Micromanaging Moves or just Overkill

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Micromanaging Moves or just Overkill
« on: October 25, 2012, 12:23:08 AM »
So here is my first inclination for a series of related moves and I am curious if this feels right or if its just too much for one aspect of a setting (i.e. Hack)?

"It is in the Hunt that you truly see your brother's heart and soul of your sister, do not lose yourself in the primal moment"

A Salandi may take up the Sacred Hunt for a number of reasons. The hunt tests their ability, it proves their worth to others, but ultimately many take up the hunt to gain insight from the spiritual world that the Totem can provide. The Hunt begins by gathering your Circle, they will act as aids and bear witness to when the Hunter confronts his Totem Beast.

Preparations
Action: 1 season action, choose your target Totem Beast.
Roll: +Acumen <-Similar to Sharp
You will spend a portion of your season in planning your absence, scouting for the Totem Beast, and gathering the proper ritual gear for your Circle.

On a 10+ choose 3 of the following:
• Your domain is well tended in your absence. Trouble will not strike while on your hunt. (Though it may still happen as you return)
•You may choose the Landscape for the Hunt; normally the MC will pick one from the Totem Beast’s Environment list. You are not limited to this list. +1 ongoing if this is not the Beast’s native environment.
•The quarry is exceptionally suitable to claim a Trophy; +1 on Claim a Trophy Move.
•The quarry is a Legendary example of the Totem; Each member of the Circle that partakes in the Hunt gains +1 Favor, you gain +1 Hx with each of them.
•You have located the Beast’s Lair; if the Beast eludes you, you may go to its Lair to confront it again. You may need to Walk through Fire to get there.
•You have devised Escape Routes should you be cornered, you may have to Walk through the Fire or Laugh in the Face of Death (your choice) with +1 going forward, but you cannot be cornered by the Beast… even in its Lair.
•The preparations have been easy and fruitful; you regain your Season Action, though you will still be away during the hunt.

On a 7-9, choose two of the following:
•The quarry is a Superb example of the Totem; Gain +1Favor.
•The plan is NOT flawed. If it is flawed, perhaps you did not account for the Weather or another Beast will stalk you in turn…
•The Beast is with offspring, will you doom the younglings? -1Favor for all members of the Hunt, +2 on the Claim a Trophy Move.
•The Totem does not favor your prey, If the Totem has empowered the Beast, all actions against it are -1ongoing
•On a Miss, you may choose one anyway…


The Hunt
Once preparations have been made, and the Hunters know where to find the Beast, the battle for the Totem begins. Make no mistake, this is a battle. You may engage the Beast either at its lair (if it’s known to you) or in the Lands around its lair.

The Wasp
The Primal Wasp is a massive, insectile being capable of carrying a small child away to its lair. While the Wasp is a solitary hunter, they share a communal hive to breed, to feed, and guard their offspring.
impulse: to hunt and steal away food
impulse: to close ranks, protect their own
impulse: to consume and swarm


Wasp Special Moves
•All Harm is AP
•Inflict Venom
•Outflank someone, corner them, encircle, and inflict -1 on-going until they are no longer at the disadvantage.
•Disengage and escape back to their Lair.
•Takes something you value away as the Wasp eludes you.
•Call forth the Swarm (when at the Lair), this can be done multiple times, each time a new gang is called forth
        o2-harm gang small savage 1-armor

Inflict Venom
When you are impaled by the Wasp with its Poison Stinger, roll +Physique to resist the Wasp Venom.
On a 10+, the MC chooses 1:
•You are Broken; -1 Acumen, but Mark 1 Xp from the insight gleaned from the fever dreams
•Your Mind Opens to the Psychic Maelstrom, and spilling out to all those around as if they had each used Deep Brain Scan, but roll normally for the move.
•Your Condition Worsens, take an additional 1-Harm.
On 7-9, the MC chooses 1:
•Your Mind Opens to the Psychic Maelstrom, and is exposed to all those around you. Treat this as if they had each used Deep Brain Scan, assume a 10+
•-1 ongoing until they are cleansed by a Shaman
On a Miss, the MC may choose from the 7-9 list above. If she does, the wounds are not as bad as they seemed and you take -1harm.

