45 Respond with fuckery and intermittent rewards.

As in “fuck around with,” not “fuck over.” This is like when you barf apocalyptica onto someone’s answer, but do it all the time. How about an example?

Marie makes it super clear to Roark that she doesn’t care who he kills, but he’s to bring Joe’s Girl (an NPC) back to her alive. For “questioning” or “examination” or something—Marie wants access to Joe’s Girl’s living brain. So Roark goes out, murders a batch of people, and comes back with Joe’s Girl alive. Here’s where I fuck around, though: he’s beaten the SHIT out of her. Marie has access to her brain (because always give the characters what they work for) but she’s in a coma, her back is broken, her face is smashed in. Joe’s Girl is alive for now, but ruined for good. I gave Marie what she worked for, but not really what she hoped for. See it? Throw curves. Put your bloody fingerprints all over everything you touch.

Intermittently, though, right, give one of the players’ characters exactly what she hoped for, and maybe go a little beyond. Do it just enough, and not when they expect it, so that they always hope that this time is one of the times that it’ll work out. A third of the time? Half? Not rare, just not predictable.

This principle is all pretty clear, so I don’t have much to say here, but I must point out another one of my favorite sentences in the book: “Put your bloody fingerprints all over everything you touch.” Gah! It’s directly related to barfing forth apocalyptica, but it’s so much more personal. It’s a perfectly evocative phrase that says not only are you breaking things and fucking with them, but that the signs of your fuckery will linger long after you have gone. Fingerprints are unique identifiers as well, which suggests you as the MC fuck with things in your own unique way—put your particular stamp of fuckery on everything that passes through your hand, and as MC, nearly everything passes through your hands. That’s a gem of a sentence right there.

The other thing I’d like to point out is how carefully and thoughtfully these principles are worded. Every word in them has their place, as becomes apparent when you read the explanation that follows them. Here, the first paragraph defines what “Respond with fuckery” means. The second paragraph exemplifies the definition and makes clear what a “reward” is: “always give the characters what they work for.” And the final paragraph explains “intermittent.” Each word has a specific weight and meaning so that when you are looking at your principles during play, the whole meaning is there for you to grasp. Look back at the ones we’ve covered already and you’ll see that there is nothing casual in their seemingly casual appearance. Ask provocative questions and build on the answer. Name everyone, make everyone human. The explanations spend time with each word in the title, filling each word with meaning so that the principle says everything it wants to say, not a word more and not a word less.

This is a carefully constructed text that teaches the reader that each word is laden with meaning and purposefully chosen. If you enjoy that kind of reading, you’ll love the text. If you don’t, you won’t.