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[pbp][nsfw][MonsterHearts] Paranoia's a Good Sign. It Means Eden Lakes is Accepting You!

Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
edited May 2016 in Critical Failures
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This is a game about Teenagers.

This is a game about Monsters.

This is a game about love, lust, death, growth, getting lost, and finding yourself.

This is a game about struggling to be normal and fighting to be more.

This is a game about teenage monsters. Dealing with everything we once dealt with. But worst.

THIS GAME DEALS WITH MANY ADULT THEMES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO; SEX, DRUG USE, HORROR, AND DEATH. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

MonsterHearts is a game by Avery Mcdaldno of Buried Without Ceremony that uses the Apocalypse World Engine seen in games like Apocalypse World, Dungeon World, Worlds in Peril, and Night Witches. In this game, you play teenage monsters that fight their darkness while trying to balance out school, home, and life.

When signing up to try this out, just say that you are interested and what movie rating you want to play in.

This game deals with a lot of adult themes such as sex and violence and I don't want us to do things that might make other player unconformable out of character.

The ratings are

G for General Audience Life is rainbows and butterflies and this isn't going to fly with MonsterHearts. However, it's there because it's there.
PG-13 This is a good starting point. The violence is there, but limbs aren't getting ripped off and people aren't getting tortured on scene. Sex is limited to making out, heavy petting, and off scene stuff.
R This seems to be where the game book has things. They get pretty detailed about stuff in the rule books (read The Long Example on page 150) and it's about as far as I think the forums will let us go before this stuff reaches "Near Porn/Snuff". I could be wrong.

Once I get 3 or 4 people, we'll start the next step, which will be world building. I want to do that before character building as I'd like to give you guys something to build off of.

How long will this last? Not sure. This isn't my normal GM style, but I really like the concept of this game so I'm going to try to run it and see how it feels. Plus, I know some of you guys are drooling for this so let's play!

Grunt's Ghosts on
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Posts

  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    edited May 2016
    World Building Stuff:

    Town:
    -Eden Lakes, a small town on Eden Lake.

    School:
    -Marble Hills Academy, Home to the Flying Hornets

    Places to Chill:
    Nick's Pizzaria, Home of Cheep, Greasy Pizza
    Jerry's Lake Slide Wonderland, AKA "The Slides"

    Places that Kill:
    Big Muddy Coal and Iron Mine.
    Girl's Lavatory on the First Floor.

    Our Monsters:
    Ken O as Ricou Lacroix, the Gill-Man (Silkie)
    Amigu as Garth Rochester, the Ghoul
    AspectVoid as Luke Seagal, the Infernal
    jdarksun as Aurora, the Fae

    Strings: (- equals a string. > equals who you have the string on.)
    PCs
    Ricou -> Garth
    Ricou - -> Aurora
    Ricou - -> Luke

    Garth - - ->Aurora

    Luke - - ->Garth
    Luke -> Aurora

    Aurora - ->Garth
    Aurora -> Luke
    Aurora - -> Ricou

    NPCs
    Matthew -> Ricou

    Grunt's Ghosts on
  • Ken OKen O Registered User regular
    edited April 2016
    I'm in. Any rating works for me.

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  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    I am interested and would be okay with PG-13 or R.

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  • AspectVoidAspectVoid Registered User regular
    I really want to play, and I'm good with any and all ratings.

    PSN|AspectVoid
  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    edited April 2016
    I'm going to let this roll with recruiting until Monday, however, we'll start with the world building.

    So the way I'm going to do this is ask one of you guys a question, which will set up the next. We'll start big and narrow it down until we know everything about the world your characters will live in. If we get another person before Monday, they'll be giving a question when their turn comes.

    So @Ken O Pick one: Where does everyone live? A big city, a suburbs, a small town, or a rural area?

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  • Ken OKen O Registered User regular
    If it works for everyone else I'd say a smaller town on a large lake.

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  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    That answered by next question, which would have been "Where is the small town located? Near the coast, a lake, in the mountains, near farmlands, or heavy forested areas?"

    @Amigu Whats the name of this town?

  • jdarksunjdarksun Struggler CORegistered User regular
    Am happy to play

  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    edited May 2016
    Placid Valley. Nothing ever happens in Placid Valley.

    Wait no... Let's make it lake themed.

    Eden Lakes. Nothing ever happens in Eden Lakes.

    Amigu on
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  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    What if... Two lakes?

  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    edited May 2016
    Hm ... Too much like "Twin Peaks" and that's not the vibe I'm going for ;)

    Amigu on
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  • discriderdiscrider Registered User regular
    Might want to sound this out with the admins before you get too engrossed in this...

