Monsterhearts, anyone? (interest check)

[Ouroboros]

Hello there! Could I interest you in a game of Monsterhearts?

the game's website for reference

For those of you unfamiliar with what I am talking about, it's basically the teen supernatural version of Apocalypse World. It's simple and lovely, and ripe for lots of juicy RP. (Plus, it has as a mechanic Sex Moves. C'mon. Don't tell me you aren't intrigued.)

By nature, it is a queer friendly game, and I would expect any game of it that I play to be so as well. I would also prefer that the setting be post-high school, perhaps at college or during a summer break so there's more wiggle room when someone gets Turned On by someone else.

Beyond that, I haven't really set down anything concrete. Heck, I don't even know if I would run it or just play (or both, as I think it's possible given how things work). I am mostly just trying to gauge interest at this point for said system.

If you are? Let's talk!

[Cold Heritage]

I'm interested. I'd enjoy having the Ghoul playbook.

[Angie]

Throwing in my interest! I see that Sabrina the Teenage Witch is on the list of inspiration list, does that mean sexy witches are a possibility?  >:)

[Ouroboros]

Oh yes! Sexy witches are a character type, even!

As are ghouls, and werewolves, and vampires, and lizard people, and ghosts, and even slayers and the Popular Kid ringleader.

[Angie]

I will have a need of reading this book...

[Ixy]

I'm definitely curious about this one, but I'd like to know a little more about setting and the plot hooks, if you have them...

[Ouroboros]

I definitely recommend getting the book! It's short and the .pdf is inexpensive. (Hooray for indie RPGs!)

Unfortunately, I don't have much about the setting yet, as I was primarily interested in seeing if anyone was interested in the first place. I think that it's open to debate, whether it's a college or a summer town, and the type of event that kicks off the drama.

That said if there's a scenario that is particularly inspiring to anyone, I would be glad to hear it.


((Edited for autocorrect typo))

[Angie]

I'm broke at the moment, but I'll get it on Wendesday (it will be PAYDAY!)

[Ouroboros]

There's no rush!

I believe you can also download the skins (character types) from the site for free but I could be wrong...

[Angie]

You can, I did, I'm exicted to find out what all the terms mean-like Hot, Cold, Volatile, Dark, Strings...

[Cold Heritage]

I wouldn't mind doing college. Maybe our characters could be first or second year college students. That way we could all be in one of those huge, jam-packed 100 or 200 level courses that tend to have lots of people, and would be at least somewhat conducive to the homeroom seating chart stuff.

If anyone's interested in being a Chosen, then the source of drama's basically there: their big bad's doing big bad stuff. Otherwise it could be that one of the college professors is a vampire or leader of some kind of cult and uses his classes and teaching assistants to find new victims/converts.

I suppose there isn't a lot that can be decided without really knowing what skins will be in play.

Just for Angiejuusan:

First Taste's Free :)

Hot means fucking gorgeous, alluring, exciting, smokin’, someone you can’t stop thinking about, magnetic.

Cold means stone-cold, calculating, collected, unwavering, frigid, able to be cruel and merciless, able to keep their wits about them, obstinate.

Volatile means impulsive, wild, feral, quick-tempered, quick to fght or fight, aggressive, unpredictable, a basket-case, sudden.

Dark means weird, mysterious, sinister, dabbling in the occult, comfortable in darkness, able to liaise with otherworldly forces, powerful.

[Angie]

It says Witches get -1 Hot, 1 Cold, -1 Volatile, and 1 Dark...I kinda wish I could swap those Cold and Hot scores...

[Cold Heritage]

I guess that does kind of put a damper on 'sexy witch' if you're at a disadvantage to Turn Someone On - although I don't think that failure with that move doesn't affect whether or not they're turned on, just the mechanical consequences, if any.

Character creation does award a point to assign to one of the four stats at the player's discretion, though.

And regardless of what your stat is, I don't think it has any bearing your character's appearance.

[Angie]

I'll probably put the freebie point into Hot.

Also, I'm curious about "Darkest Self", is that basically just giving in to the temptation of your powers and using them without care?

[Cold Heritage]

More or less. Your 'Darkest Self' is basically the worst you that you can be, based on your skin and who your character is.

[Angie]

What about Strings? What are they?

[Cold Heritage]

Strings are a resource you use to affect other characters. They represent having emotional power over them. You keep track of the strings you have on characters separately; they aren't in one big pool. You can spend strings to affect other characters in different ways. For example, one of the general things anyone with a string to spend can do is spend 1 string you have on someone to add 1 to a roll you make against them. Some skins, if memory serves, have unique things only they can do with them.

