Safecracking in AW? How do I handle it?

...what you hoped was in there...

This breaks at least one rule in AW though. Unless what they "hope" to find is something that they've been told is in the safe. Because we're following the fiction right? I would replace "hope" with "have been told" or "overheard" or something.

No insult is intended. This is just something that makes my teeth hurt.

Because...

In Apocalypse World, the players are in charge of their characters. What they say, what they do; what they feel, think, and believe; what they did in their past. The MC is in charge of the world: the environment, the NPCs, the weather, the psychic maelstrom.

The safe is the world. The player needs a reason to suspect something is in the safe. Players don't get to make up stuff that doesn't follow the fiction. Sure they can say they wish really hard for something to be in there, but it doesn't make it true.

Plus that is completely removing some interesting parts. Of following the fiction (playing) to find out. Of dropping some jingle to gather some rumors. Of manipulating Dremmer's seneschal into joining them in cracking the safe for his own good. And a hundred other things!

I'm glad you brought up the Maelstrom! I think most players forget about it.

I mean, he's really asking "how do I handle a 'what are the odds' skill check?" And the answer is, "let the fiction decide." AW is not particularly interested in making that one-in-a-million lucky guess. It's about setting up your fictional positioning so that it's NOT a one-in-a-million shot.

You could also say "the player throws a half-court shot, does she succeed?" But the question is really, "what's at stake if she misses?"

Thanks Irminsul, that's a good catch - and also why writing hypothetical examples (on the go) issilly. (I always seem to write bad custom-moves as it is.) The gist of it is as Scrape is pointing out: "Why, what if and what if not - and who will react how"

I continue to stand by that the player's agenda is to figure out the "how", while the MC figures out the "what" (often inspired by the table's fictional space. "Oh, I really hope it holds a map to his underground bunker!").