An Interesting New Roleplaying Game
Well, new to me, anyway. I gather it's been out for a year or so. It's called Monsterhearts, and according to the author it's "a story game about the messy lives of teenage monsters", inspired by shows and films like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Craft, Teen Wolf, and Lost Boys. Having read a few reviews now, and read through the free downloadable character archetypes from the publisher's website, I'd say it tends more toward the darker end of the street. Less Buffy, more Supernatural. Joe McDaldno, the author, cited Ginger Snaps and Jennifer's Body as two of his stronger influences.
Wow, this got long.
The game is very simple mechanically, with only four stats and a handful of corresponding "Moves" like Run Away, Lash Out Physically, Manipulate an NPC, or Shut Someone Down. There's a choice of twelve character archetypes, sort of like character classes: the Angel, the Chosen, the Fae, the Ghost, the Ghoul, the Infernal, the Mortal, the Queen, the Serpentine, the Vampire, the Werewolf, and the Witch. Each one can be customized by picking and choosing from a variety of options, which are listed right there on the character sheet for easy reference.
Some roles are given a built-in agenda they're supposed to pursue. The Witch needs sympathetic tokens-a lock of hair, piece of jewelry, whatever-to cast spells with. The Ghoul has to choose a Hunger at character creation-flesh, power, chaos, or fear-and pursue whatever they crave during play. The Infernal has sold his soul to the devil, and has debts to pay. Etc.
There's a mechanic called Darkest Self, where each character gives in to their worst impulses. The Werewolf becomes a ravening monster, attacking anyone in their way, and can only snap out of it when they hurt someone they care about. The Chosen (the game's Buffy role) starts thinking she has to go it alone. "None of your friends can help. They’re not strong like you are." Which resonates a lot with the show.
The most interesting part of the game are Strings. In the game's jargon, a String is any kind of influence or power one character has over another. At the beginning of the game, various relationships between PCs and NPCs are defined via Strings. For example, the Infernal's starting strings are:
Joe: Strings are the emotional hold you have over people. There are a whole bunch of emergent behaviors that evolve out of them in play. The interesting thing is that those emergent behaviors are totally different, from group to group. Sometimes, Strings are stolen and spent at a break-neck pace, making the game feel like an emotional blood opera. Other times, people hold onto them and lord over others with the threat of betrayal. The game starts to feel suspenseful, and every word feels like it carries high stakes. So, yeah. People engage with Strings in different ways from game to game, but they always feel consequential.
I'm tickled by the notion of using actual pieces of string to keep track of them during a session.
It's not quite the same, but this reminds me of the "friends" mechanic in Hellcats & Hockeysticks, where each player must designate one of the other PCs as their Best Friend, and another PC as their Rival.
When you have a String, you can spend it to do a number of things: get a bonus to a die roll, offer the other PC an experience point if they do something you want, or place a Condition on them. Conditions can include things like Humiliated, Secret Weakness, In Love with (character), etc.
One of the other interesting aspects of the game is that it mirrors the "coming of age" aspect of the source material. As your character advances, you can unlock higher level Moves that represent a more mature or insightful approach to situations. For example, instead of Shut Someone Down, a higher-level PC can gain access to Call People On Their Shit.
Sex plays a role in the game, like it does in the parent genre. Actual hanky-panky takes place "off-camera" of course, but it's expected that PCs will hook up with each other and/or NPCs, and there are mechanical effects for doing so-usually Strings gained or lost, but not always. The Witch gains a free sympathetic token, for instance. Sometimes there are negative effects, not in a preachy conservative "sex is bad" kinda way, but because making foolish or rash decisions and then suffering the consequences is part of being a teenager, especially on TV.
The game gives the GM some interesting material to drive a session with: lists of agendas and themes like "make the PCs feel unaccepted" and "happiness only comes at someone's expense". Along with a list of moment-to-moment suggestions like "separate them", "announce future badness" and "leap to the worst possible conclusion". Like Maid, the idea seems to be to make it easy for a GM to just throw a game together on a moment's notice. From that same interview quoted earlier:
Joe: You aren’t expected to have a plot. You aren’t expected to outsmart the players, even temporarily. One of your principles is to “treat your NPCs like stolen cars.” That means that when you create a badass vampire kingpin, you can show her off. You can put her in harm’s way. You can watch the PCs tear that character to pieces. And you can relish how badass the whole thing is, rather than panicking about how to salvage that character or your plot or whatever.
Not quite to the same extent as Maid, though-no random "stuff happens" charts to roll on. At least not on the free download reference sheets; the game itself might have them.