Lair: Vespiary    
(impulse: to generate badness)
(impulse: to trap, to frustrate passage)
(impulse: to deny access)
Lair Moves:
• Display something for all to see.
• Hide something.
• Bar the way.
• Open the way.
• Provide another way.
• Shift, move, rearrange.
• Present a guardian.
• Disgorge something.
• Take something away: lost, used up, destroyed.

Wasp Trophy
When you roll to Claim a Trophy, the following options are added to the list when you have hunted a Superb or Legendary quarry.

Dagger of the Wasp – Not simply a dagger made from the stinger of the Wasp, but a magical weapon formed from the raw essence of the Wasp. Starts as basic Gear, but with the following:
       • Inflict Venom

Swarm’s Heart Blood – You have not drunk deeply of just mere Blood, but of the Hearts Blood of the entire Swarm. All those that drink of the Swarm’s Heart become more deeply bonded together, each bond moves one step better. Each draught created can be shared by up to five people.

Wasp Effigy – A fully grown wasp, fossilized by the mud and resin secreted of the Wasp Queen. This wasp is trapped forever in an artful pose.

Technique: You have learned how to battle in a manner that resonates with the Wasp. Choose one of the following and gain +1ongoing when acting in accordance:   
•Wasp Blooded – Usable when you act as part of a gang.
•Wasp Mentor – Usable when acting in a Hit and Run fashion.

Scars: While successful, the mark of this hunt will stay with you forever. Choose one of the following and gain +1ongoing when in situation described:   
•Venom Marked – If you fell victim to the Inflict Venom Move, you may take this Trait and gain an advantage against Poison, Toxins, and Opening your Mind.
•Impaled – If you took an injury from the Wasp, you may take this Trait and gain an advantage when retelling the stories of your determination by showing your Scar.

OR

I can go with something is much simpler, like this:

The Sacred Hunt: When you hunt the Totem Beast with all due reverence, roll +Acumen. On a 10+, choose 3. On a 7-9, choose 2:
•You receive prestige, wealth, or insight; (I would need to make some rules for this)
•You gain a Trophy fitting the Totem (special List).
•You gain insight into your Circle, take +1Hx with any or all members of your choosing.
•You did not Suffer the Beast’s Wrath (This would have an inflict venom type effect

On a Miss, choose 1 anyway but the Totem is not happy with your actions… what did you do?


The more complex system has a more impactful feel to it, but the simpler one just gets on with the game.

Re: Micromanaging Moves or just Overkill
« Reply #1 on: October 31, 2012, 08:07:27 AM »
No thoughts? OK, here is a more direct question of the idea: How much dovetailing of Moves into each other and detailing of the outcomes with "setting" specific items and results becomes too much. I mean if its very generic (as per standard AW) its much more a frame work that can guide the action where if its very detailed (as in the first example above) then you can bring in more setting lore. Obviously, the more detail and lore is going to mesh better with those people that like an established setting lore... many Forgotten Realms fans come to mind.

Re: Micromanaging Moves or just Overkill
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2012, 09:54:39 AM »
I think it sort of depends what your point is and what the people you're making the game for find fun.  If the central facet of the game is this hunt and you dig all the differentiation, then the longer more explicit set of moves is fine.  It feels like too much to me from this uninvested vantage but I don't really know.  And we might prefer different things.

Re: Micromanaging Moves or just Overkill
« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2012, 11:48:41 PM »
And we might prefer different things.

And that is a fair caveat to this whole thing, my players like "getting cool shit and being awesome" so that approach/focus is not for everyone.

The setting is not entirely about the hunt, but that is an important part of the animist tradition that I am drawing inspiration from... so is the act of giving a gift, creating art, and a relationship to the world/reality. I want to be a little extreme in showcasing the rituals of such reverence, because I will be contrasting the outside threats as those things that lack it and what people will do

Ultimately, I have to agree that it does seems like this might be too much since I can see making 4 or 5 more subsystems just as detailed... hell the hunt as shown is only 1 of 5 Totems Animals.

Re: Micromanaging Moves or just Overkill
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2012, 04:14:19 AM »
If you're going to roleplay the hunt, then use all the statted-out monsters. If you never roleplay a hunt in the game, use the Sacred Hunt move. But if you have both, it kind of confuses things, like when do we roleplay a hunt and when do we just roll for it? Why does one player get to just roll once and another doesn't? Etc, etc.

