80. Every move a Bang

Bangs are Ron Edwards’s suggested method for the GM to push players toward compelling play in Sorcerer:

Bangs are those moments when the characters realize they have a problem right now and have to get moving to deal with it. It can be as simple as a hellacious demon crashing through the skylight and attacking the characters or as subtle as a voice of the long-dead murder victim answering when they call the phone number they found in the new murder victim’s pocket.

In order to get to the Bangs if the players are being dense, or if the GM is letting them flounder around, the GM should begin to ask leading questions or remind them of things they might check out. Every group is a little different in terms of how much prompting they need; it’s best to err on the overgenerous side at first. The amount of ‘What do we do next?’ should be very low compared to ‘Oh, crap, I try to convince him we’re on his side!’ or ‘I tell Frick to grow big and rip the car door off!’ (77).

What occurred to me this weekend while looking through the threat moves is that MC moves in Apocalypse World are a way to take Bangs from being a suggested way for GMs to act to being built in to the very structure of the game. As we know, the rules of Apocalypse World structure the conversation happening at the table. When the MC looks over their lists of possible moves, picks one, and clothes it in fiction to present to the players, they will in essence have created a bang, something that calls for the players’ attention. Some moves will obviously be more pressing and immediate, but even announcing future and off-screen badness are bangs. What is Edwards’s example of the long-dead murder victim answering the phone if not announcing off-screen badness?

It has been said many times by many people: one of Apocalypse World’s strengths is that it turns solid GMing techniques into mechanized rules for the MC. Bangs are the gold standard for creating drama during play when the players themselves are responsible for driving the narrative, and MC moves allow those bangs to happen even when an MC is unaware that that is what they are doing. Moreover, the lists of moves ensure that the bangs created are interesting contributions to the conversation and appropriate to Apocalypse World.