Savvyhead escapes via Bonefeel (and two rules questions about the move)

In my recent mini-campaign, I had a Hocus and a Savvyhead stuck in a tight spot, surrounded by enemies. They're hiding at the back of this cave, unsure what to do, and the Savvyhead starts messing around with a hatch. It doesn't really lead anywhere, but, hey, maybe it could be useful somehow?

Meanwhile, the Angel is administering aid to a dying man while one of the Black Teeth finishes off his ally and could soon turn on him.

So, the Savvyhead says, "Hey, can I use my Bonefeel hold to suddenly be there?"

Turned out part of the plan was to, you know, get out of his current predicament.

It seemed like an interesting outcome to me, and saying "no" wouldn't really give the player the sense that Bonefeel is useful or that we are interested in being fans of his character. So, it happened! The hatch at the back of the cave was a good justification for his disappearance "off-screen", as well.

The Hocus, of course, is rather pissed. Abandoned in a tight spot by a close ally!

However, the Savvyhead left his van back at the cave, too, so that's going to be a source of trouble.

...

Questions:

1. Has anyone used Bonefeel in this way in your game(s)? What do you think of its use in this kind of situation?

2. The Bonefeel move is rolled at the beginning of the session, and always generates 1-hold. The question is: is the Savvyhead in a good position, or pinned/trapped/in trouble? Does he start the scene with 1-forward?

This means that, in theory, you could choose to roll the move *when it's used*, instead of at the beginning of the session.

In this version, once per session the Savvyhead can say that he wants to be involved in a scene, "with or without a clear explanation". *Then* we roll the dice, determining whether he is "in the right place at the right time", with exactly what's needed, or in a bad spot of sorts.

Thinking about this is interesting; the implications are quite different.

Has anyone done this? If so, how did it feel in play? Which did you prefer? Why?

I want the Savvyhead to roll at the start, because I might want to put him into the sitch. It's not only his call how bonefeel works or when it fires.

Concurrency between scenes isn't something I have to deal with much. I normally run a scene all the way through, so Bonefeel wouldn't pull someone out of something, it would merely put them into whatever is currently happening, right now. That's not true in every case, but, most of the time my players are as interested in maintaining the logical flow of the story as I am. Ninja vanish is not what the move is called, but...

In one of my favorite (one-shot) games, Bonefeel was a straight up teleportation due to an apocalypse where the spatial and physical laws were being destroyed. I mean, entire buildings could fall into other parts of the world, and waterfalls and rubble would just spontaneously erupt from the sky. In that type of game, I would be like SURE! We can definitely hop scenes!

However, it happens that if the player can pull a character out of the middle of another scene, so can the MC. Nothing like the Savvyhead running up to do something critical, and then suddenly being dropped into another characters gunfight... leaving both groups up shits creek. That's a sweet level of narrative, actually, but I'm not so sure that the Player will think this move is a huge perk if they can be interrupted by space/time because they banked the hold for to long. Still, yes, huge fan if everyone wants to do it that way.

There's an interesting contrast between this (ab?)use of Bonefeel and the Driver & Gunlugger's escape moves.

Good stuff, folks. Interesting business!

Bonefeel is a fantastic move, across player and gm use, flavor and mechanical usefulness.

One of the core tenants of AW is "to do it, do it" and "if you do it, you do it". Fluff and move descriptions aren't just there to pad out pages of tables and numbers, the move is called "bonefeel" and not "magic teleport" and that should mean something. But especially in the case of a savvy head, the fiction should bend to meet the move where it can.

I'd say this case was totally legit, that hatch is just perfect. I'd say the best way to solve the hocus being peeved would be to simply let them (try to) follow through the hatch. Having them use augury would be the most ideal way, as it's using the maelstrom to influence reality. If they don't have the move, or access to their antenna, I'd give them temporary access to it, with the hatch as the antenna, but it'll cost them, most likely through snowballed moves. Of course, there's plenty of potential for the dice to say no, in which case, yeah, they're going to have to find another way, and resolve their grievances with the savvyhead in game at a later time.

(assuming it's an in character grievance. If it's an issue between the players, I'd probably just let them follow through and be done with it)

Yes yes yes. Bonefeel shouldn't be "rule says Planck can retcon teleport anywhere", but

  Day 1764: I woke up at about 0300 with the urgent need to get down to the car yard.
  By costly experience, I have learned to trust this feeling implicitly.

or

  I was out dowsing for magnetrine when I heard the shots. 
  "Come on, you guys can shoot at each other anywhere."

or

  "Hey guys, what's this hatch. Guys? Hmm. Peculiar locking mechanism. Actually, wow this
  really pretty clever, I wonder who made this."   Thunk thunk thunk screee...   
  "Air's good. Interesting.  I wonder where that draft is coming from."
 

Actually, I think the character being peeved at the disappearance is a good use of the move. I would not just say, Oh you can follow them down the hatch! Or any other sort of the maelstrom will let you do it-isms, unless they pushed that point themselves, then maybe.

Nothing wrong with one character abandoning another weirdly. That is good story too.

Yeah, I think that at such weird unexpected junctures it's best to go with what seems to make sense "naturally" to the group.

In this case everyone kind of nodded that, yeah, the Savvyhead's gone and the Hocus is now in trouble. Ok! And there it was. No debate, no doubt, no discussion. "Interesting," we all thought at once.