Category: World Wide Wrestling RPG: Discussion

I have a question about something (quasi-)mechanical that is niggling at me, and I hope you guys will offer some input.

Now that I have actually gotten to play a couple rounds, it seems to me that compared to other PbtA games, WWW has more of a gamist, PvP element to it. Perhaps this is the nature of the beast, considering you have a group of people with sometimes different creative agendas playing characters who have competing and different creative agendas in the fiction. I think it is this has led to a couple things that have been a little troublesome to me because they are so different than the other PbtA games I have played in. Example following:

It is my understanding (correct me if I am wrong) that the in-ring wrestling move rolls are meant to be rolled after a sequence of wrestling moves that lead to some sort of spot–not individual moves. So, with control of the match Player 1 begins to describe the sequence that their character is putting together in the ring, taking a couple minutes of narrative mic time to explain it. Character’s opponent’s player (Player 2) sees where the sequence is going and for some reason or another doesn’t want it to occur (they feel like it might do their own character damage, don’t want their character to have to take moves, etc.) and spends momentum to interrupt right before the spot that would end the description and trigger the roll. This occurs every time character Player 1 describes a sequence. Player 1 winds up adding to the narrative of the match, but ends up making exactly zero Wrestling move rolls other than the finisher.

This to me seems a bit wonky, and wondered if any others have dealt with this issue. Is it an issue of when momentum to take control is allowed to be spent? Like it might make sense if a player could spend momentum to interrupt after a player has described his sequence, rolled, and the results of the roll dictate that he should retain control. It would then be the other player’s opportunity to say, “No, you know what, I am going to spend momentum and interrupt.” This seems a little more balance to me, because it keeps a player with more momentum from simply yanking back mic time constantly and keeping the other character from making Wrestling rolls, which are essential to the forward motion of the game, by building heat and gaining momentum, etc. Is it an issue of competing agendas? Player 1 is just trying to mimic he real business of wrestling and ‘put on a good match’ while Player 2 is missing the point and hogging narrative and trying to ‘win’ (whatever that looks like in their own mind)? Is it simply a player issue rather than a mechanics issue?

Have more experienced folks dealt with this? Or if not, advice, thoughts on whether this actually is a problem? Thanks a lot!