Interrupting and Saves, the Conversation

Vincent,

This question concerns the interplay between the conversation of play, Saves, and the Interrupt move.

Is it fair to assume that the conversation in Freebooting Venus is more-or-less the same as in AW? I'm operating under that assumption, since there's nothing to contradict that in the text you've shared with us.

If so, it would really help us to have some clarification on how it interacts with Interrupting and Saves.

In AW, if there is a danger, the MC announces it, and then asks the player "what do you do?" Then the player can react and try to make a move to avoid it (which often turns into "acting under fire").

Is it the same in Venus? Or is it more like D&D, where the MC might say, "Hey, there's this danger! Make a Save to see if it gets you or not"?

In AW, there are very few situations where a roll doesn't come from a player's declared action (only a handful of custom moves, start-of-session moves, and other "reactive" moves come to mind). I'm not sure how to fit Saves into this framework.

Furthermore, my second question is related:

When is it ok to use the Interrupt move, and when should it be a "Quick" Save instead?

From the wording of the move ("Interrupt...") I get the impression that it is more or less like the "interfere" option in AW. Someone is doing something, and you move to interfere with them, hoping to get there first. This implies that the move is not a defensive one - you don't get to "interrupt" when something comes flying at you out of the darkness, and it's not a generic "how gets there first?" move, a la initiative roll.

However, one of the ghosts' duties can be to "alert you to danger". That sounds more like Save territory ("avoid a falling boulder"). However, mechanically, this ghostly duty boosts a character's ability to Interrupt others. This, in contrast, implies that the Interrupt move *can* be used to avoid danger or unexpected threats.

Third, the rules aren't entirely clear on when and how Saves come into play. For instance:

If I set up a danger, and the player doesn't make particular precautions to avoid it ("on a golden platter", in AW terms), like running through an arrow under fire from stone darts, should I grant them a Save to avoid or mitigate the effects, or not?

If I cast a spell on a victim, do they get a Save to avoid the effects?

Etc.

There are lots of different possible interpretations, but the basic idea is that it's hard to see exactly how "Saves" (which are rolls the MC asks the players to make) interact with the roleplaying conversation, a la AW. They serve a specific role in games which don't have the sorts of moves that Venus has (like D&D), but here I'm not sure where they do or do not overlap with other existing rolls and procedures (as in the case of the spells).

This could really use some clarification for us! Thanks.

Cool. In Apocalypse World terms, you can think of impromptu saves as replacing defaulting to acting under fire, and premeditated saves (as in the bestiary) as replacing custom moves.

Usually, when a player wants to interrupt something, or make any other move, you should let them, not override them with a save. The exceptions would be when the PC, in your judgment, isn't in a position to make the move the player wants them to make.

In other words, give moves priority over saves.

Otherwise, call for a save whenever you want to disclaim a decision about something affecting a PC. (Don't give NPCs saves.)

So, yes, when you have an NPC cast a spell on a PC, you can give them a save, if you want to. You aren't obliged to.

And yes, it would be absolutely appropriate (and I'll add it to the text) for a ghost to give a bonus to some saves.

It's also okay if you never call for an impromptu save. That means that nothing came up that the players' moves didn't handle, and you never had to wonder whether they got caught in a blast or whatever.

-Vincent

That's helpful, great! Thanks.