The Core Loop

The conversation has structure underneath the chaos. When you feel lost, find where you are in the loop and keep going.

1. Establish the situation. Frame the action (who, where, when). Describe the environment in three strong impressions — focus on what matters, lean on smells and sounds, leave room for players to ask. Portray NPCs and monsters; ask questions; answer questions; clarify.
2. Make a soft GM move. Say something that provokes action or increases tension — a monster about to leap, an NPC asking for something, a torch burning low. Soft moves give the PCs a chance to act before badness lands.
3. Ask "What do you do?" This hands the conversation back. You don't have to say it literally — sometimes your move ends with a question, sometimes you just look at the players expectantly.
4. Resolve their action.

• Triggered a player move? Follow the move's procedure.
  • Rolled a 6- or ignored an established threat? Make a hard GM move — establish badness.
  • Did something that doesn't trigger a move? Say what happens and how the situation changes.

1. Repeat. Situation clear and someone can act? Back to step 3. Situation escalating? Back to step 2. Situation unclear? Back to step 1. Scene over? Wrap up, find the next one.

Whoever you're addressing is in the spotlight. Move it after resolving an action, when a player freezes (come back later), when something takes time, or when you need a moment to think. Use the spotlight to keep everyone involved. It's fine for players to interject — some moves (like Defend) explicitly let them.

Scenes are zoomed-in: specific characters, specific place and time, moment-to-moment, players in their characters' voices. Good scenes have a purpose — a question to answer, a conflict to resolve, something to convey. When the purpose is met or the scene fizzles, wrap up.

Loose play is zoomed-out: minutes, hours, days, weeks. You summarize and compress, ask sweeping questions ("how long do you keep going?"), and do bookkeeping. Time is fluid here. Push loose play toward scenes — scenes are where the visceral, rich, exciting stuff happens.

It's going to happen. Cut between groups like a film editor — short cuts and cliffhangers for high-action scenes, longer ones for exploration and dialogue. Don't linger on one group too long.