Dealing with: Doing things, aka Try It, Guide Towards Success, End Scene on a Roll

• Face me! the Musketeer ordered, poised and self-assured, one hand on his rapier.
• Why in Heaven's name would I do that? asked the Cardinal, sitting at his desk, reading from three open books and writing on a piece of paper.
• Face me and I'll strike you down like the coward you are!
• Do you know what would happen if I were to interrupt my work? My awfully precise work, I should add, summoning a demon who could very well swallow this entire city.
• A demon? asked the Musketeer, rather surprised.
• Well, technically, it's an Artificial Intelligence and what I'm doing is debugging it, but you are not programmed to understand any of these words, so yes, let's call it a demon. Now, shoo away, you're annoying me.
• But you shall face justice for what happened to the Queen!
• What happened to the Queen? Oh, that! Don't worry, it doesn't really matter. Now begone, I'd hate to have to erase you. You're a fun minor antagonist.
• I may not understand your utterings and you may be a man of the cloth but...
• Debugger, interrupt d'Artagnan, said the Cardinal to noone in particular.
• (d'Artagnan interrupted), responded the voice of noone in particular.
• Now reset him in some tavern, after a night of debauchery. Make it a bad hair day, I really need some time to concentrate on this. Oh, and give him some kind of minor quest that involves neither the Queen nor myself. Something with Madame Bonacieu.
• (d'Artagnan reset to Auberge du Lys Couronné)(random quest generated)(all resources assigned)
• Now, where was I?

Player Move: Try it

In Divine Comedians, Comedians typically spend their time, well, doing things. This can be minute things, such as thinking, speaking, preparing for battle or playing 4d fractal chess for leisure. Or perhaps they are in the process of designing a new universe, preparing the end of this one, or abolishing godhood.
The Player Move Try it covers what happens whenever a Player declares that their Comedian is doing something right now.

GM Move: Let Players come up with the Answer

In many cases, the GM may need additional information. Perhaps what the Comedian is attempting is not clear for the GM. After all, if they are trying to destroy a religion, or maybe create one, it might be useful to know whether the Comedian is using political means, violent ones, or perhaps supernatural ones. Or perhaps it's simply that the GM didn't know that the Comedian was carrying weapons, a lockpick, or that the GM isn't exactly clear how the Comedian brought a living goat to be sacrificed in the middle of the New York Stock Exchange.
In some cases, it's because the action that the Comedian is attempting simply doesn't show up on the Levels Ladder, or doesn't seem at first glance to match with anything that has been established in the Setting.
In all cases, the GM should ask questions and Let Players come up with the Answer. We'll talk more about this Move a bit later.

GM Move: Guide Towards Success

Once an action is clear, the typical response of the GM to Try it is to Guide Towards Success.
In Divine Comedians, most of the actions that Comedians undertake are successful. After all, what Olympian demigod wouldn't be able to outrun mortal competitors at the Olympic Games? Would it make any sense for a spirit of love or war or art, thousands of years old, to be in any kind of danger from a gang of street thugs? While dragons in human form do not jump from speeding ship to speeding ship on a daily basis, would such a stunt really be a challenge for them?
For this reason, when a Comedian intends to undertake an action, the GM most commonly responds something along the lines of:

• "Done. What now?"
• "Sure. How much?"
• "I'll let you describe what happens."
• "Let me describe what happens after that."

These are also instances of GM Move Say yes.
In some cases, the GM has no idea, so it is time to Let Players come up with the answer:

• "What do you think, can you do that?"
• "Do you have the necessary material with you?"

Sometimes, the Comedian attempts to do something more complicated. After all, robbing Mona Lisa or destroying the Death Star isn't that hard but it could have unintended consequences, especially if you intend to do it before breakfast, using only what you have in your pockets and they are waiting for you. In such cases, the GM's response may sound more like:

• "Not like this, but if you did [that] instead, that would work nicely."
• "I don't see how. Can you detail?"
• "Before you do can this, there is [a problem]. How do you solve it?"
• "You can definitely do [this], but it will cause [that], is this what you have in mind?"

This is typically as close as the GM gets to saying "No, you can't do it." or "You fail." A Comedian will not outright fail at opening a lock, but they may give up because they don't want to be there when the guards arrive. They will not outright fail at storming the castle, but they may sound retreat once they realize that their army is getting slaughtered. They will not outright fail at destroying the sun-sized intelligent cloud that is preparing to eat the sun, or at murdering the very polite cyclops guarding the gates of the underworld, but they may realize that their actions have no consequence, or that they are getting pummelled. That is not a failure. Let's call it a strategic retreat.
Of course, solving a problem that prevents a Comedian from succeeding outright may take as much time as needed. Perhaps one sentence, perhaps an entire campaign. Similarly, the consequences or cost of succeeding may be trivial or may be spectacular sacrifices from the Comedian or the entire world. But let's call that a success, nevertheless.
Once any clarification has been completed, and if the Comedians have not changed their mind, the GM can Say yes and proceed with descriptions.
The action, its narration and its consequences become yet other established facts and Gameplay proceeds.

