Hi there!
I’m organizing a MH game with my friends. ¡How dou you handle PVP actions beside spending Strings? For example, If som one try to Turn someone on, the target can do anything beside spending string to reduce the effect? And in a Fight?
Thanks to everyone!
That’s it, just follow the rules, they were designed to handle being used on npc’s and players. Remember, that while a player has no control if they get turned on, they still choose how they act from it. You can never force a pc to do anything. For combat, you can potentially really hurt a pc, but killing them when the player doesn’t want that is really difficult since they can once a session go into their darkest self to avoid death (I think there’s also something about discarding strings but I don’t remember). As long as the group dynamic doesn’t devolve into a murder or seduce fest, the game will hold up.
PvP is a pretty important part of how I play the game. So I just let the rules apply with all their consequences.
I’ve run several regular MH games. Some have had all the PCs band together to deal with some other kind of problem and the games continued for several seasons. Others ended in glorious and spectacular fights where the player mercilessly murdered one another to the point where no one could buy off death any more and were forced to die.
In all of those games the players remember them fondly because it was what they do. Don’t be scared of PVP it may means some players have to wait a little longer for screen time but because they are all doing different things but if you keep up the pace and jump around you will keep players interested
Yes, I thought the same, but I needed and answer to my players. There aren’t “avoid move” to interfere in some one action. You only must deal with consecuences. You can spend string to reduce the roll of other players.
Yeah and you can Hold Steady and Run Away sometimes. To escape a conflict.
It is important your players know that the stated results of a move is what happens. If somebody is successful at running away, there is no roll to catch up, they just get away. If you get shut down, there is no will save, you are shut down. They need to take the results and run with them.
As everyone else has said, your players need to accept the results of the rolls/ moves made against them. There are no avoid moves because Monsterhearts is not that type of game.
If someone successfully turns you on, then you get turned on. If someone successfully shuts you down, then you get shut down. If someone successfully lashes out physically at you, then you take harm. That’s just how the game works.
Players can spend a String to reduce a roll against them by one, force someone to hold steady, or offer someone an XP to stop. But that’s pretty much it. The game encourages players to be horrible to each other, but has very few ways to stop people from being horrible to you.
Thank you! I was not sure if I was understanding the rules well.
No problem Danilo Jara. 🙂 A huge part of the reason I love Monsterhearts as much as I do (which is a lot), is because the mechanics encourage a style of play that, I think, brilliantly emulates teen romance media.
The few ways to avoid being hurt by other people is by taking Strings on them. The ways to really fuck with people is also by taking Strings on them. The most reliable way to get Strings on other people is by turning them on. So the game encourages players to screw over the people they’re screwing, or to try and screw the people they want to screw over. It’s great. 😀
Chris Stone-Bush, or to just screw each other. Sex isn’t just a way to avoid giving out strings (by giving them what you think they want) it also interjects tons of new plot points with the sex moves
You’re right David Rothfeder. I meant that the most reliable way to get Strings (apart from a Skin move) is by turning someone on. The game encourages you to flirt, seduce, or romantically toy with the people you want to have some leverage over.
Spending Strings to reduce an effect is not the only thing you can do.
When they say they are pulling back to punch you could go “ah no please not!” and spend a string to offer them an XP to not do that.
Or spend a String to make them have to Hold Steady before they can do it.