For my Star Wars game I am thinking about my players and how they tend to do things. In this case specifically about slicing (Star Wars for Hacking).
At first I was thinking of a move like this…
Slice: Roll+Attuned, 10, pick two; 7 to 9 pick one.
– Make change
– Find Information
– Go undetected
But knowing my guys if they do not get a 10 they will choose Go Undetected and try again. Which means more chances for me to make it interesting. So… is that all I really need, or should I make things harder on them each time they retry?
Trying again is boring! Situations snowball, problems occur, obstacles and threats pile-up! I say look at how Uncharted Worlds handles hacking: on a 7-9 you’ve been detected, but you’re in — it means repercussions are coming, even though you get what you want. No need for more than that.
I think it just depends on whether or not you can apply additional consequences and “make things interesting” even with a “go undetected” result. I don’t know enough about the setting to know a clear answer to that.
Yup I agree, trying again is boring.
Thanks for the tip on Uncharted Worlds, that does sound like a good way to do it, but I also like the idea of there being a soft choice for them, do they choose to get what they want, and get caught or fail and stay hidden.
Maybe I should just say no retries.
Hmm I will have to think on how I want to do this.
What if anyone can do it the Uncharted Worlds way, but someone specially trained as a slicer gets the choice?
Hmm maybe that should be “Go undetected, but terminal also becomes non-responsive.”
One thing to keep in mind with PbtA: a 7-9 is a success. If you notice that the players will always choose “go undetected” that might well mean the move is not “Slice” but rather:
“When you slice into a system and remain undetected, Roll + Attuned. On a hit, you’re in! On a 7-9, pick one:
* Make a change you intend to make;
* Find the information you’re looking for.”
On a 7-9, if they find the information they’re looking for, they might make some other change they didn’t intend to make. If they make a change they intended to make, they might also find some other snippet of information, but perhaps it’s misleading? On a 10+ they can roam the system freely for a bit, while it’s narratively interesting.
Either way, on a success they get in undetected.
For Star Wars, you generally want something that encourages diving in head first and dealing the consequences, yes? If so, I think giving them a “safe” option is weak. If they try to slice and get a 7-9, they’re in but “WE’RE GONNA HAVE COMPANY!”
If you really want make it a choice on a 7-9, try something like this:
10+ You’re in and undetected, for now at least.
7-9 Pick 1:
– You’re in for the moment, but you’ve been detected; work fast!
– You can’t get in this way, but ask the GM what you need in order to get access
That way, on a 7-9, if they play it safe they’re still moving things forward.
Jeremy Strandberg I mulling over things, and I was close to coming up with something like that, but this is better than what I was thinking.
Thank you all for the help.
In any well constructed PbtA game moves, by design, do not include neutrality. The moves are designed to move forward the narrative one way or another. Including a move which is can be used as a null is a mistake. If it is not a mistake, then the design choice to use the PbtA engine is questionable.
I keep thinking of the situation in RotJ where Han’s shuttle used old codes to gain access to Endor, and while the codes were valid and let him land, Vader also detected Luke on the ship. Maybe in this case an expert system notes an anomaly and flags the session for review but accepts it anyway. Then tension can ramp up the longer they’re in the system.
well they will have to fictionally set themselves up to try again, PbtA games dont work like others where you just keep rolling dice till you get it right. you should change go undetected to…. Get out undetected. because if they dont choose that one, then they are detected.
In the interests of keeping the action moving, I’d suggest:
7-9 you do one (chose) before they shut you down.
10+ you do both and get out again before they detect you.
Thanks again all. This has been educational.
Now what I am having issues with is, is slicing something anyone can try, and if so do they use this move? And if they do, how are things any better for characters that are especially trained in this sort of thing?
Ryan Good – i can sit at a computer terminal and try to hack the system. but i am not knowledgeable about it in the least. Depending on the system’s security settings, i probably couldn’t get far enough along to even trip an alarm.
Anyone can try to slice, presumably. But if they don’t have a reasonable chance to actually do it, it wouldn’t trigger a move phrased along the lines of “When you slice into a system…” because they don’t get this far along.
