I ran Monster Hearts for some friends who tend to play things in a very "over the top" style. We had a great time. Here is a summary I wrote just before our second game. The ghoul has been deliberately killing himself in bizarre ways. The infernal has been accumulating a lot of debt and then desperately seducing people so he can pass his evil onto them. Nothing bad could come from that.
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We live in Devil’s Bend, somewhere in the mountains of western Oregon, where life sucks and the sun never shines. We call the poor trash living by the river “benders,” because that’s what they’re usually on. We go to Red Tail High, home of the Killer Bees. People meet up at the Beehive across from school sometimes. Sometimes they smoke pot out in back.
Abby’s a bender and a witch. A cheerleader chick, Candii, asked Abby to help her get her boyfriend Blaine back from Crystal. Blaine was with Crystal, then he was with Candii, but then it looked like he was going to get back with Crystal again. Anyway, I think Abby got together with Blaine. Candii was totally pissed so, with Max’s help, she stole Abby’s books. Then Abby gave Candii a monster period and made Max pee blood. Then Candii, Stephanie and Ms. Cross (the witchy Irish Heritage Club) kidnapped Abby and chained her up in the school basement. The scene got too hot before they could finish sacrificing her to Yogsloth, so they moved the action off campus to the Army Surplus Store. Actually, Yogsloth made Max move Abby to the van C&S used to take Abby off campus, but everyone thinks the girls hexed him into doing it.
Maxwell’s the transfer student who does favors for Demon Lord Yogsloth, who only talks to him through his toy chest. His family is totally button-down, so of course Max is a metalhead. Maxwell instigated a fight between the metalheads (Duane, Pierce) and the jocks (Ralph, Tyson). It looked like Tyson threw the first punch, so he got busted. Maxwell stole Abby’s witch books, but I can’t remember why. Did he do it for Candii? Then he made out with Candii and passed his evil onto her. Candii stole Abby’s books from Max as she ran out the door. Then Abby found her books with magic or something and took them back from Ms. Cross, who totally vowed detention on Abby. Oh, and Abby hexed Candii with a really bad period. Whatev. Maxwell also made out with Stephanie because she was there. Later, when they were fighting over Abby in the basement of the Army Surplus Store, Max beat Stephanie’s brains in with a hammer. And, at some point, Max got it on with Nurse Doddy, who ran screaming through the halls of the school. Nurse Doddy is now on "medical leave."
Lucien Michelle’s a freshman who wears slacks, so he's obviously a vampire. We thought he was lame until we had a party at his place, which is that awesome abandoned monastery. He has the best parents ever—rich and never at home. Lucy messes with people’s minds. He got out of computer class by threatening to out Mr. Tandy (who totally has a thing for Mr. Ross, the art teacher). He made 12 year old Bethany try to jump her sister, Crystal. Then he made Ms. Cross confess to pulling the fire alarm and being a lesbian, which we totally knew all along. The part about being a lesbian, I mean. Why did she pull the fire alarm? Then he made Maxwell’s dad go into the basement of the Army Surplus Store and decapitate the skinhead owner with a bayonet. Go Lucy!
Crystal is a varsity cheerleader, even though she’s only a junior. Her mortal parents run the Snoqualmie Chalet. Her “real dad” is the King of Winter. She’s dated everyone on the football team except Ralph, acquainting them each in turn with her cold, cold heart. She hooked up with Pierce when the band (Defiler) played at that barn that burned down. Then she got it on with him in, like, cottage 11 at the Chalet. When the Demon Lord Yogsloth made Stephanie and Candii take Abby under the Army Surplus Store, Crystal called her "dad," who totally kicked Yogsloth’s bloody, wormy butt all over the basement. Crystal almost died (as we know it) when her dad came around. Pierce was there with Crystal when it all happened, but he's not quite bright enough to figure out what really happened, even though he's in Yearbook.
Xerxes died last year in a car accident on his way back from a show. Now he’s back with a hunger for chaos. I think he hangs out with the metalheads and that band, Defiler (Duane, Pierce, Cavis). Xerxes started a fire at the Defliler show in the barn. This creepy stalker girl, Bridgit, stole his underwear and burned up in the fire with him. They woke up naked in the men's restroom at school, somehow. Now she’s a ghoul, too. They were totally eating a dead pitt bull and doing it in the Army Surplus Store when Maxwell’s dad walked over them, carrying a bayonet and talking about shear stress. They kept doing it. Now he has a hunger for flesh, too.