I’ve been working with some new players to make characters, and one of them just took this move. It’s a move that is super cool thematically, but is confusing me somewhat.
Ritual
When you entrust a situation to the power of your rituals, fortunes, hexes, and charms, you can roll +Expertise instead of whatever the usual stat would be. This will likely be complicated, unpredictable, and deeply unsettling.
When is this triggered? When the player says they’re falling back onto their mumbo-jumbo? Is this a use +expertise whenever they like, with more unpredictable, supernatural consequences?
How have you used/ resolved this move in the past?
What counts as a ritual, fortune, hex or charm? Are these the methods by which other supernatural moves are used?
Hoping to hear more about the thoughts behind this one, and how I should approach it. Because either it’s a move that requires a player to go out of their way to trigger, or it’s a move that can be triggered constantly.
The five “stat replacement” Moves (one per FBH Origin) all function similarly: you’re entering a tacit agreement with the Storyteller, using a specific stat in exchange for modulating the results.
Note that the Move will be “complicated/unpredictable/unsettling”, no matter the outcome.
Technically, this is indeed “use Expertise whenever they like”. Practically, they need to act into it, explain how they use their personal flavor of magic to achieve their effect. This will (hopefully) already be a core aspect of their character that they will play up.
For example: in a Shadowrun-style game, I had an animist Urban Shaman who would “ask the spirits” for things. Usually it was a way for her to gain info supernaturally (Assessment); the returned info tended to be cryptic (riddles, metaphorical images, etc). However, at one point she needed to rally a gang who were getting routed by corp police. (Command)
A charismatic character would have described giving a rousing speech or whatever, using Influence. But her Influence was awful. So she asked the spirits, performing a Command using her Expertise instead. She marked their foreheads with machine oil, filth, and spray paint, and called on the spirits of the alleys and gutters.
The gang won, hands down (10+). But… they’re not really just a gang anymore. They’ve had a moment of communion with the spirits. They’re on the verge of being a cult. It’s not overt (yet), the only hint that I gave the Urban Shaman of the “unsettling” rider to her victory is that the spirits of filth and gutters are very pleased.
She could use a Ritual to “fight” (Launch Assault or Open Fire using Expertise rather than Physique or Mettle, respectively). But there’s that “unsettling” rider. She hasn’t wanted to try yet. She hasn’t been desperate enough to ask the more bloodthirsty spirits for help.
Love that example. 🙂
Thank you very much. Sean Gomes That clears everything up.