“After every move: ‘what do you do?’”

I’ve been thinking about this simple part of Apocalypse World’s rules. It’s listed at the end of the MC moves. And sure enough, every example in that section ends with that same question: what do you do?

“What do you do?” is of course a part of every game using the Apocalypse World engine, and at first it seemed to me like one of those “duh” moments. Of course you ask, “what do you do?” That’s what GM’s naturally do, isn’t it? Set it up and then let the characters react? It seemed so obvious, that I didn’t understand why the text made such a fuss over it.

In AW’s Ludography section, Vincent notes: “The entire game design follows from ‘Narrativism: Story Now’ by Ron Edwards." I read that essay (and re-read it) in the last week and there is a lot of great stuff in it, as there is in all of the GNS essays. The heart of “Narrativism: Story Now” is the notion that for player characters to truly be the protagonists of the stories we tell, they need to be the ones in control of the story. They need to decide what goals are pursued. They need to decide what is important in their own arc. That is of course a very simple notion, but in a world of adventure modules and pre-made scenarios, it is uncommon, especially in 2003, but still so in 2010 when AW was first published and even today.

In fact, Vincent makes it clear how a first session of AW is supposed to go. From that first poking around, the MC picks up on the threats to and interests of the characters. Then the MC can start flinging Threats and pushing the characters to see how they respond, never determining herself where the story should go, but using her moves to pose questions about the characters, who they are, what they want, and to what lengths they will go to get it.

It’s in this context that “what do you do?” transforms from the mundane questioning of a GM going about her business into something more. “What do you do?” becomes a declaration of protagonism. It’s all about you (the character) and the actions you take, because through those actions, the character’s character will be revealed, and through that revelation, a meaningful story told. As the MC, I throw things at you so that we can all see what you do, and every time I make a move, I’m going to remind you who’s driving this story: “What do you do?” Every time I make a move, I’m going to remind you what defines this narrative: “What do you do?”

It’s a tiny sentence that has a lot of weight and meaning tucked into it.

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To which Ron Edwards replied:

​Credit goes to Amber for the first RPG text to do that. I got it from there for Sorcerer.