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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8941320" data-attributes="member: 6696971">I think your position of "essentially infinite possibilities" is one where we disagree on rather significantly (and its surely been one of the lynchpins for our lack of agreement in these particular angles of conversation).  Its also why I likely disagree with [USER=6690965]@Pedantic[/USER] here.  "Infinite possibilities" smuggles in "impossible to be effectively modeled" while also assuming "the consequence-space isn't being discussed in real-time at the table."  Neither of those are true.Take the Stonetop play excerpt I relayed upthread:* The Blessed (the outer limits of Near Range so maybe 60-70 ft) made a Danu's Grasp move to bind and harm the massive, charging (I'm not going to use its name because the spelling is impossible), corrupted buck.  He gets a 6-.  Something goes wrong.My options are constrained by a large array of factors:1)  Portray a rich, mysterious world + Punctuate the PCs’ lives with adventure + Play to find out what happens.  So nothing unengaging, nothing that isn't an expression of danger or opportunity, and nothing that is pre-scripted.2)  The Principles.  Every move I make must be moored to and bound by these.  I have to follow the rules.  I have to be honest about the fiction (see 3 below).  I have to embrace the fantastic and the mundane alike.  I have to respect the NPCs and places of this world by giving expression to them.  I'm a "fan of the character"; this doesn't mean I'm helping them...I'm "a fan" by testing them...demanding from them...putting what they care about front-and-center and in the crosshairs.  I'm "a fan of them" because I let the players dictate the trajectory of play and make the game an expression about their protagonistic journey.3)  The constituent parts of the imagined space as they have been expressed:* Binding nature magic of a deity of nature, beauty, nurturing/preservation, and tooth & claw.* 60-70 feet away on a fast moving, large buck.* A herd of prismatic bucks in cohorts of two, clashing due to the rut, about 100 ft away at its closest...all of which are keeping their distance from this corrupted buck.* NPCs (horses and humanoids and Wizent the air spirit) out of danger.* The Stormborn Heavy (a Thor-ish Fighter), the Raised By Wolves Blessed (a nature mystic with wolf companions), the Chronicling Prophet as Judge (Paladin of Knowledge, Harmony, Rebuker-of-Chaos) all in the crosshairs of this charging, corrupted threat.* The creature's "stat block" (which includes its prospective moves, tags, damage expressions, and Instinct).  The "corrupted" tag (by The Darkness Below) is a big one here.* The nature of the PCs in question.  This includes their accreted fiction to date + their playbook moves.[HR][/HR]Given all of the above, that 6- forbade a whole host of degenerate, not-observing-the aggregate, interlocking features of all of the above.  It winnows my decision-space to something profoundly less than infinite possibilities.  As I see it, the possible moves I could have made would be:* The spell of binding is turned against them.  But this couldn't possibly due to "distance from Danu."  That would be an outright violation of fiction-to-date.  Further, it couldn't be due to "the spirits defy you."  This character has the playbook move Voice of the Earth Mother which, by fiat, makes the spirits of the wild defer to you, at least respect you if not outright acquiesce to your requests.  An earthen rampart suddenly swallowing Gavin?  Complete violation of these things!  The limits to "turning his move back on him" (by binding him somehow) would almost surely be degenerate.So what else?* Can I have one of the NPCs (like maybe Delly the Playfull tag horse or Cliff the "I want to protect my friends" man-at-arms) run out and endanger themselves?  Nope!  Total violation of prior success.  They just took that off the table in their Struggle As One move by choosing the option of "these guys are all safe and in the tree line."  Uprooting that would be a complete violation of the rules.* Can I have another cohort of charging bucks clash in such a way that their collision sends them careening toward the situation?  Well, we've already established that they are avoiding the corrupted buck (which is why its charging this group)...so that would be at least a "soft violation" of that fiction.  Further, they're at Far Range.  I can't "Follow Through" on the hard move requirements here.  There is no way they can close quickly enough to actually put the PCs in peril.So what is left?* Make a Monster move.  The binding earth and roots pull desperately against the creature, but given its size, power, and corrupted influence, it powers through their grasp, continuing its sprint toward executing a Trample move (which would come a few moves later) and spits the Scarlet Putrefaction line of vomit at Gavin; Near, 1d10+3, Ignores Armor, Grabby, Corruption.That is clearly "the best line of play" that honors all elements of system, established fiction, the elements of the imagined space, game pieces, etc.  There are probably a few other potential lines of play I could have made...but none of them would have been as good.Cullen ( [USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] ) was there to protect his friends.  So is it a violation for him to Defend or Defy Danger (The Tower Eternal) Gavin from the attack?  Nope.  He's there.  If he wasn't there (maybe somewhere around or just outside of Reach range), I would allow him a Defy Danger move to sprint and intercede in time (and then make his Defend or Defy Danger to actually intercede).  But he's there (which was an outgrowth of prior conversation...he wanted to be there for just this contingency' that he needed to protect his friend).  So...order of operations:* Cullen Defy Danger with Tower Eternal (fiction and gamestate changing post-move).* Execute Scarlet Putrefaction attack contingent upon those results (fiction and gamestate changing post-move).</blockquote>

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