A framework for good GMing practices and the rules that you, the GM, play by. While they can be called out specifically, they typically sit in the background left unsaid, aligning naturally with what you do as GM.
A trigger for you to make an impact move, caused by things like grim or messy action rolls, a relevant depleted pool, an unaddressed Foreshadow move, or by spending suspense.
Pure rising tension and cinematic timing. Gain suspense by skipping a prompted impact move or making a suspense move. Spend it to prompt an impact move at any time.
Skipping an impact move feels like the PCs got off lucky — something should have happened, but didn’t. That lingering suspense builds tension, ready to strike later. Use this when no immediate move feels compelling or when you want to shift focus to other scenes.
What happens when things go wrong — from failed rolls, timers, or impact moves. They should feel hard but fair, reflecting the stakes and severity of the situation. Every roll carries risk; otherwise, assume success and move on.
Damage is a solid baseline: in a fight, injuries leave you bloodied by default. Other consequences, even narrative ones, should sting just as much. There’s no strict formula — it’s a gut feeling. Let the fiction guide you, and make sure to give the fiction its teeth.
You can split consequences, breaking big consequences into smaller ones. Multiple effects can be just as effective and make more sense in the situation. You might break up bloodied into a few marks, or rattled becoming vex and rolling a pool instead. Splits make the story move in multiple directions.
You can also spread consequences, hitting multiple PCs, nearby NPCs, or even a PC who didn’t prompt the move. Consequences can be identical, vary in severity, or differ entirely. If a PC other than the one prompting it is hit, they get a defense roll. Spreads make the impact feel broader and pulling more people into a dynamic scene.
Fallout that happens beyond the immediate action. Not all consequences need to occur in the spotlight. Hitting elsewhere builds tension, hastens incoming trouble, or creates missed opportunities. These unseen events make the world feel alive, adding depth beyond the present moment.
Building pressure with danger or timer pools. Start or roll a danger or timer pool as another outlet for consequences, often offscreen. These create looming threats and situations the PCs want to avoid or mitigate. They build pressure and offer a strong alternative to skipping the move and banking suspense.
Framing danger when it’s not the default. Most rolls assume meaningful consequences. Declaring dire stakes before a roll or situation signals severe stakes - death or worse looms. Tame stakes shifts outcomes into lighter territory, rolling for things you’d normally skip, with softer consequences. It’s a tool for tone, moving between intense and light play.
When nothing comes to mind, skip the impact move and take suspense instead!
Keep the narrative flowing, the action engaging, and get things moving when they stall out. Player actions drive the story, and story moves nudge them forward. That doesn’t mean the world is passive — you can describe anything happening that makes sense. However, from a story and gameplay perspective, it’s more satisfying when the players have fair warning about trouble. They know actions have consequences and suspense you’ve earned can come back to bite them. This feels fair, so outside of these you give them the initiative. It shows things aren’t arbitrary — the GM is also playing the game, just by different rules.
Hint at trouble, sometimes with a timer pool. Prompts a later impact move.
Foreshadow to signal upcoming threats and give the players a chance to react. This is a great way to introduce adversity when you don’t have or want to spend suspense. If they fail to deal with it or ignore the danger, it prompts an impact move and the pace of the story picks up.
Ask provocative questions to stir up drama or flesh out the world.
Question players to help suss out what kind of story they’re interested in, share the creative load, and keep the story fresh for yourself. Try to keep this focused on their character’s perspective, but feel free to dip into the meta channel here and talk directly as players about what you all want to see play out in game.
Use a story roll to determine how a scene starts off when it’s unclear.
Set The Scene when you’re unsure about the specifics of the current fiction or want to dive straight into the action. Skip detailed planning and cautious leadups that often drag gameplay down. Instead, jump straight into the action, an in medias res shot of things already in motion! The roll sets the opening mood and stakes for the scene. On a grim, it can even trigger an impact move, kicking things off with a bang and raising tension right away.
Focus attention on a PC, encouraging them to act or follow-up.
Spotlight PCs to help direct the action, ensure no one is left out, and put focus where it’s needed. This prompts players towards action. Mix in cinematic language like “We cut to…” or “The camera pans over to show…” as you use the “camera”, your group’s shared imagination space. Cut back and forth between PCs and scenes to build tension and avoid focusing on a single PC for too long.
Call for a montage roll or jump to a likely conclusion to a scene.
Wrap It Up when a scene has served its purpose, grown stale, or feels like a foregone conclusion. Don’t waste game time on these. Closing these scenes out decisively keeps the narrative tight and focuses on what’s next.
