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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8265737" data-attributes="member: 6696971">I want to go back to this because this is a very important.Your first paragraph is spot on.  But your 2nd paragraph here feels like it may be revealing a subtle misunderstanding of how Story Now games work broadly and PBtA games (like DW) work specifically.  Or at least the lack of disciplined application of one of the primary principles that undergirds play (this is almost surely what cued [USER=16586]@Campbell[/USER] to question how "hygenic" the play of Masks is).  The bolded bit makes me wonder how your play of Masks is with respect to the Make Threats Real GMing principle. * Threats aren't real if they aren't truly threatening.* Make the scope and focus real and meaningful (threaten something they care about).* Provoke them to action to stop a threat.* If they fail to overcome it (a miss on a move) or present you a golden opportunity (by ignoring the threat), follow through.  Make it real.This is as essential to Masks as it is to Dungeon World as it is to Apocalypse World.  This principle undergirds the play of each of these game (frame threat and provoke to action - soft move > miss move or ignore threat > follow through - hard move).So, to bring this all together and make this clear:* Dungeon World's themes are inspired by Burning Wheel and 4e.  You're fighting for your bonds/beliefs.* The crucible of conflict will test your mettle with respect to these things.  The GM will put these things in the crosshairs. * Your job as a player is to respond to provocation with action (make a move that is an expression of your characters archetype/themes and what they hold dear).  This is indeed a prompt, but it is absolutely not a prompt for "straight authorship of the fiction" as you write in your 2nd paragraph.  Your 1st paragraph is correct here.  It is a prompt for the player to (a) express their bonds/beliefs or (b) do something Rangerly or (c) (the best of all worlds) both.  But its not conch-passing.  The threats are real, remember?  They can't just ignore the obstacles/threats in front of them (that would be "giving the GM a golden opportunity") and just do whatever the eff they want. Yes, they get to establish facts about the world.  But they have to do so by dealing with what is in front of them with moves that respect the integrity of the fiction before them.  They might use Man's Best Friend to have their Animal Companion intercede before them and shield them from the hurricane wind (and therefore they're dealing with the fallout to their companion).  A Discern Realities move might uncover a missing scale on the dragon that they can fire at (take +1 forward when acting upon it) and/or a stalagmite field to that will arrest the fall of the giant slab of glacier (take +1 forward when acting upon it). But they have to make moves that deal with the obstacles before them so they can get that precious Volley/Called Shot move off. * Enforcing this as a GM is your job.  Your job is to follow through if the player's move results in a miss or if they ignore a threat (it here being the winds of a hurricane or the glacial ceiling collapse on them).  Both the players and the GM are constrained by the structure of play, the principles of play, and the action resolution procedures.[HR][/HR]TLDR - if you're playing Masks (and any PBtA game) like your first paragraph, then all is well.  Its the 2nd paragraph that invites questions (or doubts).</blockquote>

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