GM Move: End Scene on a Roll

Another, less common, response of the GM to Try it is to End Scene on a Roll.
As a GM, you'll use this Move to handle more dramatic circumstances. Circumstances that will shape the rest of the story. Usually, this happens when a Comedian is pitting their strength or cunning or magic or influence against that of another Comedian or a Whisper, either directly or by attacking something that somehow belongs to that other Comedian or Whisper. Or maybe they're doing something dramatic, heroic, foolish, something that intends to move the city, or the world, or the multiverse in a different direction.
Let's emphasize: if the result of the roll isn't going to dramatically change the situation, do not use this Move. In particular, if only a success would change the situation or if only a failure would change the situation, do not use this Move. Rather, use Guide Towards Success.
In such cases, wisdom may dictate that the Comedian should change course. But when have petty immortals ever been wise? So Comedians can test their Attributes and Props against whatever is waiting for them. Comedians get to decide exactly how much risk they are willing to mobilize against their enemy or obstacle. Yes, many Comedians stand a good chance of defeating an army, winning a commercial war, seducing an entire population, calming down a hurricane, but at what Cost? Will they cause an earthquake, a drought, a total war, the birth of a mad cult? Will it leave the Comedian open to be blind-sided by another attack? Will it leave them exhausted, wounded, temporarily power mad? Will they accidentally harm their loved ones, their allies, Comedians who had so far remained neutral partners? Could they damage the Stage? The Backstage? Their own Presence?
If such a case arises, a dialog starts between the GM and the Player. At any time during the conversation, until dice are rolled, the Player may decide to rephrase the action, change their mind and not perform the action at all, or accept failure and similarly, at any time during the conversation until dice are rolled, the GM can ask for clarification and Let Players come up with the Answer.

1. What Attribute is required to perform the action?
2. What Level in this Attribute would be required to perform this action easily? Let's call this the "Level Needed".
3. What Level in this Attribute (or any Prop that they may be using instead of that Attribute) does the Comedian have? Let's call this the "Actual Level".
4. If the Actual Level is at least as good as the Level Needed, the action is already a comfortable success. The GM should Guide Towards Success and call it a day.
5. The GM determines the Success Needed. Normally, the Success Needed is Level Needed minus Actual Level. If the Comedian is suffering from Pressure, the Success Needed is increased to be at least as high as the Pressure. In other words, higher Pressure makes everything harder.
6. The GM informs the Player of the number of the Success Needed.
7. The Player decides of how many dice they roll. The number of dice to roll is limited by the Actual Level, or, if Pressure is higher than the the Actual Level, the Pressure. More dice means more risks and, indeed, higher Pressure makes it possible to take more risks.
8. Count the number of dice showing 3 or higher. This number is the Success Reached. If Success Reached is at least equal to the Success Needed, the action succeeds. Otherwise, it fails. If Success Reached is at least equal to Success Needed + 2, the Success is said to be "comfortable".
9. Count the number of dice showing 4 or lower. This number is the Cost. If the number is 0, there is no Cost.

As you can see, an action can be both a Success – a Comfortable Success, even – and have a heavy Cost. Such is the life of Comedians.
Now that Success and Cost have been determined, it is time to End the Scene, as the Move name suggests. In other words, the situation has changed a lot and everybody around the table is now in charge of narrating this new situation, establishing new facts along the way. Whoever is narrating – usually several people – may request suggestions from other Players/the GM but at any moment the person who is actively narrating is the one who gets to establish facts. Also, the GM is responsible of ensuring that nothing narrated contradicts facts already established.
Let see in which order things get narrated:

1. The Player may decide to narrate their Success or Failure, or to let the GM handle this. In either case, recall that both Success and Failure need to have meaningful consequences.
2. If there is a Cost, Player asks for a volunteer to narrate the Cost. Any other Player or the GM may undertake this narration. To evaluate the impact of the Cost, consider it equivalent to an action of Level Cost in the Attribute used for the action. The Cost doesn't have to be a direct consequence of the action – it could just as well be some coincidence that makes the consequences of the action problematic for the Comedian.
3. If any other PC is impacted by the Success, Failure or Cost, their Player may decide to narrate how or let the GM handle this.
4. Finally, the GM describes the new situation and the game continues.

