[n00b] Does the MC roll dice?

I only had a chance to skim the Apocalypse World rules.  It looks like the MC never rolls dice.  The MC simply frames scenes, presents "charged situations," plays the supporting cast honestly, etc.  The closest the MC gets to rolling dice is creating custom moves for certain threats, and even then these are triggered by player action and it's the player who rolls.

Right or not-right?

(Sorry, it's a pretty dumb question, but I'm running on Friday and if there's some hidden special case somewhere I didn't want to miss it.)

Correct, the MC doesn't roll for anything.

I like the optional rule to roll a d6 to see if the NPC is dead quite yet. But yeah, other than that I never roll anything.

There's also an option to have the MC roll dice for the Harm Move, given that it's a move that players want to miss it makes sense, to some groups, to have the MC roll instead.

well, plus the sooper-sekrit move, you roll for that; oh but it looks like Vincent just scrawled that one in my book, so maybe not everyone has it.

As a potentially not-helpful aside, I'd recommend trying to get as much actual reading (as opposed to skimming) in before your session as possible. I've read through the rules a few times, been following them for the last few months, talking on these forums about them rabidly, et cetera, and yet when I ran it the first time (also the first time I played in person, eek!) I felt unprepared!

I would also recommend printing out the first session sheet (looking at it on your laptop is not as good) and making some 'cheat sheets' with your principles and moves on them, as that was my main issue. The players have most of the moves they need right there on their playbook/sheet, so you as the MC mostly want to pay attention to the principles and moves, and since I haven't totally internalized them yet (much less making them happen easily) I find having them there to remind me "oh yeah, I can do this awesome thing!' helpful.

All that being said, I'm sure you'll do great, even struggling to "do it right" my players said they had a great time and can't wait to play again.

Hi James.
Having just finished my 2nd session of my first AW campaign I can weigh in a bit.

Your first session my greatest recommendation is to take it slowly. My session we rushed too much and I didn't have enough time to ask all the questions I needed to tie the characters together and to the npc's of the world.

Take lots of notes, use lots of nps's and their names (You're going to need them once the action starts)

Take enough time to describe the setting, and not just physically.  We were a couple hours into our first game and the group had an injured man they needed to quiet... one player suggested "just kill him" and the Gunlugger was like "Well.. won't the police come?"  NO the police won't come, this is apocalypse world!   Would have been better to at least describe a little better the depths to which society had fallen.  It was obvious to the other players.

The first session like Jeff said felt like a struggle to me as well, but the players all said they had a good time and we played our second session last night and I felt it was MUCH better. I think it feels really weird to run the game cause we have all these concepts in our MC heads... make a move...  misdirect.. crosshairs...  but all the players see is action and consequence coming together.  They can't tell what's in your head.

Look forward to your after first session prep... that was some of the most fun stuff I've ever done as a GM/MC... thank you Vincent for making me do that!

Also... make startup moves for the second session, players universally loved those.  You'll find threads about them around here and they're in the rules under Advanced Fuckery, I think.

Cheers!

When I'm running the game, I like to roll the harm move, as it is somewhat strange for the players to roll for Harm and hope it is really low rather than high.  All the other rolls the players hope for a high result, and that one kind of causes a bit of confusion.

If I roll the harm dice, no more confusion!

When I'm running the game, I like to roll the harm move, as it is somewhat strange for the players to roll for Harm and hope it is really low rather than high.  All the other rolls the players hope for a high result, and that one kind of causes a bit of confusion.

If I roll the harm dice, no more confusion!

hmm, maybe I'll start to do this, as MC. Makes sense, and will help me remember to do the harm move (which has been known to be forgotten in our sessions).

The only worry I have about the MC rolling harm is this:

- when a player fails a roll (any roll), it often feels like it's "the player's own fault" and it feels like justice or at least semi-fair when you respond with fuckery

- when a GM makes a roll and responds with fuckery, it can feel like the GM is screwing the player just out of spite

The outcome is the same both times and the dice are the real "cause" in both cases, but the feeling can still be different, I think.

Yeah. If only to help get into the proper MC mindset where moves are the only thing you do, and you only do moves in response to specific things, it might be a good idea to stick with the players making the harm move for the first bunch of sessions.

Ew, no -- if I roll dice I might get player cooties!

Though I have to say, I think I am currently remembering the +harm roll about 20% of the time -- maybe rolling it myself would help remind me?

I'd like to retract my statement.  During yesterday's game, I didn't want to roll the harm dice, so I ended up giving it to other players to roll.

The reason is that in most of the cases where Harm was rolled, it was in direct response with player decision-making.  I wanted to be sure that the players understood that they were bringing this hurt upon themselves due to my actions, and I didn't want it to look like I was punishing them with the harm dice.

When a character decides to take certain moves, especially taking by force, they should be willing to take the consequences. 

Sometimes, the harm roll was low, and I cheered along with the players.  And when a 10 was rolled, I groaned with them. The MC has to be a fan of the characters, as harm in the game is really brutal. 

Ew, no -- if I roll dice I might get player cooties!

Though I have to say, I think I am currently remembering the +harm roll about 20% of the time -- maybe rolling it myself would help remind me?

I try and remember to roll the harm roll when I get harmed.  "When you do it, do it, right?"

Okay, yeah, mind changed back. I (MC) won't roll for harm.