155. Bait a Trap

When you’re the bait, roll+cool.  On a 10+, choose 2.  On a 7-9, choose 1:

• - You draw your prey all the way into the trap. Otherwise, they only approach.
• - Your prey doesn’t suspect you. Otherwise, they’re wary and alert.
• - You don’t expose yourself to extra risk. Otherwise, and harm your prey inflicts is +1.

On a miss, the MC chooses 1 for you

My favorite part about this move is the bit in boldface, the important caveat of the move: when you’re the bait.  The player whose character is putting her neck on the line is the person who throws the dice.  You cannot trigger this move by baiting a trap with anything or anyone else.  At a strictly logical level, this makes sense because your character’s acting ability to lure in your target is at issue, but it also makes sense in terms of character agency and player safety.  Since the bait is exposed to possible danger, only the player of that character can decide what risks they are exposed to via the pick list options.  The philosophy behind Apocalypse World is always to give the power of decision to the person is the most vulnerable position.  In going aggro, it’s up to the player whose character is being targeted to decide the effect that violence has.  Here, it’s up to the player whose character’s safety is on the line to decide how the baited trap scenario unfold.
 
If you wanted to talk an NPC into acting as bait, you couldn’t use this move; you would either need to construct a similar move (presumably with input from the other players at the table) or play it out some other way.
 
I love the way the move specifies that when an option is not selected, the alternative is true, thanks the “otherwise” clauses.  In similar moves, the “otherwise” is only implied.  In seize by force, for example, not choosing to gain a hold on the thing means that you do not have a definite hold on it; if you do not choose to impress, dismay, or frighten your opponent, they are neither impressed, dismayed, or frightened.  In baiting a trap, the spelling out of the alternative is necessary so that all players understand what is at stake in the scene.  Laying it out acts as a visual reminder to the MC of what to work into the fiction of their own move in resolving this move, and it also lets the player see not only what they are choosing, but what they are choosing by not choosing the options they left unchosen, if that makes sense.
 
This move is also a good example of how a move can make it so that every roll and every choice the player makes result in exciting and compelling fiction.  Because a 10+ doesn’t allow a player to choose all the available options, even on a 10+ the player has to choose some danger to still exist in the situation.  Is harm an acceptable risk?  If so, your trap works perfectly, but only by putting your own safety on the line.  If your safety is paramount, then you are sacrificing some aspect of your trap.  I also love that the risk of harm is just that, a risk, not a certainty.  If your prey doesn’t inflict any harm, then there is no downside, so a player has to calculate the risks, but with a limited number of factors so as to avoid analysis paralysis.
 
On a 7-9, you have to choose what is most important to you.  On a miss, you get one of these things anyway, but its up the MC to determine how that plays out, either by using the information known to them about the NPCs being lured into the trap or by simply deciding what would be the most exciting thing for them to see happen.  Every result involves interesting decisions, and in each result the trap is sure to spring in a unexpected and exciting way.
 
Note that all the results are about fictional positioning.  Where the targets are, how prepared they are for tomfoolery, and how exposed the bait is—these are all about where the characters are as the move resolves.  The move takes one situation, a set trap, into another situation, a trap about to spring.  This is what I understand “putting a move’s results off into the snowball” is about.  Each of the possible fictional positionings resulting from the move will factor into what player characters can do and what pressures the MC can apply, but things are far from settled.
 
The example shows just how unsettled things can be after the move:

Audrey’s driven out into Dremmer’s territory, stalled it out, and is pretending she can’t get it started again. Hooch the chopper is circling his gang around, ready to pounce as soon as Dremmer’s raiders show any interest.
 
Audrey rolls the move and hits with a 9. “Well, Hooch,” she says. “I hope you’re ready to chase them down or something. I choose not to expose myself to extra risk.” e outcome is that Dremmer’s gang approaches, wary and alert, but doesn’t come all the way into the trap. Hooch has to decide whether to spring his ambush anyway or let them go

The question the example poses is will Hooch spring the ambush or let them go, but it’s more than that, right?  Dremmer’s gang is here, watching Audrey and looking for a trap.  Hooch is in a less than ideal place for an ambush, but if he decides to “let them go,” what happens?  Audrey doesn’t just hop in her vehicle and drive off, take Hooch out to lunch.  Dremmer’s gang is there and interested and must be dealt with one way or the other, whether it’s a fight or a guarded retreat with a possible battle of some sort.  The move first establishes a fictional state, and the resolution of that move alters the fictional situation and sets it motion, forcing the characters to make further moves until the scene reaches some complete resolution.