NerdNYC June 2013
I'm not writing up Oscar Rios's Life After Death, just the Monsterhearts game, which I'll put here.
NERDNYC WRITE UP: Recess June 30, 2013, evening session, 6:30pm-10:30pm
I meant to write this one up some time ago, and by now, of course, the details have faded.
- GM: Jonathan
- Squirrel: Selkie
- Josh: Werewolf
- Me: Mortal
- ???: Fae
- Sam: Chosen
(Apart from me and Josh, I don't recall anyone's last name.)
Jonathan called thus "Monsterhearts: Winter Valley Issue #1". He had created at own on the grounds that this allowed a certain amount of continuity. For reasons I'll discuss later, I think this was a mistake. The thing to bear in mind, however, is that, while this was one of the worse _Monsterhearts_ game I've played, it was a solidly good _game_, lots of fun. Indeed, I enjoyed it even more than the other game I played at that NerdNYC, which was Oscar Rios's delightful "Life After Death". And it was a game Josh and I learned a lot from and that we had fun analyzing, even if I didn't record our analysis in great detail.
I think Winter Valley was the town's name. It was a small town, a tourist attraction, the population being 50-60% tourists. There was at least one mountain and a forest, but no high rise.
The high school was 1 floor, had about 550 students, and covered grades 8-12. The three most important families were the Fairbankses, the Bristols, and Ulsters.
All of that came from the GM. Our characters came from us, as usual.
Selkie: Nuala, with riveting, big eyes. Curious.
Werewolf: Luna, panther (cat), wiry, fierce eyes, Ancestral Curse. Spends a lot of time being angry. My notes say Josh took the moves Howl at the Moon and Heightened Senses,, and that her stats were Hot 1, Cold -1, Volatile 2, Dark -1.
Chosen: Morgan, outcast, blue eyes, marked by supernatural. The player chose the moves Mercy and Come Prepared. Morgan's stats were Hot 1, Cold -1, Volatile 2, Dark -1
Mortal: James Fairbanks. I'll fill in the details if I find my character sheet before I send my zone in (20 April 2015: Not happening). The GM said that he normally wouldn't let a player play a member of one the three important families, but as it was a convention one shot, he'd allow it. I told him that I was choosing a character who wouldn't know any of the town's or family's secrets. James used to live with his parents in a different town, but they'd died in some accident, so he was now an orphan, the new kid in town, staying with his cousins.
Fae: Ping. My notes say, "girlish, laughing eyes, fae born, dude, somewhat androgynous". His stats were Hot 2, Cold -1, Volatile -1, Dark 1. Ping is the cruelest Fae PC I've seen to date in a Monsterhearts game.
The characters were juniors, 16/17ish. Various questions were tossed around.
Why was Luna so angry? Because of how she's treated. She's a pretty girl, which made her a target. Why? When someone's pretty, they think they own you.
Luna: No one owns me.
For gym, she takes Track.
Luna: I like to run.
She doesn't talk much in class, and she didn't think she was smart. My notes say Josh was asked if anyone suspected Luna's supernatural nature, but no what the answer was.
Morgan was gender queer or at least a tomboy. She played soccer with boys, but had been a loner since boys started treating her as not one of the guys. Her strength came out when she was bullied.
Did she feels a higher calling? Joan of Arc? Martyr.
What happened to someone you know that made you think power might be deadly? I think the answer was the fencing foil accident detailed below.
Nuala was on the swim team, and she wore water colors. The player said Nuala would eventually come out as lesbian.
Had there ever been an incident with swim team causing them to shun her? Yes . There was one girl, a really bitch, Amanda. Amanda had been the best in swim team before Nuala came to school (i.e., Amanda was a social queen).
Outside school practice, what did Amanda do that was cruel to Nuala? Put itching powder in swim suit, messed with locker, spread malicious rumors -- Art kids think it cool; others think Nuala's a weirdo.
My notes have two questions that I don't see the answers to here: Biggest Crush on swim team? Done anything to indicate?
Ping was adopted. His father was a mechanic: his mother taught preschool and was creative. Ping was very androgynous, still growing, c.5'3".
