Skin Deep

Skins are like: Mortal, Witch, Werewolf, Vampire, Fae, etc.

What should the skins list include?

Maybe...
Mortal, Chosen, Angel, Demon, Witch, Werewolf, Vampire, Fae, Lich, Monster, Homunculus, Alien, Elemental, Sorcerer, Possessed, Ghoul, Wraith, Ghost

What should the skins list include?

Maybe...
Mortal, Chosen, Angel, Demon, Witch, Werewolf, Vampire, Fae, Lich, Monster, Homunculus, Alien, Elemental, Sorcerer, Possessed, Ghoul, Wraith, Ghost

I think that Angel, Demon, Ghost, Wraith and Possessed probably have more crossover than they need.  Is a Demon a Fallen Angel?  Lich is a Sorceror or a Ghost, really.  Monster is way too vague.

Also, Alien seems like it ought not to be on the list, but maybe...

Mutant. (This one may need to be somewhat flexible in the exact fictional content of its custom moves.)

Also, Alien seems like it ought not to be on the list, but maybe...

See, it stands out on the list like a sore thumb, but:


The Faculty is absolutely a genre staple.

Though, The Faculty isn't about aliens, it's about people infected with a space virus.

There are a couple other movies about how sexual tension gets even messier when a shape-changing alien space virus is involved, but I forget what they are, at the moment.

I think Alien might work if it were either about being in control of an inhuman swarm (Hive Queen, Spider, Spawn, Spawn Lord, etc), or was about being touched by the darkness of space (Abducted, Infected, Star-Touched, Celestial, Voidling).

Thoughts?

Agree that some things on the list had too much cross-over. If you have Demon, you don't need Possessed. Ghost and Wraith are the same thing. So on. I was just brainstorming.

With Lich, I was going for animated-beyond-death. Lich, Ghoul, Wraith. Basically, a mummy/skeleton/zombie that rocks the anorexic chic look, with stark white skin. What to call this? Why to include this?

Mutant. (This one may need to be somewhat flexible in the exact fictional content of its custom moves.)

Cool!

I'm excited about the Mutant. It covers what I wanted to cover with Monster.

At one point in Buffy, Xander becomes this gill monster thing.
I wanted a playbook for that thing.
Monster was a weak attempt at that. Mutant is better.

Xander starts as a Loyal Mortal, and at that point in the game switches to Loyal Mutant.

I'd vote for Mortal, Demon, Witch/Sorcerer, Werewolf, Vampire, Fey and Wraith/Ghost are the most interesting and recognisable ones.
I could see mutant being cool too I guess, but it seems to be a generic catch all, so it doesn't pop like the others do.

Ah, see, what I was thinking of was X-Men. You have some power and everyone will hate and fear you if they find out, but you can pass.

Ah, see, what I was thinking of was X-Men. You have some power and everyone will hate and fear you if they find out, but you can pass.

So, on the topic of X-Men: Rogue is allowed to be a Monsterhearts character. Logan is borderline eligible, depending on who's writing and drawing him at the time. Everyone else is not allowed to be Monsterhearts characters.

Just so we're clear.

I think that "you have some power and everyone will hate and fear you if they find out" is not a niche for the Mutant; that's the basis for every single character type, with the exception of the Mortal, who is "you have some dangerous friends and everyone will hate and shun you if they find out."

Alien, Angel, Chosen, Demon, Elemental, Fae, Ghost, Ghoul, Homunculus, Lich, Monster, Mortal, Mutant, Possessed, Sorcerer,  Vampire, Werewolf, Witch, Wraith....whoa. In another breath it's ready to go Elf, Troll, Gnome, Kinder.

How many do you want to have, Joe, and how many make a enough? I'd be looking for a set list to build the game with pretty fast. Looking at AW, there's a lot of room in each splat for variation in characters. From the list above, I see a few that seem to be within reasonable variance from one another, thus:

Fae (elemental, angel - something mercurial and distant and unknowable)
Ghoul (homunculus, litch - something not quite alive, not quite human)
Vampire
Werewolf
Witch (sorcerer)
Ghost (alien, demon, wraith - something otherworldly, with connections here)
Mortal (chosen, possessed, mutant - human, but maybe that's not the whole story)

Hey,

Margolotte. I dunno how many exactly. Somewhere around the same amount as AW has? 8-12, say.

I love how you grouped Fae/Elemental/Angel, Ghoul/Homunculus/Lich, and then gave both groupings a sweet little line to tie them together. Nice work.

I think my current list is:
Fae
Ghoul
Vampire
Werewolf
Witch
Ghost
Infernal
Hive Queen
Mortal

I think my current list is:
Fae
Ghoul
Vampire
Werewolf
Witch
Ghost
Infernal
Hive Queen
Mortal

Hive Queen sticks out here.  That's a role, not a type.  I mean, you could easily be an Infernal Hive Queen, right?  It seems like a thing a character does, not a thing a character is.

Hey Adam,

Let me unpack where I'm going with that one.

I am imagining a breeder-monster. You have a swarm that you are in control of - rats, bees, people you've infected, psychic reflections of yourself, etc. You make little broodlings, and you can utilize them.

The spider queen. The termite queen. Etc.

So, Hive Queen.

Cool things:
-infection
-symbiotism
-drones
-disgusting body horror
-hatchlings

I'm not sure that it's in-genre enough, though. Gah.

I... agree?  The hive queen sounds very cool in and of itself, but I have trouble imagining it in a teenage drama.  Teenage slasher/horror maybe, but romantic entanglements?  I dunno.

I... agree?  The hive queen sounds very cool in and of itself, but I have trouble imagining it in a teenage drama.  Teenage slasher/horror maybe, but romantic entanglements?  I dunno.

It's clearly a metaphor for getting pregnant, yeah?