Ghoul's Hunger

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Ghoul's Hunger
« on: June 19, 2012, 10:20:28 PM »
Apologies if this has been addressed elsewhere on the forums. If so, feel free to call me a lazy ass and point me in the right direction.

I MCed the first session of our three player Skype game last night (four, if you include me). It was mostly us talking about the characters, me asking a few questions, and trying to make sure that everyone was on the same page about what the game was. Our Apocalypse World game died after only three sessions since everyone was expecting different things, so I'm trying really hard to not have that happen again here. Despite me repeatedly saying that Monsterhearts was a "supernatural teen horror romance" game and referencing media like Jennifer's Body, True Blood, Vampire Diaries, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Jawbreaker (I refrained from mentioning Twilight) some people seemed to think their PCs would have super powers.

Anyway. One of my players chose The Ghoul with a hunger for flesh (which is the coolest choice, in my opinion). Now I'm just wondering  how often those feeding opportunities should pop up. Of course the answers are "whenever it's dramatically appropriate" and/or "whenever the player misses a roll and hands you a golden opportunity", but I want to pick other people's brains about this. I've played Vampire: the Requiem and we used little glass drops (red, of course) to track our blood points. If you dropped to half your total you were hungry, down to a quarter and you were ravenous. It let both the players and the Storyteller note when they should be making Frenzy checks, or at least when the fiction should start focusing more on how tasty people started looking.

So what have other Monsterheart MCs done with the Ghoul's feeding opportunities? My player chose the skin so he could play as Megan Fox from Jennifer's Body (because she is totally a Ghoul), so part of me thinks he should get hungry at regular intervals. I think it was around a month in that movie, which is far too long for a game. Once a day? At "regular" meal times? Any thoughts?
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Re: Ghoul's Hunger
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2012, 02:02:03 AM »
I'd be presenting feeding opportunities for the ghoul for every third scene that they're in, giving or taking depending on a number of factors: whether they're already pursuing their Hunger independently, whether they have additional Hungers, whether there's already the right amount of action going on, whether they're entangled in a number of other plotlines and relationships.

I'd definitely treat the Ghoul's Hunger like a golden opportunity and a free Hard Move, for whenever I needed it.

Re: Ghoul's Hunger
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2012, 09:30:04 AM »
Thanks for the reply mcdaldno. I don't think I'll have worry about my Ghoul player being proactive about feeding. Last night in the second session (when actual play started) his PC just hauled off and ate someone. She was just hanging around the McDonalds, waiting for her friend to get off the late shift, when she spotted the captain of the field hockey team. She sashayed over and after a few exchanges and Turn Someone On rolls, she convinced him to drive out to the local make out spot even though he was supposed to pick up his girlfriend later. Poor Logan will never be picking up anyone ever again, I'm afraid.

And of course, a few people would have noticed them leaving together...
If you see my post in your thread, it'll die within 24 hours. You've been warned.

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