When you reset Hx, learn a secret [custom move]

Here's an idea I had regarding resetting Hx numbers. People who aren't satisfied with the current explanation for this rule might find it interesting (or not, I dunno).

When you reset Hx to +1...

When your Hx with a character goes to +4 and you reset it to +1, have that character's player tell you a secret about their character.

When you tell a secret about your character, tell the other player something their character did not already know, either some weakness or habit, or some psychology they manage to puzzle out. This should be something more than trivial; if it can be used against your character in some way, if it's something the MC didn't know, or if it paints your character in a radically different light all of a sudden, all the better.

If you're using Hx (or bonds or the equivalent) with NPCs, and you reset from +4 to +1, the MC will tell you a secret about that character.

Good idea! I wish that were in the book.

-Vincent

This is cool! But, to clarify: Is it your intention that this function identically when you reset from -4 to -1 as well?

Sure, why not? Going from rolling-3 to rolling-1 means you sort-of know them better, and if you roll at all, you're going to figure out some of the ways you don't understand them.

this is cool

Love. Instantly adopted.

Yeah, I really dig it too.

I think this solves Hx for me.

Awesome, though I feel like it would be cool to find an elegant/contrasting thing to happen at -4 to -1, if possible. (The other player reveals a secret, that explains why they are even more fundamentally alienated from the target character?)
 

Thank you all for the kind words. If you use it in play, please post about how it went.

Daniel, I know, right, but what? I couldn't really think of one. They tell you a lie and you believe it? You tell them a secret instead? Eh. Then again -4Hx is gonna happen almost never anyway, so maybe it doesn't matter that much? You are actually getting better at helping and interfering with them, going from -3 to -1...

Yup. Using this next time I run AW.

Thanks for the post.

I figure it's just a different flavour of secret.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

So slick, using this ASAP.

Starting a new campaign in the near future and I think this is definitely something I want in it!

So, Vx, when is AW 2.0 due?  *laugh*

That is a cool idea and I am definitelly going to use it first chance I get.

One nitpick I do have is that it lacks that list-form most other AW moves have that spurs the imagination, and that it forces a player to think up stuff potentially harmful to his character (without any initial spark or constraints).

Maybe the player who resets Hx gets to ask a question, *any* question, and the other one must answer truthfully?

But that's a bolted addon to an idea that's brilliant to begin with.

Usually when we handed out Hx bonuses at the end of the game we would justify them somehow, like "your character knows mine better because we did [such and such] together during the session." So I think there's already a spark of inspiration there. If you reset your Hx, it prompts you to keep talking about that situation.

That's just an observation of my group's behaviour--I've only played AW with about 5 different people. Maybe other groups don't do that?

And if your Hx resets in play, it's because of some move or because of dishing out harm, so there's something there in the fiction already.

That said, I don't see why we couldn't brainstorm a little list of examples to start and maybe add stuff when people use this move in play:

When someone else resets their Hx with you, choose 1:
* Tell them a secret about yourself.
* Tell them about some habit you have, annoying, endearing, or otherwise.
* Tell them how you are vulnerable.
* Tell them what you really think about something they care about.