Cool, John.

Buffy is good media, with characters who have integrity.
They wade through meaningful issues, that are presented by a strong storyteller.

Twilight is a pastiche of dysfunction, incomplete characters and hot ab shots.
It's written poorly.

They take similar elements and head off in different directions, with different quality levels. I get that. I was just making sure there wasn't something else I was missing.

There's a dedicated forum for Monsterhearts. Let's migrate there.

This move is called Edward, right?

Honestly, Edward doesn't Seize By Force often.
Edward denies people what they want, and makes promises he has no intention of keeping.

Abstaining Vampire.
For Edward, it's all about "Gain 1 String when you deny someone sexually."

The first contains your [regular] moves. The second contains your sex move. Sex moves are probably not "when you have sex", but "when you do this particular sexual thing", like abstaining or tempting or taking or throwing yourself at someone.

I'm curious about this. So if I play a Fairy-type who is Abstaining sexually, then I get a PC with a different feel than if I play a Troll-type who is Abstaining. Or Werewolf Playful. Hmmm. Yeah, I can see it, but I'd want it to be about my sexuality in general, not just "when I do this particular sexual thing", unless you can explain your ideas there a bit more?

I'm thinking that for Monsterhearts, the sex moves are about sexual behavior, rather than straight-up sex.

Abstaining would have "Gain 1 String whenever you deny someone sexually."
That would include pushing away when they try to kiss you, and saying, "No... I can't. I'll get too hungry. I'd put you in danger."

Vicious might have "Whenever you use Seize By Force or Threaten (Go Aggro) to meet your sexual needs, mark an experience."
Or something. I haven't figured out the specifics yet.

I also think I agree with Meg's first point.  If part of the idea is exploring the metaphor of teenagers=monsters, than PCs probably shouldn't be mortals.  Plus, if it's mostly monsters falling in love with and fucking (in both the literal and metaphorical senses) with mortals, ensuring that PCs aren't mortals keeps PCs from being aimed directly at each other.  Which is probably a good thing?

Part of the brilliance of having a single person able to play a mortal is that you have a single person who's screaming "I'm a victim! Pick me! Pick me!"

What can Bella do? She can feel anguish, and she can love unconditionally despite bearing witness to monstrosity. That she isn't herself a monster adds something sad and wonderful to her situation.

The nothing-special mortal is a staple in the genre. It's a brilliant counterpoint character, and it creates amazingly unparallel power dynamics, which is exactly what this game needs.

And yes, the game SHOULD steer PCs into direct opposition and have them sleeping with one another and fighting with one another over the same guy, or girl. The more inter-PC drama, the better. Also, the less time is spent with a single player and the MC interacting.

Can we agree that Twilight and Buffy are polar opposites? Yeah? Okay, then I'm in, too.

Can we agree that Twilight and Buffy are in the same genre?
That genre being supernatural teen sex drama.

How are they so polar and opposite?
I mean, Buffy has agency and friends and purpose.
Bella is a puppet for expressing dysfunctional longing.
Is that how?

Otherwise, they have a lot of the same things going on, including friends who don't understand, sexually abstaining vampire boyfriends, emotionally unstable vampire boyfriends, and spooky monster cameos.

I don't disagree, but I do want to know what exactly you mean.

I'd like one for Monsterhearts, my Twilight-inspired game about monsters and teenagers fucking around with one another's hearts and bodies.

Skinner who takes faceless as a new character type. I want that story to come true.

First character I played in Apocalypse World was a skinner who'd had her jaw smashed off. that was her back story: she used to be a warlord's mischief, and now she was wandering the world with a mess of pus and bandages where her pretty little mouth used to be.

If I'd had the Faceless playbook, at the time, the character might have been easier to play.

Hey, fnord,

Being able to just do something without consequences in Apocalypse World is huge. Regardless of what "it" is.

After playing a few sessions as a Battlebabe, the notion that you can just have sex and have it not fuck you over... that'll be this amazing reprieve from everything else in the world.



Also, a different point: having no consequences from sex doesn't mean that it stops being advantageous for you. Quite the opposite.

Battlebabes are free to seduce & manipulate. They can put themselves on the line, sexually, because they aren't endangering themselves by doing so.

Roarke's got that jeep in his garage, and you need it, but he's a lusty ugly beast? Give him what he wants, after all, sex is free. Take the jeep. You just made somethin' out of nothing.

Every other sex move gets you entrenched. Either you've got some strings on Roarke and so you're motivated to stay where you can yank them, or you are under Roarke's finger, and it'll hurt to get out.