I’ve recently started a new monsterhearts game with only two players over Hangouts. Now one of my players mentioned that one of their friends may be interested in joining the game and the other mentioned this as well. I have no problem with this however what I would like is some advice.
Adding new characters can sometimes grind the events of the game to a stop especially if that person is unfamiliar to the story or game. How have you handled the addition of a new player or players into a already ongoing game? How do you fictionally add new supernatural students into the game suddenly? I assume that depending on the skins that is how they would fit however that can only go so far. That also brings up I’m not allowing the Chosen as a skin for that reason as a choice because that would sink whatever ship the players are on.
To reiterate my questions: How have you handled the addition of a new player or players into a already ongoing game? How do you fictionally add new supernatural students into the game suddenly?
Does anyone have any general advice?
In this specific game, it is a highschool setting, you have the in where they are either exchange students or the new kid coming in half way through the semester. The new student is an absolute trope. (Buffy FTW)
Michael Phillips Yes indeed I considered this. It probably would be more fictionally appropriate for the student to be a transfer from another class rather than an exchange student or new kid as facilitate the backstory string stuff.
I just was curious more than anything if anyone had experienced with this and how they handled it. Or if anyone had other ideas or suggestions other than the trope approach (which I know MH thrives on).
you can skip the strings with new characters and just hit the strings mechanics parts of the splats you are using extra hard the first session.
Yeah, I’d skip the backstory strings, and just run simple like something like
“New kid! What is it about __ that immediately catches your attention? __, what is it about the new kid that immediately catches your attention? Okay, each of you take a string on eachother.”
Repeat for each __.
You can also go “old classmate, new Skin” if you want to say they’ve been there all along but some new change/ supernatural event they’ve experienced has suddenly brought them to the old player’s attention. Working out what this was, maybe an offscreen, between the scenes event, also gives a chance to work in the backgrounds if you want to use them.
I always consider the Chosen, Unseen and Fury off limits for players I’ve never played with before/new players. There’s just too much fuckery that can go on.
However, it honestly depends like. People transfer schools. Just have a school gossip who can give them a pointed view of what is/has gone on.
Thanks a lot you guys! I’ll let you know how I end up going (if it happens of course).
Ben Wray That’s a really interesting idea, almost like a love letter from Apocalypse World in a way almost. I’ll definitely take that to heart as a thing I could use.
Maybe they were on vacation, ill (with what ends up giving them their powers), or exchange studenting it up in Majorca.