Player control

Hi!

I am reading through the rules and have yet to play my first game. A thought came up that I hope you will be able to clarify for me.

How much are the players allowed to control the setting, and when? Is the MC supposed to co-create the setting with the players or is that the MC's job (like in a traditional rpg)?

I came to think of this when I read an example of play in the rulebook:

"Here’s a fun thing to do: “Keeler, this person named III corners you that night. She’s fucking pissed off, she comes straight at you, fists first. What did you do to her?”
Maybe Keeler’s player will answer with something. “Dude, sure, I’ve been sleeping with her guy.”

Here, Keelers player decides that her character has been sleeping with III's dude, but in a traditional rpg, a player wouldn't make up such a detail of the background, at least not in my experience.

How do you guys interpret the rules and choose to play?

"Here’s a fun thing to do: “Keeler, this person named III corners you that night. She’s fucking pissed off, she comes straight at you, fists first. What did you do to her?”
Maybe Keeler’s player will answer with something. “Dude, sure, I’ve been sleeping with her guy.”

Here, Keelers player decides that her character has been sleeping with III's dude, but in a traditional rpg, a player wouldn't make up such a detail of the background, at least not in my experience.

My experience differs- I'd frequently see details in a character's background like this. What I don't usually see is it being made up during the game, it's usually part of the backstory written up before the game begins, and I think that's interesting.

In response to your question- the MC can ask the player's questions. They should probably be questions that can be answered in character, from the characters perspective. It's recommended that you ask questions like crazy during the first session, but besides that I'd say it's a matter of taste. If you've already created part of the setting you won't need to or be inclined to ask questions about it, but asking them to fill in details from their character's perspective is always an option that's available. I bet the balance that gets struck between the MC making the setting without asking a lot of questions, and answering a lot of questions with questions, is going to differ a lot from game to game. Ultimately I'd say the MC is responsible for describing the setting to the players, but I think asking the players questions is a useful tool for doing that.

Basically, it's the MC's job, but they are encouraged to delegate. The way they delegate is by asking the PCs questions. As a player, the MC asking your character a question is a cue that you can now make up some stuff, as part of your answer to that specific question. Otherwise, you stick to saying what your character does.

Finding a balance between when to make up stuff yourself and when to ask questions is an important MC skill. The game encourages you to ask a lot of questions up front, in the First Session, and then also contains a lot of specific places (and specific questions) you will continue to ask as the game goes on. For example, whenever a PC Opens their Brain, the MC has an opportunity to ask one more questions. Some of the moves also contain implicit (or explicit) questions.

So, as the MC whose always addressing the characters, asks a character a question about that characters knowledge, it's really cool.

If that same MC addresses a Player and asks the Player to create some piece of setting, it's breaking the rules.

Like, so:

Hey, Keeler, you've been out on the Flats a bunch before yeah? So, like, what was the weather like?

But not like:

Hey, Orlando, are the Mole Men happy or angry when Keeler finds them?

The MC controls the world and the player's their characters. Character knowledge is fair game; making decisions about states of the setting are not.

Page 109 says:
"The players' job is to say what their characters say and undertake to do, first and exclusively; to say what their characters think, feel and remember, also exclusively; and to answer your questions about their characters' lives and surroundings."

Page 127 says:
"Ask about the landscape, the sky the people and their broken lives too ... Turn a player's question over to the group ... But especially, anything you want to know, ask. Anything you think might be interesting later, ask ... Start to cultivate an apocalyptic aesthetic in your players too."

So taken together, that's:

1. You the MC may NOT tell the players what their characters remember. You can state certain objective facts about the world and the past, but not the PCs' relationships to them.

NO: "The Mole Men come raiding, like they usually do when the weather gets hot. You guys always fight them back but they always get one or two of your people."

YES: "When the Mole Men come raiding, during the hot weather, what do you normally do?"

YES: "When the Mole Men steal one of your people, what do you normally do?"

2. Anything you don't want to make up about a character's life or surroundings, you ask the player.

NO: "Hey Orlando, are the Mole Men happy or mad to see Keeler?"

YES: "Hey Keeler, what does this Mole Man in front of you look like?"

Even this one is legit by the letter of the rules: "Hey Keeler, you see a dead Mole Man in the corner. What killed it? Can you tell?"

Conclusion: It's the MC's responsibility to PLAY the world, but not to CREATE it. That's flexible, but based on MC prompts. The MC still MCs.

NO: "Hey Orlando, are the Mole Men happy or mad to see Keeler?"

However, you CAN ask something like this: "Hey Orlando, how do you think the Mole Men are going to feel when they see Keeler?"

It's a subtle, but distinct, difference in questioning: it's asking what the character thinks or believes, but that doesn't make it "reality"... but it can still springboard you to new, cool ideas.

Okay, thanks everybody for the great advice!