95. Moves Snowball: Part V – Real-ish Dialogue

”Hm, now I want an escape route. Can I read the situation again?”

”Of course not.” Once is what you get, unless the situation substantially changes (127).

This is just a quick post to praise the excellent dialogue in this example. As I said in post no. 92, this chapter is an example more of the conversation created by the game than of anything else. As such, it needs to represent a conversation we can imagine ourselves having.

Here, the “Once is what you get” could easily have been part of the spoken statement rather than as an aside for us the reader. Instead, all the MC says is “Of course not,” because these are all experienced players and friends.

You can already picture how horrible this dialogue could be if it were written only to teach the rules:

“Can I read the situation?”

“Sure, as long as it’s charged! How is it charged, do you think?”

“Well, I came here to pick a fight, right? So wouldn’t my simply being here charge the situation?”

“Absolutely!”

“I roll both dice, right? And add . . . let me see . . . my sharp stat! Oh no. Looks like I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed! 5+5 would be a strong hit, but my -1 takes it down to a 9. Darn! At least it’s not a miss.”

Oy. It could have been more wooden, condescending, and didactic than an after-school special. We have all read samples of play like that in other RPG texts, so it wouldn’t have been shocking if it happened here. But instead, we get dialogue that hews pretty closely to lively table talk. Yes, the rules are certainly being taught in the example (otherwise there would be no need to include whether the situation could be read again at all), but that goal is secondary to demonstrating the conversation itself.