I hope this is a good venue for feedback as you’re going into revisiting the layout for final files. There are two incredibly minor things that appear to be mistakes, but I think it’s the presentation that’s doing this rather than things actually wrong with the rules.
First, the moves that have a 7+ and a 7-9 range. When I saw that 7+ for Mix It Up, it looked like a typo. Whups, they obviously meant 10+, because in AW, moves generally have the structure: “On a 10+, this happens. On a 7-9, this other thing happens. On a miss, this happens.” If a move has that 7+ and 7-9 range effect is in AW, it is either written like “On a 10+, this happens. On a 7-9, that still happens, but these things also happen. On a miss, this other thing happens.” (See the Hocus’ Fortunes move.) Or it’s written like “On a hit, this happens. On a 7-9, these things also happen.” (See Basic Move: Help or Interfere.) Having that 7+ range before a separate 7-9 range makes it a bit unclear.
Related, the Hit the Street move also isn’t as clear upon first reading the results of the roll. First, there’s a range. Then we go up to a higher range. Then we go back down to a lower range. Why aren’t these in order like the following?
Hit the Street. When you go to a Contact for help, roll Style.
On a 10+, you get what you want, plus a little something extra (choose either [intel] or [gear]).
On a 7-9, you get what you want, but choose 2 from the list:
* list item
* list item
* list item
* list item
Because some games have typos and errata to fix mistakes, even though you mean a 7+ result is supposed to cover that 10+ range and 7-9 range, readers may be unsure if that was really meant or if it was supposed to read 10+ instead of 7+.
The second thing that bugs me just a little (and it’s really really minor): why does the countdown clock go up, up, up and terminate at 0? I mean, I know, but it looks weird. Clocks that display military time always display midnight as 0000 hours, but midnight is referred to as both 0000 hours and 2400 hours. When counting up to midnight in this strip, having the last number higher than the previous numbers makes visual sense, even if that’s not exactly how digital clocks work. It just feels strange going up, ratcheting tension higher and higher and then when the tension is highest we drop down to nothing.
I’ve never seen 2400 using in 24h time, although I see from Wikipedia that some countries do use it. I suspect flicking it would be as jarring to an international audience (including me!) as you find 0000. In terms of clocks I like the flatlining image when the clock strikes midnight. Also 0000 evokes running out of time better.
This is an interesting case of clashing cultural assumptions! I like it 🙂
I get what you mean about 7+/10+. Because of the way those moves work, 7+ is more elegant, but also unexpected.
I like that 7+ serves as a reminder that 7+ is success, a hit in AW terms. I think that’s an important characteristic of the system to keep in mind while MCing and creating new moves.
(This is definitely a good venue for feedback, Thomas Deeny!)
As a point of interest, did you see the paragraph in chapter 1 where I talk specifically about mix it up having a 7+ and 7-9 results?
Yes, but I was just using that entry as an example.
Thanks for the responses!