  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    discrider wrote: »
    Might want to sound this out with the admins before you get too engrossed in this...

    People have ran this game before here. I'm sure as long as we don't write a porn/snuff novel we should be good. Somewhere between Teen Wolf and Game of Thrones is what I'm pushing for.

    Ok, so we have our town named. So @AspectVoid, of course everyone is in high school, so what's the name of that school?

  • AspectVoidAspectVoid Registered User regular
    We are all attending Marble Hills Academy, named not after the lake, but rather after the land around it.

    PSN|AspectVoid
  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    Academy, huh? Very interesting. So like any school, Marble Hills Academy has a sports program, and thus a mascot. So @jdarksun, what is it?

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    I'd just like to say if I wasn't going to sea tomorrow is love to play this. I fancy being a werewolf, but I'd just consider it a "beast", like I turn into a fucked up Bloodborne style thing. Alas.

    Have fun everyone!

    The mascot should be a hedgehog by the way, because Marble Hills sounds like a Sonic zone.

  • jdarksunjdarksun Struggler CORegistered User regular
    While I do like hedgehogs, I'm going to do the Monsterhearts thing and go with the Marble Hills Hornets.

  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    Back to the top, @Ken O Where is a place that the high schoolers hang out after school that parents would approve of?

  • Ken OKen O Registered User regular
    Back to the top, @Ken O Where is a place that the high schoolers hang out after school that parents would approve of?

    nicks.png

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  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    Wait... Where did you get that? I'm confused...

    For the next question: @Amigu where do the kids go when they are looking to get in a bit of trouble?

  • Ken OKen O Registered User regular
    Wait... Where did you get that? I'm confused...

    Thrown together in paint while on a conference call.

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  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    I was going to say... you guys aren't conspiring behind my back, naming real places.

  • BrodyBrody The Watch The First ShoreRegistered User regular
    I was going to say... you guys aren't conspiring behind my back, naming real places.

    No, its worse, they founded a town to confuse you.

    "I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."

    The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson

    Steam: Korvalain
  • jdarksunjdarksun Struggler CORegistered User regular
    I was going to say... you guys aren't conspiring behind my back, naming real places.
    Mmm, the paranoia's a good sign. It means Eden Lakes is accepting you.

  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    BUT I'M THE GM/MOS, DAMNIT! I'M SUPPOSED TO SET UP THE PARANOIA!!!!!!

  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    edited May 2016
    Jerry's Lake Slide Wonderland.

    An abandoned water theme park near the edge of the Lake. Nobody really knows what Jerry was thinking. The constant fog and rumours of supernatural visitations made it a hard sell for families. Jerry kept the place running for a decade longer than he should have as the "Wonderland" fell into further and further disarray.

    When a kid died on one of the neglected slides, the park shut down and it's rumored that Jerry hung himself.

    Now the park is simply known as The Slides - a graffitied up place to go when you want to get drunk, high or laid away from the prying eyes of parents.

    hk6niyl1rjck.png

    Ken O got me lifting my game!

    Amigu on
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  • AspectVoidAspectVoid Registered User regular
    Man, The Slides is a way better setting than I would have come up with. Awesome work, Amigu.

    PSN|AspectVoid
  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    Nice idea. So the next question: @AspectVoid What's the creepiest place in or around the town? Some place that people just don't go to at all?

  • AspectVoidAspectVoid Registered User regular
    Eden Lakes was founded in 1902 as workers moved there to find jobs in the Big Muddy Coal and Iron Mine. It is unfortunate that a series of disasters in 1938 caused the deaths of over 100 workers. No one is entirely sure what killed those men. Over the course of six months, every new moon saw another shift of workers not return home. Some were never found, some found drowned to death where there was no water, others torn to pieces, or dead without any mark. The series of deaths took its toll, leading to the closing and sealing of the mine that year.

    In 1978, a group of teenagers went missing in Eden Lakes. Search parties eventually ended up at the Big Muddy Mines, finding the mine uncapped. Searching inside, they found the teenagers, dead from mysterious circumstances. The night they went missing was a full moon. Since then, the seal on the mine has been applied and broken numerous times, and if anyone in town goes missing during a full moon, everyone knows where they are...

    PSN|AspectVoid
  • Ken OKen O Registered User regular
    edited May 2016
    mine%2Bnews.jpg

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  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    @jdarksun What on the school grounds is a bit... creepy?

  • jdarksunjdarksun Struggler CORegistered User regular
    @jdarksun What on the school grounds is a bit... creepy?
    The girl's lavatory on the first floor hasn't been the same since a sixteen year old hung herself in the second stall.