How much abuse did he get because of his appearance? My notes say:
Theater person -- in fine; out, picked on by jocks. Never hurt, but certainly cornered. Doesn't really escalate. Biggest bully -- captain of wrestling team. Secretly attracted to him? Both ways -- rumors slut / gay -- both true -- he is big.
What theater girl was so oblivious she has a crush on Ping and doesn't realize how oblivious he is? (At least, I think that's what my notes said, but I had trouble reading them. This question maybe answered below.)
I think the following applied to James: He wanted to get on the soccer team, perhaps to fit in better. The captain of the soccer team was David Bristol.
James: If he says I'm in, I'm in.
What have you seen to make you think something more going on here?
I think he'd seen Luna's animal form, had no idea it was her, but thought it odd that there was a panther stalking around. He also, I think, found Morgan's accident with the fencing foil very strange.
Luna had a friend named Freddy. He was smart, which was how she knew she wasn't not smart herself. Freddy mentioned he saw a Strange Cat walking around the area.
Luna: And I knew he knew, but I knew he'd never tell.
Of course, she had never tried to confirmed this. After all, she -knew- it, right?
Luna lived with her family. Her mother knew what Luna was, which was how she knew. She thought her mother had power, but not her father. I think power = power to shape shift. Luna's younger sister was a freshman. Luna had seen no indication that her sister had the power and hoped she never would.
Morgan'as player thought about the Chosen's friends. Maybe one was a very feminine girl who got everything right?
OR
She -had- a nerdy geeky friend. She hung out with him because none of the -real- guys would give her the time of day. I think his name was Billy.
Q: What did you do?
A: During a fencing bout, the properly blunted weapon went right through him, like butter.
Morgan was strong, a la Buffy. And after the accident, most people, except really evil ones, started leaving her alone.
Why was Morgan not in jail? The whole school knew what had happened. It had clearly been an accident, with deficient equipment. But, Morgan was still a social outcast. She couldn't leave anything in her locker.
Someone, I think Nuala, had had a string of boyfriends, very large tough guys. Nuala's friend Tom teased her because Mona always showed up in Nuala's art. Did Tom have a crush on Nuala? Nuala was oblivious to this fact and couldn't imagine anyone find her attractive. Mona was part of Amanda's pack.
Morgan's family included her older sister, Amanda.
Amanda (on the accident): And how could you embarrass me like that?!
Her parents were country club types, with lots of money. So, there were times she had to put on a frilly dress. Her grades were not so good, and she had no shot at good college. My notes also say, "vocational -- past", and I don't recall what that meant.
Nuala was staying with cousins, an artist colony. My notes say something about a lake outside of town, and that the cousins understood. My notes also say that someone claimed not to do pot, but possibly to have helped move it.
Jenny Fairborn was the oblivious person in love with Ping.
Ping: She was the first I was ever with and vice versa -- and she thinks that's how it works.
One or both of them were 13 at the time. She had subsequently filled his locker with flowers. -She- started the rumor that he was gay.
Q: Do you want to get rid of her?
Ping would rather not deal with her, and I think figured her obsession would wane over time.
Ping's player: It probably –isn’t-. But Ping is also somewhat oblivious.
Jenny Fairborn's cousin was my PC, James, the Mortal.
Ping was found, not adopted. His mother was barren, and he had "stereotypical loving parents". Ping liked them both.
My notes on James include:
Saw a panther. The blade Storage Train derailment [How his parents died] No siblings Storage room with bed against wall [I am guessing that this was his bedroom in his cousins' home.]
Moving on to strings, aka emotional leverage:
Luna: Everyone had 1 on her, as she wore her heart on her sleeve. She had 2 on Morgan because she'd been watching the Chosen at a distance.
Morgan: 2 friends help her hunt monsters, but my notes don't identify them. Amanda knew Morgan was the Chosen and wanted her dead. She had 2 Strings on Morgan.
Nuala: Saw Ping swimming and had 1 string on him. Ping had stolen her pelt and had sex on it. He had 1 string on Nuala, and since he held her pelt, he could tell her to do things. She was not magically compelled to do them, but she enjoyed not having the agency and being able do bad things to other people. After all, she "had" to, if she wanted to get her pelt back.
This is actually a reasonable mindset for the selkie, as the player has a better game if the PC does not get her pelt back.
