Monsterhearts AP: Hudson, OH 8/16

CW necrophilia

Here's the playlist I made and have been listening to as I prep the game: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0ih9SFciZe1a38sHqXWDsP?si=d7552f0144114e5f

Played with my partner Misha, our friend Divya, Divya's boyfriend Ken, and our friend Evann. Misha has played a little bit of wargamey DND with me, Misha and Divya have played in the last session of Monsterhearts, and Ken played one session of some kind of DND before. Otherwise, no RPG experience.
We spent a really long time -- maybe too long? -- talking about the nature of play, how it works, what the skins do. Ken and Divya (werewolf and ghost, respectively) chose their skins eagerly. Misha was happy with infernal, and Evann eventually settled on fae.

The game is set in  Hudson, Ohio, where Ken grew up. 20k residents. Majority white. Educated, middle class or higher. Headquarters of Jo-Ann Fabrics. He did not like it there, and does not want to go back.

The seating chart is still a great method of scenario prep. Divya actually clapped her hands when we got to this section, and Misha said "I know, I couldn't wait". Makes my job really easy! Fantastic participation from the gang, everybody asking for further details and building on each other's contributions. One important note for what followed: we established (and I don't remember who suggested it, alas) that Misha's infernal hangs out in the graveyard with a necrophiliac. Her Dark Power wants him to help the necrophiliac, and he does. When it was first mentioned, everybody giggled, what a zany suggestion!

Play proper only took an hour, because it was pretty late by the time we got there.

I had one of the werewolf's friends ask him for a party, and we planned the details, who to invite, who not to invite. A little bit of politicking and hurt feelings but no violence. The infernal didn't get invited, but his friend the necrophiliacdid. However the necrophiliac turned down the offer. He planned on digging up a corpse that night. The infernal's dark power asked him to bring a corpse to the werewolf's party and make sure a certain person saw it. The infernal accepted without even needing a string for a bribe!

Some low-stakes maneuvering after. The ghost spied on her only friend while she got ready for the party. The fae got ready and went for a walk with her friend. The werewolf summoned the spirits of the ancestral wolves to see if there was anybody at the party he could fuck. (In hindsight, I should have asked the fae if she was available, but instead I chose a side character.)

(The fae got short shrift over the whole session, partially because Evann was feeling poorly and stayed low-key. Next session will start by zooming back to her fae's walk with her friend, which was never discussed. Then I'll also ask if she would fuck the werewolf, and if she says yes, we'll retcon the werewolf's gaze into the abyss.)

We had previously established that the ghost's body had never been recovered. The fae found it but hid it instead of calling the police or whatever. So when the infernal and his friend started digging up a fresh grave, I had a nasty idea: stick the ghost's body in there too. The pair were surprised to see the ghost's body , obviously, and the necrophiliac looked to the infernal to see what to do. I checked everyone's body language, and everyone looked comfortable and engaged (though grossed out), so I asked directly: Do you tell him to fuck both bodies?

Misha said, no, fuck the stranger. I had the dark power (a beautiful naked woman made of fire) reach around the infernal and hug him from behind, caressing his arms, and offered to give up a string (and mark experience!) to have the necrophiliac fuck both corpses. Misha accepted. After, the dark power reminded the infernal of the promise, show a corpse to this one person at the party, and Misha broke off a finger from the ghost's body. We ended there.

I was really pleased with the session, and we're planning to have several more. The standout in terms of color was Ken's performance as a fuckboy werewolf, a total Chad. In real life he is a former acapella singer and almost elfin in appearance, and watching him take on the physical mannerisms of a douchey horny jock was jarring and hilarious. His character is really well defined and strongly situated, and I'm excited to see how it gets hurled against the others.

In terms of actual character choices in game, only Misha's decision about the necrophiliac had any weight. It was appropriately tense, horrifying, and serious. Everybody stopped laughing when the situation became clear. And now the infernal is a totally disgusting character, really depraved. Plus he knows the ghost is dead. Tons of hay to make of that.

Divya's ghost faded into the background a bit, which I think was intentional. Last time she played a wallflower character as well. She herself participated freely though, so no worries there.

Evann was tired and a little sickly, so her fae got little definition and less action. Again, a good amount of participation in other people's scenes.

After the session, we debriefed by playing "Rose, thorn, bud", a game where you say your favorite thing, your least favorite thing, and something you're excited for or want to see get more development going forward. The most common thorn was not understanding the string economy or the moves, which makes sense, as none of them have read the rulebook, and I only mentioned moves as people made them. I didn't want to spend too much time talking about the nitty-gritty of the rules when I thought we could do without it for the first session. I resisted the urge to explain everything they didn't understand right then and there. Instead, we'll start off next session by going over the moves in more detail.

Now let's talk prep for next session.

First, a list of thematic objects in the game so far:

• Violent sexual bodily intrusion, in this case necrophilia
• Fire
• Longing or envy, specifically for social contact
• Chad fuckboys
• Mutilation of corpses
• Voyeurism
  

Possible future objects suggested by backstories and skins:

• Family, representing the family, being a hero to your family
• Legacy, stealing power
  
• Having a false family
• Betrayal, shirking obligations, breaking promises
• Addiction
• Needles

 Some potential connections to draw between the skins:

• The Red Lady, the infernal's dark power, is a fairy, the sister and enemy of the White Lady, the fae's mother
• The fae think the werewolves are out of control, approve of Ken's character's family's rebellion

 And some questions to answer, some before, some during play:

• How did the ghost die?
• How did her body get in the grave?
• How is the Red Lady giving the infernal exactly what he wants?
• Why did the White Lady abandon the fae?
• Why did the werewolf's family first lose their powers?
• What will the other families on the council do to get back at the werewolf?

Finally, let's think about custom moves and principles.

For the Red Lady, how about the principle Reach out for attention, and the reaction Make an unreasonable demand?

She's the only one I know well enough to do this for. But after reading Apocalypse World 2e and Burned Over, I think it's a good idea to write lots of custom moves and principles for important side characters.