  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    So many hooks. So so many hooks.

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  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    Nice... and creepy.

    Ok, so that's a great start for the world building. So let's go ahead and do some character buildings. So I'll allow pretty much any of the official skins you want to play. Since Power gaming isn't really a thing here, I might even allow some of the fan-made skins too. When you are making your characters I want you to answer these questions:

    Who are your family members? Include people who are alive, dead, or live elsewhere.
    Is your family rich, middle class, or poor? If you want to say what your parents do for a living, that helps a lot too.
    Who are some of the people you know from school or town? This isn't Stings so don't include other players yet. This is mostly just people you talk to, like your neighbor, your lab partner, that nerd that does your homework, your dealer.
    And for those playing monsters, how did you become what you are? After you make your characters, I might ask more questions, especially after Strings.

  • Ken OKen O Registered User regular
    jdarksun wrote: »
    @jdarksun What on the school grounds is a bit... creepy?
    The girl's lavatory on the first floor hasn't been the same since a sixteen year old hung herself in the second stall.

    in%2Bmemoriam.jpg

    In case anyone thinks I went too morbid, the picture is Martha Stewart.

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  • AspectVoidAspectVoid Registered User regular
    After creating the Big Muddy Mines, I kind of want to play an Infernal and tie into that. If anyone else has their heart set on the Infernal, I can totally play something else. Just let me know. Otherwise, I'll probably have something put together tomorrow.

    PSN|AspectVoid
  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    edited May 2016
    Hehe I definitely have something prepared.

    Garth Rochester
    Garth was a single child. He grew up with a bed ridden grandmother and a despondent father. He escaped into video games and later drugs – Anything that could bring him into a state of mindless pleasure. He soon found though, that what made him feel the best was power. Using his own undesirable circumstances as an excuse to act out on others, he began to subtly terrorise his grandmother and anyone else weaker than him. Then one day, he died of a heroine over dose.

    Look
    Garth is striking, with hungry eyes and a blond crew cut. He wears loose fitting black and grey clothing, but in that sloppy-chic way.

    Stats
    Hot -1
    Cold +2
    Volatile +1
    Dark -1

    The Hunger – Garth has a hunger for power
    When you heedlessly pursue a Hunger, add 1 to rolls. When you ignore a feeding opportunity, roll to hold steady

    Disaffected
    When you turn someone on, roll with cold.

    Satiety
    When you satiate a Hunger, choose one:
    • heal one harm
    • remove a Condition
    • mark experience
    • carry 1 forward

    Condition
    Dumbass

    Experience
    2

    Meet Garth
    Who are your family members? Garth’s father moved away when he witnessed Garth’s death and return. Just like all other family issues, he decided to ignore it and throw money at the problem. Now Garth lives on his own. But nobody at school knows that and he will go to big lengths to keep it a secret.

    Is your family rich, middle class, or poor? Garth’s father is a high powered corporate PR professional. As long as Garth isn’t buying private jets his spending goes unchecked. Although he doesn’t like to flaunt it and overtly has a “screw the man” type attitude.

    Who are some of the people you know from school or town? Garth keeps to himself. He sponsors a child in Nigeria with money that he makes from flipping dime bags. He feels that’s a good way to make up for his general callousness.

    And for those playing monsters, how did you become what you are?
    Origin – Disturbed


    Little did Garth know his grandmother had been a powerful white witch. In her final selfless act, she brought him back to life when he overdosed. His death and return are not public knowledge.

    His grandmother however underestimated the depth of Garth’s depravity. Something went wrong and he came back with an insatiable need to feel power over others. He also returned with the absolutely undeniable truth that his new life was not a result of any Machiavellian plotting on his behalf, but an act of complete selflessness and love. It’s hard to live with that knowledge. Luckily… He’s dead.




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  • Ken OKen O Registered User regular
    I really would like to take the Selkie skin and switch out the seal stuff for Creature from the Black Lagoon style gill-man. It'd just be cosmetic changes with the stats being the same. If it gets okayed I'll post more about Ricou Lacroix.

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  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    That works even better than a seal.

    Oooh%2Byou%2Bre%2Breaching%2Bwith%2Bthat%2Bone%2B_48d848399ffba2ae66c6146282be3578.jpg

  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    This might be a good time to link to the Safe Hearts document, which is all about boundaries and keeping people comfortable. So if anyone playing feels uncomfortable with any themes that I chose, mention it now! And then maybe we can put a little warning on the thread or something.

    I personally really don't care -bring it all on! But some people might appreciate it.

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