One final thing I'd like to note is that, according to several reviews and comments, the author deliberately sought to make the game inclusive and queer-friendly. I don't have the game itself yet, but a quick scan of the character archetypes shows three unambiguously non-white characters, even given the black and white art, and all the references to sex or relationships are couched in gender-neutral terms.
Wow, this got long.
The game is very simple mechanically, with only four stats and a handful of corresponding "Moves" like Run Away, Lash Out Physically, Manipulate an NPC, or Shut Someone Down. There's a choice of twelve character archetypes, sort of like character classes: the Angel, the Chosen, the Fae, the Ghost, the Ghoul, the Infernal, the Mortal, the Queen, the Serpentine, the Vampire, the Werewolf, and the Witch. Each one can be customized by picking and choosing from a variety of options, which are listed right there on the character sheet for easy reference.
Some roles are given a built-in agenda they're supposed to pursue. The Witch needs sympathetic tokens-a lock of hair, piece of jewelry, whatever-to cast spells with. The Ghoul has to choose a Hunger at character creation-flesh, power, chaos, or fear-and pursue whatever they crave during play. The Infernal has sold his soul to the devil, and has debts to pay. Etc.
There's a mechanic called Darkest Self, where each character gives in to their worst impulses. The Werewolf becomes a ravening monster, attacking anyone in their way, and can only snap out of it when they hurt someone they care about. The Chosen (the game's Buffy role) starts thinking she has to go it alone. "None of your friends can help. They’re not strong like you are." Which resonates a lot with the show.
The most interesting part of the game are Strings. In the game's jargon, a String is any kind of influence or power one character has over another. At the beginning of the game, various relationships between PCs and NPCs are defined via Strings. For example, the Infernal's starting strings are:
- You owe debts. Give away 3 Strings, divided any way you like between your dark power and the other characters.
- Someone thinks they can save you. Gain a String on them.
Joe: Strings are the emotional hold you have over people. There are a whole bunch of emergent behaviors that evolve out of them in play. The interesting thing is that those emergent behaviors are totally different, from group to group. Sometimes, Strings are stolen and spent at a break-neck pace, making the game feel like an emotional blood opera. Other times, people hold onto them and lord over others with the threat of betrayal. The game starts to feel suspenseful, and every word feels like it carries high stakes. So, yeah. People engage with Strings in different ways from game to game, but they always feel consequential.
I'm tickled by the notion of using actual pieces of string to keep track of them during a session.
It's not quite the same, but this reminds me of the "friends" mechanic in Hellcats & Hockeysticks, where each player must designate one of the other PCs as their Best Friend, and another PC as their Rival.
When you have a String, you can spend it to do a number of things: get a bonus to a die roll, offer the other PC an experience point if they do something you want, or place a Condition on them. Conditions can include things like Humiliated, Secret Weakness, In Love with (character), etc.
One of the other interesting aspects of the game is that it mirrors the "coming of age" aspect of the source material. As your character advances, you can unlock higher level Moves that represent a more mature or insightful approach to situations. For example, instead of Shut Someone Down, a higher-level PC can gain access to Call People On Their Shit.
Sex plays a role in the game, like it does in the parent genre. Actual hanky-panky takes place "off-camera" of course, but it's expected that PCs will hook up with each other and/or NPCs, and there are mechanical effects for doing so-usually Strings gained or lost, but not always. The Witch gains a free sympathetic token, for instance. Sometimes there are negative effects, not in a preachy conservative "sex is bad" kinda way, but because making foolish or rash decisions and then suffering the consequences is part of being a teenager, especially on TV.
The game gives the GM some interesting material to drive a session with: lists of agendas and themes like "make the PCs feel unaccepted" and "happiness only comes at someone's expense". Along with a list of moment-to-moment suggestions like "separate them", "announce future badness" and "leap to the worst possible conclusion". Like Maid, the idea seems to be to make it easy for a GM to just throw a game together on a moment's notice. From that same interview quoted earlier:
Joe: You aren’t expected to have a plot. You aren’t expected to outsmart the players, even temporarily. One of your principles is to “treat your NPCs like stolen cars.” That means that when you create a badass vampire kingpin, you can show her off. You can put her in harm’s way. You can watch the PCs tear that character to pieces. And you can relish how badass the whole thing is, rather than panicking about how to salvage that character or your plot or whatever.
Not quite to the same extent as Maid, though-no random "stuff happens" charts to roll on. At least not on the free download reference sheets; the game itself might have them.
One final thing I'd like to note is that, according to several reviews and comments, the author deliberately sought to make the game inclusive and queer-friendly. I don't have the game itself yet, but a quick scan of the character archetypes shows three unambiguously non-white characters, even given the black and white art, and all the references to sex or relationships are couched in gender-neutral terms.