Yet another question about the rules for violence.
Yet another question about the rules for violence.
In the game I described in my ‘What I Did at Origins 2015’ (specifically the OxCorps game = pure Apocalypse World), the following situation arose. I was the player, so I can’t answer from the MC side… but you can pretend to be the MC.
Climactic scene. Azure the Battlebabe (me) has learned there’s a sniper in a church tower overlooking the meet we are about to have with the other bad guys. Azure’s goal is to get into the church tower and neutralize the sniper before her friends arrive.
She gets into the church and sees a rickety staircase up to the tower. Stealth isn’t an option (stairs are too noisy) so she quickly ascends, and…
Azure: I poke my head just through the trapdoor.
MC: As you suspected, you see a sniper rifle set up on a tripod, with a view over the meet location. But you don’t see the sniper.
Azure: [looks around some more] [MC, do you make a move against me here?]
MC: Suddenly the sniper emerges from hiding. He’s got a knife!
Azure: I loudly cock my sawed-off shotgun and order him to halt or I’m gonna blow him away.
MC: Go Aggro, roll +Cool (Battlebabe move, Ice Cold).
[should this have been Seize By Force? forcing the Battlebabe to roll +Hard at -2]
Azure: [gets 10+] He can either force my hand in which case I pull the trigger, or stop moving.
MC: He forces your hand.
Azure: He takes 3 Harm. Actually 4 Harm because it’s a high-powered shotgun.
MC: Sniper is dead.
So… should the Sniper have made a move against Azure while she was ascending the stairs? He had superior position and presumably heard her coming. Failing that should he have made a move against her when she kept looking around for him (after spotting the rifle but not him)? And that final exchange: of course Azure tried to flavor her intent as Go Aggro, but what she really wanted was control of the sniper’s nest (= Seize By Force?).