As If---

Yeah, I could have had a more "low-key" kind of person.  The Brainer player really likes playing around with other characters like that.

Looking for feedback.  I'm trying to flesh out the world a little, and create some characters the players have some relation to.

---------------------------------------

Smith, you're an interesting guy, and you've led an interesting life.  You've been out and about this world, meeting new and interesting people, and putting your creepy Brainer charm on them.
Choose one or two (your choice) Prominent People in the world. (there's a list) You automatically get 3 hold on them, as if you've rolled In-Brain Puppet-Strings.  Tell me what the command was, and why they will not or have not shaken the holds.
In addition, roll +Weird.  On a 7-9 Pick one different option for each person you selected.  On a Fail, do the same thing, but add one more option.
?   You have an old wound from this person that you've been hiding, take 1 harm.
?   The person, and their people, are hostile to you.
?   They have something you want, and they know it.
?   You'll take -1 to every roll when acting against their interests.
?   There's tons of Maelstrom interference.  Take -1 Weird for the rest of this session.
?   Nothing's feels real, except that creepy Brainer part of you.  Take -1 to all your stats (except Weird) this session.

Prominent People
?   Captain Rothschild - Leader of Poundtown.  He's the guy trying to get that boat going, and get the fuck outta here.
?   Deputy Amp - Chief of the Police in Poundtown.  He wants to loot and enslave the area, and add it to Poundtown's influence.
?   Dawson - Rich sonaofbitch.  Husband to your Sarah-chick who tried killing you. He's throwing money around, trying to get more of the area under his thumb.
?   The Shepherd - Leader of the Luddites.  He wants to kill or disable all the tech in the region.
?   King Xander - Leader of the chopper-gang The Avalanches.  Up in the mountains. They've got a tank.  They want to carve themselves an empire.
?   Dr. Blue - A military scientist in some fancy place of science.  Researching the Bubbles.  She wants to bring them down, or find out what happened.
?   Rattle - One of the cut-throat kids in Playboy's gang. He'll have ambition.
*none of these people have come up yet - I'll be sure to do it this game or next.

I hear you.  Make it rewarding.  Hmm...

For the move, yeah I was intending to make things interesting, and create a history to the settlement and the people therein.  For the 10+  I was going to give a reward through gameplay - a sense of being connected to someone positively, which would work out to certain benefits in game play, and a feeling of creating to the world as they detail those connections. 

But for the 7-9, yeah I'm treating it more as a failure than a success.  I like that the 7-9 creates the problems (as I had set down), but not sure what kind of benefit would be included.  Maybe throw in a +1 forward when dealing with those people?  And just put a +1 forward for any situation in the settlement on the 10+? 

Hey gang.

Made up a new custom move that I have yet to implement in my game.  The idea is to create history with a place the players never visited before, but the characters may potentially have.

Looking for feedback and/or suggestions.

===================
Move:
When you arrive to a new settlement, ask the character "Have you been here before?"  If no, then there's no history, no ties.  Yet.
If yes, get the player to name an important NPC in town.  Roll +Hot and pick one.

10+:
-They are still in love with you.
-They owe you a favor.
-They are easily intimidated by you.
-You had an agreeable business arrangement.

7-9:
-You left them in a bind.
-You went back on a deal.
-Skipped out with something of value.
-Broke their heart.
-Made them a lot of promises, never delivered.
-Owe them a big favor.

Fail:
You left them broken, beaten, betrayed, humiliated, and/or you killed someone they love.

Hey guys. A question I wanted cleared up.

The players want to get a forest guide in their employ. Am I right to go off the Recruit move first,  then the create a hirling move to actually give the guide some stats?

Assuming yes, I wanted to know why this was two moves and not one. Both Hirelings and Recruiting don't reference each other and feels a little clunky. As if it was writ by two separate people.

Thanks. 

Interesting discussion.

I get it.  I get the move.  I'm pretty convinced now, and excited.  I didn't get it at first - maybe I was having an off day - but I'm all over it now.

Thanks for the weighing in, everyone. 

Myself, and friends, get to gather in a few days to play some Monsterhearts. Super excited.

Some of my friends and I are finding a problem with the Turn Someone On move, specifically used on males PCs, to other male PCs.  The male making the roll gets to describe his pouty lips, and strong hands, and thus (depending on the roll) gets to inform how the other character is turned on.

I've been trying to analyze this, wondering if it's the homophobia in me that is uncomfortable with the implications of this move. 

