I’m giving the “Nerds on a Roll” podcast a listen, and in the very first episode, fighting the very first villain, a Mask rolls an 11 to Directly Engage a Threat. He chooses to create an opportunity for a teammate, and to resist or avoid their blows.
The GM narrates the fiction, then announces that “the way villains work is, as soon as you hit them, they get to make a move.” He then proceeds to make a move (not sure which one) and has another villain join the fray.
The part that I’m confused about is the part I put in quotes. That’s not the way Dungeon World (which I’m much more famililar with) works, and I can’t locate where in the rules it is stated or implied that this is how Masks works. It seems really strange to me.
Is the quoted inerpretation accurate, or is it just a matter of a GM getting a rule wrong in the first session of a game he may not have run before? If it is correct, could someone give me a page number to study? (Or if it’s wrong, just out of curiousity, does anyone who listens to the podcast know if the GM starts getting it right in later episodes?)
In Masks, when a Villain is hit, they mark a condition: Angry, Afraid, Etc. The GM has a list of Moves keyed to each of these Conditions. After a Villain is hit, the GM is specifically supposed to trigger a move off the appropriate list, immediately. This is definitely a Masks rule, though I don’t have the text in front of me.
The rule is meant to keep villains active and dangerous, even solo against a full team of heroes.
Villains in a Fight, p. 157 of the book, says: “When a villain marks a condition, they make a move from the condition moves list immediately, before the PCs act again”.
Make a Villain Move, p. 144, adds ” You can make these moves when you would make any other move, so long as the villain’s involved in the situation.”
Thanks for the quick replies! In my copy of the book, that section is on page 190.
I am not impressed with how the book is layed out that this rule is part of a bullet list on running villains, rather than part of the Moves section, but I still should have seen it. Thanks for clearing up my confusion!
That was quick work! 🙂
It’s a pretty important rule because villains go down too quickly without it. Yes, you might be making hard moves inspired by the villain’s moves anytime the PC’s miss. But, if that’s all you do, they might get lucky and take down the villain without the villain doing anything interesting. The villain condition moves (and the fact they happen before the PC’s act again) make villains more threatening and significant. It’s also a chance to clue your players in to what condition they’ve inflicted on the villain. For example:
“Blue Hydra is staggered by your blow. She stares around at your team looking desperate, and perhaps even regretful. ‘Idiot children!’ she says. ‘You don’t understand what I’m trying to do here! What I’m trying to fix. But I can show you.’ Hydra heads wrap around you, Galactic Plus, reeling you towards Blue Hydra. DarkEdge, you see your friend in trouble. What do you do?”
This scene (adapted from a GenCon one shot) involves Blue Hydra marking Guilty, and then me making the villain condition move “Reveal the nature of their drive.” Blue Hydra is doing so in threatening manner, of course. But now the characters have an invitation to Defend, Pierce the Mark, Provoke… The fight won’t just be a bunch of Directly Engages in a row.