however.
At this point, I think I have a better handle on how to interpret it. I very much appreciate the advice y’all are giving. If you have further thoughts, keep ’em coming. 😉
Kirt Dankmyer, definitely. The action in the fiction is stumbling upon something, and the move says it will be important and treated as investigation. Beyond that, anything goes.
Also, the evidence doesn’t come from thin air, exactly. For example, maybe someone rolls the move, stumbles upon something and says “tell me something about what the monster can do” then maybe they discover that it has very big teeth, as it tries to use them on the hunter.