Let's Fight About Source Material

This last little while, I've been watching some more Monsterhearts media -

Cursed
An amazing, overlooked teen werewolf movie. A dorky boy and his uptight sister get bitten by a werewolf, and as their panic rises they learn that they must kill he-who-created-them. But who? The creative team behind Scream had their fingers in this production, and it shows in the best of ways.

Jennifer's Body
This movie was primarily about what Megan Fox looks like half-dressed, and secondarily about what happens when Megan Fox becomes a demon with an insatiable hunger for human flesh. Pitch-perfect, and better than I expected.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Started watching the show again. On the first season. So amazingly good. So, so amazingly good. You already know that.

When I watched Jennifer's Body people were like, "It was a rip-off of Ginger Snaps," and I was like, "What? It was a great movie." Then I watched Ginger Snaps and was like, "Oh, okay. I see. THAT was a great movie."

I took different things from both, though.

Ginger Snaps was a grimy story about misfits, one of whom suddenly gets hideous power.

Jennifer's Body is the story of a popular girl who loses her remorse and inhibitions. You thought Jennifer had little remorse or inhibition before? Check her out as a fucking demon.

Ginger is a Werewolf. Jennifer is a Ghoul.

Ginger Snaps is a better movie.
Jennifer's Body has the best scene* (actually, the best two scenes**).

*Needy encounters Jennifer covered in a boy's blood, freaks out and drives home. Somehow, Jennifer beat her there, and she's all clean and gorgeous looking. WTF?

Needy is feeling betrayed and confused; Jennifer is feeling high on life and on her       own power. Naturally, the two of them start making out. And it takes Needy a good 10 seconds to remember, "Wait, you're a fucking cannibal demon!" Burgeoning teen sexuality > murderous rampage.

**Needy pins Jennifer to the bed. She's got an X-acto knife in hand: it must be done. Needy drives the boxcutter down into Jennifer's chest.

"My.... tit..."
"No," says Needy, "your heart."

Jennifer crumples into her covers. And then her mom walks in and flips on the light. Cut to Needy in an insane asylum.

Yeah what happened to Needy and the way the movie transformed her character was really cool.

Ginger Snaps didn't have the transformation. I really feel like the younger sister ended the movie the same way she started it, and her sister was the one who changed and that was a bad thing.

Oooh!  Oooh!  Joe!  Can I play Saya or Fuminori from the hentai visual novel Saya no Uta in Monsterhearts?  Saya would probably take some tweaking since she doesn't "pass" to anyone except Fuminori, but by the end of the game/story, Fuminori is the more monstrous of the pair for my money, anyway.

Needy drives the boxcutter down into Jennifer's chest.

"My.... tit..."
"No," says Needy, "your heart."

Shut up! There is no way that's what happens. I refuse to believe that's what happens in the movie. Hahaha. :)

Holy shit, that's exactly what happens. Hahaha.

Holy shit, that's exactly what happens. Hahaha.

That scene is like the pitch-perfect distillation of everything I love about this genre.

Someone murdering their best friend.
Hot teen girls wading their way through their messy and burgeoning sexuality.
Punchy, over-the-top dialogue.
Betrayal melodrama.
Crude violence.
The sudden juxtaposition of the "mundane world" rearing its head.

So I talked to some non-rpger friends of mine, of the chick persuasion, about playing this game. I pitched it from the True Blood angle.

One thing I'm worried about:

While I love how completely f-ed the people are in the genre, I'm worried about being able to be a fan of them as player characters. I read the first two Twlight books (because I'm comfortable with my masculinity) and I HATED Bella. Same with Sookie Stackhouse and most of the guys in the genre as well. They have no redeemable qualities whatsoever. You've nailed the little codependencies and such of the genre, but in a genre where 90% of the drama comes from how batshit stupid the characters are, the disciple required not to murder them might be overwhelming. 

I'm actually very surprised there's so little True Blood in here. Yeah, ok TB maybe isn't about teenagers, all the characters are supposedly adults. But they
a) fucking behave like teenagers half the time
b) constantly have sex with monsters (vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, witches)
c) overact and secrete melodrama from all of their pores, breathing each other's names out with pained expressions on their faces
d) betray, cheat, trick, lie and generally throw themselves (or are forced into) all kinds of fucked up relationships
e) there's at least one bucket of blood per minute (obbpm)
f) juxtapose their fantasy world problems with real world issues (God hates fangs!)

Gregor,

True Blood's fingerprints are all over the playtest document! I suggest "backwoods Lousiana" as a location to base the game in, the Maenid plot is the example Fire, and Sookie's relationship with Bill is the basis of one of the Mortal moves.

that movie that takes place in a school and ends with a cheerleader being the alien queen

The Faculty? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133751/

Ginger Snaps had two sequels. I wouldn't say they're as good as the original, but I would say they're worth seeking out.

And its monsters are all human, but Winter's Bone would be good source material for its sense of place and desperation. "Talkin' just causes witnesses."

Winter's Bone! What a good thought, Carl.

I'mma watch that again, from a Monsterhearts perspective.

Kaboom is a Monsterhearts play session, absolutely. Also, by my favorite director.

I've been watching The Vampire Diaries lately, and it may be the most perfect Monster Hearts show I've ever seen. The pacing is crazy ridiculous, with huge things happening and resolving in nearly every episode. It's also a great guide for how you can have really fucking evil characters that are still likable protagonists.

Damon is like Spike with the Evil and Charming dials up to 11 and any sense of camp or tongue-in-cheek removed. He's awesome.