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thryth-gaming · 4 months ago

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Escalating Curses in Monster of the Week

So, a little bit ago I wrote a thing where I created five different takes on a pop-culture vampire. In the course of this, I ended up thinking about how to address some of the curses you can get for the Monstrous playbook. Some of the traditional curses can sometimes get in the way of fun, this is a to-taste matter so it will vary from one person to another.

Mainly I'm thinking about things like the traditional vampire weakness to daylight which runs into a problem if only one character is limited by that curse. On the other hand, there's curses like vulnerability which can sometimes be a bit on the bland side as on the surface they're only about taking extra damage. Then it occurred to me that the escalation the book says happens as Luck is spent is key to using these.

First things first

I'm going to go over several theoreticals here that cover the entire range of how much Luck the character has left. However, it's probably best not to preplan this out too hard. Have a talk with the player ahead of time about general direction of how they want things to go, but don't determine details until they spend that Luck. Best to keep the discovery fresh and you might have neat idea that occurs to you later on when the Luck is spent.

In general talk over all the options with the hunter as well as the team in general. Curses like Pure Drive bring up the touchy subjects of lust and rage, which may touch on personal traumas. And Feed is about needing to eat people which is disturbing to most people. Even in a fictional instance..

Pervasive Curse

A pervasive curse in this context is one that is present most of the time in most places. The best example I have of this is the traditional vampire weakness to daylight as the world spends half of its time in daytime. If one of your characters can't walk out into the daylight without bursting into fire, then it's going to severely limit how the team cooperates.

Either you're going to do a lot of split time situations moving back and forth between the vampire and the team mates, or you're going to spend most of your time at night. In one circumstance the players spend significant time not sharing scenes with each other. Granted, it is standard practice to split the party in MotW, but it feels a bit meh to always be doing so for the same reason and could produce irritation when it's always the same player provoking the need. In the other case, if you're always doing stuff at night, the curse doesn't apply very often, which means it starts to fade into the background and stop impacting the game, making things less fun.

But the escalation with Luck is the key here. Don't start right away at daylight burns instead consider this advancement of things. Using how much Luck the Monstrous has left.

7: Supernatural impact. Daylight only causes a -1 ongoing if the vampire tries to use their monstrous supernatural powers*. Daylight only causes damage when focused through weapons**.

6: So bright. The daylight -1 ongoing now affects perception and searches (not just vision because you're distracted). You cannot remove Unstable.

5: Feel weak. You now suffer -1 ongoing to even mortal magic and any strenuous physical activity. Powers that destabilize the body*** cost 1 harm to use as sunlight passes through the skin.

4: It hurts. You now suffer -1 ongoing to keep your emotions in check. You mark Unstable as long as you stay in daylight.

3: It burns. You now suffer -1 ongoing to everything in daylight. For this and each further step, the Keeper is encouraged to use less and less leeway for when to trigger the Unstable the vampire gets in daylight as of Luck 4.

The footnotes:

* This includes Unholy Strength and Unnatural Appeal if they choose to use Weird for KSA or Manipulate. If they use magic available to mortals they might get around this.

** Talismans channeling the spiritual essence of daylight, UV lights, or both depending on your particular mythology.

*** The two big ones here are Incorporeal and Shapeshifter. Basically changing to a bat momentarily strips the protections you have from skin or clothes.

You can instead use Luck to determine how easy it is limit exposure such as the following:

7: Parasol

6: Light cloud cover.

5: Clothes covering most of the body.

4: Thick Overcast.

3: Covering all skin and wearing goggles.

2: Indoors

1: Blacked out windows.

0: Windowless room.

You can even mix these options together. For example say a vampire a Luck 5 can use a parasol to prevent being marked Unstable immediately and the -1 to strenuous activity, but still suffers the reduction of her perceptions and innate abilities.

One Note Curses

This is the silver bullet. Where the curse really only seems to have a very simple narrative impact. Honestly, this might be what the player wants instead of having more unpredictable curses. That's fine. In this case, start thinking of the Luck determining how likely the vulnerability is going to make an appearance.

However, you might still use expanded application. Perhaps the werewolf meets someone wearing a silver necklace and they very clearly fingering it while making smug expressions at the hunter. This could be a case of this person trying to intimidate the hunter by letting them know that they're aware of what the hunter is and that they're ready for them. This could be a reason to give a -1 ongoing or at least push for an Act Under Pressure roll.

I'll also point to the scene from Dracula Untold where the last fight happens in a tent filled up with silver coins making it hard for Dracula to even see straight. Another option might be that silver can be used as the basis for an enchantment that actively inhibits werewolves (or vampires as seen above).

Morality Impacting Curses

Curses like Feed and Pure Drive can all have implications about the Monstrous being pushed into performing tasks that they (and possibly the player) would not normally do. This is a case where you do want to ongoing discussion with the hunter about their lines and veils.

Generally, players that take this curse are going to take it knowing the risks. But they might still not want to see their character kill children, innocents, or allies. However if the player knows that you agreed not to kill past their lines, the character doesn't know that person they vaguely remember murdering was a mugger or domestic abuser. If someone that meets a line angers someone with Pure Drive (Rage) then they'll have enough presence of mind to leave until they find someone or something that the player is fine with being destroyed.

