Episode Seven – Monsterhearts

Episode Seven – Monsterhearts (37 mins) Download
Monsterhearts is a tabletop roleplaying game designed by Avery Mcdaldno.

Ric & Rob talk about Monsterhearts (2012), the game of the messy lives of teenage monsters.

00:19 Why are we talking about this game?
00:51 How does it reach out beyond the usual rpger crowd?
02:24 How the game started
02:41 Getting the teen experience from the Apocalypse
04:07 Playing with your character’s sexuality
06:10 Exploring an unpredictable situation
07:09 The monstrous analogy
08:35 Lots of monster… not much people
10:02 A kind of emotional roleplaying
11:28 Is the appeal entirely in the genre?
12:04 The liberty of playing as a teenager
13:32 Design differences from Apocalypse World
14:50 The innovation of Darkest Selves
17:44 Does it work?
19:10 Safer play
20:25 A lack of support for the genre to emerge?
20:45 Strings
22:49 Conditions
24:51 The Shut Down move
25:28 Using Volatile for Run Away
27:52 Backstories
29:55 Menaces and external threats
31:34 The cost of triggering the mechanics
32:56 Could it be improved in a revised edition?
34:47 What should designers take from this game?
36:11 Another game to look at Apocalypse World (2010)

Games mentioned
Apocalypse World (2010)
Fate (2003)
Microscope (2011)
Vampire the Masquerade (1991)

Other media mentioned
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Twilight

Disclosures
Ric is the current owner of the Monsterhearts Google+ community and Ric & Rob were crowdfunding backers of Even the Atlantic Can’t Keep Us Apart run by the same designer.