Dragonraven,

There's no help/hinder mechanic built into the game because teenagers are still struggling to learn how to actually help one another pursue their goals. As you pointed out, gaining Strings on them lets you add to their rolls and shield yourself from their rolls, as needed.

If your group feels like the help/hinder is really missing, you can choose to add it back in. There is a chapter near the end of the book that discusses tinkering with the basic moves, creating new moves, etc.

I'd intended "one String per use," but either is fine. Ask the player and go with their answer, or tell them this clarification before play starts.

So, your character thinks they might be straight. But they've also got a confusing body that sends them mixed signals all the time. (this is true of all teenage bodies i fucking guarantee it.)

Maybe you want to protect their straightness. Maybe you think they'd want to protect their straightness. (The line between those two things is probably blurry, too, which is a cool effect that story games generate!)

So, how do you go about asserting, affirming, and defending a character's sexuality? The same way you do in real life. If you're straight, maybe you've never had to think about this. Maybe your sexuality has never been put on trial. Maybe you're getting a crash course on being queer right now.

You can call your character straight. But what actually makes them straight? Is it what turns them on? Is it who they fuck? Is it a matter of identification or being or action? Is it how they respond to different types of attraction across gender lines? Are they attracted to a set of genitals or a type of body or a presentation of gender? What about when those things don't line up?

The teenage years are when lots of people learn that they aren't straight, or that straightness isn't the tidy and clear-cut category that they thought it was. Groups of boys will sometimes jack off together and still identify as straight. Crude sexual humour is common in locker rooms and some participants find it arousing. Sexuality is a pervasive component of teenage thought, and it is confusing and weird.

Your character might be really concerned about being straight and appearing straight. They might fear any and all alternatives. That makes sense! High schools are usually rampantly homophobic and a scary place to be "different" in any way. They still have to contend with the signals that their bodies give them.

This is true in real life as well. You've had your body tell you lots of complicated stuff over the years. You have. I'm sure of it. You've made sense of it. At this point in the process, you sound confident that you're heterosexual. A lot of dice rolls and 7-9 scores and subsequent actions and player narrative contributed to that self-awareness. I'm sure of it.

dragonraven, rusted barrel,

Thank you for bringing up the topic. Thank you for sticking around to keep asking questions. The conversation's taken lots of turns, so I won't address everything at once.

it is also a little hard to believe, because the move is telling the player how he ought to act, and what's he's supposed to feel, which takes volition and ownership away from the player.

So, first, a clarification: the results of this move don't tell you how you're supposed to feel. They tell you how you do feel. That might seem like a nit-pick, but it's actually critical.

Because if you're a straight high-school boy, and you find yourself getting turned on in the locker room shower... you know you're not supposed to feel that way. But you do. The next question is: so what do you do about it? Your body is sending you signals that you weren't prepared for. Do you question your assumptions? Do you experiment? Do you get embarrassed? Do you carry a secret shame in your heart for weeks, letting it slowly infect all of your choices and thought processes?

And if you're a regular high-school girl, and you find yourself getting turned on by your cousin... you know you're not supposed to feel that way. But you do. The next question is: so what do you do about it? Do you find a justification for why this is okay? Do you masturbate furiously about the idea, night after night, all the while forbidding yourself to ever share this secret with anyone? Do you shrug and let it go? Do you confess the attraction to someone?

A fundamental, critical part of being a teenager is being alarmed by the fact that your body is sending you signals that you weren't prepared for. You're latching on to one really specific instance of that: male characters being turned on by other male characters. Is that fixation homophobia? I dunno. It depends on how you define homophobia.

Teenagers (and humans, generally) get turned on by lots of stuff. Stuff that surprises them. Sometimes they shrug it off. Sometimes they get angry at their bodies for doing something wrong. Sometimes they make bad choices. Sometimes they experiment. Sometimes they question. Sometimes they redirect or misdirect.

The move doesn't tell you how you're supposed to feel. It tells you how you feel. And then the next step is on you: what do you do about it?

This is how your body works in real life, too. You get aroused and then it's your job to figure out what to do about that.

((more to follow.))

I always create a seating chart, but I don't always frame a scene taking place in the classroom.

The way I've been doing one-shot setup is:

Put 10 Skins on display (omit The Chosen, The Serpentine, a couple others).
Have everyone take 2 Skins and read their italicized text aloud.
Have everyone pick a Skin and fill out the front.
Ask them to state their look, ask 2-3 leading questions for each.
Write the seating chart.
Explain dice + stats + moves + Strings.
Have everyone complete the inside of their Skins.
While they do that, figure out what the first scene is going to be.
Go around the table and ask everyone a question about the community.
Frame the first scene.

The setup prior to the first scene usually takes 1 hour on the nose.

I set the first scene in the classroom if it seems like there's going to be drama. If not, I root around for another option for a first scene (big game? Rumble in the parking lot?). If I'm really stuck, I'll pick a starting relationship as defined in Backstories and frame hard into it: "So Jacoba, Levi's been following you around for weeks, sniffing you and going through your stuff. It's gotten weird. When and how do you confront him about it?"

There's no such thing as a "combat" in Monsterhearts.

I addressed this in my post in this thread.

Look at your Principles. Follow your hard moves. Look for where the PCs aren't in control. Tell them the possible consequences and ask. If there's a scene where people go back and forth trading harm to figure out who "beats" their opponent, you're probably not paying enough attention to your Principles.

Even in the middle of a bloody fist-fight, remember that "turn someone on" and "shut someone down" are on the table for the PC, and "make monsters seem human" and "announce off-screen badness" and "reveal a dangerous secret to the wrong person" are on the table for the MC.

1.) I think that's a decision that should be made by the group prior to play, with fiat decision-making authority falling to the MC. If the Ghoul is in a steady relationship with someone, like especially The Mortal, then I might say "yeah, of course they start with that hunger!" But generally sex moves don't trigger prior to the start of play, so The Ghoul's shouldn't unless the group is cheering that yes, it should.

In summation: I dunno, talk about it and make a decision, with the MC having ultimate authority here.

2.) You are correct about interpreting Ending. When any character has a Condition, you can invoke it for +1 against them. The rulebook says on page 28: "If you take advantage of a Condition that someone has, while making a move against them, add 1 to your roll. In order to take advantage of a Condition mechanically, though, you need to take advantage of the Condition fictionally as well." This applies for both PCs and NPCs.

The whole advantage of Ending is that it gives you an immediate +1 as well as leaving a Condition lingering on the person you attempt to turn on.

Yes. That is correct!

The other player then has a choice: take the bait, or spurn you to no immediate advantage.