What follows is my first attempt at creating a new Skin for this fantastic game, Monsterhearts. A lot of inspiration for this comes from my background playing Apocalypse World -- and particularly from the skins The Grotesque and The Faceless. "But wait!" you may say. "Neither of those are sexy teenage monsters by any degree! They're just... monsters!" Well, well, well my reasoning follows:
All of the Skins, as far as I read them, are very cool, well-written metaphors for a lot of teenage strife. The Vampire is awkward teenage sexuality -- being turned on and after flesh all the time but being so afraid of the idea at the same time. The Werewolf is dominance -- social and physical dominance and how that mucks up sentiment and relationships. The Ghoul is addiction, The Ghost is loneliness and social insignificance and tantrums, the Witch is both hating everything because AND kleptomania, and so on. This is how I read them, this is how I feel any and all other Skins should work. Find a teenage nightmare and play up the allegories.
So, I looked at the Skins and I had a good long think. These are all idealized teenage life, full of drama and headaches happening to the sexy, halfway well-adjusted people most of us wished we had been at the time. We like to pretend to be them -- but we also really like it when terrible things happen to them. I felt there was something missing from the sexy teenage monster squad, and so I tried to write up that missing element.
Inspired particularly by The Grotesque and The Faceless, this playbook takes teenage attraction and turns it only sligthly upside down. This Skin is not attractive and is probably the least well-adjusted out of all of them. Its inspirations are Quasimodo, Caliban, Beauty and the Beast, and its recent reimagining Beastly. Its about the one really on the outside and what it takes to get on the inside. If all the other Skins are assumed to be outsiders -- this is the monster that even they've made enemies of, given what good-looking, sexy protagonists they are.
So, here we go. THE BEASTLY, version number 1 basically. Some editing went into this, mostly to come up with some moves and trim some out. I confess I probably corrupted some of MH, since a couple moves bring back things like Hold and Hold+1, but I like them -- besides, it's Version 1. We'll see what happens.
The Beastly
"Please stop screaming. I thought you wanted this. You told me I was sweet. I just wanted to do something nice for you. Please. Stop. Stop Screaming!"
Names
Celanawe, Emmerich, Garth, Sloan, Beaumont, Richard, Bruce, Caleb
A name with a lot of syllables, an ugly sounding name, a beautiful sounding name, a name with a history of rejection
Look:
huge, slow, warped, scarred, broken, patchwork,
sad eyes, bitter eyes, misshapen eyes, green eyes, lonely eyes
Origin:
Born this way, Cursed, Self-inflicted, Terrible accident
Backstory:
•Who has shown you kindness and earned your trust? Give them the Condition "Beautiful."
•Someone has seen you at your worst and thinks you're hideous on the inside. You agree. Give them 2 strings.
Moves:
Start with this one, and one more:
Beautiful People:
•When you reveal your deformity, give away a string and the condition "Beautiful."
Inhuman Strength:
•When dealing harm to someone who has strings on you, deal an additional 1 harm as long you don't have strings on them.
You Don't Understand My Pain!:
•With time and seclusion, if you reveal your isolation and vanity roll+cold to turn someone on.
A Glass, Darkly:
•Roll+volatile to gaze into the abyss when you deface your own image.
Esmerelda:
•When you put yourself out there to be used and abused, and are given something to do, roll+cold. On a hit, mark experience if you succeed. On a 10+, choose: carry 1 forward, give them the condition "Beautiful." On a 7-9, carry 1 forward.
Love Me!:
When you feel rejected, you make the person who slighted you go through hell. Roll+volatile. On a 10, hold 2. On a 7-9, hold 1. Spend your hold 1 for 1 to deface, defile, or destroy something they hold dear, with or without explanation. On a miss, you're caught in the act right now, halfway- in halfway-out.
Mine, All Mine:
Roll+dark. On a 10+, hold 1+1. On a 7-9, hold 1. Spend your hold to appear at the scene of trouble for someone with the condition "Beautiful," with or without explanation.
Only Skin Deep:
Choose an art you practice in secret. When others are witness to it, roll+hot. On a 10+, choose: they accept you, they offer you help, they protect you. On a 7-9: they don't get in your way, they dont harm you.
Sex Move:
When you have sex with someone, give them the condition "Beautiful" and it counts as rolling a 10+ on "Mine, All Mine" even if you don't have that move.
Darkest Self:
They don't accept you, no matter what. You've tried so hard, done so much for them and it's never enough. Now you'll show them why they should have loved you when they had the chance. You must stalk those who played with your feelings, terrorize them, destroy what they love. You escape your darkest self when someone accepts their punishment or you scar someone as badly as you are.
Advancements
•Take another Beastly move.
•Take another Beastly move.
•Take a move from another skin.
•Take a move from another skin.
•You belong to a Carnival of Freaks.
•Add 1 to Hot.
•Add 1 to Cold.
•Add 1 to Volatile.
•Add 1 to Dark.