Create familiar moments inspired by TV shows, incentivizing you mechanically to take the time to structure the story cinematically. You earn suspense, so they reward you for handling some of the tedium of GMing and remind players to stay engaged. Suspense keeps the world active when things stall. When your supply of suspense runs dry, you can use these to jumpstart the action again. However, use them carefully — overuse can get frustrating for players, so pick your spots. But timely use makes good, cinematic sense.
Resolve a problem the PCs face or use exposition to connect some dots.
Bridge a scene when players are stuck, backed into a corner, or a scene feels dull. It provides a quick out and moves the story forward. Normally, it would feel like an unearned freebie, the suspense you gain makes it a fair trade. Never use it when players are engaged — save it for when it’s needed.
Give spark to each PC, who give a brief vignette before upcoming action.
Buildup to focus in tight on your PCs, and to create moments that set the stage for major events. These vignettes, whether a quiet campfire scene or tense moment before a battle, give players a chance to add depth and feeling to their characters that might get overlooked, and the “free” spark they gain lets them know that what’s ahead is going to be a real challenge.
Narrate an info-rich scene elsewhere, clueing the players in.
Cutaway to clue players in on the bigger picture, like a TV show scene. Show villains plotting, armies marching, or even positive events. It’s more fun when players know what’s happening and they can steer their PCs’ actions toward that drama, even if their characters don’t explicitly know about it.
Propose an interesting tangle to a PC. Take suspense only if they accept.
Entangle a player by proposing a juicy tangle for their PC. Push dilemmas and drama towards their traits, desires, bonds, and story arcs. The players pick them because they want the choices that come with! When you have a great idea, propose a tangle for a PC. Remember you only gain suspense if they accept, so it’s up to you to make the tangle irresistible. Don’t push hard — this mechanic is built to respect player agency. Don’t punish for saying no.
Summarize the last session or events further in the past.
Recap at the start of each session to get everyone on the same page. Hearing the last session’s events builds tension for what’s to come. The suspense you gain can immediately push the action, or hang over their heads. If a player wants to recap, skip taking the suspense! You can also use a mid-session Recap to remind players of a vital piece of information they’ve forgotten.
Deliver hard-hitting consequence that challenge PCs and push the action forward. They require prompting, so when you use them, they’re sure to be justified and fair, codified into the rules. They’ve had fair warning and should have an idea of the risks. So when you make a move, make sure it has IMPACT to ensure the choices leading to them matter and the world feels powerful.
When not prompted by a roll, impact moves directly against a PC give them a defense roll. Some talents also give the ability to interrupt impact moves, possibly negating them. If the roll to interrupt is a messy, you take suspense or keep it if you spent it to prompt the move.
Escalate a situation, introduce a new problem, or pressure a bond.
Complicate Things to add twists and elevate drama. Use it when things feel too stable or you want things to be even more chaotic than they already are. It’s also great for adding a thorn to a roll by introducing sudden environmental obstacles, a great outlet for extra suspense that doesn’t introduce new drama.
Deny things a PC can always do or negate something they did.
Counter to make the world tenaciously formidable, showing that it won’t just roll over. You can stop anything a PC does, including successful action rolls, talents they “always” have permission to use and extra vigilance. If they use a talent that costs them resources, they generally don’t have to expend that resource (your call) but can’t quickly use it again. However, this can never be used to stop defense rolls and criticals — don’t steal their thunder. Be careful, players get frustrated if their victories and advantages are snatched away, so use it in interesting ways and make sure the spotlight works its way back to them after you take advantage of the moment.
Present tough options, with room to only choose one.
Force A Choice to present stark, binary decisions that they can’t wiggle their way out of. This move offers no easy way out. When you use it, make sure to follow through without softening the impact. This adds a real cinematic edge, reflecting the truly difficult decisions protagonists must face.
Inflict damage on a PC, like bloodied, rattled, vex, marks, or a condition.
Hit ‘Em Hard when you need to inflict direct consequences. Whether it’s damage, betrayal, or loss, this move underscores the seriousness of the situation. It’s a heavy reminder that the world pushes back against their actions. When you use it, you should be hitting them just as hard as they’re trying to hit the world.
Declare something occurs, closing off immediate attempts to change it.
Lock It In to definitively close off an opportunity and close out a scene that’s threatening to drag on. Players can be tenacious and keep trying to find some way to not be defeated. This puts a definitive end to a situation. It makes follow-up attempts impossible, which refocuses players’ attention forward rather than trying to find yet another way to attempt something they’ve already failed at.