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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7996598" data-attributes="member: 42582">I think your claim isn't self-evident, and probably isn't true. Your last sentence in particular suggests a pretty narrow class of systems, that deal with manipulations of numbers (like damage and hp in D&D) that don't in any way correlate to the fiction.Consider the AW move open your brain:When you open your brain to the world’s psychic maelstrom, roll+weird. On a hit, the MC will tell you something new and interesting about the current situation, and might ask you a question or two; answer them. On a 10+, the MC will give you good detail. On a 7–9, the MC will give you an impression. If you already know all there is to know, the MC will tell you that.As is typical for a PbtA game, "If the sum total is 6 or less, that’s a miss. . . . [T]ell the players this: “on a miss, I’ll tell you what happens.” If you want, just so nobody has any incorrect expectations, you can add this: “…and I promise you won’t like it.” (The move is from p 88; the quote is from p 12.)I don't think any sort of elaborate descrition or narration is necessary to the adjudication of this move. When the GM (or MC in the game's own terminology) gives an impression, or gives good detail, that needn't be presented in any particularly elaborate style. Page 204 gives the following advice on how to handle this move as a GM:At first when you ask questions, they can be simply to establish facts and images, questions like “what’s the psychic maelstrom like (for you)?” and “how do you learn things from it?” As the game progresses, though, ask questions about the characters’ lives, pasts, psyches, souls. “Who was your first kiss? Tell about it.” “Are you happy?” “What’s the worst hurt you’ve suffered that you can’t remember?” “If you could take one conversation back, undo it, what would it be?” “If you were to kill Bran right this minute, how would you do it?” Make time for the players’ answers, and don’t let the players squirm out of them just because they never thought about it. “I know you don’t know who your first kiss was. Make it up!” Also take full advantage of the characters’ open brains to barf forth apocalyptica. What if there’s somebody in the maelstrom that they know? What if some part of the maelstrom stays inside their brain when they close it again? What if the maelstrom sweeps a certain key memory out of their brain while it’s in there, or gives them a brand new fresh one?I don't think there's too much risk of this becoming fairly mundane.Conversely, the limitation that faces some D&D magic, or at least some approaches to D&D magic - as I've posted upthread - is that it doesn't connect to or engage the fiction. This is not something that is related to the elaborateness of narration.</blockquote>

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