Note that Costs should serve the story. Costs are a good way to create ripples in the world and introduce some long-lasting consequences that may end up biting the Comedians at a later date. The risk of high Costs is also a good reason for Players to avoid accumulating Pressure, if they can.
Depending on exactly what happened, and even if there was no Cost, it is possible that the Comedian is now exhausted, wounded, cursed, dishonored or somehow damaged. If the case arises, now is a good time for the GM to Apply Pressure. We'll discuss that Move later.

What if?

• The GM never rolls dice. In case of confrontation between a PC and one or more NPC, follow the scheme above.
• In case of confrontation between two NPCs, no dice gets rolled. GM may decide based on what they feel is most interesting for the story or Let Players come up with the answer.
• If several PCs are involved, each Player may get a Guide Towards Success or a End Scene on a Roll independently. If at least one Player gets a End Scene on a Roll, end the Scene after all the rolls.
• In case of confrontation between two (or more) PCs, each Player may get a Guide Towards Success or a End Scene on a Roll independently. If at least one Player gets a End Scene on a Roll, end the Scene after all the rolls.

What about Fate?

A Player can Try it! with Fate, i.e. Favour or even Disfavour.
However, this is a bit more complicated than with other Attributes, as Fate is not really a tool that can be wielded on purpose, by anyone, not even a Comedian.
Let's review the cases:

• As usual, in many cases, the GM can simply Say yes.
• In dramatic circumstances, the GM can use Fate to End Scene on a Roll.
• If this is the best way to get a scene moving that is otherwise uninteresting, well, that's a perfect moment for Fate to kick in, so don't hesitate to also Say yes, simply because it's more interesting for the story. This is a case of Fate comes knocking, which we'll discuss later.
• Otherwise, the GM should rather Guide Towards Success by suggesting another way to reach the Comedian's objectives.

Examples

Alice's group

After several Sessions worth of plotting and inflitration, Fence the Fixer has managed to place a bomb at the heart of the Furnace of Endless Faith, deep under the Church of Perfect Truth. It is now time for her to leave the building while the clock is ticking.

• GM: Well, the guards that you avoided on the way in are still there, still having a surprisingly sophisticated conversation about Church politics.
• Frieda, as Fence the Fixer: How many of them?
• GM: Still five, sitting around the table. Apparently, they have recently finished their lunch. Actually, one of them just got up and is apparently clearing out the table.
• Frieda, as Fence the Fixer: Can I just walk past them in my clergywoman disguise?
• GM checks – Fence's Stage Level is 4, so she can actually get away with a lot: Seeing as your disguise is now full of soot, you probably can, but some of them are bound to wonder. Possibly even attempt to help you.
• Frieda, as Fence the Fixer: Well, I'm on a clock, I'll try it.

Here, Frieda used the keywords "try it", but that's pure luck. Any sentence expressing that Fence is committing to an action would work just as well.
At this stage, the GM is evaluating the difficulty of the action. As mentioned, Fence's Stage Level is 4, so she's very good at making human beings believe things. She already wears the dress of a clergyman. Unless she does something really odd, there is no way she is going to be stopped by the guards. They are certainly going to think about reporting the surprising presence of this soot-covered clergywoman, but the bomb is going to explode before this has any chance to matter. Also, Frieda has Favour at Level 4, so these guards are bound to be helpful. Finally, a Failure wouldn't be particularly interesting for the story. So, the GM is going to Guide Towards Success.

• GM: Very well. Given the circumstances and your interpersonal skills, if you have anything believable to tell them, they should gobble it, at least long enough for you to get out of there. Anything in mind?
• Frieda, as Fence the Fixer: "You, go fetch technicians. A pipe has just exploded in room – somewhere in the opposite direction of the Furnace of Endless Faith."
• GM: "Syncretic Pressure Control Room"
• Frieda, as Fence the Fixer: "You and you, come with me, I have to report immediately to archbishop Lucas. You and you, stay here and be prepared to assist the technicials."
• GM: They immediately jump to action. Two of them are following you.

This concludes the Guide Towards Success but Fence isn't quite out of danger. The clock is ticking!

• GM: Are you using the elevators or stairs?
• Frieda, as Fence the Fixer: Stairs. I don't want to be trapped if the bomb explodes while I'm still within.
• GM: Probably a wise choice.

So... the GM is wondering whether the bomb should explode while Fence the Fixer is still under the Church. Well, of course, the bomb should explode, it's what is most interesting for the story!

