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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8226332" data-attributes="member: 6696971">Numbered the above to unpack darkbard's thoughts above from the GM side.To dove-tail with the other thread, I don't have any "pre-play notes" outside of (a) the setting notes that we created at the outset when we made the map, (b) the setting notes that result from our play (particularly when I ask provocative questions and they give the answers or if they offer it without prodding), (c) important continuity stuff that has happened (I write it down not to reference it later...I write it down as the practice will help to cement it in my brain), (d) the PC's thematic material native to DW (Alignment and Bonds).1)  This was a Parley move 7-9 where I had to give the NPC some dramatic need for Alastor to attend to cement the deal.  It was springboarded off of his Alignment statement (bring a criminal or unbeliever to justice) at that point.  So an output of action resolution + PC build flag.  Personally, I was curious at how Alastor felt about both labor exploitation being "criminal" and about how "below board" exploitation and strong-arming interfaced with his deity (who is about truth and openness).2)  This was an outgrowth of 2 separate complications for moves + Alignment statement.  The first was a bad night's sleep on the trail (they changed their sleep schedule from nocturnal to diurnal in order to avoid the evil necromancer's gaze...fiction and gamestate triggered by a move made by the Paladin; "Observe Memna's - his diety - Pieties") manifested as take -1 forward from horrific dreams (show signs of an approaching danger) that portended something vague and hazy but awful.  We discussed what this might be (prior fiction and discussion had already asserted that the magical tapestry that both enabled magic and served as the barrier between dimensions) and I used that discussion to inform a major complication of a later Loresight move (a custom Move for a Wizard where she can look at a magical effect, spell, item and uncover relevant information about it similar to Discern Realities) + her Alignment statement (Unravel a magical mystery).  That triggered further fiction and then a later conversation with the Archeology headmaster of her Academy/Library triggered the rest.A lot of snowballing of things triggered by Ask Questions & Use Answers + outputs of action resolution + thematic PC stuff.3)  The story of the Necromancer (and the field-working Simalacram they encountered) is very similar to (2) above.  Prior fiction and PC goal that needed some provocative framing + lot of snowballing of things triggered by Ask Questions & Use Answers + outputs of action resolution + thematic PC stuff (in this case for both PCs - the magical mystery * 2 for the Wizard & the evil secret for the Paladin.On that one, I left the NPC entirely unfixed (in terms of what/who he was and what his motivations were).  I situated him as a sufficiently creepy, well-groomed man with an aristocratic bent (entirely out of place for this muddy, frontier port town) who was drawing this little girl who was either a freakish savant at wood and straw craft (she was making toys for a crowd with a dizzying alacrity and deftness) or she was blessed-by-magic.  When Alastor Detected Evil, that told me he wanted an antagonist; the snowballing began.4)  The aggressive framing of the scene at the ranch/farm was an outgrowth of prior fiction (why was the rancher/farmer father on a long journey with his two children?...very far from home...taking 3 laborers from their ranch/farm....that reeks of desperation) + a Bond from Alastor related to his deity and providence (detailed in the other thread) + the brand new Alignment statement by the Paladin (endanger yourself to protect someone in need) + my curiosity about how Alastor felt about lendor/debtor relationships (an outgrowth of (1) above where we sorted out how he felt about labor/employer relationships) + a complication on a Journey move.All of the relevant stuff about the antagonist and the situation is in the other thread so I won't trouble myself with rewriting it here!</blockquote>

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