They'll still have to deal with the aftermath of such things. Like other monster hunters or police, for instance.

Even once you've set your lines, some escalation is going to occur. Don't go straight to murder, vigilante or otherwise, but build up to it. Let's start with a version of Feed that is definitely something lethal: hearts. Again, following how much Luck is left.

7: You can buy hearts from the butchers and cook them.

6: You can't cook the hearts anymore.

5: It needs to be a human heart or you must kill the animal yourself.

4: It takes more animals to equal one human heart.

3: It needs to be a sapient heart or a supernatural one.

2: You need to feed more often or larger numbers. Or from more powerful monsters.

1: You need to frequently gorge on large numbers. Or hunt even more powerful creatures.

0: The hunger never goes away.

As a note, starvation might be an option with Feed. Talk to your hunter and decide what the consequences for not feeding are. Does the hunter starve to death? Or do they just go feral and seek food without thought? I'll point to the horror anime Shiki where one of the vampires is very willing to let herself starve to death rather than hurt any humans.

Something like a Big Magic ritual might also be used to create something that will feed a monster. Also the Good Monsters playbook provides an asset that allows a Monstrous a facility that manages their curse for them. In one of my theoreticals, a lamia had a horrific alchemical tree that grew human hearts. In this case, they will become dependent upon that one source of their necessary object of consumption. It might be destroyed, poisoned, or they might have to spend an extended amount of time away from it.

Now on to Pure Drive. Note I would always allow an Act Under Pressure to opt for a lesser consequence... or accept a good work around from a player.

7: You have enough control that when you slip it's relatively minor but still disruptive. You'll likely even find a way to fit it into your hunting or other current goal.

6-5: It gets more disruptive. Either you'll have to do something more intense and harder to shoehorn into they're current goals, go out of their way to satisfy the urge, or you'll do something minor to someone you don't mean.

4: The urge starts putting you into danger.

3-1: Fulfilling the urge makes you increasingly reckless and disregard more morality.

0: The Keeper can bring the Curse up without any other provocation.

Corollary

Dark Master, Obligation, and Duty will run into similar issues as Pure Drive and Feed as the hunter has an outside force occasionally influence. For example, consider the link above under Feed one of the other characters in that theoretical group was a mothlady who had a duty as an oracle which she manages by running a psychic hotline. However, as her luck goes down, she may start getting visions about random people she meets on the street. Then she might be struck by an urge to tell what she sees to these people. Finally, she might receive a vision of something major and drawn to the place it would happen and spend effort trying to warn everyone there.

With Dark Master, you might not be directly influenced or even commanded by the master, but they might see you as their minion anyway. They might present as a frequent nemesis interferring in your plans, demanding service, or even trying to kill you for disobedience.

With Obligation, you're going to be faced with increasingly more dangerous past deals you've made. Starting with an agreement not to interfere with what happens in a certain place all way up to having given at one point in your past a carte blanche favor that has now come due.

Discuss whether the hunter is under any mental or metaphysical influence with these curses. The mothlady was, one of the vampires in the vampire post linked at the start wasn't. If they're not forced to obey, then the aftermath of the deal, command, or duty is where things will come out.

Adding more Curses

You might also look to the hunter's Breed as the curse rather than just the individual symptoms. In this case start adding on other effects that fit. For example, perhaps the werewolf also starts developing an aversion to wolfsbane or vampire starts picking up OCD behaviors. This is probably the most touchy since there's probably every reason the hunter didn't choose other weaknesses in place of the one they chose. If they are good with this, tie it in to the original such as how wolfsbane is still a vulnerability. But you can expand it to things like a physical changes that betray their true nature. Pointed ears, lack of reflection, extra hairy... a sense of something sparkling in the air like fairy dust. Etc.

One final thing: note that getting rid of their curse does not necessarily mean they get rid of their powers.

#ttrpg #rpg #monster of the week #roleplaying games #tabletop #urban fantasy #urban horror #evil hat productions #motw rpg #motw #Mike Sands #Michael Sands #Generic Games

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thryth-gaming · 7 months ago

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Huntober 2024

This idea came up in conversation on one of the Monster of the Week discord servers and I worked this up and have started to do it.

I'll include links to the individual entries below as I go.

My general rules for myself:

I'm making Hero Forge minis ahead of time while thinking of general themes.

I'm doing a mystery and a hunter for whom that mystery could have been an origin story.

I'm taking about an hour to do the hunter and mystery, which means the mystery is bare bones and will often lack mechanics. I'm focusing on cast descriptions and Countdown.

Monster of the Week News

Yes I made the title there a link!

The game has two new supplements on the way and I'm a co-author on both of them. These books both focus on Hunters providing hunter-centric arcs, new hunter and teams playbooks, and advice on gameplay and homebrewing.

The Entries:

1: Nightmares

2: Schools (CW: Suicide)

3: Darkness

4: Cheer (CW: School killings, police brutality, mental illness)

5: Nature

6: City

7: Redemption

8: Transformation (CW: Religious Trauma)

9: Itchy (CW: Body Horror)

10: Bugs

11: Magic (very bare bones, more of a seed than a draft)