Everyone had 1 string on Ping, who also wore his heart on his sleeve. Or so says the Fae character sheet -- this didn't necessarily match how he player the character, and I'm chewing on this. Ping had a string or two on Morgan, for he'd captured the Chosen's fancy.
It was now my turn to name James's lover, and consensus was that Luna needed to be tied in more. So, she was James's lover and had 3 strings in him, while he had 1 on her. Actually, counting her back story, he had 2. This means they had 5 strings between them, so taking Entrenched made sense. I don't recall whether I did.
My notes say:
Morgan -> Luna Morgan -> James
I'm not sure what that meant.
Highlighted Stats:
- Luna: Volatile, Hot
- Nula: Dark, Cold
- Ping: Hot, Dark
- James: Dark, Hot
- Morgan: Volatile, Hot
Players mark experience when they roll a highlighted stat. 5 xp = 1 advance.
The day began in Biology class. Here's my rendition of the seating chart.
Biology: Mrs. Georgina O’Dowd
Empty Empty James Jenny Amanda Empty Ping Mona Freddie Empty Walter Empty Luna Morgan David Nula Tom Empty Windows on left as you look at the page Door
Wrestling team captain: Walter Taylor IV
It was a smelly winter day. Luna's trip to school involved biking for 2 miles.
Freddie: Did you get the homework done?
Luna: There was homework?
Freddy asked if she'd even taken notes.
Luna: Of course I took notes.
Freddy: Did the cat eat them?
He finally agreed to let her copy his notes in return for the phone number of a girl he was interested in who happened to be on the track team.
Morgan walked through storm. Someone threw snowball at her. She retaliated, likely with stones packed in, doing 1 harm. Her victim, David Bristol, head of the soccer team, took 1 string on her.
I think Morgan checked her locker, and found the school lunch menu. Written on the back of it in barbecue sauce was, "Please help". Or maybe it was written in chili.
Nula rode in with her cousins in an SUV. Her friend, Tom, lived nearby. She showed him her new watercolors.
Tim: She's there -- -Mona-.
Nuala: Why do I hang out with you again?
Tom: Because I'm the only one in art class that understands what you're doing.
Was Mona supposed to do something to Nula for Amanda? Nuala tried to Shut Them Down, but rolled a 3. Amanda made a butch crack and took 1 string on Nula.
Ping drove to school. His father was a mechanic. He went to the auditorium, which was filled with theater folks, till right before the bell rang. The Drama teacher was Mr. Tom Mercury. Ping's player rolled a 10 to manipulate Mr. Mercury.
I forget the context of this:
Mr. Mercury: Embrace me Charles -- you will be that actor...
James was there, with his cousin, Jenny. She threatened him with dire displeasure if he made her look bad in front of Ping. Ping wanted her to do some bit of scutwork, though I forget the details.
Ping: Can you do that for me, Jenny?
Jenny: I can do -any-thing for you, Ping.
Ping's player rolled to Manipulate Jenny and got an 8.
James (thinking to himself): She's got it bad -- I -have- to help her.
My notes mention "Principal Snyder (----- Anderson)".
Walter was looking greenish. David passed a note to Morgan:
After school 3pm meet me so I can kick your Ass
Someone: It's gonna be like this all day.
Someone, likely Nuala made a drawing of everyone on fire.
Someone (likely Tom): Did anyone ever tell you you -may- need help?
Morgan: Walter, did you have the chili this morning?
Walter: No -- lunch is not till 4th period.
Snow fell fast and thick -- and several feet deep! And some of the students started metamorphosizing into wendigo.
Luna Gazed Into the Abyss. Everyone is what they smell like. There was decay in the air. A -meat- that you want to -eat-. It wants to -feed-. Walter and meat he was a companion -- someone who should -share- meal -with- you. Another killer?
Luna recognized that something evil was happening and had no intention of succumbing to it.
Classes were cancelled, though leaving the school house was probably not possible. Morgan started putting pieces of the puzzle together and went to the cafeteria. Almost everyone else started going to the hall.
James saw Jenny and Amanda turning into Wendigo. He managed to Manipulate Jenny to keep things under some control, temporarily.
James: You don't want Ping to -see- you like that.
Someone: What high school is dumb enough...