The backstory gives out some, and in play they can be earned as the result of moves. One of the results for Turning Someone On can be to get a string on them. But sometimes when people do things to you can also gain a string on them. A moderate success (a result in the range of 7 to 9 on 2d6+[appropriate stat]) on Shut Someone Down (a move where you say mean things to people to get them to stop whatever they're doing) or Lash Out Physically has the person making the move gain a string on their target, but the target also gets a string on the move's instigator.

[Angie]

I'm already planning out advancement...I so want to have her first learn all the Hexes, then join a Witch Coven...

[Cold Heritage]

Ah, I found it! I knew it existed!

The Ghoul has a move called Disaffected that lets you roll Turn Someone On with Cold instead of Hot. You could use an advance to take that move.

[Angie]

That would be kinda cool...but I kinda want to keep my Witch in the Witch stuff. I kinda want to know what Witch Coven does...

[Cold Heritage]

A Witch Coven is a gang, and the rules for gangs are the same for every skin. I think that it's up to the player and the GM to hash out the specifics of who's in the gang, where they fit in the fiction, and all of the other juicy details that makes them matter to the story.

I'll cut and paste the rules part.

Throwing Up Gang Signs

Most Skins have  the option  to  join or belong  to a gang, as an advancement option. The Mortal doesn’t have this opportunity. The Queen starts out with a gang.

For example, the Vampire has:
  O You belong to a Vampire Coterie.

Every  gang  makes  demands  on  its  members.  These demands have  a  tendency  to  push  the  PCs  out  of  their comfort  zones  and  into  the  territory  of  hard  decisions. When you join the gang, it’s good to have an idea of what those demands are going  to be  like,  in a general  sense: “They want me  to hunt  and  feed with  them,  every  few nights.”

Every  gang  also  has  something  that will  trigger  it  into blind action. When  that  trigger occurs,  they will pursue retaliation or dedicated response whether you want them to or not.  (You can always  roll  to manipulate an NPC  to prevent  them  from  retaliating,  though.) When  you  join the gang, it’s good to have an idea of what those demands are going to be like, in a general sense: “They strike back whenever they feel that our kind is being marginalized.”

Finally, a gang can be manipulated into helping you. When they help  you with  any  task,  add  1  to  your  rolls. When they  join you in any act of violence, inflict an additional 1 harm. Note that when they act of their own accord (in response  to  a  trigger, or  as part of  their  demands),  the impact they have on the story will often vary - sometimes they’ll have the power to outright kill people, and so on. But when  they  act  on  your  behalf,  following  your  lead, add 1 to your rolls and to your harm.

[Angie]

Witch Coven could be fun. So I think I have my first four Advancements...Take the remaining Hexes, join a Witch Coven, take Disaffected to use Cold instead of Hot (figure out how THAT works...) and potentially make a new Hex. For some reason, I kind of want a Hex that essentially makes people forget things-perhaps making a person forget about me...

Okay, so, since I fucking refuse to use Paypal, I went and bought it from DriveThruRPG. I own it now.

And now...I think I'll build my Witch.

Name: Vanessa
Skin: Witch
Origin: Wiccan
Look: Lithe, Calculating Eyes
Stats: Hot -1, Cold 2, Volatile -1, Dark 1
Moves: Hex-Casting, Sympathetic Tokens, Bide My Time
Hexes: Illusions, Ring of Lies
Sex Move: After sex, gain a sympathetic token (which can also be used as a string). They know about it. It's cool.
Darkest Self: Hex with impunity, revel in the power, and laugh as you dance with the devil in the pale moonlight!

Backstory: To be written

(I'll work on the other stuff later, but for now, there's the building blocks.)

[Cold Heritage]

Hopefully Ouroboros decides to run the game. :)

[Angie]

I am jumping the gun a little, aren't I? Well, I hope so-I like this idea.

[deadmanshand]

I would definitely be interested in a Monsterhearts game. Especially a college set one. Though I have a question. What Skins will be available? The core ones obviously but what about the others? The Angel, the Selkie, the Serpentine, and the Hollow? Jackson Tegu's Second Skins? Or even some of the excellent fanmade Skins like the Skins for the Skinless?

Most of which can be found here: http://nerdwerds.blogspot.com/2012/12/all-of-playbooks.html

I ask mostly just to layout all the options but partly because only a few of the base Skins really appeal to me. Some of the others are distinctly more interesting. The Serpentine from McDonaldo's extra official ones. The Sasquatch, the Cuckoo, and the Wyrm from Tegu's Second Skins - which I can provide. The Beast and the Calaca from the Skins for the Skinless at nerdwerds.