A call for gamers from across the globe

March 27, 2012 at 10:29 (Games)

I’m a Swedish gamer, and I have insight in what happens on the Swedish RPG scene, such as it is.  Also, I learned some English in school, and thanks to that I can follow what’s going on in the US and UK. I can even play games from those areas.  A little remains of the German I took fifteen or twenty years ago in school, so with some effort I can follow discussions on German forums, and even read a game or two if I take my time.

Swedish is also similar enough to Danish and Norwegian that I can follow discussions on internet forums in those countries without too much problem.  But there it ends.

I know that RPGs are played in Poland, France, Italy, Japan, China, South America, French speaking parts of Canada and loads of other places, but I can’t really learn what’s going on there. And I want to know!

What games do they play? Have they taken up on the ‘indie wave’ of games like many gamers in my parts have done?  Are they still playing traditional games? Do they have their own form of freeform gaming, different from the kind I see people play here where I live?

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Also, I’m doing a podcast. Most of the episodes are in Swedish, but a few are in English. And they offer gamers from around the world a glimpse of what RP looks like in these parts. A very focused glimpse of what’s going on in my own immediate circles, true, but it’s something.

I’ve been thinking about recording episodes where I discuss role playing games with people from around the world. Glimpses into gaming in far away places. The discussions or interviews could cover anything related to the hobby, whatever you think is interesting is what I want to hear about.

Are you a gamer living in another country?  Would you like to be a guest on my podcast? What would you like to talk about?

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www.nordnordost.se/?tag=english-podcast-episode – Index of English language episodes of the Nordnordost podcast.
 

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Reading Monsterhearts by Joe Mcdaldno

March 18, 2012 at 09:27 (Reading games)

It’s been a while since my last update here. While I haven’t been away from gaming, I haven’t done much reading of games lately. Other aspects of the hobby have taken my time; I have been running a hacked Swords & Wizardry campaign, visited the Norwegian RPG con Holmcon and done a whole lot of podcasting on Nordnordost (some of the episodes are in English). I have also been waiting for Joe’s game Monsterhearts, I chipped in on the Kickstarter and have followed the updates with great interest since.

The game was released late yesterday evening, and I devoured it this morning before breakfast.

The book

Monsterhearts

Monsterhearts

I got the PDF version of the game, it’s a 160 page file laid out in single column 5.50 × 8.50 pages. So a little smaller than the usual 6×9 format, but not by much. The text is very friendly and accessible, I found it a lot easier to follow than the ancestor Apocalypse World. Yes Monsterhearts is based on Vincent Baker’s Apocalypse World, sharing the same core rules but it is a stand alone product.

Monochrome photo manipulations done by Joe are used to illustrate the text.

The setting
The setting isn’t very detailed, there’s some sort of vague assumption that the game will be set in the present day, but nothing would have to be changed to play in a historical period, or sci-fi setting. Instead the focus is put on the PCs, they are troubled teenagers who are monsters, and have sex. The game focuses on the interactions between the PCs.

The rules
The basic resolution mechanic of the game is very simple. Roll 2d6, apply any modifiers from stats or conditions, a sum of 7-9 is a partial success, 10+ is a complete success, and 6 or lower is a failure. Around this mechanic an elaborate social conflict mechanic has been built, where the PCs have strings attached both to other PCs and to NPCs. The strings can be used to manipulate the other characters, or to gain advantages/bonuses.

The game comes with a set of character classes, called skins. E.g. Werewolf, Vampire, Witch, each adds some special rules that only apply to that class, including a mechanical effect for what happens when a character of that class has sex.

The form
Monsterhearts uses the traditional setup with a GM and a group of players, playing a single character each. The players and the GM both follow the rules of the game, but the mechanisms are asymmetrical, the players follow one set which models stuff characters do, and vice versa.

Conclusion
The setting is OK, there’s not much detail. But if everyone buys into the general idea of playing teenage monsters who have sex, it should not be hard to fill in the blanks as you go.
The rules are good, they model the interactions in an interesting way.
The form is good. Both GM and players get very clear instructions on how the game should be played. There’s no intro adventure or anything like that, due to the way the character focused play is set up, but there are clear instructions for the GM on how to do everything from preparing the table, to leading the players through character generation, to finally running the game.

Will I play it?
Yes, I want to play this. A more difficult question is if I’d like to run Monsterhearts, the required GM style is very different from how I usually do things. From what I’ve read and heard from people who have been playing Apocalypse World or Monsterhearts is that it works very well in actual play. But I wonder if the style leads to players feeling that the rules get in the way of the story, or that the rules generate cool stories.

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buriedwithoutceremony.com/monsterhearts/ – The official Monsterhearts page

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