Someone else: This one.
I forget the context of this:
Ping: You have to get her off me -- you have to promise me -- please.
'Her' was Jenny, and someone had promised to get Jenny -off Ping-, probably a girl, who did this after having sex with Ping.
Someone, possibly Luna: Oh shit -- I don't want to be trapped in this school with the monsters er I -mean- the students.
Morgan saw something cooling in the cafeteria. At first, no one seemed to be there. Then, Morgan saw Margo, the lunch lady, with a large glob of meat, and Walter, with pale face, growing hair, and clawed hands. Morgan lashed out physically, trying to skewer one of them, realizing that Margo was creating the wendigo.
Luna went to the cafeteria to find Morgan. I think she'd given Freddie the phone number of Lucy, the girl from Track. My notes say Luna's sister was named Artemis.
Nuala retreated to the Art Room, I think with Tom and Mona. For the selkie, gazing into the Abyss was watery. Everything flowed into it.
Tom needed proper treatment. I think Nuala had a vision of water with teeth where his wound was. My notes say "Not human -- Meat Baste". The water was ice. Something in the cafeteria wanted and was creating this.
In short, Nuala found her visions Lucid and Detailed, and she took +1 forward to do what was needed. The problem came from the chili in the cafeteria, and money was a factor.
I think someone, maybe James or Nuala, had a vision of Morgan's head in a stew pot. What was needed was:
- Solve what the wendigo are to find the cure
- Get the lunch lady to tell the answer
I think somewhere around here, three wendigo cornered James. He tried to call Luna for help, but the GM didn't let that work. I don't recall the details of why.
Ping and Amanda were apparently doing Math, if my notes are to be believed. Mr. Mercury was frantic. The doors of the school were completely blocked by several feet of snow.
Apparently, the lunch lady wanted to turn the children of Winter Valley into wendigo as vengeance on their mothers and fathers, and cause a Neverending Winter. She'd fed chili to Walter.
At this point, my notes talk about "Pointy things if you want to shut him down" and "tosing strings". I've no idea what that was about.
I think Mona admitted to having a crush on Nuala, but feeling she had to do what Amanda said. I think the girls managed to get wounded Tom to the auditorium. And Ping blackmailed her again, though I forget the details.
Ping: I guess you don't want your pelt back
Meanwhile, Luna in panther shape and Morgan rescued James, possibly inadvertently, and killed at least one wendigo.
James: Jenny!
GM: You have killed Jenny Fairbanks.
Whoever did the actual killing: Oh fuck.
Ping('s player): Yes!
I rolled an 8 for James, gravely wounded, and his attempt to convince the lunch lady to say how to undo the wendigo curse. He offered to become her apprentice. After all, his cousin had just been murdered in front of him. He had nothing, no ties to the town, and no love for anyone in it.
She demanded he eat the tainted food to prove he meant it, and he did. It felt awful, and he felt wrong, but the lunch lady was actually impressed.
Meanwhile, Ping got Mona to promise to seduce and embarrass Walter. I think he didn't realize Walter was a wendigo.
Mona: I'll -try- but -- just promise me if I do this, I can be your girlfriend.
He did -- and then learned that Mona was secretly a beautiful fae creature.
Mona: You're coming home with me. Your fun just isn't getting enough done -- and the king wants to speak to you, If you don't, I'm going to break up with you -- I'm not breaking my promise!
She used -her- string on Ping.
GM: If she breaks up, then you don't fulfill her promise.
Someone (to me, I think): You are throwing us -all- under the bus.
Ping's Player: I support your move.
So, Ping returned to the land of the Fae. James made an alliance with the lunch lady who wanted to destroy the town. Morgan and Luna were still fighting. I forget Nuala's end situation. It wasn't that we wanted to end there, but we got as lateish start and had to clear the building.
My notes record this, but not the speakers
You want to get laid, don't you? Yes, I do. I don't even get laid There's only one person in this game who got laid Twice!
The person who got laid was Ping, of course.
This was a solidly good game. We had a blast, and I'd give it a B or B+ depending on how tough you want your grading to be. I am emphasizing this because Josh and I spent much of our trip home analyzing what the GM should have done that he didn't or shouldn't have that he did. The analysis is useful because it showed us a lot of how Monsterhearts ticks.
