I’ve just finished Fringe, and I’m really curious about how to use Monster of the Week to run games like that – where the threat in an episode is often a mad scientist releasing some sort of weaponised terror.
How would you run a game like that?
I’ve just finished Fringe, and I’m really curious about how to use Monster of the Week to run games like that -…
I’ve just finished Fringe, and I’m really curious about how to use Monster of the Week to run games like that -…
I guess you could make the scientist the monster and ‘revealing their identity’ the subject of the investigation. The weaponised terror could be a special move or damage the scientists inflicts.
Or you could remove the “monsters” category (or just use it less often), and replace it with Mutants from Apocalypse World, and Mad Scientists*.
* You would have to make up types and motivations for the mad scientists, of course.
It seems to me that the ‘monster’ is the weaponised threat and the scientist is it’s minion with a whole lotta misdirection on who the real threat is.
Daniel Steadman, that works for many Fringe episodes, but not so much the ones where the danger is something like a disease or poison.
I don’t see why not….an insidious, intangible and insatiable threat that can only be defeated with a cure….sounds like a MotW monster to me 🙂 Poisons are just the same with a more select victim group and they want to have victims sacrificed to them by their mad scientist minion. As the keeper you just have to secretly ascribe wants and needs to your disease or poison and use it in a manner that is true to those hidden needs.
Sure, you can do it that way.
But if such things are going to be more common it might be easier to just create categories for them rather than stretch the monster-metaphor.
I dunno that it’s easier to create new categories. Just because you aren’t using the word monster doesn’t mean it’s not behaving like one and there are already some very good mechanics in place for dealing with those. Sure, the Chosen types are likely to have to content themselves with killing minions but as long as you don’t present the scientist as a minion they won’t know the difference.
Another thing about Fringe is that they often solve the mystery without killing anything, especially when it’s being caused by someone by accident. Moving away from monsters to be killed allows you some freedom there.
I’ve been thinking about it for the last couple of days and can definitely see your point. It did get me thinking though that for a Fringe influenced game it might be difficult to tone down the skins enough for government work…how would you handle the magic? Even simple effects require techno whatsit fringe science machines/drugs/techniques?
It is probably worth taking away use magic from the basic moves and having a mad science move (or two) in its place.
So Walter has a +workspace, which helps him with the ‘When you perform mad science’ move. And you need time, materials, test subjects, hypothesis testing (testing and falsifying several theories), and possibly field testing in order to make it work.
And to break up that ‘materials’ requirement a little, you need materials that are difficult to acquire (from a secure location; rare) or unstable in some way (+explosive; +lethal). And, of course, it’s not just test subjects – it’s test subjects who have to be experimented on (+invasive; +life-threatening)