Yet another question about the rules for violence.
In the game I described in my ‘What I Did at Origins 2015’ (specifically the OxCorps game = pure Apocalypse World), the following situation arose. I was the player, so I can’t answer from the MC side… but you can pretend to be the MC.
Climactic scene. Azure the Battlebabe (me) has learned there’s a sniper in a church tower overlooking the meet we are about to have with the other bad guys. Azure’s goal is to get into the church tower and neutralize the sniper before her friends arrive.
She gets into the church and sees a rickety staircase up to the tower. Stealth isn’t an option (stairs are too noisy) so she quickly ascends, and…
Azure: I poke my head just through the trapdoor.
MC: As you suspected, you see a sniper rifle set up on a tripod, with a view over the meet location. But you don’t see the sniper.
Azure: [looks around some more] [MC, do you make a move against me here?]
MC: Suddenly the sniper emerges from hiding. He’s got a knife!
Azure: I loudly cock my sawed-off shotgun and order him to halt or I’m gonna blow him away.
MC: Go Aggro, roll +Cool (Battlebabe move, Ice Cold).
[should this have been Seize By Force? forcing the Battlebabe to roll +Hard at -2]
Azure: [gets 10+] He can either force my hand in which case I pull the trigger, or stop moving.
MC: He forces your hand.
Azure: He takes 3 Harm. Actually 4 Harm because it’s a high-powered shotgun.
MC: Sniper is dead.
So… should the Sniper have made a move against Azure while she was ascending the stairs? He had superior position and presumably heard her coming. Failing that should he have made a move against her when she kept looking around for him (after spotting the rifle but not him)? And that final exchange: of course Azure tried to flavor her intent as Go Aggro, but what she really wanted was control of the sniper’s nest (= Seize By Force?).
It’s really difficult to second-guess an MC’s decisions based off of the player’s feedback on a complex scene.
It’s valuable to talk about instances, and how moves are interpreted, and to constructively criticize MC style. Your question about “Go Aggro” vs. “Seize by Force” for instance. But to write out a scenario and ask for advice on what an NPC should have done differently is harder to address.
If i was running it, i may or may not have known the stairs were noisy, or the sniper was up there, or the sniper would be setting an ambush with a knife. Any of these facts could have been on-the-fly in response to something you did on the way. Maybe a roll. Maybe just a comment you made.
could have turned out the sniper was in position and had a spotter waiting for you. Maybe the sniper knew anyone looking for them would come to that tower, and left an explosive surprise while they set up in a secondary nest.
All we have is your play-by-play of what happened. So responding to that:
Sniper hadn’t taken a shot yet. No sidearm (or at least preference for a knife) because they didn’t want to make noise and blow their position. As you ascended the stairs, perhaps the sniper didn’t know who you were? If you were just some church functionary they would have killed or otherwise silenced you easily.
When you finally come into the tower, they see that you’re a threat. You’ve seen the rifle, and you’re still poking around. Perhaps they think they can cross the ground unseen, or quickly enough to get the drop on you. But as they move, it’s not like they can just sneak up on YOU. They don’t know you’re The Battlebabe, perhaps? Still underestimating you.
You get your gun up, order them to stop. They’re too far away, so there’s no “seize by force” – you roll a 10+ and give the MC options. The Sniper takes the best chance they have. They don’t know mechanics. They don’t know there was a 10+. They rush you. They eat shot, and drop.
Basically – the narrative of these games can be REALLY fluid. second guessing NPC actions is tough when you don’t know what the characters knew or when they knew it.
The sniper has a knife. You don’t have your shotgun out.
I’d have him charge you before you get your gun out. After that it is most likely AuF or SBF depending on how you react. Wiggle free or fight back.
Thanks for the feedback. Andrew Fish , I’m not upset with the MC — he was fantastic.
Tim Franzke , you raise an interesting point about the readiness of weapons. Azure says, “I’m going to scope out this meet, and of course I’ve got my shotgun with me.” But she never EXPLICITLY says, “While I creep up the church tower stairs I have my shotgun out in front of me.” So when she gets to the top, how quickly can she bring that gun to bear?
As you said, this could be a move. Or if I had slowed the scene down to cover those details, maybe Azure’s readiness would’ve become part of the fiction.
During action scenes, there’s a tension between wanting to resolve things quickly because people’s (players! not just PCs) hearts are racing, and wanting to take things slowly so you can layer in more detail and more opportunity for the situation to become even more chaotic and entertaining.