Players may request adjustments to called scene parameters by announcing a challenge. How they do this depends on the element they object to.

Except where otherwise indicated, Challenges resolve through a vote. With a show of hands, all players side with the caller or the challenger. The GM votes to break ties. Should the scene seem satisfyingly in keeping with the narrative to date, she votes to uphold the call. When the call seems somehow punitive, unfair, or contrary to the spirit of collective creation, she votes to uphold the challenge.

Players may see that a scene might justifiably be challenged, but elect not to do it.

Ducking a Scene

You may challenge your casting in a scene you do not want your character to take part in. 

The caller may then acquiesce to your objection, and call the scene without you, or may further describe the scene so that your character’s desire and poles compel your participation. 

You can duck this compulsion by spending a drama token, which goes to the caller.

After you successfully duck a scene with a cast of two, leaving nothing to play, the caller starts over, calling a new scene that does not include your character.

Rushing a Scene

To insert your character into a scene the caller has not cast you in, and actively wants to keep you out of, spend a drama token (p. ) or a bennie (p. .) The caller receives the token or bennie.

It costs nothing to join a scene if the caller consents to your joining.

A caller may block your unwanted entrance into a scene by spending a bennie. 

You can attempt to rush a scene already in progress.

Challenging a Time Jump

Players may object to jumps in time when they preclude them from taking actions they see their Characters as wanting to take in the nearer term. Resolve a challenge to a time break with a vote.

Challenging a Plot Jump

Players may object to a situation on the grounds that it advances an ongoing plot element that would be more satisfying if played out in full. Alternately, they might feel that you’re cutting into the middle of a brand new situation, and that it’s unbelievable that their Characters would not have intervened in it sooner.

If the caller loses the challenge, she must then revise her situation description to meet the objections of the challenging player, and the voters who supported him.

Challenging For Novelty

Players may object to a situation on the grounds that it is an attempt to retry an earlier scene the caller’s character lost.

If the scene seems too similar to the GM, she invites the caller to point to a change since the previous scene that puts the situation in a new light.

The best defense against this challenge is to point to an intervening scene that changed the situation. Prevailing in a dramatic scene with a third character may change the complexion of an emotional conflict enough to justify a second attempt.

If the player can’t point to a changed situation, the GM resolves the challenge by requiring the caller to call an entirely different scene.