Someone who is equipped to do it gets to trigger the move.
Someone who is not equipped to do it but tries anyway wouldn’t trigger that move, but the fiction should provide consequences (should move forward from this character action):
“You hammer on the key panel for a few minutes, frustrated and getting no where.
Eventually you hear a familiar hum; a drone in flight!
Apparently your repeated attempts to enter dates-of-birth of the emperor’s favorite cousins have prompted a security drone to buzz down the hall to see who has reported to work drunk. What do you do?”
Here i have used a soft move to show a downside to their lack of preparation/suitability for the chosen action and then soft-moved again to reveal an imminent threat.
We didn’t spend time rolling dice and getting frustrated at a lack of progress. Instead, i heard their plan of action and in a few words pushed them a few minutes forward in the action to indicate that the characters might be getting bored/antsy without making the players suffer the same boredom.
They didn’t trigger an alarm; rather, it is interesting to throw something their way to move the fiction forward.
You might also decide that the system has a more vigorous response to intrusion attempts and move hard against them (it is a golden opportunity, after all).
The one thing you don’t want to do is “you tried X, and it didn’t work. Now what?” – that doesn’t move the fiction anywhere. It simply instructs the players that they were wrong, they failed to guess what is in YOUR head, and they need to guess again.
Thanks Andrew Fish that was a good read. This is going to be my first go at running a AW game, so changing my mindset is something I am working on.
… You’ve never run an AW game, but are writing a hack? There might be a cart/horse situation here. Even if the genre isn’t your jam normally; It might be a good idea to give it a spin before reinventing the wheel.
I have played DW, and I am not really reinventing things, since there are already 3 or 4 other star wars hacks out there. I just didn’t like any of them 100%. So I am tweaking some that I found.
Running straight AW first isn’t an option since it’s not what my group is interested in. They are however interested in SW and want to play an RPG based on SW. I do not really feel like running any of the systems that are already out there for SW… even though I own 3 of them.
The really nice thing is that the stuff I want it to do is not anything new. I am taking heritage moves from the Dark Heart Dungeon World hack, so that the players will have some race stuff to play with. It’s something that wanted, so hacking that in was a way to give it to them. Also I am using the corruption system from Urban Shadows for dark side progression. I am sure none of this will be perfect but I am sure I will be able to iron things out as we go. So far this has been a wonderful and open forum for asking questions and getting killer feedback.
I don’t really want to have to write a hack of AW to play the Star Wars game I want to play, but since there is nothing out there now that really fits my needs, I don’t see that I have another acceptable option.
I am open to suggestions however. If you have a better idea I am willing to listen.
Have you checked out Star Wars World?
Tommy Rayburn I did. I didn’t like how they added skills, or droids, or removed the barter/cred abstraction.
I am however using some of the MC stuff from that one.
I think the basic slicing move is best-worded with a qualifying term to keep anyone from slicing, like Andrew Fish said
“When you slice into the system..roll+Tech” (or whatever the stat is)”
and for 7-9 results, when I want to leave options, I usually negate two out of three dangers of doing The Thing so there is implied danger leftover:
“* On a 10+: you do it
* On a 7-9: you do it, and pick 2:
You don’t take any damage from the countermeasures,
you don’t take take longer than you wanted,
you don’t bring about a source of danger”
There is another way of doing this if the concept of Hold is more fitting (like to represent a higher level of expertise, or what a droid or augmented character might do when slicing). In this case, this might be an advanced move which might read:
“When you use your advanced capabilities to slice.. roll+Tech.
* On a 10+: hold 3
* On a 7-9: hold 2
* On a miss: hold 1 in addition to whatever the GM says
You may slice into any system you have studied or is familiar to you: you slice in easily. While you are slicing, you may have to place yourself in undue danger in order to access the device. The GM will tell what moves are appropriate to your slicing. Spend 1 Hold to make that move. Examples include: steal data, disable security locks, deactivate droids”