I do understand what the move is trying to do, having read the Queer Content section in the book:

"Characters can't help what arouses them ... It pushes the characters to some interesting places ... it creates another dimension to the character." (paraphrasing)

That's great from a storytelling perspective, but-

But it feels kinda false, like it doesn't spring from the fiction or from a logical place I can relate to.  Being a heterosexual male myself, I cannot remember anything so explicit ever happening like that in my life.  And I'm just going to assume most other hetero males cannot recall anything like that as well.  Also, it seems kinda absurd to tell another PC male that "your character is turned on! He is gay!" 

Aside from (immature?) statements like that, 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.  That's the biggest problem I have with the move.

So question, does the other male have to be 'turned on' or can the move do other things instead? (like mesmerize the other character, impress them, etc)  Why does it seem like all the male characters are just a heartthrob and a dice roll from turning gay?  Should I just swallow my questions and accept the system/fiction?

What have other players done, in a male played game of Monsterhearts?

Second Session /
Why the Dogs Drink Whiskey.

Characters:
Grip the Angel.
Nils the Saavyhead
Shithead the Chopper.

Locations:  The 'assador - burnt out hotel.  It serves as clubhouse to the Dogs, and an infirmary for Grip, as well as workshop for Nils.
Other points of interaction take place amongst the various apartments and streets in the blackout zone of the city.

A couple of hours have passed after last session.  We open with Grip, who is assessing the near-mortally stabbed Buzz.  Buzz needs a spleen, and at least a day of surgery.  Plus Grip needs to throw out at least a Barter for incidentals in his workshop.  Looking for help, Grip sets off to find Nils.

Nils is still trying to figure out the power situation for the lights.  Without the lights, and without water, the blackout zone is beginning to slowly unravel.

Grip convinces Nils to help him instead.  They need a liver.  Where to find one?  From the reptilian hybrid that Shithead has trussed up downstairs.  As the Saavyhead and Angel are scheming, the two youngest members of Shithead's Dogs - Kenmode and Beeper - come wandering down the hallway.  Both of drunk, having turned to beer to quench their thirst, since the water has run out.

Grip convinces Kenmode and Beeper to help him get his hands on the reptilian's spleen.  The two rookie bikers agree, but only if Grip gets shitfaced right now on liquer.  Grip agrees and pounds back a beer.  

Nils doesn't want Grip getting wasted on booze, then operating on the reptilian, so Nils pulls out some droplets of an experimental drug he's got brewed in his workshop.  Nils doesn't want the Angel getting wasted, then operating on the reptilian, he wants him to take some drugs and pass out somewhere.  

All four of them are fucked up on this drug - called Codex.  Nils goes downstairs to find Shithead, to convince him to remove a few pieces from the reptilian to save Buzz's life.  Shithead... agrees, with little persuading.  Meanwhile, no one can find Grip, Kenmode, or Beeper.

Shithead and Nils go looking for Grip.  They find the reptilian tied up in the Angel's surgery room.  The reptilian is agitated, and reluctant to tell where Grip disappeared.  The Chopper threatens to lay the crowbar into the reptilian, and the Saavyhead threatens to have the reptilian operated on without anesthesia if the reptilian doesn't cooperate.  The reptilian relents, says the Angel and the two rookies took off out the window.  Grip had stumbled in, grabbed his medical bag and a cooler, and took off.  

We find the Angel.  He is in a room outside of the 'assador.  He is with Kenmode and Beeper.  All three of them are covered in blood and gore.  Three bodies have been gutted and cored.  They are the brother of Buzz, and two of Buzz's nephews.  Grip, Kenmode, and Beeper are tripping out. Kenmode is holding an electric torch for lighting, and Beeper is assisting Grip.  In his drug haze, Grip had removed two spleens from three bodies, though only one is properly intact.  Grip grabs Beeper, and fucks him there amongst the carnal.

Meanwhile, Shithead, Nils, and the rest of the Dogs have suited up.  The reptilian is tied  up, and used like a hound to follow Grip's scent in the dark of the blackout.  They leave the 'assador, and head a short distance into another apartment.  Up a few stories, the reptilian balks, refusing to go any further.  He says he's overwhelmed by the scent of blood and semen.  Shithead shrugs and presses forwards.

Nils, however, gets a sinking feeling and opens up to the Maelstrom.  Nils wants to know what kind of morality has been lost in the room down the hall.  
The Maelstrom is happy to reply.  But first, It asks:

"What was the last thing your mother said to you?"
My mother said "As a Brandless, it's our job not to judge."
"Who have you loved?"
"My father, before he disappeared."
"Have you ever been in love?"
Nils has never been in love - he has been too hurt after his mom died, and his father disappeared.
"Nils, do you know you're responsible for what has happened in the room?"
"Yes."

The Maelstrom tells Nils that morality is a slippery thing, only defined by the person.  The Maelstrom parts after asking whether Nils things morality has been lost.  