• GM: You make quick way towards the stairs. If your two guards are surprised, they don't show it. You pass a few guard posts but nobody bothers you. You manage to get within three floors of the surface before your guards, and possibly you, are thrown to the floor by a major earthquake.
• Frieda, as Fence the Fixer: I thought the bomb was fairly low yield?
• GM: It was, but if I recall correctly, you picked where to place it with the explicit design to have your bomb destroy the entire complex, right?
• Frieda, as Fence the Fixer: Yes, absolutely.
• GM: This is not the explosion, this is the "destroy the entire complex" bit.

This exchange is a very tame use of Let Players come up with the answer, incidentally.

• Frieda, as Fence the Fixer: In this case, we're way beyond subtlety. I'm staying up. In fact, I'm now running up the stairs and somehow getting rid of this annoying skirt.
• GM: These stairs that were so simple to climb have now become a death trap. Walls and ceiling are collapsing, as well as the bannister and all the decorations that used to be attached to these walls. Also, the lights are now flickering. You are attempting to run faster than both the underground complex and the building on top of it can collapse upon you.

Now this is a dramatic action. While Fence the Fixer has a Level of 4 in Stage, getting out of there alive feels like something beyond human abilities. In fact, this seems comparable to something that has been role-played a few Sessions ago at Level 6. Also, no matter whether Fence gets out of there alive or not, something important has just happened.
Let's End Scene with a Roll.

• GM: You may roll Stage for two successes. If you succeed, you'll get out of there alive. If not, you will probably be trapped under the rubble, in a place where there is no convenient street art that would let you get back to Backstage.
• Frieda, as Fence the Fixer: Could I rather die if I fail?
• GM: Sure, if you prefer. If that happens, you'll be reborn, eventually. You will lose the Poster you had appropriated from the janitor's room, though and it may take you a little time to get in touch with your agents to coordinate your actions in the chaos.
• Frieda, as Fence the Fixer: Makes sense. Alright, I'll roll 4 dice. I'd really like to keep the Poster.

Fence has Stage Level 4 and no Pressure, so she can roll 4 dice. She could also have decided to simply die, hence failing at no cost, and emerging safely back from Backstage. But where would be the fun in that?

• Frieda, as Fence the Fixer: So, that's 1, 4, 5, 5. Three Successes, two Costs. Despite the chaos, I manage to parkour my way in the dark up to the Church. In fact, these stairs don't lead inside the Church, but to a service entrance a bit outside. As I finally reach and kick the door open, I can see Monsignor Damian running away in fear but the Bell Tower falls upon him, crushing him to his death...
• GM: I feel that it would be more interesting if we kept Monsignor Damian's death probable but unconfirmed at this stage. What do you think?
• Frieda, as Fence the Fixer: Alright, alright, let's neither confirm nor deny Monsignor Damian dying in awful pain, trapped under the rubble of the tower he built from so much suffering. Do you wish to take over for the Cost?

Frieda has decided to narrate the Success. She has killed a NPC that the GM obviously intended to reuse. This is a rare case in which GM could have forced the issue with GM Move It's not over. However, the GM preferred a polite request, which Frieda could have rejected. In this case, she has accepted.
Now the GM needs to come up with something that would fit within Level 2 of the Levels Ladder for Stage to narrate the Cost. It would be easy to add a witness to the scene, getting Fence in (slightly) more trouble with the authorities. But it would be so much more interesting to somehow threaten one of Fence's Relationships.

• GM: You won't be aware of it for some time, but several of your key agents within Baron Lalune's hierarchy were present in the Church at the time. Most of them will have survived, but, let's find a name, Fergus Woods has died, and a few others have suffered important wounds and might reconsider participating in a violent organization such as yours. Woods was one of the people involved in recruitment and passing messages. This will not prevent your operations entirely, but you will need to spend time repairing the damage.

After this, the conersation resumes. The GM, once again, describes the situation and Gameplay continues.

• GM: Also, given and the fact that we're playing a campaign in Star Wars-style manicheism, this is going to count as a victory. The complex was destroyed, and so was the Church of Perfect Truth, but both were full of Bad Guys, soldiers, officers and regime officials, as well as the odd agent of yours. Civilians and civilian houses were mostly spared, with a few minor wounds due to falling furniture, here and there. It's even possible that a few prisoners who were held in the complex may find a way to e scape thanks to you. The district will be forever changed, but given the reputation of that Church as a place where people were vanished to, many families are going to secretly celebrate tonight.
• GM: Let's pick up the game a few hours later. You have had time to leave the district, unless you want to be part of rescue operations. Where are you and what have you been doing for the last few hours?

Also, this is a good opportunity for the GM to Acknowledge Progress and for other Players to Applaud. We'll talk about these Moves soon.

Mario's group

In construction