Hey so I just ran my first motw game a while back and one problem I had was when the player failed a sharp roll. When they failed I had to ask them a question or two so that either the person they are talking to or the monster could find out something about them. The problem is I couldn’t think of any good questions for them to answer and for a good way in the context of the story for the monster to find out about this fact. Could any of you help out with this?
Hey so I just ran my first motw game a while back and one problem I had was when the player failed a sharp roll.
Hey so I just ran my first motw game a while back and one problem I had was when the player failed a sharp roll.
How about ‘what did you do to tip of the creature that your on its trail?’ Let the player have control of their failure. Or if its a person you could ask ‘what don’t you want this person to know or realise?’
Alex Prinz I really didn’t even think of it that way. thank you!
Responses to a 6 don’t always need to follow the move that was done. If someone is searching through a study for clues and botches the roll, you can always default to Chandler’s Law – when in doubt, have a man enter the room with a gun.
That’s all good advice.
You can also ask the same questions as are listed for hunters, e.g. “what are you going to do now?”
Another fun idea, if not used to often is to say “go ahead and ask me your two questions anyway.” So they do, and you answer them by explaining what the monster does after it has captured them 🙂
One of my first MotW games started with a failed knowledge move followed by the player stating “I filed a flight plan” another player saying “you did what?!” Then “you’re aware that this is a secret operation” “but regulations….” And then the airport got attacked by a hit squad.
One other way is to make the method of obtaining the answer in the fiction a downright liability….You ask the teen what he saw…he says ‘nuthin…'(Sullenly because he’s a teen) then he thinks about it some more and goes back to investigate himself….suddenly the showdown becomes a rescue mission under fire.
The reality is your questions have exposed a weakness for your opponent to exploit, knowingly or otherwise.
For long term games, you could always ask what failure does this remind you of? They take a -1 forward from the mental stress. Builds backstory and moves things forward.