137. Barter Move: The Bustling Market

When you go into a holding’s bustling market, looking for some particular thing to buy, and it’s not obvious whether you should be able to just go buy one like that, roll+sharp. On a 10+, yes, you can just go buy it like that. On a 7–9, the MC chooses 1:
• It costs 1-barter more than you’d expect
• It’s not openly for sale, but you find someone who can lead you to someone selling it.
• It’s not openly for sale, but you find someone who sold it recently, who may be willing to introduce you to their previous buyer.
• It’s not available for sale, but you find something similar. Will it do?
On a miss, the MC chooses 1, plus it costs 1-barter more.

When it’s obvious whether the character can just go buy the thing, it might be obvious that she can, or obvious that she can’t. “Obvious” is for you to decide, but do remember that your agenda is to make Apocalypse World seem real and to make the characters’ lives interesting, not to arbitrarily deny them things they want or would find useful (160).

On the casual once-over, this looks like a move that helps the MC decide whether the player characters can find something that they want at the local market. Can you find that? I don’t know; roll the dice and see. But that’s not what this move is about at all. Even on a miss, the MC chooses one from the list, so once the player throws the dice it’s a foregone conclusion that their character can find what they are seeking. The real question this move asks is “whether you should be able to just go buy one like that.” Like all the moves in Apocalypse World, you need to be sure you’re trying to answer the right question before you go to the dice.

If your question is whether the player characters should be able to find such a thing at all, then the game tells you to fall back on your agenda: “make Apocalypse World seem real and . . . make the characters’ lives interesting.” If finding the sought-after item would break with the reality of the world you’ve created, then say no. The make-their-lives-interesting agenda item is the tricky one; that’s why the authors warn us that it is not our job “to arbitrarily deny them things they want or would find useful.” If the item solves all their problems and puts the world to rights in one go, then yeah, that makes everyone’s life much less interesting. Short of that (and just about everything is short of that), don’t worry about the item being useful; the game, and this move in particular, have got you covered.

The beautiful part of this move is the set of choices. First, we’ve all seen movies and TV shows that have employed each one of these narrative devices. The item will cost more than you hoped (or have); how badly do you want it? This guy knows a guy, so follow him; is it worth the risk? I just sold my last one, so you can go talk to this guy about reselling it to you; do you want it badly enough to face that uncertainty? Nope, but I’ve got this thing here; can you make it work? Each one of those options pose great questions to the characters, and their answers are naturally interesting and revealing,

Second, the choices together act as a set of dials that gives the MC control over how the market visit develops the narrative. There is a reason that the game gives that choice to the MC and not the player making the roll. Take the option that it costs 1-barter more than you’d expect, for example. If you know the character has the barter to spend, this could be a way to quickly get the item in the character’s hands and move on with the narrative. Perhaps barter is a hard thing to come by in your Apocalypse World and the characters are consistently fighting against poverty. Then selecting this option becomes a way to push that theme and see what the character will do for that extra jingle – beg, borrow, or steal. The option that the item is not available but something similar is is a way to throw an interesting curve ball to see how the characters work around the interesting strengths and weaknesses of the replacement. If you are looking for something interesting and potentially explosive right now, you can select the option that someone can take them to someone selling it. That little quest could eat up a whole session and take the story in all kinds of interesting directions.

Every option can be as big and consequential as you like, or as small and inconsequential as you prefer, which is ever a blessing to the MC . Like the gig moves, this barter move can give you the gas your game needs or it can trigger and resolve without much disruption if that’s what you’re looking for. Moves like this are what makes the game feel so versatile and full of endless potential in play.

Here’s the example for the move:

Keeler, in escaping from a raid turned bad, left III’s night vision goggles behind, and feels like she ought to replace them. She goes looking in Barbecue’s bustling market. She hits the roll with an 8. I decide that sure, one of the barge people has night vision goggles on offer, but that they’re going to cost +1barter. Night vision goggles are both valuable and hi-tech, so let’s say that they’re worth 3-barter normally. Does Keeler have 4-barter to spend on them?

All we get here is the question, not the answer, so we don’t get to glimpse all the possible ramifications of this move. Keeler might say, Fuck it, I’ll deal with III’s wrath instead. She might have the money but spending it will hurt, prompting her to get a gig or plan another raid. She might not have the funds but not want to return empty handed, so she has to either get money or take it from the barge person without paying. Anything can happen from here, and the MC will be aware of the pressures she’s applying and excited to see what Keeler’s response is, which is the whole thrill of MCing Apocalypse World.

Oh, and don’t forget that the trick to making a 10+ meaningful is to make it consequential. Even if the characters stroll into the market, find what they want at a great price, and march off, that action creates ripples in the fictional world. Perhaps the item they bought was stolen and the original owner is looking for it. Perhaps someone else is looking for the same thing and arrives just after the PCs and wants to buy it off them and doesn’t want to take no for an answer. Perhaps the seller is an informant and will report on the PCs activities. Send those ripples out and play to find out what happens.