On page 143 Vincent sez:

"Prep circumstances, pressures, developing NPC actions, not (and again, I’m not fucking around here) NOT future scenes you intend to lead the PCs to."

Now, I'm on board with this. Nonetheless I find myself referring to the countdown clocks as background information, to help move things forward, etc. I'm vaguely worried that I'm walking a very fine line with the way I'm MCing, partially because I have become quite aware of unintentionally falling back into old GMing style behaviours and habits - something I'm keen to avoid.

So, where is the line, here? Presenting situations and information in passing, allowing PCs the opportunity to get involved, giving them situations that you know will hook them? And where do Love Letters come into play, in that it's quite easy to put a character right into a situation they may not have consented to? I'm really very curious what you all think about this! Where is the line for you?

It's written in an ambiguous manner, to be sure. But I think simply adding an option to reading a sitch or person is really weak for a move. That's why I presumed it was a free ask, and would play it that way in game.

Not a problem, I'm glad I was of assistance. Feel free to goad me for more advice, if you need any. ;)

So, one thing I learned last night while MCing, ctrail - Countdown Clocks are the shit. Saved my ass, and I'm not exaggerating. I find them a pain in the ass to make, but I will NEVER skimp on them. Shit's golden, no joke.

Well, first of all, I also had a bit of trouble making the NPCs human, though I named them all, and that seemed to help somewhat. We have our second session tomorrow, so as far as stakes assisting my MCing, I guess we'll see.

Secondly, stakes are helpful for reminding you what things are in the balance for NPCs. Since the action focuses on the PCs, it can be easy to forget that their actions and the Threats' actions have reprecussions. I suspect at least partially that stakes are there to give you things and consequences to narrate so the players understand that consequences are a big deal. But, again, I have no firsthand knowledge of this as of yet.

Oh, you're clearly right about the +Savage thing. Not sure about the second thing, though.

Well, to be honest, we'll see where the next session goes. I have yet to run the second one and use my Front, but it was helpful to see what the potential irrevocable effects of the threats are going to be. Like, sure, Dark Future and all, but furthermore, these characters are supposed to have veracity, so we need to see or at least think about what happens to them if everything goes up in flames.

I think when I put the suspected murderer of a PC's lover in the threat as an imprisoned and starving victim of a Warlord - well, even if that PC doesn't find the NPC, eventually it'll be interesting to see what happens with that. I'm not going to push an agenda, but I need to skip forward a little chronologically as a player we had last week isn't around for a few weeks, and we were starting to lose focus. So, I figure some love letters are in order, shape things up and smash some status quo.

What problem are you having writing stakes?