Go with one or the other, whichever one is more appropriate to your game.

Re: Micromanaging Moves or just Overkill
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2012, 04:52:54 PM »
My main concern about the more complex string of moves is that some of the results sound like things I would rather deal with by following the fiction. Stuff like "Your domain is well tended in your absence..." or "Your plan is not flawed" seem very abstract, and also like they might override the reality of the fiction in uncomfortable ways.

Like what if my domain is undergoing this huge crisis, that is otherwise the focus of play -- I can just duck out of that and go on a hunt, as long as I make that choice? Shouldn't I actually have to describe what it is I'm doing, in the fiction, to make sure my domain is well-tended? And aren't those choices important enough to have individualized consequences, based on the fiction, rather than being glossed over by these sorts of moves?

The same goes for even moves like "You have located The Beast's lair" -- albeit in a more subtle way. Isn't that fictional fact enough to go on? Why does it need to have this very weirdly-specific mechanic attached to it: you can go there and fight it... but only one more time! Even though... usually once you know where something is, you can go there whenever you want? To do whatever you want, fight the beast or try to have a picnic or whatever? Are all locations in the game dealt with in this mechanical way, and if not what is it about the hunt that makes 'discovering the beast's lair' fundamentally distinct from discovering any other place (or piece of information) in the fiction? What makes your hunting plan different from a regular plan you make for something else?

A big part of my reaction to the detailed moves really has to do with how the rest of the hack works. They all have this very abstract, mechanic-heavy feel to me, but I don't know if that's just the general direction of the hack OR if it's meant to reflect a sort of ritual process within the fiction OR if it's just kind of an accident because you got really into making lots of interconnected bits.


Re: Micromanaging Moves or just Overkill
« Reply #6 on: November 01, 2012, 07:27:00 PM »
My main concern about the more complex string of moves is that some of the results sound like things I would rather deal with by following the fiction. Stuff like "Your domain is well tended in your absence..." or "Your plan is not flawed" seem very abstract, and also like they might override the reality of the fiction in uncomfortable ways.

I think that you have a point in the wording... the intention is to say that while you were gone some threat did not pop up or that there is some extra obstacle in your path to the hunt.

Like what if my domain is undergoing this huge crisis, that is otherwise the focus of play -- I can just duck out of that and go on a hunt, as long as I make that choice? Shouldn't I actually have to describe what it is I'm doing, in the fiction, to make sure my domain is well-tended? And aren't those choices important enough to have individualized consequences, based on the fiction, rather than being glossed over by these sorts of moves?

Don't rulers do this all the time? I mean Camp David is all about allowing the President a place to think things through without outside world. The Sacred Hunt is as much in the spiritual world as it is in the physical. So in that sense the Sacred Hunt is a place to find a character's center. It is also an important aspect for the setting that the world is in quasi-real flux and much of what the players will do suss out what they want the world to be like when they have finished with.

The same goes for even moves like "You have located The Beast's lair" -- albeit in a more subtle way. Isn't that fictional fact enough to go on? Why does it need to have this very weirdly-specific mechanic attached to it: you can go there and fight it... but only one more time! Even though... usually once you know where something is, you can go there whenever you want? To do whatever you want, fight the beast or try to have a picnic or whatever? Are all locations in the game dealt with in this mechanical way, and if not what is it about the hunt that makes 'discovering the beast's lair' fundamentally distinct from discovering any other place (or piece of information) in the fiction? What makes your hunting plan different from a regular plan you make for something else?

As I stated above, there is as much physical reality as metaphysical, so yes many/most locations outside the domains of the characters will have moves related to getting around them.

A big part of my reaction to the detailed moves really has to do with how the rest of the hack works. They all have this very abstract, mechanic-heavy feel to me, but I don't know if that's just the general direction of the hack OR if it's meant to reflect a sort of ritual process within the fiction OR if it's just kind of an accident because you got really into making lots of interconnected bits.

It is very heavy mechanically speaking and I feel that a large part of that is me getting carried away with the creation process of interconnected bits and wanting to see moves flow into each other. I may need to make the heavy version and then pair down... you know, just to get it out.