Got a question about the Oracle’s Foretellings move.
The bit on p219 that talks about the players “retroactively declare they foresaw something as its happening”.
Like, if the players have gotten themselves in a situation where they’re being stalked by a werewolf, or I guess even being attacked, they could say “I saw this coming as part of a foretelling!”.
But on 122, for the move itself it mentions spending hold to “declare that something terrible is about to happen.” And then describes the benefit being “to avoid the impending disaster.”
This phrasing makes me think that its a stronger narrative, that it lets the player – out of the blue – declare that a car is careening toward them.
Can anyone give me some clarification or examples of how this should work?
The way we played it, the Oracle could say “something terrible is about to happen” literally whenever he wanted, it was always obvious what he meant based on what was already happening in the fiction, and then everybody would get +1 to try to get that thing to not happen. Like, somebody with a gun advances on them, and he proclaims he saw one of them get shot by that guy.
Now, he never used this to create a threat that wasn’t already there, but I guess he could’ve if he’d misinterpreted a situation. Maybe I planned for the guy with the gun to actually be an ally, a “Come with me if you want to live” surprise Terminator 2 moment. I suppose then it would’ve been up to me as MC to decide whether to roll with it or tell him, no no, keep your hold for later, your vision actually told you that you can trust this guy. (But either way I’m going to respect that he declared he foresaw this if I can.)
I see it this way. We’re playing. Oracle is holding.
Oracle suddenly yells, “Oh shit, you know that monster we’re chasing, well, I foresaw it would attack us at this very intersection the moment that yellow car passed us! We can avoid disaster by ditching this van and getting on that bus!” It’s like having an automatic success on a Keep it Cool move to avoid something that’s looming but which hasn’t hit yet (or which has just hit – that’s the meaning of p.219..)
Also, in case you missed it, the note on this move a couple pages later is handy:
When you spend hold from Foretellings, you’re not necessarily guaranteeing that thing will happen; you’re giving yourself and your allies the chance to act before the thing comes to pass. If you’re hiding from a vampire assassin, for example, you might spend your hold to say, “She’s going to find me,” and take a +1 ongoing to attempts to escape before she notices you or unleash an attack on her when she gets close.