what GM moves have you made on a failed Discern Realities?

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what GM moves have you made on a failed Discern Realities?
« on: December 20, 2012, 07:10:27 PM »
Um, as the title says. I'm not fond of "You completely didn't notice this OBVIOUS THING," but I feel like I don't have a lot of good ideas for this--so I welcome suggestions, stories, ideas.

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Chroma

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Re: what GM moves have you made on a failed Discern Realities?
« Reply #1 on: December 20, 2012, 08:19:23 PM »
I'd recommend doing the exact opposite!

Tell then the horrible obvious thing they *DO* notice... "Those marks on the ground can only mean one thing... razorwolves!  These goblins are going to be more trouble than you thought!"  (Reveal an unwelcome truth.)


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Re: what GM moves have you made on a failed Discern Realities?
« Reply #2 on: December 20, 2012, 09:24:26 PM »
I tend to have something unfortunate happen as a result of characters being too focused on one part of the scene. Last session, the dwarf was so intent on working out what was up with a really big raven that was following the party that she fell down a small cliff.

Alternately, maybe have the situation actually be worse than the Discerner realizes? Or give false information?

Re: what GM moves have you made on a failed Discern Realities?
« Reply #3 on: December 20, 2012, 09:53:58 PM »
Friendly AW-style game reminder:

A miss is not necessarily a failure.

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noofy

  • 777
Re: what GM moves have you made on a failed Discern Realities?
« Reply #4 on: December 26, 2012, 05:48:01 PM »
John is wise :)

I like to ask them which question they think they know the answer to? (or ask another player) then twist the response to be more inline with what you think (as GM) is better serving your agenda.

Re: what GM moves have you made on a failed Discern Realities?
« Reply #5 on: December 26, 2012, 06:44:22 PM »
I'd recommend doing the exact opposite!

Tell then the horrible obvious thing they *DO* notice... "Those marks on the ground can only mean one thing... razorwolves!  These goblins are going to be more trouble than you thought!"  (Reveal an unwelcome truth.)

This is my go-to GM move. Other times, misinformation ('You're sure that ...'). If it's misinformation, the players should know that it's misinformation so they play along.
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Re: what GM moves have you made on a failed Discern Realities?
« Reply #6 on: December 26, 2012, 09:24:57 PM »
This isn't uber-creative or anything, but there were two missed Discern Realities moves in the game I ran a few weeks ago.

The first one was when a character listened at a door (which, upon retrospect, didn't require him to make the move at all). I told him that he heard gently lapping water, as if there was a large body of water on the other side. Which there was; the "room" on the other side was a 30' diameter underground lake with an Otyugh lurking in it.

There really wasn't anything else going on in the location the characters were in, I had already used previous misses to set up stuff in other locations (thinking offscreen), and I couldn't think of a move that fit the consequences of the action (which is why I probably shouldn't have required the move at all). So I just "banked" my GM move for use later. I then used it to deal damage with the Otyugh when the characters turned their back on the open door. Or rather I tried to. There was a mix up in player/GM communication and it turns out the characters had closed the door before they turned. I turned it into a Defy Danger move to get the door shut before some tentacles came through.

The second one was when someone went to explore a dead end hallway. It was getting towards the end of the session, and so I decided to go nasty; I put a Green Slime on the ceiling to put them in a spot. I guess the move wasn't that hard, as I gave the character a Defy Danger move to get out of the way before it dropped on him. I suppose I could've just dealt damage as it reached out and engulfed him with it's pseudopods, but that seemed unfair.
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Re: what GM moves have you made on a failed Discern Realities?
« Reply #7 on: December 27, 2012, 09:44:40 PM »
I used this on the one session I ran:

Wizard fails on detect magic:

"You notice a strong magic emanating from the core of the ruins, as you approach it you feel a terrible presence behind it." They were headed for a circle of stones that could be used to teleport to the location of a Dragon's Lair.
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