AP by Move - Inflict Harm (as established)

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Judd

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AP by Move - Inflict Harm (as established)
« on: September 25, 2010, 06:18:10 PM »


1) Dent it feels a punch in your lower back when Shit-head shoots you in the back.  Shit-head starts screaming at you about how Dent will never disrespect him again.  He has a shitty little revolver in his hand, it has duct tape around the metal handle; its kind of amazing the fucking thing even shot, really.  Take 2 harm and roll the harm move.

2) Bullet is following this Nissan and the trunk opens up.  You realize right then that the trunk was rigged so it could be opened from the inside. Kneeling in there is a kid with an uzi on some kind of jury-rigged tripod.  He blazes on your windshield.  3 harm and make a harm move.

He rolled a 7-9 on the Harm Move, so he lost track of the Nissan
.

I have trouble bringing this one out.  I admit it, I totally feel guilty bringing out damage without some kind of a die roll.  Example #2 was only after a die roll was failed.

#1 was done on the first night, one of my first MC moves but since then, in general, I like to start the move a little earlier.  Like so: 

Dent, Shit-head is front of you, waving a gun around, screaming about how you should never have disrespected him or his bike in front of the guys.  He pulls the hammer back and points the gun at you.  What do you do?

I tend towards that lately.  I think the reason I went with #1 in play is because Dent specifically stated how he was turning his back on Shit-head and walking away to do his business.  He was so dismissive, it just made sense to put a bullet in him and see how he reacted.  Also, I wanted to see the harm move in action; turned out JJ rolled low, so he rolled Go Aggro when Shit-head refused to put down the gun and beat the biker gang's pack omega to a pulp.

Any Inflict Harm thoughts and/or examples?

Re: AP by Move - Inflict Harm (as established)
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2010, 02:23:18 PM »
I think your first example was perfect.  You established the harm, then followed through on the harm.  Not your fault the PC chose that moment to be all butch.

The second case is a little more ambiguous.  Had you established how dangerous/tricksy the Nissan people were?  If so, I think it's fine.  If not, how would your players react to the Uzi surprise?  Would they think it seemed real/not boring/honest/evidence you're their fan?  Does the moment provoke "that's awesome!" or "that's annoying!"? 

P.S. I am totally stealing the trunk-child-with-Uzi move.

Re: AP by Move - Inflict Harm (as established)
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2010, 03:14:10 PM »
With the uzi in the trunk, you can always do this as two moves if it seems too mean to just inflict harm right away.

"You realize right then that the trunk was rigged so it could be opened from the inside. Kneeling in there is a kid with an uzi on some kind of jury-rigged tripod." (Announcing future badness)

Then give them a chance to react. If they keep following, then inflicting harm is a fair call.

Re: AP by Move - Inflict Harm (as established)
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2010, 04:59:47 PM »
In my experience, Announce Future Badness leads seemlessly into Inflict Harm (as established) pretty often.

"You can hear a bike tearing through the woods, coming toward the cabin. Maybe one of Dustwich's boys? It sounds like a rusty old fuel-glutton." (Announce Future Badness.)

When I announce that future badness, there's an implicit offer there. I'm implicitly saying, "Listen, I don't want you to get the shit pummeled out of you. And so I'm giving you an easy out here. Just leave the toybox behind, leave your fingerprints all over the cabin counters, and get the fuck out of here. I'm letting you!"

And I'm also implicitly threatening them. They know that Dustwich's boys are heavily armed. They know that Dustwich himself is a rogue brainer with some powerful brain-melting capacity. And so when they choose to stay in the cabin, they're committing to maybe getting shot or fried. They're the ones agreeing to the possibility of 3-harm and s-harm.

After that, I'm not cruel to have Hawkeye show up with some kinda shotgun lookin' thing with coils and wires protruding from around the trigger-area. I'm not cruel to have it be some kind of electro-charged buckshot-firin' cannon. I'm not cruel to fuck people up with Hawkeye's shit, even though Hawkeye's shit is crazy powerful.

Because they already implicitly told me, "Getting shot is on the table. Do it."

Edited to add: Actually, Hawkeye ended up delivering them an ultimatum - die alone, or ride with the gang. And so they got branded as Dustwich's Soldiers.
« Last Edit: September 26, 2010, 05:01:34 PM by mcdaldno »

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Arvid

  • 262
Re: AP by Move - Inflict Harm (as established)
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2010, 05:21:41 PM »
In my experience, Announce Future Badness leads seemlessly into Inflict Harm (as established) pretty often.

Yeah, you could even say it's a good rule to always have harm announced (established, even) before inflicting it. And remember, after every move ask "What do you do?"

So,

Announce future badnesss -> "What do you do?" -> Inflict harm / Other possible outcomes

Re: AP by Move - Inflict Harm (as established)
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2010, 06:54:35 PM »
If you really want to, you can even be like:

"He opens fire with the gun, just blazing away, emptying the clip at you. What do you do?" For a pretty sweet "put them on the spot", putting another step ahead of "inflict harm". As a rule I pretty much only use "inflict harm" at the end of a missed Act Under Fire, unless they're being attacked from ambush or something, and even then I'll usually put the harm on NPCs instead, like:

"You hear Spazzo say 'huh', and he looks down at his chest. There's about a foot of aluminium rod sticking out of it, with a razor-sharp tip."