52. Examples and the MC’s moves

Because the MC moves “aren’t technical terms or jargon,” there is no need to define them further; they mean exactly what they say. So instead of giving definitions, the Bakers gives examples of each move. What’s cool is that these are examples of the conversation created by these moves as much as they examples of the moves themselves.

For example, when showing what “Inflict harm (as established)” might be in play, the authors could have written: “this move can mean more than just having the players fill in a wedge on their harm clocks. If you send a warning to one player by having a nearby NPC gunned down, that is a kind of inflicting harm as well.” Instead, we get this:

”Oh Jesus, Audrey, they’ve got a sharpshooter above you. You find out about it when Mamo grunts and sits down hard, and doesn’t move again. What do you do?” (91)

I think we can all agree that that is a bazillion times better than talking about what a move would look like. In the end, moves only exist in the conversation as things said by the MC, so there is no better way to discuss them. Moreover, the moves are the nexus for everything else that precedes them in this chapter. The moves are the things that the MC says, and as such they follow the agenda, the principles, and what must be always said. The examples demonstrate for us the coming together of all the MC’s requirements.

In the example above, we see the principles in action. Apocalyptica is barfed forth in the harshness of the world. The MC addresses the character. The move is misdirected through the fiction. The move’s name is never spoken. Poor Mamo has been looked at through crosshairs. In the above example, we see that the MC says what the principles demand, potentially what her prep has demanded, and certainly what honesty demands. The MC is advised earlier in the chapter to “always be scrupulous, even generous with the truth. The players depend on you to give them real information they can really use about their characters’ surroundings, about what’s happening when and where” (81). Here we see that in action. Mamo doesn’t just hit the ground while the MC toys with Audrey to see if she can figure out what killed Mamo. The information that there is a sniper is given free and clear. That Mamo is dead and not just injured is given free and clear. That the sniper is above her is given free and clear. The drama is provided through the situation, not through the confusion the situation could cause. And in the example above, we see the agenda items have all been met. Apocalypse World is indeed made real; Audrey’s life is anything but boring; and the MC is playing to find out what happens. All of that is communicated through a single example. The aggregate of the examples puts into practice everything that has come before them.

Oh, and of course the example above also shows that Mamo’s death is serving as the “set . . . up,” the “start to the action,” as moves are supposed to do. How hard the move is is a bit of mystery. On the one hand, Audrey wasn’t shot, but we don’t know how big and NPC Mamo was or how important Mamo was to Audrey. The MC might have intended this to be an incredibly hard and direct move, or it could have been little more than a warning shot.

In a lot of ways, I feel like the examples are the breath of reassuring fresh air that comes at the end of the chapter. As MC, you’ve been ordered around, given lists of things to do and not to do, read over bullet points and warning and commands—and then it is all filtered down into a couple of lines of dialogue that lets you know this is no more complicated than saying these awesome things. The language is colloquial and familiar. It’s a way of saying, don’t sweat it. You’ve got this. At the same time, the examples are a sort of promise. Follow your principles, mind your agenda, and always say what honesty demands, and you will have exciting scenes, moments of intense drama, and great storytelling happening naturally and spontaneously at your table.