Hi, I've started a Burned Over campaign and something came up I wasn't sure about. The Vigilant playbook starts with the Devotion move, but unlike Devotions for, say, The Monarch, I can't find any reference to the followers that move implicitly comes from or how to decide its devotions or wants. Similarly, I'm not sure how devotions and wants are decided for a following that comes from an improvement.

It also reads weird that The Vigilant can "establish a following and get devotion" as an improvement rather than "establish another following" when they apparently start with one.

In another thread, Vincent mentioned:

"Barter works like a stat now, measuring your ongoing economic position, which is like a combination of flow-of-resources through you versus your social footprint in the surrounding society. It doesn't go up and down as you spend and gain like cash. Instead, it tells you how much of a hassle it is for you to buy things every time."

Question: When the Operator in our group chose his scavenge it resulted in a Barter Stat of 4-barter. The Burned Over Zine lists the Barter rating for different items and services, including 3-value or more for vehicles and structures. So, let's imagine he is buying some type of structure, the Operator should have the "jingle on hand to cover it, no debt, no sweat, thanks for doing biz." Is this correct?

How about if he then wants to buy some tools for 2-barter. Once, again, he has 4-barter so he should also be able to have the "jingle on hand to cover it, no debt, no sweat, thanks for doing biz."

The root of my question being: If the character has 4-barter they should be able to get all these things. There would be very few things they don't have the jingle for. Is that the correct read?

Of course, as we continue to play to find out, the items acquired could then become a Threat, the Operator's reputation could suffer from the transaction, etc. etc. I get all that. I just want to make sure I am understanding how the Burned Over Barter system functions.

Second question
Doing Battle: let's say the result of the roll is the character gets 3 hold and the NPC gets 2 hold. As MC, do I explicitly announce what the NPC is using their hold on or do I just describe it though the fiction?

Also, if the PC seizes the initiative and "Takes a quick action" what are some examples of what they would want to do? This isn't making a whole new move is it? The actions are just fictional actions or something else? The player struggled with this one in session 1 so I want to be able to provide them with clarity at the beginning of session 2.

Thanks for the help! We are really loving the Drowned City location!

First of all thank you for taking the time to write a reply to my post. :)

Secondly I love what I have seen of the game and of course sitting around a table would be better, but this game suits itself to be played over the internets in writing. I feel very 90ies at the moment. My characters are running around town, gathering clues and making crazy assumptions.

I would love more stuff for this game, nicely produced playbooks for around the table, reference cards with the core moves on them, etc. It is a shame I missed the crowfunding for this. Who knows maybe someone can persuade Michael Sands to write something else/more for it.

The Battlebabe's advance is available right away and you can decide who you want to be your Ally - that's what makes it valuable even though advanced Manipulate eventually becomes available. I played a Battlebabe and that was my first advance because I wanted my character's father to be special. Otherwise, he would have been viewed through the MC's crosshairs and possibly a Threat until I got five advances and had a reason to Manipulate him - and I would have had to get a 12+ for that to happen.

Also advanced Manipulate can very well lead to the end of the campaign - you are making more and more of the people around you genuine friends and removing them as Threats. You're establishing a status quo of sorts, since they're no longer targeted by the MC's crosshairs. It might be worth taking a look at the game and seeing if ending soon might be on the table, or maybe the Skinner is heading towards retirement and might take her Allies with her.

Part of the issue is one of MC/player expectations. Act under fire is only opaque if you as the MC are waiting for a player to say, "I 'act under fire' to..." - which to be clear you should basically never be doing. Your primary roll as MC is to determine when a PC's action (as described narratively in the fiction by the player) triggers a move and to call for the appropriate roll. As much as possible you want to abstract the move from the fiction such that your player isn't saying, "I 'go aggro' on this joker," but rather, "I stick my gun in his face and tell him to give me the Geiger counter" - at which point you (the MC) say, "Oooh, nice! Roll+Hard!"

In the context of the Battlebabe, act under fire is the move that is most often used when a PC is doing something daring, something where it feels like success shouldn't be automatic and/or some level of skill or chutzpah is required. It is most often the move that sets you up to be in a position to do some other move. So encouraging the Battlebabe to kick ass is best done by putting the Battlebabe in situations where kicking ass is appropriate.

That said, you need to take some care here, because while the Battlebabe is usually fantastic at starting trouble, not having a great Hard stat means they're often not so good at finishing the trouble they've started. Stand-up gunfights are for the Gunlugger. The Battlebabe excels at things that are not necessarily violent, but rather those things which are dangerous. No one is better at swinging across chasms, or scaling walls in the dark of night or tight-rope walking into the enemy camp. The Battlebabe is that rare person who can sneak past the guards unseen, dodge the enemy's strongest attack unharmed, slip a drug into someone's drink unnoticed, or run full-tilt through a minefield unscathed. If you present the Battlebabe with these kids of dangerous situations and call for roll+Cool to solve/get out of them, your players will catch on in a hurry.