To what degree (if any) is the MC justified in asking a player to take a Mark as the consequence of a 6- even if the move doesn’t normally call for one?
I did this recently under these circumstances: one of the PCs was sent with an NPC scrounger to get back a couple of drums of motor oil that the 218th had made off with. The NPC brought the PC (Masha) to a Jewish community hiding out in the woods near Krasnodar; the plan was for the NPC to exchange some barley the PCs had scrounged up for luxury goods that could be used to scrounge back some motor oil. While they were there, Masha decided to do some scrounging of her own. I asked what she was going to trade with, and her player said that since we had established that Masha was a physician in civilian life, she’d trade medical treatment for goods.
The PC then managed to get a 6-, so I said to take a Mark in addition to the other consequences; this seemed to fit, since the condition of the refugees was pretty terrible and probably would shock a reasonably compassionate physician. I don’t feel that was necessarily the wrong call (it was following the fiction), but I’m curious as to what other people feel about using Marks as a consequence, given that there’s no specific MC move to do that.
sub, because I have disconnected thoughts.
I’d say that you did an excellent job of following the fiction rather than the rules.
/sub
Thanks Michael Llaneza; I think that’s mostly right, although I worry a bit about it because Marks are Serious Business. It was a fun little set piece, plus I got to have Lara the NPC scrounger mysteriously say “we must turn flour into oil.”
Well, a 6- is serious business in wartime.
True! I do have some worries about pulling this one out of my bag of tricks all the time, though, because almost everything could be eligible (I thought that it could have been a logical result of the mock execution one of the PCs was goaded into by the deputy zampolit, but FWIW I didn’t ask for the Mark there.)
It should be noted that any 6- on Tempt Fate results in a Mark, IIRC.
I wouldn’t worry about it as an impulse decision but I’d stay away from using marks as hard moves generally. They are narrative hit points and an extremely limited currency players are pressured into choosing to use by the structured moves. Look for other GM moves to use for hard moves first, but again, not a huge problem once in a while.
Jason Morningstar thanks, that’s what I figured; in this case it was following the fiction (and hell, Masha has +3 luck so a Scrounge fail is pretty rare) but I did note they weren’t part of the GMs toolkit and assumed that was for Good Reasons 🙂
I’m so glad you are asking these questions and really playing the game hard, Catherine Ramen!
It is quite literally my pleasure! I’ve enjoyed my turn in the GMs chair (and my usual chance to subvert tropes and play with expectations, but those deserve a separate post, if they merit it at all…)
If you want to write it, then it merits a post!