So i was thinking about School in Monsterhearts. I allways felt that the actual going to school has very few mechanical stuff or general help in the text.
Then it hit me.
1. There is no moves about writing tests, but there are moves you can use on your teacher. You can manipulate her or turn him on (and then he can be monstrous) or even lash at him with violence. Those are all not good ideas in general but it could work. You can use strings against them in general.
You can maybe gaze into the Abyss during a test (good luck on a miss)
2. School has still so many cool moments you can use. Alone project work is amazing. Okay, maybe one guy can work with his favourite partner but Amy (PC) really wanted to work with Juliet (NPC) but Juliet is working with Claus now (who Amy has a crush on) the only people without partners are
Fathma (keeps to herself, is not cool but knows a lot) Herman (he is fat and smelly but an okay guy maybe) and Joey (violent, lazy, bad-boy-cool) What do you do?
Also class work where the teacher assigns you random partners.
3. A really simple move
When you do someones homework for them, gain a string on them
Maybe another move for
When you give your homework arround for people to copy
School is in Monsterhearts, you just don’t get what you want easily.
First person I used a move on was a coach. I think you nailed what school does in the game.
Yeah, I found “okay, get into groups of four for this class project” to be a great plot device.
I like that a lot, Ben.
“I want to be in a group with him!” “I don’t want to be in a group with her!” “Okay, how do you resolve that? What are you actually saying and doing?”
Are there other moves you can use directly to help you during a test? There is Gaze in the Abyss, anything else?
Hold steady, while you stand in front of the class tasked to solve a hard math problem.
To the books doesn’t really work.
Turn someone on… by effortlessly demonstrating the correct answer! Because intelligence is sexy! Right? Right?
Could be a skin move maybe Ben Wray ? laughs evil
Faery Contract on someone else as he writes the test. Infernal Bargain to get the test awnsers,
A clique that is connected probarbly has the test awnsers in advance (because someone is banging the teacher). Streaming may help to read the clever girls thoughts. There is the Watching Hex you can use maybe.
Angels profane power would be cool to turn every test into an A+
Tests are also cool to ask provocative questions right?
This actually would make a great new mechanic for an alternate love letter mechanic, the dreaded pop quiz. At the beginning of class each player is given their quiz and have to answer the question on it. The MC could write questions to help character development (Who was your last crush and how did it end?) or to instigate plot (Why does Shelly keep staring at you?). The MC of the game could also decide test procedures. Are they multiple choice? Do you read your answers out loud in front of the class or does the teacher/MC collect them and read them later. Are the PC’s allowed to talk to each other during the quiz? Is the teacher NPC actually giving quizzes like this? (So creepy if he is)