How should I approach the one-sided threat of violence in terms of Moves?

How should I approach the one-sided threat of violence in terms of Moves?

How should I approach the one-sided threat of violence in terms of Moves?

Example: a Hunter with a sniper rifle getting into position to support his allies in the coming confrontation.

In Apocalypse World (1e), there is a move to threaten someone to get what you want. In a situation like sniping, one simply used that Move. It worked perfectly.

I don’t see any equivalent in Urban Shadows. Unleash an Attack explicitly involves being in personal danger while doing harm.

Keep Your Cool is generic enough, perhaps, but using Spirit would hurt as the Hunter – who is the only one in a position to start the game with a sniper rifle!

Thoughts?

8 thoughts on “How should I approach the one-sided threat of violence in terms of Moves?”

  1. Well in a supernatural game, I’d say even a sniper from far off is still in personal danger.

    If they’re aiding there allies, that’s a Lend a Hand using covering fire. If they’re just shooting, sounds like Keep Your Cool (“I don’t want to hit my allies”).

    That said, I think this is one of those scenarios where a sniper chilling way out of danger and firing at some guys safely isn’t exactly on-genre, so you may have a hard time getting the moves to work exactly as you want.

  2. Yeah, I think Lend a Hand and Keep Your Cool work. Alternately, “you shoot him and he dies”. If the PC has gotten himself in a fictional position to kill a dude with no danger to themselves, the dude dies.

  3. When in doubt, simply do harm as the fiction dictates. AW2e even clarified this with a variant of Go Aggro/Seize by Force for when you have the drop on someone.

    But Aaron Griffin​ has a good point that in a supernatural game, you may not be as safe as you think.

  4. When I wrote this, I was thinking I shouldn’t use Unleash because one of the 7-9 choices didn’t apply.

    Upon reading your replies and looking at the move again, though, removing the “they inflict harm on you” choice so that a 7-9 immediately ends up with you “in a bad spot” seems to work just fine. She compromised her position, and now she’s in the thick of it.

    When the timing matters and her friends’ success depends on her making the shot, I’m not going to inflict harm on alert enemies because she’s far away or penalize her for using good positioning by shifting stats away from violence.

    And, of course, as you say, an oracle might have foreseen his gambit or a werewolf smelled him a mile away.

    Thanks, you helped me think this through. I’ve never run a game for a hunter who chose to create a custom sniper rifle before, and I appreciate the quick replies!

  6. Aaron Griffin​ Sure!

    However, if working out a perch in advance and using stuff with different tags doesn’t change the game experience for a gear-focused character, then the differences between weapons are distinctions without a difference.

    Ignoring the difference in the fiction when the player has highlighted their interest in it by kitting themselves out doesn’t seem to me to be necessary or appropriate.

    I will definitely be using your “surprise: poltergeist!” to mix things up, though, and range won’t be a card to get out of jail free.

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