- Joined
- Apr 8, 2019
Oh boy, Monsterhearts.
Monsterhearts is less an example of the bad early days of PbtA hacks, and more "who the fuck thought this was a good idea." I'd define it as a system made by somebody who has read a lot about roleplaying games, but has never actually interacted with the actual people who like to play RPGs. It assumes that you and your neckbeard friends are going to have "meaningful conversations" about the gender binary and seriously ERPing your gay soccer practice via constantly rolling the "turn somebody on" move. Also that move ignores whatever your orientation is, everybody's bi, bitches.
It's got some baffling design decisions too. One of the "skins" is basically a monster slayer. Picking it throws out the "lol Twilight" elements and it full on becomes Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's a weird and I assume unintended design decision. There's also a mechanic called "the darkest self." Essentially, your character has a spergout and you're forced to play your character in one edgy way or another until the GM says you feel better. The Ghost's darkest self has them vanishing and "can neither be seen nor heard." That's right, you basically get banished from the game until the GM decides it's time to come back.
As for the teenage sex moves, the game example in the book is an underage character getting it on with another PC's dad. You might have something with the hard drive seizing.
The creator's pre-troon name is Joe McDaldno. He declared himself genderfluid shortly after the game released and transtrendism hit its peak. Avery Alder is the post-trooning name. I'm surprised his name is still on the book, I thought "deadnaming" was the same as murder?
Monsterhearts is less an example of the bad early days of PbtA hacks, and more "who the fuck thought this was a good idea." I'd define it as a system made by somebody who has read a lot about roleplaying games, but has never actually interacted with the actual people who like to play RPGs. It assumes that you and your neckbeard friends are going to have "meaningful conversations" about the gender binary and seriously ERPing your gay soccer practice via constantly rolling the "turn somebody on" move. Also that move ignores whatever your orientation is, everybody's bi, bitches.
It's got some baffling design decisions too. One of the "skins" is basically a monster slayer. Picking it throws out the "lol Twilight" elements and it full on becomes Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's a weird and I assume unintended design decision. There's also a mechanic called "the darkest self." Essentially, your character has a spergout and you're forced to play your character in one edgy way or another until the GM says you feel better. The Ghost's darkest self has them vanishing and "can neither be seen nor heard." That's right, you basically get banished from the game until the GM decides it's time to come back.
As for the teenage sex moves, the game example in the book is an underage character getting it on with another PC's dad. You might have something with the hard drive seizing.
The creator's pre-troon name is Joe McDaldno. He declared himself genderfluid shortly after the game released and transtrendism hit its peak. Avery Alder is the post-trooning name. I'm surprised his name is still on the book, I thought "deadnaming" was the same as murder?