Meanwhile, back in the carnal room, Grip finds an old service elevator tucked in the room.  He escapes with Kenmode and Beeper.  Kenmode is badly shaken by the events, and all three are beginning to come off their high.  Grip convinces Beeper to corroborate their stories together - and Beeper agrees, but only if Grip agrees to get punched in the face, to help give credibility to their stories.  Grip agrees and gets punched in the face.  Then Grip fucks Beeper again.  Kenmode is stuck in the elevator with the two, still holding the light.

Shithead and a few of his men go into the carnal room, and identify Buzz's family.  Shithead goes down the service elevator with a couple of his guys, while sending the other Dogs outside to circle the apartment, hoping to find whoever did this.  

The reptilian is dragged along by one of the Dogs.  He's freaking out a little, smelling the chemical stink of the drug coming off of Nils, but no one pays him any mind.  

Grip avoids detection by going into a nearby alley.  He needs to detox, and he needs to clean the gore off himself.  Instead, because Beeper and Kenmode are starting to freak, Grip opens up to the Maelstrom.   Grip wants to convince himself, and the two rookie bikers, that their flimsy coverup story is true, and not a fabrication.     To do so, he injects himself with more drugs from his kitbag, throws himself at the mercy of the Maelstrom. It answers.

It asks: "Why are you trying to make yourself a man?"Grip answers, saying he had performed hundreds of surgeries, ripping the Branded fetuses from Unbranded womb-surrogates.  Grip had done this when "he" was a "she."  He had been a female, and the doctor to the Sunshine Family of the eugenic Branded.  He had seen what had happened to Unbranded women carrying a baby inside, and he did not want that to happen to him.  And a prominent Branded was currently eyeing Grip up as suitable genetic material for mating.

The Maelstrom is happy with that secret, and says that Shithead will let them all back into the 'assador without any incident.  That Shithead won't pry too much, unless he finds out that any of the Dog's club-rules have been broken (such as don't drink beer, or do drugs).  But before the Maelstrom parts, It warns Grip that Kenmode will freak out to Shithead, and reveal to him what happens.  

So Grip and Beeper force themselves to remember a fabrication of what happened.  Kenmode won't.  So Grip loads up a fatal dosage in a syringe and plunges it into Kenmode.

As this happens, Shithead, Nils, the reptilian, and the Dogs pass the alley.  Shithead sees Kenmode injected.

Nils doesn't want anyone to know he had given Grip and the rookies the drugs.  So he jumps towards Grip and manipulates the Maelstrom to temporarily wipe the memories of Grip, Kenmode and Beeper.  The Maelstrom, surprisingly, complies.  

Kenmode dies.

Shithead doesn't know what's happening, but to resolve the issue, Shithead forces Beeper to take all the blame for what happened.  Beeper can't remember, but relents.  Shithead looks to the rest of the Dogs, and says, "This is why we drink whiskey!"

The Dogs take Beeper back to the 'assador, and administer a group beating to Beeper, nearly killing him.  But Beeper takes it, and Shithead welcomes him back to the gang.  

Meanwhile, Nils tries questioning Grip about what happened, but Grip evades the questions.  The two of them return to the 'assador, to see the end of the group beating on Beeper.

Badly hurt, Grip tries a newly discovered healing touch on Beeper.  It backfires, and the Maelstrom makes both of them remember what transpired the last few hours, reversing the amnesia that Nils induced.  Beeper freaks out over what he had done, and grabs a crowbar, and tries to murder Grip.  

Grip cries out, "I'm carrying your baby!"

Beeper hesitates, and instead - with crowbar still raised - makes Grip confess the murder/surgery he performed on Buzz's family. Grip turns it around, and reveals that Beeper had also helped him.  Beeper flees.

Nils flees to his workshop, not wanting to face what he indirectly made Grip and Beeper do.  Nils begins to work on returning the power back to the blackout zone.

Shithead puts on a fancy hat, and leaves to find the momma of Bull (the gangmember who melted at the beginning of the first session).  Shithead tells the momma that Bull died.  She insults Shithead and the dogs, and extorts first one barter, than another from Shithead.  She reveals that Bull had two young daughters who need taking care of.  Shithead leaves, saying that he's available of Bull's momma ever needs anything else.  Bull's mamma promises she will.

As Shithead walks back, Nils gets the power back on to the blackout zone.  

Grip has begun the surgery on Buzz's spleen, by replacing it with one from his murdered nephews.

When the lights come back on, both Shithead and Grip look out to see this:  The blackout zone is suddenly illuminated, caught in their various crimes and transgressions of looting, murdering, shitting in the public, harvesting organs.  The darkness, and the water drying up, has put the city into an ugly state.

And waiting on the megahub, more stalk-tanks have arrived, cutting off one of the main access points into and out of the blackout zone.

End of session two.