I have a question regarding Custom Moves: When and how do you share these with the table?
I love all the information in the book about creating custom moves for scenes, characters, and more. But I’m unsure how to disclose these to maximum effect?
Do you just wait until the trigger occurs for the first time and then show it to the triggering player? What about moves that don’t have a trigger? Do you just slap them on the table at the beginning of a session and say, “Hey guys, here’s some more moves”?
Curious as to how others have done this and what has worked well or not so well.
Thanks for your help
I usually disclose them for everybody when they trigger for first time.
Usually, the first time they trigger. But if the design intent is to prompt engagement with aspects of the fiction that are being neglected, then I look for other solutions. Sometimes I have introduced custom moves in a love letter that starts the session, other times I have introduced then when the plates were thinking about what active to take next and I wanted to give them options
For things I know they’re going to do and that aren’t too shocking, I’ll bring it out first time they trigger it. For things I want to give them a heads up about, generally because they “break” the rules … well, I give them a heads up.
For instance, I wanted to telegraph that a certain vampire crime lord wasn’t just somebody they could walk up to and take out with a well placed stake. So when I got to do MC moves to warn of danger on the horizon, I’d drop clues that this guy seems untouchable, that his goons have been bringing in loads of archeological finds in from the docks, that he seems preternaturally lucky … and finally, some other informant tells them outright that the guy is wearing so many charms and talismans that you gotta disrupt his protective magic before you can hurt him. And then I showed them the move itself, which tweaks “unleash” to make it harder to damage him (though I could’ve waited until they actually tried to pick a fight).
Sometimes it’s also good to spell out some custom moves to present new options supporting some of the setting of your city. For example the MC of the game I played in created a custom move for each major neighborhood in town that he wanted to highlight. Some were just minor tweaks to existing moves (-1 to all “Escape a Situation” tests in City Center) to highlight that something is just harder/easier in a place, but others provided new options for PCs to get involved in trouble like a move for “eavesdropping on meeting between power players” in an area known for brokering deals. With that move you might get info or you might get caught.
I don’t think we ended up using those moves very often, but they were a nice way to highlight the specific themes of the city.
Oh yeah, good point from Charlie Collins. Like, I told my players from the outset that if they wanted to visit the Sundered College, they would have to take the Gold Line on the subway (because it’s not like players would trigger the move until they know I made up a fake subway line and wizard council, but their characters certainly knew such things).