So, for shield bash, what are they actually trying to do?
If it's just an attack to do damage, they're still hacking and slashing. It's no big deal. :)
If they're trying to distract or stun or push them back, they can do that, but they'll probably have to defy danger.
If they're fighting anyway, like a sword in one hand, and trying to catch the enemy off guard, I'd say "Sure, do your damage, but these guys won't fall for it twice, and plus you won't be able to bring your shield to bear against the next attack.".
For the listening, the best bet is to just ask them.
Tell them right out that there's no real passive listen roll or anything, but that you'll always give them a chance to respond (for example, to a hidden foe) *unless* they've missed a roll.
As an example, let's say there's two cases, an assassin and a thief.
The Assassin
So, the players are all travelling through a recently abandoned castle, trying to find the king's gold cache. An assassin has been hired by the king who, as it turns out, doesn't want the characters finding his loot.
They're in a banquet hall with large windows along one side. A storm has smashed out most of the glass, but the tattered curtains remain.
"Hey, Arrendal," - Arrendal's your wizard, a brilliant but grumpy elf - " you think you see a blur of motion over by the curtains. What do you do?".
Now, Arrendal might do any of the following, or who knows what else even.
1: Call out to his companions, saying "Hold! I think something sinister is afoot. Draw your blades."
2: Cast a fireball spell, right there on the curtains.
3: Perk up his elf ears and carefully scan that side of the room.
So, 2 and 3 are moves (cast a spell and discern realities respectively), and they might fail. If 2 succeeds, you probably end up with a roast assassin (and maybe a burning castle, if it's wood here and not stone). If 3 succeeds, they can ask away. If either fails, *now* you can have the assassin attack!
For #1, what happens next mostly depends on the assassin, right? He can try to...
1: Come out of the shadows and fight them head on.
2: Slink off, out the window, and maybe look for a better position.
3: Slink off, out the window, and go home because screw this who said there was a wizard.
4: Launch a hail of poisoned needles at the nearest PC.
Or other things.
#1's the easy case, you say "A dark-clothed figure holding a dagger slips out from behind the curtains, what do you do?".
#2 or #3, the PCs could go up to the window, keep looking around, try to follow. Or maybe just say forget it and keep moving.
#4, be sure sure to give them a chance to respond. Maybe they duck, maybe they cast a spell to destroy the needles, who knows, but be sure not to make the hard move since they haven't had a chance to do a thing.
The Thief
So, same castle, right? There's another character, an NPC dwarf adventurer, who wants the treasure too. So he's slipping through the castle all quiet-like. The PCs get to the throne room, there's the main door they came in and two smaller archways on each side. The dwarf has just turned into the far-left one.
So, you're like "Hey, Grimley," - Grimley's your dwarven fighter, right - " you think you hear a rustling off to the left. What do you do?". Now, again, Grimley might do a number of things!
1: "I focus my super-sensitive dwarven underground eyes and stare right that way, trying to make out anything unusual."
2: "I scream and charge that direction with my axe."
3: "I telepathically mention it to Arrendal, and ask him to blow it up. With fire."
So, then, #1 and #3 are moves (discern realities and cast a spell, again). #2 is a weird case, because maybe Grimley's fast enough maybe not? If there's no way he'll make it, I'd say to him "You reach the archway and there's nothing here.". I might offer some clue as to the thief's position, I don't know, but maybe not make it obvious? If he might possibly make it, I'll probably have him defy danger. On a 10+, he gets there of course. On a 7-9, he gets there but the thief just left (a swinging door, maybe?).
For any of the moves, on a miss, I'd probably just say "Man, Grimley, this creepy castle must be getting to you. It might've been a civilized rat type of thing, but probably nothing at all." and then think long-term / off-screen. The mildly hard move is to have the thief there at the loot pile when they arrive; the harder move is to have the thief take some of the treasure but leave a clue; the hardest is just to say "You've found the treasure, but it seems awful paltry. You expected twice this much!".
Only make a move if the results fit! A move is inputs and outputs, if either isn't appropriate, of course don't use that.
If the results of a move don't fit a situation, don't make the move! Tell your players that right out.
If they have questions, they can ask of course. You should answer as befits your principles and agenda and so on, plus also as depends on the situation.
So, if he doesn't want to ask a discern realities question, why is he doing that at all?
Just have him say what he's asking and go from there. If it fits discern realities, he can of course make that move.
Ack, I wouldn't ever give a player the *same* debility more than once.
If they would, maybe...
- give them a different one instead
- worsen it (not mechanically, but fictionally, like say they're feeling really wobbly and they'll need to be careful or they'll fall, or else it'll take longer to get better, or something)
- provide another fictional disadvantage (actually this is just like the above I guess)
But, naw, don't give the same one twice! -1 is a big deal. -2 is a killer.
I hope that helped, feel free to ask follow-up questions...
- Alex