121. Read a Person: Examples

Marie is trying to reconcile with Roark after fucking it up with Joe’s Girl, and going into the conversation she reads him, of course. She misses the roll. Roark, out of his own self-interests, is ready to let bygones be, but now no way I’m telling her that. I get to make as hard a move as I like, and I choose to offer an opportunity, very much with a cost. “It’s obvious, he hasn’t even opened his mouth and it’s obvious, he’s not going to listen to you,” I say. “You can have him back, but you’re going to have to in-brain puppet strings him to do it” (146)

This scene is of course a follow-up to the first example of the seduce or manipulate move. When we last left them, Roark had stormed out of Marie’s place stark naked, pissed off that she was using him to get to Joe’s Girl. Poor Marie can’t get a break and misses another roll. I love the MC’s move here because it genuinely probes what is important to Marie. Is it more important to her that she regain Roark’s trust or that she gets him back for another shot at Joe’s Girl again? Marie’s response to this move tells us about her and what’s important to her. You can’t ask for more from a move.

It’s unclear how long after the last scene this one picks up, but I’ll admit I was thrown off by the idea that “Roark, out of his own self-interests, is ready to let bygones be.” That statement seems to suggest that the last MC move was not as hard as it first appeared, that the separation of Marie and Roark was not as severe as it seemed. But it’s important that Marie and Roark are in a charged interaction here. Roark may want to let bygones be bygones, but he’s mad and hurt enough not to be able to just come right out and say as much. Marie’s got to get there through this conversation. Had her player succeeded in her roll, Marie would have been able to read Roark’s signs and begin to mend the relationship. Instead, the MC used their move to have Marie misread Roark’s pain as a refusal to listen.

The only thing missing here is that Marie’s player should still get her one question, and I don’t know how that question would affect the rest of the move. Does the MC make the hard move before the player get’s the question, effectively cutting out the option “how could I get your character to - ?” Should that question come first and then the MC can make as hard a move as she likes? Is the order up to the MC and the other player? The example doesn’t let us know.

Bran’s sitting back watching Foster give orders and receive reports, all business. Bran pays attention to her manner, mood, body language, and hits the roll with a 7. He asks almost idly what Foster’s really feeling. “She’s scared,” I say. “Scared? Of what?” he says. “Of Marie,” I say, as honesty demands. “She is?” he says. “But that would mean …Oh shit.”

This example shows that follow up questions to the original answer are within the bounds of the move. Now, the MC could have said, “She’s scared of Marie,” but that lacks a lot of dramatic punch, and it makes sense that Bran would first notice that Foster is scared, and then having noticed that, begin reading Foster’s movements more closely still to determining what she’s afraid of. The way the MC breaks up her response to Bran’s player’s question imitates this natural movement. Oh, and of course, this example shows that you can read a person outside of a conversation, that you can study a person’s interactions with other people, not just with yourself. The question is, if that’s the case, how much of the conversation should be played through? If the character reading the person is merely observing the interaction, is the move still subject to the direction that “in play, have the player roll this move only (a) when the interaction is genuinely charged, and (b) when you’re going to play the interaction through”?

Come to think of it, it is not clear from the presentation of the example, why the players agree that Foster’s interactions are charged at all. Presumably, the MC made some mention that something was off about Foster, that there was some underlying tension there. This is of course easily broached in play with, “there’s something odd in Foster’s behavior; want to read her?” or Bran’s player saying, “I’m studying Foster; is there anything there to read?”

Keeler’s negotiations with Tum Tum are going really well. Really, really well. Suspiciously well. So she decides to watch them carefully while they’re talking. She hits the roll with a 12. She asks what they’re feeling, and it’s a mix of malice, impatience and hope. She’s like, “malice?” so she asks what they intend. “It becomes increasingly clear, the way they shoot these subtle looks back and forth between them or something, but you’re pretty sure they intend to kill you afterward.” They keep talking and she asks “how could I get them to let me go?” Let her go? No way. She’ll be fighting her way out.

This is the only example that shows the move occurring over the course of the conversation. In fact, Keeler’s player doesn’t even notice that the conversation is charged until she suspects that things are going too well. Once she suspects that there is more going on beneath the surface, and the MC concurs, dice are thrown. The first question leads immediately to the second. The answer to the third question reinforces the idea that “’Dude, sorry, no way’ is a legit answer to ‘how could I get your character to - ?’” as well as providing another example of “unhappy revelations, every chance you get.”

Finally, we get to the “mistake & correction”:

Audrey’s connected with Keeler to ask for her help, and she’s acting reluctant, so she decides to read her. She hits with an 11. “Okay! So how could I get you to help me, what do you intend to do, and I guess what are you really feeling—” “Whoa stop,” I say. “Hold onto those, ask them during the conversation, not all up front. You can ask one now if you want, but then you two keep talking. Ask them as you go.”

This is our reminder to “play the interaction through.” Pretty straight forward. What I would have liked to have seen in one of these examples is a full conversation played through rather than summarized. The Keeler-Tum Tum interaction would be a fine candidate for this. I understand that it would take up a lot of room to do so, so I get why it wasn’t done, but I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. If you truly want players to play the interaction through, it’s helpful to show them what that looks like in play.

Also!

Just a quick word to say that 4/23 marks the one year anniversary of the Daily Apocalypse posts. We’re halfway through the text, so I suspect we have another 6-12 months of entries ahead of us. Thanks to all of you for reading and commenting and plain following along.