I’m also planning my first MotW game, and wanted to ask about the tone of your games.

I’m also planning my first MotW game, and wanted to ask about the tone of your games.

I’m also planning my first MotW game, and wanted to ask about the tone of your games. The book is written in a sort of tongue in cheek way, similar to Supernatural for instance, which isn’t exactly scary. So how much suspense and horror do you see in play? Any tips on making play scarier?

5 thoughts on “I’m also planning my first MotW game, and wanted to ask about the tone of your games.”

  1. 1. Make monsters tougher. Make them do more damage, harder to kill (e.g. harder to arrange weaknesses), and provide more of them.

    2. Reduce starting luck.

    Note that it’s intended to be exactly the Supernatural/Buffy level of horror, so pushing it into more full-on horror may take you outside the envelope. In particular, the hunters are usually going to win (even with all the stuff above).

  2. Tips formaking things scarier? Your descriptions/narrations.

    Upping monster damage or otherwise making things more dangerous doesn’t necessarily make things scarier. Scary

    comes from how you, the Keeper, describe the effects of what the mechanics produce.

  3. Also, adding +Forceful and +Messy can go a long way towards making monsters SCARY AS BALLS. So instead of the troll smacking you with its club for 8 damage, it smacks you for 8 damage, sending you flying twenty feet into a tree (forcefully) and shattering the bones of your right arm, leaving it a floppy and agonizingly painful lump (messily).

  4. Thanks for the suggestions. I’ve once run a rather scary session of Inspectres, so I know it can be done with MotW.

    How about the theme? Would there be some problems running a Criminal Minds type of scenario, where the monster is abducting, torturing and killing people? Some of the horror might arise from having to make tough decisions on who to save, or whether chasing and potentially killing the monster RIGHT NOW is more important than saving innocent bystanders.

    Not knowing the game mechanics probably has its own suspense factor. Like, is my hunter able to fight the monster or will he only be an appetizer? But this might fade in a couple of games, as people get used to the rules.

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