Re-Situation Moves

There've been a couple times when custom session-opening re-situation moves have really saved my butt. For instance, if Iris is getting bogged down in a thing her player hates just because her player can't see a way out of it, a custom re-situation move might really help.

Who's used these and when do you normally deploy them? Like in the book it seems like something you'd use after an in-game or out-of-game downtime. Would these still be appropriate under normal circumstances?

I'd say they're appropriate in any situation where the PCs are at a loss for what to do or aren't hellbent on pursuing some goal. 

Normally I imagine you'll have characters busy doing things that you want to play out, which prevents you from fast-forwarding their life.  It's when the momentum founders due to a long break or something that that kind of "montage" is appropriate. 

Only tangentially related, but I ran a session of Hatchet City at Gencon this weekend, and I cannot say enough good about the custom setup letters.  As soon as the players got to rolling those dice for setup, they instantly were hooked in to what was going on, and had a good idea of what to do next or why they might want to do it.  It immediately gave people purchase, some direction to run in considering that they knew next to nothing about the world to begin with.

For your situation, creating a custom move where the player gets to choose a selection of answers from a list seems like a great idea.  In that way, she can resolve whatever she is bogged down in in a way that isn't just "did I succeed/did I fail".

I have started doing this whenever a player is absent and it has worked great. Like Lemma got lost in the firestorm and when Ozair came back I was like:

Ozair - roll +sharp. On a 10+ choose 1. On a 7-9 choose 2.
- Lemma is in critical condition.
- Lemma is horribly scarred.
- Lemma has gone a bit crazy.

Last game a rebellion got started and Sorrow was absent so I'm gonna be like:

Sorrow - roll +hard. On a 10+ choose 1. On a 7-9 choose 2.
- You've been shot and you're bleeding out. Take 3 harm.
- You're all alone and your bodyguards are dead.
- You're unarmed and under fire.

Wow, those are remarkably harsh 10+ results.

Probably. They worked out fine though.

Some that I used:

Dear Iris, please roll+sharp. On a miss, choose 2. On a 7-9, choose 1:

    * Clarion gets sick overnight, like, wicked bad.
    * Looks like Balls is buddy-buddy with Jimenez now, and he's giving you the stinkeye.
    * You think you saw Raven and Billionare in Willis' house just now. They didn't look real happy, either.

On a hit, hey, you know which way Monk went, 'cause you can just sense the bastard.
Love and kisses, your MC.

For context: Clarion is Iris' new girlfriend, Balls was humiliated by Iris, Jimenez is the Danny Trejo lookalike badass, and Raven and Billionare were both killed by Iris' blunders.


Dear Kim, please roll+hot. On a miss, choose 2. On a 7-9, choose 1:

    * Spiderman ain't lookin' like he wants you anymore.
    * Somebody finds Sausage dead a ways off, by the side of the road.
    * The gear that Sausage brought you turns out to be defective. Get rid of it, or take your chances next time you use it.

On a hit (7+), I'll tell you who Spiderman's dad wants revenge on, even though you probably won't like it.

Love and kisses, your MC.

For context: Spiderman is a hardholder who was paying her for sex, Sausage traded her medical gear for sex, and found out some secret info from her that somebody else wants pretty bad. Spiderman's dad is a ghost, and Kim can only see him when she's having sex.

And a session (maybe two?) later:

Dear Iris, roll+sharp.
On a 6 or less, all of these are true. On a 7-9, you pick one to be true.

* You can sense Monk's image in the psychic maelstrom growing larger.
* You realize Monk can sense you too.
* Alyssa shivs you in the dark, after the sun goes down. Take 1 harm (ap).

On a 10+, hold 1. You can spend it this session to have somebody you choose by name show up. I choose exactly how they show up, though, so think real hard before you ask for Monk. Just sayin'.

Love and kisses, your MC.

For Context: Monk is the big bad who the players all want to kill. He's hella psychic too, and he eats peoples souls. Alyssa is a hardholder who is in love with Iris because of his psychic influence, and she knows the feeling is artificial.


Dear Kim, roll+weird.
On a 6 or less, pick two of these to come true. On a 7-9, pick one to come true.

* You don't notice the rad zone until you drive right into it.
* You get a glimpse of Spiderman's dad following you around.
* There's a bit of mange growing in that half-healed bite-wound you took to the leg.

On a 7+, hold 1. You can spend it to remember the image of the rad zone you got, and know exactly where you have to go.
Love and kisses, your MC.

For context: The mange is what creates the zombies.

Hyena had it a little harder, after Monk gave him the soul-eating disease.

Dear Hyena, please roll+cool. On a miss, take 1 harm (ap, special), and choose one. On a 7-9, just choose one. Here's the list, have fun:

* The emptiness expands, and you lose the capacity to feel one distinct emotion of your choice.
* Take 1 harm (ap, special) as the emptiness ravages the rest of your soul like some burning darkness.
* You haven't been watching your kids closely, and enough of them have infected wounds that their gang size is reduced until you get medical attention for them.

On a 10+, you still feel an emptiness inside, but nothing gets worse in your life. Yet.

Love and kisses, your MC.


And a session later, I think:

Dear Hyena, roll+sharp.
On a 6 or less, pick two of these to come true. On a 7-9, pick one.

* You take 1 harm (ap, special).
* You lose one distinct emotion of your choice.
* You can sense a soul being eaten in the distance, by the tremors of fear that ripple through the psychic maelstrom. This has nothing to do with your normal view of the psychic maelstrom.

On a hit, 7+, I'll tell you how you can heal that special harm, scouts' honour.

Love and kisses, your MC.


For context: The special harm doesn't heal unless he eats somebody's soul. He didn't know that for sure (though he suspected) until he rolled a hit on that second one. Then I let him take this custom move for an advance:

When you reach into somebody's soul to silence them, roll+weird. On a 7-9, they can flee or take 2 harm (ap). On a 10+, they take the harm, and must obey a simple one-word command as their next action. If you have time with someone, and they can't do anything about it, a hit (7+) will kill them.

In order to silence a person, you must be nearby, in their presence, but you do not need to touch them. If you were hidden, you don't stay hidden when you try to silence them. They fucking know where you are and what kind of heinous shit you just pulled on them.

If they were healthy and strong, you heal all your special harm when they die, plus one harm from any other source. If they were weak, inconsequential, or already at death's door, you only heal half your special harm when they die (but you can round fractions up, if you like), and you can only heal one normal harm if you rolled a 10+.

When you silence a person's soul, it does not go on to the psychic maelstrom, nor does it go to the dead world beyond it. It is simply gone.