So, what we considered gming mistakes fell into three broad categories:
- Rules errors
- Missed opportunities
- Cutting off players' agency
These are interrelated, and sometimes, they are also interrelated with some of the good things the GM did.
There were five players, and we started by choosing Skins. Now, five players is certainly workable for Monsterhearts, but that does mean that there is more to keep track of, which means the odds of missed opportunities are greater. The size of the player group is a touchy thing with certain indie games. And, this was a four hour one shot.
Then again, I've been in games of Monsterhearts with more than four players. The key for the GM is to let things get feral and let the players drive the session. More on this later.
There were many skins on the table -- all ten from the book, the three extra skins from the Monsterhearts kick starter stretch goals, and three more made by fans after the game. That's sixteen skins.
I looked at the three fan-made skins and said, "Do these work?" The GM said that two of them were really kind of overpowered, but for a one shot, he wasn't too worried. It became clear that he thought that some of the skins worked better overall than others, particularly for a one shot game.
Fair enough -- indeed, he's right in general, even if I disagree with which skins have which problems. But, if you're gming a Monsterhearts game and you're not thrilled with some of the skins? Don't put them on the table. It's okay to limit player choice here -- you don't need every skin, you don't need 16 for 5 players to choose (or even for 6 players to choose), and you certainly don't need fan-made skins you think are a bit overpowered.
Limiting choice matters because certain skins steer the game in particular directions. Fr'ex, we had a Chosen -- think Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Now, keeping that one in isn't necessarily a mistake, but the Chosen does warp the game around her.
The GM asked about lines and veils, and about whether we wanted a cooperative game or a more player vs player game, as Monsterhearts -- with or without the Chosen -- supports both. All of this is awesome. It's exactly what the GM should be doing.
We said that we wanted both cooperative and PvP elements. In retrospect, Josh thinks that this may have been a mistake on our part, and that we should have asked for PvP.
The above several paragraphs of analysis were written months ago, and I don't recall all the details about which rules were forgotten or misinterpreted, which opportunities were missed, and where agency was cut off. I'll muddle through as best I can,
A Monsterhearts game is supposed to be feral and player driven. If you come in with a pre-created town, you run the risk of killing those two things and running a regular RPG where the GM throws preset things at the PCs. One can have an excellent game doing that, but it is not the sort of game Monsterhearts is trying to create.
A large part of the fun of Monsterhearts is creating the town as a group to fit what players want and need. One GM taught me an important part of this: He asked everyone, "What do you need there to be in this town?" The group also defines the size and type of town.
You can break or bend this rule. Fr ex, when Matt Weber ran Monsterwarts, he supplied the map of Hogwarts and its nearby town. But:
- We signed up for the game knowing it had a predetermined setting.
- We all knew what was on the map. There were no secrets that we did not create in game.
- We chose as a group when the game was set. NPCs were created on the fly. Plot and secrets were created in play.
The GM here asked us whether to go player vs player or player vs environment, and on getting a "a bit of both" erred on the side of safety, which is the correct thing to do. Heck, having a big bad when you have the Chosen is correct.
But, as with the Long Con Monsterhearts game, as soon as the big thing is announced, everything we established as a group took a back seat to it. Heck, this was way more true than in the Long Con game. There, students were sent home early because a classmate had been murdered. The PCs had complete agency to me investigate or ignore the murder. The main issue is that there was a push against the PCs interacting with each other.
Here, the PCs were trapped in a building with monsters. Player agency dropped. We couldn't easily pursue PC agendae that went beyond survival. Luna and James were kept separated, which messed with the way the Mortal was designed to work. king, the one PC who was successfully being selfish and pursuing his own goals, was sent back home pretty much by GM fiat, removed from any further interaction. As this was at or very near the end of the game, it wasn't a bad thing to do per se, but it removed agency and opportunity from the player.
I wish I could remember more of the details, but so it goes. I currently have notes for a six player game that was full of interesting mistakes by GM and players, but still viable and feral; a six player game that left us all wanting more; a three player game where Josh showed us how to make the selkie awesome; and a five player game in two sessions, where the GM came with a plot in mind, something I consider a mistake, despite the fun we had.
