Looking for feedback on a move:
Ruminate
When you take some time to slowly and methodically consider your options, give the MC a String on you. Then ask them, or a player whose character is directly involved in the situation, what your best course of action is; that player must answer you honestly.
The idea here is to encourage the player to be a slow, methodical thinker. Someone who considers all their options before taking action, sometimes to the point of letting an opportunity pass them by. Because the String goes to the MC in general rather than a specific character, I think that limits what the MC can do with that String. Thoughts? Does it seem like a fair trade-off, or should I find another way to encourage, slow, methodical thought?
I have two issues with the String cost:
1. It feels wrong to give it to the MC, rather than a specific character. Strings are personal, interpersonal power.
2. It makes the cost a future cost, whereas this kind of pondering should have a cost in the present for a payoff in the future, not the other way around.
Thanks for the feedback Benjamin Davis. Those are both very good points, especially the one about it being a future cost.
Would the move feel worth it if the MC got to make a move right then in exchange for the information?
I think that the move is balanced, but I do feel that it feels out of theme with my understanding of the game. Specifically this feel like, with only a little tweeking, would be an Adult move. Stopping to think through your options and making good choices as a result goes against the general trend of moves that the things you do are impulsive and generally make things worse.
I had a similar thought about the move as Derek Pounds. I understand this is for a skin that is calculating but it feels way more mature adult solving problems than immature adolescent causing problems. Personally I think instead of telling “the best course of action” which has a very positive connotation to it, it should be something more like “Tell me what the best course of action is for myself” or “What gets me the best result for myself” which has a much more selfish tone which I feel fits better in the game.
I also agree with Benjamin Davis about the strings to the MC, but I don’t think that the solution lies in making hard moves but in the concept of the character having information to consider. If the character views strings as bits of information on people then perhaps this should just be something someone added to just what a person can do when they spend a string.
However it was just pointed out to me that the effect sounds remarkably like gaze into the abyss without rolling, which makes me lean even heavier towards there need to be a limiting factor to how often this can be used so that it doesn’t devalue gazing into the abyss
Agreed with above. That sounds like a gaze to me–I think the fictional concept this move is attempting to represent might be better handled by modifying gaze into the abyss. As a key, look a the self-harm move the mortal has and the fairy king move the fey has. Each of those moves says to the player: “the abyss you gaze into has this specific fictional quality, expressed through this mechanical reward”
The danger in playing “the responsible one” is not necessarily that those teenagers don’t exist, or even that they aren’t fun, interesting characters that have a place in the genre, it’s just that if they get their way, the story ends. You can’t let them say “This is a bad idea,” and have then stay at home eating chips while their friends go into the haunted house to get attacked by murdering zombies. You have to set things up so that they can say “This is a bad idea,” but get believably dragged along anyways so they can go “I told you so!” while holding the barricaded door shut.
In essence, the move has to do more than incentivize the player to avoid trouble, it has to incentivize the other players not to let them.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. Lots to chew on here (heh).
The move was intended for The Ox, an animal in the Chinese zodiac known for being slow and patient that sometimes doesn’t act because they are too busy considering all their options first, but who gets the job done once they have made a decision. I had envisioned a move that encouraged players to let others get the better of their character; like the person who thinks of a good comeback only after everyone has left. I hadn’t intended it to be an “adult” move that let you make good choices.
Maybe I need to change the question to something like “What do you least want me to do?” Allowing the Ox to spend a String or rolling this into Gaze into the Abyss might be the way to go too.
Thanks very much for your feedback. 🙂